Stress
Few events are as stressful as a diagnosis of cancer. As stress level increase the hormone (cortisol) also increases. Cortisol is a casual factor in cancer, when an individual is emotionally challenged, cancer has a significant advantage. The same holds true for bacterial and viral infections. As part of a stressful reaction, calcium is also released from its store in the bones in preparation for an immediate fight. If the calcium is not returned to the bones efficiently, the risk of osteoporosis increases.
This is not a state in which we want our bodies to stay in but in this modern day stressors are continually present in our lives stressing our bodies for one reason or another. All we can do is to take things day by day, creating a world that emphasizes hope and positive thinking, good, caring, peace, and healing from within, which goes a long way toward reducing stress.
Understanding Stress
Stress isn’t just an outside force. Rather, it s your physiologic response to specific stimuli (stressors). Your stress response mobilizes bodily systems so that they can help you adapt to the constant demands and changes in your life. Do these look familiar: long workdays, too little sleep, and information overload are among the leading sources of stress.
Whatever the cause of your stress, the thing to remember is that when environmental demands exceed your ability to cope, it creates stress, and stress can produce symptoms that lead to illness. Stress can be short term (acute) or long term (chronic), and the effects of stress can accumulate over time. Acute stress commonly is a reaction to an immediate or perceived threat.
Chronic stress is often related to situations that are not short lived, such as relationship problems, loneliness, or financial worries. Many of the physical reactions that accompany stress can damage your long-term health by contributing to physical or emotional illnesses, from a headache to heart disease. It can also aggravate any existing health problem. Stress can also trigger an illness that you’re already at risk for.
Stress can suppress the immune system with the hormone cortisol produced during a stress response. It can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and like I stated earlier stress can even worsen other illnesses. Everyone needs some stress in his or her life to keep things interesting.
The real issue is finding the right balance. Managing stress can help you to be more productive and happy. Poorly managed stress can hurt and even kill you. Because everyone is different, what works to reduce stress for you as the individual that you are, may not work for everyone else. And just because you don’t seem to have any symptoms of stress doesn’t mean you are not under stress of stress free, because some medications can mask them or deprive you of signs that are warning you to ease up.
Namaste!