Part 3 of 3

The first two parts of the story dealt with diet and exercise and what typically is meant and said when the doctor says you need to watch your diet and get some exercise.  Unfortunately there is so much misinformation about these three subjects, which is why patients aren’t getting better and are directed towards some medication.  Which by the way, nine times out of ten, doesn’t address the cause – the medication helps the symptoms.

Today we are going to talk about stress and what you need to know about stress.  First of all the reason stress is so harmful to the body is that when your body is under stress, always on the go, in that ‘fight or flight’ mode.  It triggers your adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and adrenaline, your two primary stress hormones.  Those hormones will activate or deactivate certain other hormones, because when your body is in the fight or flight mode you want it pumping more blood to your muscles so you can run or fight.  To do that it requires your heart to beat faster and puts more stress on your cardiovascular system.  This is normal.

Keep in mind when you are constantly under stress in that ‘fight or flight’ mode, your body isn’t to concerned with digesting its meal, it has other things more important, such as running away from the proverbial saber tooth tiger.  In other words, all that stress and surge of your stress hormones turns your digestive system off, it also turns down your reproductive system, because your body can’t make a baby when it is running from the tiger.

If your adrenal glands are constantly pumping out more cortisol and adrenaline, due to all the stress, it will gradually interfere with the function of other systems such as your digestive and elimination system…and how many people are taking antacids and acid blockers or other products to help in these areas.  How many people are taking high blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs because their cardiovascular system has been overworked?  How many people are taking estrogen, progesterone and testosterone because their hormones are out of whack and complain of hot flashes, PMS, night sweat, fertility and loss of libido?  And how many people are taking antidepressants, anxiety medication and suffer from insomnia because their chemical brain messengers are out of balance due to the constant production of their stress hormones.

Its too bad mainstream medicine looks first to give a prescription medication for all these problems and I haven’t even touched all the bases as to how stress is connected to so many ailments.  But if they truly wanted you to get you healthy, they would help you understand that all that stress in your life isn’t good for you.  They would help you identify where all your stress is coming from.  They would help you see that your adrenals could be overworked and exhausted, which is

called adrenal fatigue and exhaustion. 

They would help you understand that the more your overwork your adrenal glands the more you keep pushing your body, but the more it interferes with other bodily systems.  They would help you see that stress is cumulative and that there are overlooked types of stresses that come from low blood sugar as a result of skipping meals or eating the wrong foods.  That stress also comes about from eating foods that irritate your digestive system. 

Remember stress is anything that causes your adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and adrenaline.  There are physical and chemical stresses we place on the body that contribute to elevated levels of our stress hormones, which are at the root of our health problems.  So simply telling someone to lower the stress in their life, when the doctors don’t even understand the real ramifications that come from stress…it is hard to expect the patient to do anything meaningful.

If you think stress could be part of the problem take our ‘

Stress Test’ on our online health quizzes.  If you want more concrete measurements order our Adrenal Stress Profile, which is the gold standard for measuring how stress is impacting your body.  If your doctor isn’t aware of these tests or problems, I wouldn’t be surprised, unless they are keeping up with the latest information, but you should read the article on What Tests I Should be Taking.

Let me also encourage you to check out the articles and search out the Blog for more information.  I only scratched the surface.  If you liked the information I encourage you to sign up for the Blog so you can get the latest posts and keep up to date.  Stay tuned, my new book “5 STEPS Closer” will be coming out soon and I want to make sure everyone gets a copy if they are struggling in any area of their life and need a little help.