This is Week 8 of the Wellness Year Program.
We all know that health is important to happiness. In some ways, I think it is actually happiness that is crucial to health.
In his book, “The End of Stress as We Know It” neuroscientist Dr. Bruce McEwen argues that acute stress is good for us: it increases our immune resistance, makes us more alert, stronger, faster, etc… On the other hand, chronic ongoing stress weakens us by causing the release of a hormone called cortisol. The job of cortisol is to replenish the body and repair the effects of acute stress hormones. But if there is too much of it for too long, this hormone can lead to damage.
What do we mean by stress? The word was first used by Dr. Hans Selye – it refers to the external conditions that cause distress as well as to the internal feeling we have in response to pressure or hardship. When a new problem first appears we get a full blown acute stress response – that’s the “fight or flight” response. The whole body is affected: the heart beats faster, breathing is faster, the mouth is drier, we feel that hair stands on end, we feel fully awake. Internally, the pupils dilate to let in more light so we can see better, memory is improved, and carbohydrate reserves are liquidated into the bloodstream to provide a source of fuel. Often we can perform better: athletes are a classic example, or my 10 year old sister at a piano recital I’ll never forget, who started her piece oh!! at least twice as fast as she had ever rehearsed it, and though sitting in the audience my mother and I had palpitations during the entire time, she just nailed that piece with panache and not a single wrong note.
That sense of being fully alive, and the relief when it is all over can be addictive. What happens though, when the episodes causing fear or upset feelings are frequent and inescapable? Or even when we can’t help but endlessly replay them in our minds? Friction at work, or too many demands and not enough control; too much to do and not enough help at home, or chronic anger at family members; problems with friends or family members, too much time pressure all the time...
The effects of this type of ongoing stress on the body are bad. Mentally we suffer memory loss, depression, and anxiety. This is a result of changes in the chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with each other. It can actually be observed as a physical change in the size of the brain structures involved in memory formation and the regulation of mood. Physically, some people suffer ulcers, weight gain, blood pressure changes, cholesterol changes, increased glucose levels, more hardening of the arteries, a worsened immune system leading to more frequent colds and to autoimmune diseases such as asthma, eczema, and some of the new and poorly understood diseases such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Note that I am not saying that any of these diseases are “in your head”. I am just saying that chronic stress makes a lot of diseases worse. Recognizing the role of stress is extremely important. A better lifestyle may be one of the few things that can be done to totally eliminate a chronic medical illness. Many medications unfortunately tend to be “Band-Aids” and not permanent cures. Medications to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, fibromyalgia are not cures, they just improve the symptoms. A person who is treated for these diseases has to take medications every day. They won’t get back to normal on these medications. They’re just better off, usually, than if they didn’t do anything at all.
So, how is your stress level?
What do you do to cope at times when stress is high?
How much of this stress is inevitable?
What is one change you can make this week that will reduce the stress in your life?
Let me know!
All the best,
Myrto
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