The Stress Factor
“I’m so stressed”. “I’m stressed out”
Phrases that have become a part of our colloquial language. Phrases that give us a false sense of being busy. Well, it is time to not take this lightly anymore. Stress is a silent factor, creating a series of physiological events inside your body. The cause of stress could be emotional or physical.
Symptoms (Stressors):
Physical – Stomachaches, headaches, racing heart
Emotional – Fatigue, irritability, cravings for sweet/salty foods
Some people are so used to living with stress that they don’t even notice these symptoms. In fact, a section of society even thrives on stress! Although the external picture may not imply any damage, please remember, all stressors cause an amazing cascade of events inside your body, called the stress response.
The Stress Response:
Your body reacts to stress in two ways –
Nervous system response:
The autonomic nervous system controls body functions such as heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, digestion, etc. Its function is critical with on and off switches that are supposed to balance each other. The on switch (sympathetic nervous system) fires up when you are stressed, and initiates the fight-or-flight response, making your heart beat faster. This is one part of your stress response. The off switch (parasympathetic nervous system) applies the brakes, helping you relax and turn off the stress response.
Activation of hormones (cortisol & adrenaline):
During stress the body reacts by initiating a chain of hormone reactions that start in the brain. Situated side by side, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland are where your emotions, thoughts, and feelings are translated into hormone signals. First, the pituitary glad releases hormones, in turn stimulating all the endocrine organs, including the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries or testicles, to make their own hormones. When the stress response is initiated, the hypothalamus secretes cortisol- releasing hormone (CRH) and then the pituitary secretes a hormone called adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). This in turn cause the adrenal glands to release the main stress hormone, cortisol, the most potent of them all. Severe and acute stress leads to high cortisol levels. This raises the blood sugar to enable flight or flee. Being the main anti- inflammatory hormone in the body, it suppresses your immune cells, preparing the body for a potential injury. During injury, the inflammation created by immune cells can get in the way of healing, and so by suppressing the immune system, cortisol helps prevent it from becoming overactivated and releasing molecules that are damaging to the tissues that need to be healed.
Stress and Autoimmune disease
Stress can change your adrenaline, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen levels. Initially stress causes and increase in all your hormone levels, but over time, chronic stress can bring down these hormone levels. This connection between stress and your hormone levels is an important factor wherein stress affects the immune system, because all the hormones are immunomodulators. This means they can influence the number of immune cells or change their activity, making them stronger or weaker.
Stress, Gut Health and Autoimmune disease
Various types of stress have a major impact on the gut. There is a clear link between stress and conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Seventy percent of your immune system is located in the gut or digestive tract. Keeping this part healthy is critical, by ensuring the right amount of good bacteria, and secondly, by making sure that the cells that line your entire digestive tract and form a barrier that regulates what can pass into your blood stream, are healthy. Research has proven that stress can lower the number of good bacteria and enhance an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the small intestine. Stress also makes the lining of your digestive tract more permeable, so bad bacteria and bacterial antigens can seep into the body. This leaky gut allows things such as food protein to enter the bloodstream, thereby stimulating the immune system, casing inflammation and the possibility of new food allergies or sensitivities.
Dealing with Stress:
Nobody can escape stress. But one can control one’s reaction to stress. You can control how stress comes into your body and how it affects your nervous system and your hormones. By doing so, you can prevent stress from weakening your immune system and lead a healthy life.