The Chemistry of Stress & How It Affects Your Health
In Brief
- The Facts:Stress can have unhealthy biological consequences.
- Reflect On:Why are we not taught as youngsters to deal with and handle stress, and other emotions?
During
my general practice, I often encounter many cases that stem from
stress. Gastritis is one of the common clinical presentations that come
in O.P. A thorough evaluation of the patient’s day will clearly explain
why he developed gastritis (stress), and most patients have no problem
admitting that
they had a stressful day. And so, quite often, I am
treating a psychological problem which was manifested as a physical one.
In an interesting study conducted in
prisoners of the World War II, it was found that the risk of developing
peptic ulcer was twice higher than that of the controls. There are
several other issues, like stress induced hypertension, diabetes,
bronchial asthma, infections, etc., which come to an O.P. This might
make one wonder why stress can cause so many clinical disorders. I will
explain why this happens in this article.
In our daily life we often undergo
stressful situations. There is no avoiding them. The stress that one
experiences is nothing but the response of the body to its outer
environment and the mind to its inner fears. These inner fears may be
the result of anything, from an examination, one’s family, a job or
responsibility, or an encounter with a person or situation one dislikes,
etc. (1)
Do you know what exactly happens to the body when we are stressed?
Imagine that you have met with an
accident. What happens next? The adrenal gland, which is located just
above the kidneys, responds to the accident by releasing an emergency
hormone known as adrenaline into the bloodstream. This hormone helps in
combating daily life stress by changing the body physiology. The
adrenaline decreases the flow of blood to the gut and shunts the blood
to the body muscles to tackle the tough situation the body is faced
with. This gives your muscles more energy to combat the accident. The
adrenaline produced at that time shuts down the functioning of the
immune system and gut by decreasing their blood supply. This is known as
the flight or fight response. This natural response is one of the
greatest gifts the human body has for combating external threats that we
often encounter in our daily life. This response gives us more power
and energy to survive any external threats (like accidents, being chased
by wild animals, etc.). (1)
This was also the case for our ancient
ancestors. One flight-fight response would save their life from wild
animals. This response is present in every animal to combat their
enemies and to save their life from predators. Once the external threat
vanishes, the flight-fight response subsides and the body restores its
normal functioning. (1)
But this begs the question, why does modern man face this much stress in the absence of predators?
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Normally, when an external threat is
removed, adrenaline production halts and the body will restore its
normal functioning. But when we are stressed and the threat is internal
(negative thoughts and negative emotions), the production of adrenaline
is constant. This will cause deleterious and harmful effects to the body
unless the internal threat — “the stress” — is managed. In this
situation, “stress” the hormone causes more harm than good. (1)
Do you know why and how exactly negative thoughts impact the body?
The latest research reveals that this
adrenaline is not only produced while combating an accident, threat, or
disaster, but also when we are stressed more generally. Stress is indeed
the disease of modern man. It follows him wherever he goes, and
research shows that “the adrenaline is even produced in the body when a
person undergoes a negative thought in his mind, or even when he feels
negative emotions” and “the adrenaline is produced the same moment he experience negative thoughts and negative emotion.” The fact is that “there is no time lag
between production of adrenaline and negative thoughts that pass
through his mind or the negative emotions he feels within.” (1)
So how badly will this Adrenaline affect our body? Adrenaline causes the following:
(1) Increased blood sugar:
Adrenaline increases glucose production from liver to blood and
decreases the production of insulin, thereby raising blood sugar. This
predisposes someone to diabetes mellitus. (1)
(2) Increased blood pressure:
Adrenaline increases blood pressure by constricting arterioles and
veins, thereby raising blood pressure. This predisposes someone to
hypertension. (1)
(3) Increased risk of cardiac diseases:
Adrenaline increases the rate, force, and contraction of heart muscles
and causes arrhythmias. Concurrent stimulation of the heart due to
stress can place an increased workload on the heart, leading to
increased chances of getting a heart attack. Women have a premenopausal
estrogen that protects them from stress related heart disease. (1)
(4) Obesity: Adrenaline
can move fat from storage depots and relocate it to fat cell deposits
in the abdomen. This causes an increase in body mass index and generates
obesity. Obesity is one of the risk factors for developing diabetes and
coronary artery disease. (1)
(5) Indigestion and chronic constipation:
Adrenaline decreases blood supply to the gut, decreases peristalsis of
the bowel, and increases sphincter tone by acting on its receptors. This
leads to indigestion and chronic constipation. (1)
(6) Increases susceptibility to bacterial, fungal, and viral infections:
Adrenaline suppresses the functioning of immune cells required to
combat infectious diseases and thereby increases a
person’s susceptibility to bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.
Higher stress levels increase our susceptibility to H.pylori infections
in the stomach and common gastritis. Chronic stress can increase
the chances for Urinary tract infections in females. (1,2)
(7) Increases muscle tension:
Adrenaline increases blood flow to muscles and causes increased muscle
tension. This leads to tension headaches that we often experience at the
end of our working days. The tight muscles can cause headache, shoulder
pain, backache, and body pain. Chronic stress induced muscle tension
can later predispose us to fibromyalgia, etc. (2)
(8) Decreased interest in sex:
Adrenaline decreases the testosterone produced in men and estrogen in
women, both needed for sexual arousal. Chronic stress can cause
decreased sperm production and erectile dysfunction or impotence. (2)
(9) Altered menstrual cycle: Chronic stress can cause irregular or no menstruation. Sometimes it can cause heavy or painful bleeding. (2)
(10) Creates psychic disorders:
Chronic stress is one of the fundamental causes for conditions like
overeating, under-eating, and alcohol and drug abuse. (1,2)
So what exactly is the solution for attaining health?The answer is simple, but tough to achieve. Wipe away our daily life stress!
You might be wondering how we can avoid something which seems so ingrained into modern life. The first step is to bring uncontrolled thoughts and emotions into our control.
To do that, we can use a variety of techniques. NLP psychotherapeutics, mindfulness, and meditation are all wonderful tools we can use to achieve mastery over our thoughts and emotions.
SOURCES
(1) The Science of Emotions: Dr. Fahad Basheer
(2) The Effect of Stress On The Body: Ann Pietrangelo
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