Naperville Integrated Wellness

NAPERVILLE'S TOP RATED LOCAL® FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE FACILITY

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HOW STRESS IS AFFECTING YOUR LIFE

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Let’s face it, STRESS happens! Understanding the impact of stress on your body can help you take steps to improve your overall health.

First, let’s get clear on what stress is and how the body responds to it.  Stress is any event that happens that disrupts the body’s state of equilibrium (or balance).  

Side note: This can be a real or perceived threat.  That’s right, the body will respond to not only threats/events that are actually happening to us but also to perceived threats.  In other words, the body will create the same chemicals whether an event is actually happening or just vividly imagined.

Some of the most significant life stressors are listed below. Do you identify with any of the following:

  • The death of a spouse, family member or friend
  • Physical injury & illness
  • Emotional or physical abuse
  • Financial challenges
  • Issues at work, being fired, or laid off
  • Change in a relationship
  • Marriage, divorce or marital separation
  • Exams & studying
  • Buying a house or moving residences
  • Reading/watching the news
  • Having a child
  • Starting a new job or retiring

Stress can be ACUTE or CHRONIC. 

A ‘stressor’ situation causes the brain to release a hormone called ACTH which signals the adrenal glands (stress glands) to produce adrenaline and cortisol.  These hormones create physiological responses in the body that allow for a swift and efficient response to a stressful event (details intentionally omitted for simplicity). 

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This is a normal response to a stressful situation. When the stress is short lived, the body can return to normal physiological function with no long-term detrimental effects.

The problem occurs when stress becomes chronic.  Chronic stress can be a result of continual or ongoing stressful events that occur with frequency.  The results of chronic stress can wreak havoc on the body.

The long-term activation of the stress response results in over exposure to stress hormones and this can disrupt almost all body processes.  This results in an increased risk of many health problems.

Some of symptoms of chronic stress can include the following:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Digestive problems
  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension and pain
  • Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure
  • Sleep problems
  • Weight gain
  • Memory and concentration issues

If you are suffering from chronic stress, then you probably have increased inflammation in your body.

stress, inflammation and functional medicine

STRESS AND INFLAMMATION ARE CONNECTED

How are stress and inflammation connected? Let’s start with stress. When you are under stress your brain signals your “stress glands” to kick into action. Your stress glands are also known as your adrenal glands. You have 2 adrenal glands and they are located on top of your kidneys.

Your adrenal glands produce cortisol and it can help you and harm you. If you don’t have enough it if your may suffer with low blood sugar and/or inflammation.

If you have too much cortisol you may have problems losing weight.

Excess cortisol also causes damage to your brain; one area particularly affected is the hippocampus. Your hippocampus helps regulate emotions and memory.

So the cortisol from stress makes it more difficult to control your emotions which only leads to more stress! The more stressed you are the more inflamed you become.

Your adrenal glands also produce adrenaline. If you have low energy and fatigue you may not produce enough adrenaline. Adrenaline also helps control inflammation in your body and suppress inappropriate immune responses; like allergies.

You will notice that Blood Sugar has been placed before Stress/Inflammation on the functional medicine pyramid that I have created. This is because we don’t want to put STRESS on your adrenal glands by forcing them to raise your blood sugar. Instead, you want to eat the kinds of foods that make it easy for your body to maintain blood sugar. When your blood sugar drops too low, it causes your brain to send out a “stress signal” to your adrenal glands; they respond this this as stress and cause a rise in blood sugar. We all have enough stress in our lives and don’t need to add low blood sugar to the list of stressors we are dealing with.

Your adrenal glands perform other functions in your body, but I’m just going to focus on their role in stress and inflammation.

You will also notice that I have placed Stress / Inflammation below the Immune System on the functional medicine pyramid. This is because when the adrenal glands are not working properly they can’t help support a healthy immune response.

When you get stressed and rundown do you think you are more likely to get sick?

The cortisol produced by your adrenal glands is also a natural steroid; much like prednisone. Have you heard of people taking steroids to reduce inflammation or suppress autoimmune conditions?

The inflammation and stress issue can also go in reverseif your body is inflamed due to poor diet, poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies, poor detoxification, etc.; your body will be placed under more stress. So stress can cause inflammation and inflammation can cause stress.

It is impossible to separate these two major issues…they coexist. By reducing stressors on your body and reducing sources of inflammation, this whole level of the pyramid is restored to normal and healthy function.

stress and inflammation

If you suffer with Immune System problems you will have a hard time improving your situation if your natural stress glands / immune-regulating glands (adrenal glands) are not working properly.

Sources of inflammation from poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies, poor detoxification or poor blood sugar regulation (especially high blood sugar or high insulin) will place a tremendous burden on your immune system.

Now you see the relationship between stress and inflammation and how it will affect other systems of your body. The various systems of the body are connected like a web; I put them in a pyramid so you can see how they are related and the order they should be addressed.

For example, does it make sense that if you have an inflammation problem coming from the digestive tract that you would want to address that problem before attempting to support adrenal gland function? How can the adrenal glands get a break and heal if this constant source of inflammation from the gut is not addressed first? You need to quit pouring gasoline on the fire if you want it to go out…right?

In this case, the gut would be a root cause of poor adrenal gland function and poor inflammation control.

If you live in Chicago, GenevaNaperville, or another surrounding area AND are interested in learning more about functional medicine, give us a call today!

In my next article I will be covering Immune System which I have placed at Level #5 of the FMHP.

I hope you have found value in this information.

The purpose of functional medicine is:

To understand how the body works, by recognizing how and where to investigate health issues, knowing what to look for, understanding the significance of what is found in order to create a plan of action to reverse and correct the root cause the health problems.

My wish for you…health, happiness and a better quality of life! 

If you would like more information about functional medicine and integrative medicine or Dr. Borkowski go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com

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Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information, you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources and organizations.

This approach to healthcare is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease. Why? The FDA enforces its position that these words can only be used with drugs. This approach does not use drugs.

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