Last week I touched on the detrimental effects of chronic stress.  The points I hope you remember are first that the stress response is a normal and programmed response consisting of a cascade of changes in the body all designed to help us survive a threatening (fight/flight) situation.  Secondly, like any habit, our nervous system learns to activate the stress response and over time we can go into to this reaction more easily or continuously.  While the stress response can help us survive a threat, the body changes that occur in the stress response are devastating over a sustained period of time.  So all we need to do is cut the stress, right?  Everyone knows, this is not always easy.

When in a time of stress with factors outside our control, there are several things we can and should do to minimize or turn off the stress response.  Positive thinking truly works by interrupting the negative thinking patterns that feed the stress response.  Making regular time for prayer and positive affirmations or writing in a gratitude journal every night before sleep really pays off.  Similarly, practicing meditation where you simply sit quietly and try to quiet your thoughts will also break the habit of negative thinking and stress.  Caffeine, nicotine, and sugar all stimulate the body and feed the stress response.  However, fruits and vegetables, particularly those rich in B-vitamins will aid to shut off stress at a brain level.  Likewise, lack of movement feeds stress while physical exercise stimulates the nerves that report to the brain and act to shut off the stress reaction.  You must eat well and get up and move to relieve stress!  Most people don’t know this, but massage and chiropractic care works much in the same way as exercise to combat the stress response.  Releasing muscle tension and adjusting the spine shuts off the stress producing nerve signals of pain and at the same time stimulates the signals that go to the emotional center of the brain to shut off the stress reaction.  Even though we often cannot control the situations that cause stress, this information should help you see the stress response as a brain phenomenon that can be altered or controlled.  Whether you choose to see a chiropractor or massage therapist, follow a healthy diet, work on positive thinking, or exercise, all of these methods are proven to help us adapt to our increasingly stressful environment.   

Stress

In a survey of 30,000 people in 30 countries, it was reported that women who work full-time and have children have the greatest level of stress.  Half of the population reports that their stress level has gone up in the last year.  Eighty-one percent of Americans report that money is their number one source of stress.  As I’ve reported in the past, this chronic stress takes a toll.  The six leading causes of death have been linked to stress including cancer, heart disease, lung disease, suicide, accidents and cirrhosis of the liver.  Add to this the other diseases related to stress (diabetes, stroke, digestive disorders, depression/anxiety, hormone and reproductive problems and immune disorders) and stress is the greatest cause of death and disease we are facing.  Medical researchers estimate that stress is the underlying cause of 80% of all illness.  But I somehow doubt this comes as much of a shock to most people.

So what do we do about stress?  The first thing is to realize that stress is a perception that occurs in the brain.  I’ve heard it said, “It’s not the stress, it’s how we respond or react to the stress.”  We need to realize that the stress response is a programmed reaction that starts in the brain and is carried through different hormones and chemicals to change our physiology so that we can better respond to a threat.  This cascade of chemical reactions is measurable, reproducible, and predictable – it happens to some degree every time we perceive stress.  You also need to realize that the stress response is a perfect reaction!  The response is programmed in all of us in order to increase our chances of survival.  The problem is that when stress is perceived the process starts and the brain does not know or care whether we are threatened by money and taxes or confronted by a tiger – the reaction is the same.  The response that would be of benefit if we were running from a tiger is devastating over time with daily stresses of modern life.  The other problem is that our brain and nervous system is always learning and adapting.  In the same way that practicing the piano will make us a better player, practicing the perception of stress will send us more easily into the stress response.  Realize that stress is a habit that must be interrupted and then retrained and this takes practice.  Please check in next week and I will share several strategies on how to start this process that can make the biggest difference between health and disease.

Core Four

With the New Year many people have a renewed commitment to health and several people have asked me what vitamins and supplements they should be taking as part of a program for wellness.  There’s so much confusion on this subject out there and I have seen people literally come in with bags of stuff that they’ve accumulated over the years.  Unfortunately, often much of what people are taking isn’t always necessary and even more times they are taking supplements that contain the same nutrients.  After numerous seminars and books, I’ve found four supplements that everyone agrees to be the basic nutritional foundation.

Understand, in a perfect world, we shouldn’t need any supplementation.  God didn’t screw this up.  We did.  As a result, unless you are eating an array of organic fruits and vegetables with every meal, a high quality multivitamin combined with a multimineral is necessary.  Vitamins don’t do much by themselves; they require the minerals to activate them.  Many of the vitamins out there are junk and don’t even absorb.  At the very least, you should observe your urine turning to a fluorescent yellow color after you’ve been taking these for a few days.  Secondly, you should take omega 3 fatty acids.  These are a required nutrient that the body does not produce.  They are a necessary building block for the anti-inflammatory hormones produced by your adrenal glands.  When you reduce inflammation with these hormones, you reduce your risk of nearly every disease.  Fish oil is your strongest source of omega 3 fatty acids.  However, make certain that the oil is fresh as it oxidizes and turns bad after about 90 days on the shelf.  Next, a probiotic is key.  These are the good bacteria that are found in healthy soil.  Microbes such as acidophilus and lactobacillus serve to break down waste in the colon and assist bowel function.  They also are a first line of defense for any bad bugs ingested from food and drink.  Probiotics also produce enzymes that are critical for the immune system.  We should take these regularly, but it is critical after a round of antibiotics as these drugs wipe out the good bugs.  Lastly, Vitamin D is often recommended.  Unless you are getting regular exposure to the sun and allowing time for this vitamin to be released to the surface of the skin and be reabsorbed before washing it off in the shower or the pool, you should supplement.  Nearly every sunscreen blocks the rays that stimulate Vitamin D.  This nutrient should not be looked at just as a vitamin – it is a hormone precursor that helps regulate the function of you endocrine (hormonal) system.  Most people are insufficient in D, but the only true way to know if your levels are adequate is with occasional blood testing.

As mentioned before, with a diet of healthy organic fruits and vegetables grown in natural soil and grass fed organic meats or fish along with adequate sun exposure, we don’t really need any of these things.  But in the world we live in, these four supplements should be considered essential for your body to function normally and to help prevent numerous forms of illness.  Work on your diet and consider adding these products to your strategy for better health and wellness.