Posts Tagged ‘stress’

Stress and the nervous system’s relationship to our quality and quantity of life must be acknowledge.

Stress Effects

Stress has become one of the major causes of many health problems. Stress can arise at the cellular level after exposure to pollution, tobacco smoke, and bacterial toxins.

It is also something that is part of our fast paced lifestyle. World news now travels faster, and seems to drive up the volume. From natural disasters, to financial outlook, we have a one on one relationship with stress. One size doesn’t fit all; the challenge is how we react to the real-world realities.

Researchers from Dr. Klaus Hansen’s group from the University of Copenhagen have shown that external factors can stress our cells through the control of our genes.  

The question is there more trouble ahead. Good nutrition buffers the stress response. Poor nutrition is a stress on our system. So the double whammy of poor nutrition and a highly stressful environment will effectively shut down your immune system. 

The Nervous System     

The nervous system is unique and different from other systems in the body. It supervises stress and at the same time controls the body’s reactions to it. It reduces the level of hormones in the blood stream and signals the heart to revert to its normal beat.

Emotional stress does produce physical changes. It stimulates the nervous system which then responds. The body needs to respond to stress. When the body detects stress or a real or imaged threat, the body goes into a stressed state instantly.

The body reverts back to its normal state in a certain time frame. However, when the stress is constant the sympathetic nervous system is in a high state of alert all the time. This means the parasympathetic nervous system will not be able to come into play. What this means the body is not able to rest, during the stress response.

The Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous runs the automatic functions of the body like breathing, heart rate, digestion, endocrine (hormonal) system, and some other functions.

The autonomic system consists of the Sympathetic Nervous System which is the one that initiates the stress response, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System which induces the relaxation response.

The basic idea is that a balance is kept between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Our stress response is for short term use and prolonged responding is unhealthy. In the long term the hormones that are from a stress response can cause blood clotting and cholesterol levels to elevate, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease, stroke memory loss, obesity and even cancer.

Stress hormones weaken the immune system, increase blood pressure and kidney disease. Back and neck pain are also one of the outcomes of stress. Cotisol which is released in a stressed response interferes with serotonin a mood enhancing neurotransmitter. This can cause clinical depression, anxiety disorders, insomnia, obesity and sensitivity to pain.

The Bottom Line

Start preventative measures. It is proven that keeping your body rich in nutrients is the best defense to stress. Exercise works well to keep the stress levels down. The high cost of stress means that this is a priority. Since all it takes is common sense to find what works, you can effectively protect yourself from some of the common stressors.

The breast cancer and stress reduction studies are busting the myth that only the medical system can actually halt breast cancer. We are learning that you can unleash your natural defenses.

Internal Defenses

It was found that having sessions with a psychologist to learn how to reduce stress helped women with recurrent breast cancer live longer. They also had a better quality of life, according to new research. In a previous study where they followed women with breast cancer for 11 years, it was fount that those who receive psychological support had a 45 per cent lower risk of their breast cancer recurring.

You can read about the study, by Dr. Barbara L. Andersen, a professor in the department of psychology at the Ohio State University Columbus, and colleagues, in the June Online First Issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The researchers studied women with newly diagnosed Stage II or III breast cancer who were put into one of two groups: intervention and assessment-only. In addition to normal assessments, the women in the intervention group had sessions with a psychologist where they learned more about the causes of cancer and how to reduce stress, and the other group just had the assessments.

Anderson, who is also a researcher at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, told the press that:

 ”Patients in the intervention arm evidenced significant emotional improvement and more favorable immune responses in the year following recurrence diagnosis.”

“In contrast, stress remained unabated and immunity significantly declined in the assessment-only group,” she added.

Plus she stated that “Survival advantages occurred above and beyond the improvements from state-of-the-science oncology treatments received at NCI-designed comprehensive cancer center.”

Better Yet!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZV6z74BJU&feature=related

Stress relief is a pill away according to a pharmaceutical perspective. Global Health Venture, Inc. (OTCBB;GHLV ) (the “company”) has announced that it has targeted the development of a new anti-stress medication “Relax-B” using its proprietary sublingual technology. The company’s lead therapeutic product “X-Excite” (male sexual enhancement drug) is already proceeding successfully through the clinical trials. “Relax-B” is designed to cause relaxation of muscles leading to stress relief. The new product uses an already FDA approved drug with a special formulation at a very low dosage that reaches blood rapidly.

Anti-Stress Market

The anti-stress market is estimated to be over $5 billion and counting. The company has a mission and it turns out to be how much is stress worth. The perpetual conundrums for the consumer is can you identify health problems in the future from this fast fix.

The pharmaceutical companies’ viewpoint is how much resource to allocate for the perceived revenue returns. Consumers must beware of their bias; they view stress and depression as a chronic disease that can involve lifetime intervention. The current anti-stress medications are slow action and may require months to see results. The need for rapid anti-stress medication is highly desirable so is a fast payload.

Anti-Stress Medication

Anti-stress medication takes away the possibility of change. There is a danger of losing direction, changing your life doesn’t mean reaching for a pill. High stress levels may mean your diet isn’t supporting your nervous system, brain, or hormone levels, and you have a poor lifestyle habits. This could include working too many hours, poor relationships, and poor problem solving ability.

Your stress level doesn’t lie, so a pill that protects you from it may decrease your ability to see and find a new way to manage your life. Just because a pill is validated to relieve stress doesn’t mean it is a natural alternative. Being dependent on a drug to help you manage your life isn’t a good strategy.

A better mood, more energy, will not come from a pharmaceutical. We live in stressful times and the stress related conditions are on the rise, from socio-economic problems, constant news coverage, and a feeling that the world is going in the wrong direction.

Anti-stress medication doesn’t balance the sheet; it doesn’t give you an ounce more of control. What is does is swing the pendulum by boosting your feeling of calmness. It doesn’t help you upgrade your actions, optimize your situation, refigure, and refresh your life. Without doing that you will always be a pill away from calm.

Relaxing muscles is not the magic solution to stress. An audit of your life is what stress relief is about. The company goes from “X-Excite” for men to cracking down on stress with a pill. Who will scrutinize this trend, and determine if a growth oriented company is looking out for you. There is contradiction in terms to say that their aim is to dominate the market, and at the same time lifting the mood of people who are stressed.

If you want to get ready, set, and grow emotionally, spiritually, and physically forget the pill and take steps to improve and regulate your life.