Stress Happens

You are experiencing stress. Maybe you have missed a deadline at work. Perhaps you were stuck in a traffic jam and were subsequently late for an important meeting. Or, you have to file your tax return. Taxes. OK, now I'm stressed.

During a stress response, you release cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone. The hormone that starts the alarm bells ringing and sends the message that you are in imminent danger. Cortisol sends the message to 'fight-or-flight.' And the reaction happens instantly.

In an instant, in order for you to stay and fight or to run as if your life depends on it, you need energy. So, in response to the release of cortisol, glucose is quickly mobilized to make the energy you need to save your neck. Now, to get that energy where it needs to be - probably the muscles in your legs so that you can run as fast you can - your heart rate increases, your blood pressure increases, and your breathing increases. You are on alert now! You can survive this thing!

Survival. When you are preoccupied with survival, less important functions have to wait. So during a stress response, when the business of survival is occurring, digestion is inhibited. The immune system is inhibited. Growth is inhibited. Sex drive decreases. Oh no, your precious little energy must be spent on short-term survival and not long-term family planning.

But wait a minute. You were only stuck in a traffic jam! No need to over-react!

The stress response is a physiological adaptation to a short-term emergency. All animals exhibit the stress response. Well, except for the Layson albatross, which I have just learned has evolved with no natural predator and, therefore, has no fight-or-flight instinct. Huh! So, unless you are a Layson albatross, your response to a stressor is to fight or flight. It's a great response to have if you are being chased by a predator. But when you spend days, weeks, and even months worrying about non-life threatening events, you turn on that same physiologic stress response. In fact, you can turn on the stress response just by anticipating a stressful event!

When the stress response becomes chronic, you set yourself up for stress-related diseases such as hypertension, loss of libido, peptic ulcers, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, and a whole host of other stress-related diseases.

The stress response is a complex process that affects everybody differently. There are several herbal, vitamin and mineral combinations that are helpful in reducing the effects of the stress response. Everyone has different needs.

For now, take a deep breath, and be an albatross.