Dis-stress

Don't Stress It!

I recently did a webinar about stress where I learned that stress comes in 3 stages. 

There is Acute Stress where you are in fight or flight mode, full of adrenalin which gives you power and endurance. In the old days that would have helped you to fight the enemy off or just flee the scene. After coming out of the acute stress you would have calmed down again and carried on with your life. So to acute stress there is a short-term, adaptive response. In acute stress, the blood sugar spikes and there is weight loss.  

There can be a lot of stressors for the body. Skipping a meal can be a stressor or an unhappy workplace or family situation. Skipping a meal might be easier to address and could be an acute stress situation. 

If the stressor in your life is not removed, stress might become chronic. It might not be just one stressor. It might be one problem after the other, something you cannot deal with, a problem which is out of your control, or you feel that it is out of your control. Chronic stress is prolonged. This is when your body adapts to the situation. Your glands going from secreting adrenalin to secreting mostly cortisol. 

Cortisol is a hormone which is normally secreted around 6 am, when it spikes to get you out of bed. During the day the levels of it go down to make room for melatonin which is the hormone that helps you sleep. If you are in a chronic stressed state, the levels of cortisol are not going to go down. You will feel "tired but wired" which means that you are really tired but cannot sleep because your mind is going round and round. Well. if you ever have been in that state, you know what I'm talking about. 

Cortisol also blocks the insulin receptors and raises blood glucose to keep the energy available for you all the time. You body still thinks that you need a lot of energy and therefore keeps the glucose levels in your blood high, having the extra energy ready for you, just in case you need it. Chronic stress puts you in an resistance, endurance state so that you can keep going on. You seem to be coping but that comes with a cost. Suppressed immune responses, recurrent infections, craving sugar and salt, weight gain and water retention might occur. 

If your stress is still not resolved in that stage it morphs into Exhaustion. This means burnout where you will have difficulties getting out of bed in the morning. It also means profound fatigue, loss of drive and motivation, slow recovery from illness, food intolerance and extreme sensitivity to noise and light. Depression might also occur. Women often think their state of health has something to do with "The Change" but in reality it is stress which caused their problems because stress disrupts the whole endocrine system. 

The good news is that you can do something about being stressed. It is easy to say: "Don't get stressed" but it is not so easily done. A good diet obviously helps and getting enough quality sleep. Easier said than done as well, but that is where Homoeopathy comes into the picture.

Homoeopathy can help you get out of the danger zone and back to a more relaxed state, but it needs personal tailoring. Homoeopathy treats the whole person and not just the disease and it can only work if you get the right remedy for YOU. So if you want to book an appointment, call me on 07813 195468 and we can sort it out together. 

Stress can be an important, vital response and we cannot be calm all the time, but it should be not affecting your health and should  not out of your control.  Looking forward to hear from you.