Two Major Players In the Stress Game

By Wendy J. Hilliard, DC, Regional Wellness Manager

Knowles Apothecary Wellness

. http://www.knowleswellness.com/

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Two Major Players In the Stress Game

In today's American society, we have more responsibilities than one person can handle. A career, a home, a spouse, children, friends, running errands, paying the bills, not to mention taking care of ourselves so that we can keep up with it all. It's exhausting. Most of us don't remember to leave time to devout to ourselves. We forget that our health is the most important thing or we wouldn't be able to do all that we do. A busy lifestyle can cause underlying chronic stress that easily goes unnoticed.

Stress is a significantly overlooked cause of many chronic health conditions. Research conducted by the National Institute of Health has identified significant cellular and chemical changes that take place in our bodies when we are under significant stress. These changes are brought on by two major things. One is an excess of free radicals, the other is a build up of stress chemicals in our system.

Free radicals are unstable molecules produced by our daily digestion as well as regular exposure to the environment. Stress chemicals are produced by our adrenal glands, the organs that help our body deal with stress. Unfortunately, as adrenal glands combat stress, they also release certain chemicals which in excess can be harmful to our systems.

When we are under high stress our bodies have to work harder to do everything. So, more free radicals are produced, adrenal activity increases, and more stress chemicals go into our system. It is a bad cycle that will ultimately end in poor health. Excess free radicals and stress chemicals can cause cellular damage and challenge our immune system. This makes us more susceptible to illness and disease such as diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal disease, and certain cancers. Who knew stress could be so aggressive to our bodies?

So, what can help? Antioxidants are substances that stabilize free radicals and in turn protect against cell damage. To stabilize free radicals and strengthen our adrenals we can supplement our diet with stress reducing foods high in antioxidants such as walnuts, oatmeal, wild caught fish, dark green leafy veggies, oranges, pomegranate, blueberries, and spices like ginger and cinnamon.

We can also get antioxidants through nutritional supplements such as vitamin C, E, A, green tea, lycopene, and grape seed extract. Adrenals can be supported by vitamin B complex, DHEA, pregnenolone, and ashwagandha.

Sometimes stress is unavoidable. Let's pick our battles, arm ourselves with the proper defenses, and stay healthy.