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By Donia Alawi Modern life‘s complexities are stressful: time deadlines, financial worries, job security worries, etc. These are stresses that most of us face daily. It can make us anxious, tense, and depressed and sometimes in pain. It can even lead to serious degenerative conditions to your heart, raise your blood pressure and interfere with memory functions.But the good news is that you can change the way you respond to stressful circumstances. Even if you feel your life is falling apart, you can take control and reverse the negative affects that your reactions to life‘s challenges have had on your body. There are many techniques and ways that you can learn and practice in addition to a healthy diet and certain supplements that can help reduce stress and not allow it to negatively impact you physically or emotionally. The stress response: We have a fight-or-flight response in our body and it is designed to help us survive. This mechanical response in our body helps us survive an imminent threat to our life. When we have a stress response, it alters nearly every physiological process in our bodies. The stress response is designed to deal with immediate survival in the face of life-threatening, short-term threats, such as someone swerving into your lane. However, it was not designed for the chronic daily stresses that we now face as we commute to our work, in our jobs and with our children. Steven Hall, MD says, "We have learned that stress is cumulative. Our bodies add up all the stresses we face and treat them as one. It doesn‘t matter whether stresses are situational (sick children, stop-and-go traffic or an impending deadline), chemical (pesticide-laden food, toxic fumes or a heavy metal exposure), physiological (illness, overexertion or lack of sleep), or psychological (fear or grief). If we have too many stresses at one time, when we add them up, the total is the same to our bodies as if we were staring a lion in the eye\" (Hall, p. 1). The health effects of stress: Stress affects the intestines greatly. When one is faced with emotional or psychological stress, the body produces cortisol (a hormone), which affects the intestinal tract by destroying friendly bacteria. The digestive system becomes impaired. Most people under stress may say that they feel pain in their stomach and that is because long-term stress can cause damage to intestinal lining as the body continues to secret cortisol. Sandra Tonn says that when we are stressed, blood rushes to our skeletal muscles so we can fight off our attacker or run away from danger. This withdrawal of blood from the digestive system leaves it in shutdown mode because the body thinks digestion isn‘t a priority at this time. Therefore, if we are eating while stressed, we are unable to digest our food. When food sits undigested it rots, causing physical distress and providing food for microbes that excrete waste and give off gases (p. 27). Stress can also stimulate the adrenal glands and exhaust them, causing them to malfunction. A chain reaction can lead to a whole host of diseases and adverse side effects due to stress. What to do: How to use foods and supplements to reduce stress effects:
If a person cannot change their lifestyle to lead a less stress-filled life, one should concentrate on protecting the digestive tract on a daily basis through the use of friendly bacteria such as acidophilus and bifidus. If these good bacteria are ingested every day, one can stand stress better and cope with it. Support the kidneys and liver during stressful times with specific foods. The kidneys and liver repair, process foods and detoxify the body during sleep. Eating healthy foods and taking liver and kidneys supportive supplements can reduce the negative side effects of stress on the rest of the body. Following are a list of foods and supplements to support the function of your liver and kidneys: Exercise: An important way to cope with stress is to do a vigorous type of exercise, like jogging, so as to work off the extra hormone the body produces so the body can return to a pre-stress state. Techniques and stress-reduction methods: Keep in mind that you have the power to change your physiological and hormonal responses to whatever is going on around you. Dr. Kenford Nedd, MD recommends that as soon as a difficult event or situation presents itself, tell yourself, "I can handle this." Immediately take control and apply the following techniques: 1 - Take a deep breath2 - Relax as you exhale 3 - Imagine the tension leaving your body 4 - Look up and smile 5 - Perfect your posture 6 - Harmonize your thoughts and think of something happy in the moment. Act happy deliberately even in tough times; as happiness is the antidote to stress (Nedd, p. 35). Final thoughts: Don‘t allow stress to take over your life and cause you physical and emotional pain. With the above comprehensive approaches: optimizing digestive function, healthier foods, supportive food based supplements, relaxation techniques and exercise, you don‘t have to face the severe physiological consequences of stress. Life is too short, so treat yourself good; get a massage once a week, relax, forget the world, eat lots of organically grown fruits and veggies, go to sleep early, go for walks, play with children and our animal friends, smell the roses, etc. You are worth it! References: Hall, Steven. (February 2007). "Stress Response". Sound Consumers. Pgs. 1-5.Nedd, Kenford. (February 2006). "Triumph over stress". Alive. Pgs. 34-35. Tonn, Sandra. (September 2004). "Healthy made simple". Alive. Pgs. 26-27. |