Dr Sam | Harley Street Online | Natural Health Tre

From the desk of Dr Sam Shohet
BDS MGDS RCS(Eng) LiAc MBAcC ICAK

STRESS - THE No1 ENEMY

Interesting Statistics

"By 2020 the effects of stress on the brain especially depression will be second only to cardiovascular disease as the biggest cause of illness and death in the Western World” World Health Organisation. 

This is a bold statement based on present day statistics of health and disease but what do we understand about stress? What does any one of us know about stress and its implications in our every-day life?

The great majority of us – 99% - including health professionals, understand stress to be “time pressure” where we have so much to do and not enough hours in the day to cram it all in. But stress is not that at all; it is much more fundamental to life than that as I shall explain.

The Fundamentals of Stress

I am sure that you all understand the flight or fight response when for example we are faced by a lion and we have a surge of adrenaline and other powerful hormones to enable us to either run away or to stand and fight. In fact there have been many documented cases of mothers lifting a car to release a child trapped underneath and yet these same mothers would have difficulty lifting the spare wheel of the car after a puncture! The release of these hormones at times of danger is essential in saving our lives and the process is hard-wired into our genes and ensures our survival. But how can this life-saving process be responsible for making us ill I hear you ask?

The Lion Within

The sight or sound of a lion triggers a response from a part of our brain called the hypothalamus which among other things is responsible for all hormone functions in the body. The hypothalamus then signals the pituitary gland in the middle of our brain to release hormones which in turn, tell the adrenal glands above the kidneys and the thyroid gland in the neck to release the necessary hormones which prepare us to either run away from this lion or to stand and fight our corner. Although this route, called the HPA axis, seems involved and tortuous, the action is instantaneous. There is no time for us to weigh up the situation rationally and to consider whether the lion is tame or not, whether it is really going to attack, whether it is old or even if it is a stuffed lion; we need to act and we need to act now.

Nowadays our lions have been replaced by other triggers to this stress reaction that threaten our very existence sending fear through our veins to elicit a response reminiscent of an encounter with a lion. Our present day lions may have no teeth and no claws but they are never-the-less just as capable of triggering our primal instinct for survival. Today’s lions are poverty, hunger, unemployment, unfair treatment, prejudice, belief systems, bosses, governments, health, education, retirement, finances, expectations and a host of other stressors which affect us constantly and relentlessly whether directly or indirectly.

The Response That's Killing Us

Over the years we have had to adapt by consciously changing the intensity of our response. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the endocrine glands: the pituitary, adrenals, thyroid! They still react in the same way since the beginning of time, only now they are on emergency alert all the time and not only when there is a lion on the prowl. This constant reaction results in changes in our organs and organ systems giving rise to what we call diseases and conditions with their signs and symptoms. Conditions such as cardiovascular disease and heart attacks, the No 1 killer in the West, followed by cancer and stroke, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, obesity and aggression, diabetes and mental decline. In fact, the loss of memory and cognitive power (the ability to think) was voted by a large group of people worldwide to be their number one fear for the future. It is also predicted that by 2020 depression will be the major problem among adolescents and young adults – all the result of stress.
This may be a boon for the pharmaceutical industry but unfortunately drugs only address symptoms not the cause and they also present stressors of their own to overwhelm an already struggling immune system. What we need instead is to recognise these triggers and strive to reduce them naturally: the body has a fantastic ability to repair.

Fight or Flight

The flight or fight response is also triggered by infections, toxins, diet, lifestyle and medication such as those for the treatment of depression. Although these may be unseen and unperceived stressors, I can assure you they are just as deadly as a lion as far as the body is concerned.

Infections caused by pathogens (disease-causing organisms) such as bacteria, viruses, post viruses, fungus and parasites signal an alarm reaction for our immune system placing great demands on the body’s emergency powers and endocrine glands which are already in disarray.
Toxins such as chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, food preservatives and colourings, artificial sweeteners etc), heavy metals (aluminium, mercury, cadmium, lead, fluoride, arsenic etc) and radiation (microwave radiation from DECT phones, mobiles and masts, background radiation from rock formation and air travel, test radiation from x-rays, mammograms and radiotherapy etc), all in our environment , water and food serve to alter and poison enzyme systems which deal with all our major functions including those of the endocrine and immune systems causing them to either under or overreact.

Food For Stress

Unbelievable as it may seem, the food we eat plays just as important a role as a trigger for stress reactions as do infections, toxins and perceived lions. Eating food that genetically speaking our body does not recognise, that is, it does not have the necessary enzymes to digest it, will result in the release of stress chemicals. Food though has been shown to be a great suppressor of stress. Studies of people who followed the Mediterranean Diet for just a few months were shown to cut their mortality from any cause by 50% and improve their cardiovascular health by 70%!
This shows the power of food as an adaptogen or normaliser of body function – reducing levels when too high and raising them when too low.

Joint or Exercise

Lifestyle and especially exercise has a great impact on modifying our response to stress. Naturally, too strenuous an exercise will have a detrimental effect on the stress reaction – moderation is the key.
Drugs, prescription and over the counter, like chemicals not only alter the function of enzymes (this is how they actually work!) but also need to be processed and excreted which further adds to the total load of stressors for the body to deal with.

No Stress Pill Yet