I know that the stress I have experienced during the course of my life, has impacted my health, in many ways. I am so sure of it, that I am on a mission to share my experiences with you, so that you can learn from them, with the hope that you will remain healthy. If, however, you are experiencing chronic health issues already, I hope that you will look at your life, to determine if you are under more stress than your body can manage, like I was.
At a recent visit to the Cleveland Clinic, I read the then current issue of NeurologyNow. It is the April/May 2015 edition. An article on page 14 called Calm Your Mind, by Jamie Talan, clearly states the impacts stress has on our brain, and ultimately our bodies.
Of course, much research starts with mice and rats in a lab. When exposed to stressful situations, these animals hippocampus, which is the area of the brain that controls learning and short-term memory, gets smaller. In addition, nerve cells shrink, losing their ability to communicate. As a result, the animal has a difficult time moving through it’s environment. When exposure to stress continues for more than 10-days, the animals amygdala, the part of the brain that controls anxiety and fear, becomes bigger.
The human brain, scientists believe, undergoes similar impacts as a result of stress, especially continued stress. The human hypothalamus, which controls our ‘fight or flight response’, signals the body to fight the danger or run from the danger. You’ve probably heard me talk about ‘fight or flight’ in the past, because I’m quite sure my body was in ‘fight or flight’ mode for at least 20+ years – practically non-stop. During that timeframe, my neurological system continued to decline and I was diagnosed with a number of illnesses, including POTS, Sleep Apnea, various Dysautonomias, chronic neck and back pain, arthritis, and more. The signals from our hypothalamus cause our adrenal glands to release hormones. These hormones include adrenaline and cortisol, which increases the heart rate and blood pressure.
When these hormones are released for a short period of time, i.e. when we were cave men and cave women, and we had to run from the dinosaur, the hormones helped us protect ourselves. As cave people, we would run from the dinosaur or perhaps we’d stay and kill it. Today, however, in a society in which our stressors are varied, and frequent, often being delivered to our email inbox, or cell phone via text, there is often no escape from the danger, no escape from the situations that cause us stress. When our stress remains high, when we experience almost constant, non-stop stress, our bodies continuously broadcast the stress signal, resulting in the increased heart rate and blood pressure I described earlier. This is unhealthy for our cardiovascular system and can result in hardening of our arteries. As time goes on, our immune systems are engaged to respond as well. Although short-term stress can result in our immune system helping us heal, long-term stress can negatively impact our long-term health. Studies continue. For those of us suffering from chronic illness, this is food for thought.
In my experience, the best way to heal, is to take steps to remove the stress. This may be seemingly drastic measures, but trust me, they are required, in order to effectively heal. In many cases, the steps will be against popular opinion, but popular opinion means nothing if we are too sick to listen to it. Over the past 4 to 5 years, I’ve identified the stressors in my life, and am on a journey to reduce, if not remove them all together. The timeline is a bit blurred now, but about 4 years ago, I could barely walk. Today I finished planting my garden, digging out weeds, hauling dirt, sowing the plants and building the protective fence. I’m quite proud of this accomplishment. I’m proud that about 5 years ago I started to care more about myself and my family than my job and people who didn’t really care about me. I learned how to say ‘no’, and I learned how to put my relationships with God, and with my family and friends first. I’ve learned how to enjoy the time I have. I’ve made some difficult and frightening decisions in the past few years – including changing my job twice to get to where I am today. I am happy in my current job, and I’m enjoying my family and friends more than ever. I feel healthy too, and I can do things I haven’t done in a long time.
If you are suffering from chronic illness, of any sort, please, please, please take some time, to consider the stress in your life. You, like me, may not even realize you experience stress. Baby steps can help change your life for the better. I work with my medical doctors, applied kinesiologist, massage therapist, medication and supplements to obtain my current quality of life. These items, in conjunction with the life coach training I took and the coaching I have given and received over the past couple of years, have contributed to my current healthy physical and mental state.
