I'm going to make a bold statement here. Some of you won't like it and will stop reading immediately, but a few of you will be curious as to what I could possibly mean and you will hear me out. Please let me just say in advance: Thank you.
"We can be and do and have whatever we want in our lives." We teach this to our children and our parents taught it to us. But somehow as we have lived life in its beauty of ups and downs we have forgotten this truth. We can be and do and have whatever we want and that includes amazing health and wellness.
The CDC states CV disease is the # 1 health threat. I am going to be controversial here and state that that's not the complete picture. In my opinion dis-stress is what we need to avoid at all costs. If you think about what's actually happening inside the body, you too may come around to my way of thinking... ( but if you don't it's ok! I'm not going to stress over that! ;)
I know you probably have heard of cortisol: you know that hormone that your body produces in response to stress? Most people think cortisol is the enemy and if we could only stop producing it we'd be a ok! We'll hold your horses dear one! There is more to this story.
We do need cortisol! You know how when you are running away from those tigers and and other such predators? Cortisol does a wonderful thing: it shuts down non essential services like digestion, immune functions, and growth and repair and focuses our bodies resources on the body parts most needed in that moment, for example : energy to the legs to get out of there.
Having outrun the tiger, cortisol is quickly removed from the system and normal functions return. Yay cortisol!
Well ok -in addition to this being an oversimplification of things, it is also true that in our lives with our lifestyles things don't tend to go as planned. In our modern lives the stressful scenario is probably not a predator in the actual sense of the word, but more likely something we are worrying about at home, at work, with our families... You get the picture. We trigger our stress response but never seem to turn it off like we used to once tiger was no longer in the picture.
Cortisol constantly bombarding our systems has a negative effect on growth and repair, on our immune system on inflammation and on our digestive systems. It's no wonder that some statistics show as many as 50% of Americans suffering from chronic pain, more and more people are being diagnosed with tummy trouble (IBS is more prevalent now than ever before!) And it's no wonder that we just don't seem to recover from little ailments the way we once used to.
If this speaks to you or someone close to you, don't despair. You are not alone. Most of us, myself at the front of the line on this, let stress get the best of us. I believe though that if we can manage our stress better and can allow our bodies to reset the way they very well know how to, then the amazing health we are reaching for will be more easily attained.
As always these articles are for general information. Do talk to your healthcare provider before starting any health or wellness regimen. If we can be of service in any way please do call us in office, we are happy to help.
Regards in health,
Dr Shepherd
