Stress often starts with your thoughts, in your head with a worry or a fear, and those feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and perhaps even panic, don’t stay there. When you feel stressed, your body ramps up production of the stress hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. This triggers the start of the stress response, and, like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it gains traction and speed until you’re ready for the proverbial attack. "Stress is not a state of mind... it's measurable and dangerous, and humans can't seem to find their off-switch." These words of warning come from renowned author and award-winning neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky in the documentary Stress: Portrait of a Killer. Watch the documentary at the top of this article.
Excess stress hormones are released far too often. Your stress response becomes imbalanced; it’s not shutting off. Your immune system suffers as a result, and epigenetic changes are rapidly occurring. Stress can occur with any event, a job loss, divorce, or traumatic event.
The stress is triggering systemic low-grade inflammation, and suddenly your blood pressure is up, your asthma is flaring, and you keep getting colds. Your body is out of homeostasis.
You’re having trouble sleeping and, on an emotional level, you feel like you’re nearing burnout. That’s when you notice that you’ve put on some weight, and you’re having digestive troubles too.
Stress Takes a Toll on Your Brain and Adds Inches to Your Waistline
Did you know that stress can also lead to weight gain--of the worst kind? Stress-induced weight gain typically involves an increase in belly fat, which is the most dangerous fat for your body to accumulate, and increases your cardiovascular risk. Stress alters the way fat is deposited because of the specific hormones and other chemicals your body produces when you're stressed.
Prolonged stress can also damage your brain cells and make you lose the capacity to remember things. Stress disrupts your neuroendocrine and immune systems and appears to trigger a degenerative process in your brain that can result in Alzheimer's disease. Stress can also accelerate aging by shortening your telomeres, the protective genetic structures that regulate how your cells age. In the words of Dr. Lissa Rankin, author of Mind Over Medicine:
"Our bodies know how to fix broken proteins, kill cancer cells, retard aging, and fight infection. They even know how to heal ulcers, make skin lesions disappear and knit together broken bones! But here's the kicker--those natural self-repair mechanisms don't work if you're stressed!"
Stress clearly affects your whole body and can lead to depression, heart disease, digestive problems, frequent colds, insomnia, anxiety and more... so what can you do?
What you do for stress is a personal choice, what works for some may not for others. Letting go of negative emotions, beliefs and limiting decisions is one way to help manage stress. This can be done using the powerful techniques of Time Line Therapy. Perhaps yoga, meditation or a high intensity workout is in order to help you manage stress. Eating a healthy diet and drinking plenty of pure water is in order when you are feeling stressed. Its always great to have support, join group activities or a support group if that is what appeals to you. One more crucial point is to get adequate sleep! Lack of sleep will impair your body's ability to handle stress. A good night's sleep is always a great stress reliever.
Lynn Thier, RHN
Lynn has been working in the wellness Industry for more than 20 years and has a magical way of inspiring others to embrace healthy, balanced lifestyles and relish in living their best life! Making even just one of the shifts she suggests can: reduce stress, take pounds off, reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, add quality years and vitality to your life. Lynn is a highly trained and Board Certified Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Time Line Therapy®, Hypnotherapy, and Coaching which are some of the most powerful tools for personal and professional development on the planet today. Lynn can assist you to end bad habits, create new healthy habits, move past obstacles, and release unwanted emotions that are holding you back from being your best self!
References:
1. http://www.pbs.org/shows/
2. http://lissarankin.com/10-signs-you-have-way-too-much-cortisol
3. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/05/stress-effects.aspx#_edn1
4. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/05/stress-effects.aspx
Excess stress hormones are released far too often. Your stress response becomes imbalanced; it’s not shutting off. Your immune system suffers as a result, and epigenetic changes are rapidly occurring. Stress can occur with any event, a job loss, divorce, or traumatic event.
The stress is triggering systemic low-grade inflammation, and suddenly your blood pressure is up, your asthma is flaring, and you keep getting colds. Your body is out of homeostasis.
You’re having trouble sleeping and, on an emotional level, you feel like you’re nearing burnout. That’s when you notice that you’ve put on some weight, and you’re having digestive troubles too.
Stress Takes a Toll on Your Brain and Adds Inches to Your Waistline
Did you know that stress can also lead to weight gain--of the worst kind? Stress-induced weight gain typically involves an increase in belly fat, which is the most dangerous fat for your body to accumulate, and increases your cardiovascular risk. Stress alters the way fat is deposited because of the specific hormones and other chemicals your body produces when you're stressed.
Prolonged stress can also damage your brain cells and make you lose the capacity to remember things. Stress disrupts your neuroendocrine and immune systems and appears to trigger a degenerative process in your brain that can result in Alzheimer's disease. Stress can also accelerate aging by shortening your telomeres, the protective genetic structures that regulate how your cells age. In the words of Dr. Lissa Rankin, author of Mind Over Medicine:
"Our bodies know how to fix broken proteins, kill cancer cells, retard aging, and fight infection. They even know how to heal ulcers, make skin lesions disappear and knit together broken bones! But here's the kicker--those natural self-repair mechanisms don't work if you're stressed!"
Stress clearly affects your whole body and can lead to depression, heart disease, digestive problems, frequent colds, insomnia, anxiety and more... so what can you do?
What you do for stress is a personal choice, what works for some may not for others. Letting go of negative emotions, beliefs and limiting decisions is one way to help manage stress. This can be done using the powerful techniques of Time Line Therapy. Perhaps yoga, meditation or a high intensity workout is in order to help you manage stress. Eating a healthy diet and drinking plenty of pure water is in order when you are feeling stressed. Its always great to have support, join group activities or a support group if that is what appeals to you. One more crucial point is to get adequate sleep! Lack of sleep will impair your body's ability to handle stress. A good night's sleep is always a great stress reliever.
Lynn Thier, RHN
Lynn has been working in the wellness Industry for more than 20 years and has a magical way of inspiring others to embrace healthy, balanced lifestyles and relish in living their best life! Making even just one of the shifts she suggests can: reduce stress, take pounds off, reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, add quality years and vitality to your life. Lynn is a highly trained and Board Certified Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Time Line Therapy®, Hypnotherapy, and Coaching which are some of the most powerful tools for personal and professional development on the planet today. Lynn can assist you to end bad habits, create new healthy habits, move past obstacles, and release unwanted emotions that are holding you back from being your best self!
References:
1. http://www.pbs.org/shows/
2. http://lissarankin.com/10-signs-you-have-way-too-much-cortisol
3. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/05/stress-effects.aspx#_edn1
4. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/05/stress-effects.aspx
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