Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Effects of Stress on the Body

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is, is the starting point for lasting treatment solution

We all live with it but what exactly is stress? In this article, we want to concentrate on the understanding exactly what chronic stress really is since it affects us individually and collectively. Our reference is going to be from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center a medical facility which was founded by doctor Dalal Akoury primarily to offer health solutions to the suffering public. Doctor Akoury says that stress can come in many forms including:

When stress set in an individual’s life, it wills not matter the kind of stress it is since the body understands stress in the same way irrespective of the type. How then does stress affect the body? The effects of stress are many and may include the following:

  • It can lower your immune system
  • Increase your cholesterol
  • Blood sugar and blood pressure
  • It can cause sexual dysfunctions
  • Arthritis’s
  • Heart disease
  • Weight gain
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Ulcers
  • Cancer as well as lower thyroid function and metabolism

Normally when a person is under stress the body will switch into a fight or flight mode.

  • This will then trigger several physiological responses and you will have a decrease of all noncritical processes.
  • Your energy will be mobilized to your muscle.
  • Digestion will be turned off (50 percent of people have digestive complaints)
  • Detoxification will be impaired
  • You will have a decrease in cellular repair
  • You will be placed in a catabolic (breaking down) state. This catabolic state will weaken all your systems.

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Different states of stress

  • You can be in a sick state– This is when your stress levels are higher than your resistance levels.
  • You can be in an average state of health – This is when your stress levels and resistance levels are about equal. These are the people who feel good until something stressful happens then they get symptoms.
  • The last is a state of good health – This is when your resistance is much higher than your stress levels. This leaves you with two choices; reduce stress, or increase resistance. The easiest one to do is to decrease stress. Unfortunately some people are unable to do this, therefore we must increase resistance. This means you need to support your hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis.

It is obvious that stress and sex hormones are all derived from cholesterol. It therefore means that if you are under constant stress, you will produce more stress hormones, and therefore you will need more cholesterol to make those hormones. This is how stress can lead to elevated cholesterol. When you’re continuously making stress hormones your body will decrease production of sex hormones, as well as aldosterone, this is called cortisol steal. Lower sex hormones will lead to hormonal imbalances such as irregular menstrual cycles, infertility and low libido. Lower aldosterone levels will prevent your kidneys from absorbing sodium and therefore spilling sodium into the bladder. Wherever sodium goes, water follows. This will cause dilute urine and frequent urination, as well as the craving of salt.

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Stress and Sexual functions

Stress affects sexual function as already mentioned. It is also worth noting that sexual arousal is a parasympathetic nervous system response, whereas orgasm and ejaculation are a sympathetic nervous system response. When you have high stress, this stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, decreasing stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system and not allowing arousal to take place. Insulin is the only hormone that lowers blood sugar, whereas cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, glucagon and growth hormone all raise blood sugar. Cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine are all stress hormones. This is how stress will increase blood sugar, causing insulin levels to rise, to lower the blood sugar and ultimately causing insulin resistance.

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Gastrointestinal tract

Stress will also have effects on the gastrointestinal tract. It will decrease hydrochloric acid (stomach acid) and mucus production, slow the motility of the small intestine and increase the motility of the large intestine. When you have a decrease in stomach acid and mucus production, this will decrease the amount of gastric protection of the stomach. The high cortisol levels from stress will decrease immune function, therefore making it a favorable environment for Helicobacter Pylori to proliferate, and causing a gastric ulcer. If the small intestine is slower to recover from stress the motility is impaired and constipation results. When the large intestine is slower to recover from stress, motility is increased and diarrhea results.

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Threats of Cardiac Unrest

Stress will increase cardiac risk in many ways. It will increase blood pressure. It can increase cholesterol for production of the stress hormones as already mention. The stress hormones (catacholamines) are detoxified through methylation this could decrease the methylation capacity to detoxify homo-cysteine. High levels of homo-cysteine are very toxic to the cardiovascular system. As stated earlier, cortisol, epinephrine and norepinphrine raise glucose levels. The higher blood sugar level will cause the release of insulin. Insulin will increase cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides and decrease HDL. The increase in body fat caused by stress as already mentioned is another cardiac risk factor.

Cortisol has a half-life of 100 minutes meaning that if you are under stress and have a cortisol release, in 100 minutes you will have 50% of that cortisol still in your system, after 200 minutes 25% and so on. If you are under constant stress you will continuously have high cortisol levels and have the physiological responses of that cortisol. Finally and like had indicated that it will not matter the kind of stress that affects you. All have the same effects and the body response to them in the same way. If you are under any kind of stress, it would be very important that you look for immediate solutions to prevent other illnesses that may be triggered by stress itself. In this case, scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury would be the first step you can take towards getting lasting solutions for a better health thereafter.

Understanding exactly what Chronic Stress really is: Effects of Stress on the Body

 

 

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