Stress and Your
Health
Myasthenia gravis a stress-related autoimmune disease.
Stress has become a serious health issue with each passing day. Nearly everyone is suffering from some kind of stress every day, whether it is the short-term stress that triggers the body to reach heightened awareness and preparation for action—what is known as the “fight-or-flight” response—or the devastating long-term chronic stress.
Stress has become a serious health issue with each passing day. Nearly everyone is suffering from some kind of stress every day, whether it is the short-term stress that triggers the body to reach heightened awareness and preparation for action—what is known as the “fight-or-flight” response—or the devastating long-term chronic stress.
Stress is your body’s response to increased tension.
Stress is normal. You need stress to do many things, such as accepting
challenges, concentrating on doing a difficult task, and making important daily
and life decisions, among others. Indeed, stress can be even conducive to your
health, such as stress from having sex, which increases both your pulse rate
and heartbeat, as well as stimulates your brain cells to keep your brain
younger and healthier for longer. In many ways, stress can be enjoyable, such
as the mental and physical challenge in competitive sports and games.
After the initial stress-induced stimuli, your body should
be able to relax, slow down, and return to its original state of balance and
equilibrium. If that does not happen, you may become distressed or over-stressed.
Too much stress can also increase your production of hormone epinephrine, and thus
wearing out your hormonal glands. Dysfunctional hormone production may lead to
many health issues: your blood sugar elevation to produce more energy; your
breathing rate acceleration to get more oxygen for your lungs; your muscle
tension; your pulse rate and blood pressure increase; and your excess sweating
to cool down your body, among many other health issues. In that respect, stress
can be damaging to your overall health and wellness.
It is okay to stay slightly stressed every now and then,
but avoid distress—which is alienation, anxiety, fear, frustration, and even
depression. When stress continues over long periods of time, it may become
chronic stress, which is harmful and damaging to the body, the mind, and the
soul over the long haul.
Damage and Devastation of Stress
Chronic stress, which causes the body to maintain
physiological reactions for long periods of time, especially with respect to
the release of hormones, particularly DHEA (a hormone critical to anti-aging
and longevity), can lead to depletion of vital nutrients in the body, vitamin
C, and the B-complex vitamins.
During stress, the body overuses its DHEA supply, and thus
impairing the normal functioning of its hormonal glands. According to
scientific research, an individual’s DHEA levels decrease with age. Therefore,
stress only adds insult to injury in the
aging process.
Another interesting study showed that men who meditate (an
anti-stress mental strategy) regularly have significantly more DHEA than those
who do not, and the difference is even much more significant in the case of
women (maybe women do have more stress than men do).
Indeed, stress can accelerate the aging process. According
to Robert Sapolsky, author of Zebras
Don’t Get Ulcers, people in general lose their capability to cope with
stress as they continue to age, due to their tendency to have elevated blood
pressure, which adversely affects hormone secretions. That is how stress can
become a vicious circle.
If you wish to remain younger and healthier for longer, do
not allow stress into your life.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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