Posts Tagged ‘stress’

Ashwagandha protects against stress and enhances psychological health. Research is emerging that this natural herb has some unique abilities.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is also known as Indian winter Cherry. It is a shrub cultivated in India and North America. In Africa, Mediterranean and India it grows as a wild shrub. The shrub is a member of the tomato family, and bears red fruit. Unlike tomatoes Aswagandha fruit are small like berries.

The root of this plant has been used for thousands of years by Ayurvedic practitioners to treat different health condition. The role of ashwagandha is seen not only as calming, but as a tonic to replenish lost energy.

Adrenals

Ashwagandha is sometimes referred as Indian Ginseng. It produces energy in a way that helps the body calm down and sleep. What it does is help the body take care of stress rather than masking it. One of the reasons that ashwagandha helps with stress is in its ability to maintain normal adrenal levels.

The adrenals get depleted when stressed by physical, emotional, and psychological events. Caffeine, nicotine, processed foods and sugar deplete the adrenal reserve, causing fatigue, depression, insomnia, and poor concentration.

Since ashwagandha is used to soothe and calm down a stressed mind and nerves, it not only helps the adrenals, but normalizes the sympathetic nervous system.

Most people in modern society are in the sympathetic mode. This isn’t healthy for long extended periods. This coupled with adrenal fatigue produces brain fog, memory problems, nervous exhaustion and loss of muscular energy. When there are changes in sleep duration it impinges on the quality of life. Sleep patterns change with low adrenal function and an activated sympathetic nervous system.

Cortisol

What ashwagandha does is reduce the cortisol levels in chronically stressed individuals. The body has a built in mechanism for protecting us from acute and immediate stress. The effect is known as the “stress response.” This involves production of what is called the “adrenaline rush” which is a massive release of cortisol or the “stress hormone.”

We are only meant to experience a short term burst of cortisol. What happens is blood sugar levels go up to provide needed energy. Calcium is pulled from storage making it available to muscles for a quick response. In the wilderness this is a plus, but in the asphalt jungle of today it is a determent

Chronic stress in modern society leads to all sorts of major health problems. Cortisol levels never get to return to normal, and overexposure to cortisol leads to a depressed immune response, high blood pressure, loss of muscle mass and cognitive problems.

Modern Science

Modern science hasn’t much to offer, in fact the lowering of cortisol levels, fixing adrenal function and turning off the sympathetic nervous system are not within the realm of allopathic medicine.

The use of ashwagandha is relegated to the medical system of India.It is know as the ginseng of India, and used in Ayurvedic medicine as a general tonic. It is an adaptogen used to rejuvenate, and calm the nerves, and is thought to have a strong and protective effect on the nervous system.

In America it is used by naturopathic physicians and can be bought in health food stores. It is a supplement not a cure all; you have to distress your life, and meet challenges in a productive way. It may seem easy to say and hard to do, with the right diet you can be assured that you will handle things better. Ashwagandha can help clear the way for authentic change.

The stress factor in illness isn’t a new concept. The only difference is the extended understanding of the consequence of this additional burden on the body. The human body is “pressure sensitive” and is challenged by the modern day requirements. We’ve seen that while humans have an enhanced existence through technology they also have a problem adhering to the demands.

It seems that Americans specialize in and deliver stress as a function of everyday life.  Stress trends evolved to include most activities. Not only is stress a component and foundation of the market place, but it is protected by our institutions. Where feelings of joy, enthusiasm, happiness, creativity, and empathy should have the highest value it seems that success is most associated with our attainment of a goal.

From mass market to high-end prestige products and services there is an underlying belief that to be functional you must compete in a scenario that makes attainment of goals an achievement that is above relationships, spiritual, physical, and emotional rewards.

Stress Activates Tumor Growth

Stress activates the “fight or flight” response, prolonged stress in turn releases hormones such as catecholarmines and neuropeptides. These influence cancer cell growth and tumor angiogenesis. Both these hormones release angiogenic factors that grow blood vessels to feed tumors.

Evidence supports the longstanding belief that chronic stress can influence tumor growth and progression. Since stress is an intricate element of our lives, we must work on turning down the volume. Stressful events activate both the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which lead to elevated catecholamines, and neuropeptides.

This leads to increased blood pressure, heart rate, and better immune response. However, that is for short bouts of stress known as acute stress. This is different from chronic prolonged exposure to stresses. The chronic stress triggers pathological responses that lead to the development and exacerbation of certain disease states including cancer.

A short rise in blood pressure and heart rate makes you ready to take quick action. However, sustained stress changes the blood pressure and heart rate so that it becomes secondary in nature. With growing evidence that stress mediators such as glucocorticoids and sympathetic neurotransmitters effect tumor cell proliferation and survival besides tumor angiogenesis.

Multi-Tasking makes Stress

Multi-Tasking in of itself is challenging. The fact is that it is not a sustainable lifestyle. It isn’t a full time solution to getting a job done. Multi-tasking doesn’t extend or enhance our capabilities. What it introduces is a faster pace with increased stress. Whenever demands exceed ability then stress will be an addition to the mix.

The brain responds to the overload by releasing adrenaline and other stress hormones. This gives the quick burst of energy, but over time a constant flow of stress hormones puts an enormous strain on the body’s systems.

Solutions

The active ingredients for a long healthy life are whole food, minimum stress, sunshine, a positive outlook, and a good night’s sleep. The solutions sound simple, but they go beyond our established way of life. In an industrial society. It may be a challenging job to slow down, but it is certainly worth it.

Emotions have a connection to disease. Modern medicine must realize they have to treat the person rather than the condition. What seems surprising is the amazing ability of the mind and emotions to interact with all the systems in the body. The secret to health may lie in our emotional make-up. The whole body approach to health must include our mental status, and emotional make-up.

Studies

A study conducted by Leslie Kerr, Ph D, associate professor of biology and psychology at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, and colleagues, examining the effects of stress and other social experiences on cancer development.

Young mice that experience the psychosocial stress or prolonged separation from their mothers had a higher incidence and faster onset of breast tumors compared with young mice that did not experience this stressful life event. They developed tumors twice as fast.

There are observations in humans that back this up. Stress seems to be a factor in a recurrence of the condition.

Another study of nearly 70,000 women found a clear association between abuse in childhood and adolescence and type 2 diabetes in adult women. Much of this can be attributed to a greater weight gain in girls who have been abused. The weight can account for only 60 percent of the incident of type 2 diabetes.

It doesn’t take rocket science to understand that stress can do you in. When under stress it is hard to feel great. All healing wisdom calls for stress control. Depression, and anxiety, is known to cause poor appetite, overeating, irritability, aches and pains, and fatigue.

The idea is simple your whole-body suffers when you are stressed. The physical and emotional are intertwined. The immune system responds to the hormones you release. Mental burnout takes a toll on the body. So how can anyone think emotions aren’t tied to physical conditions.
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