Newsletter Story

May 31, 2005

Keeping An Open Mind

Chronic Stress-a Deadly Enemy

Stress is an extremely important protective mechanism for all animals, including humans. We’re designed by nature to detect danger and for the mind and body to become stressed as a result. When we fear the danger in our midst our brain signals the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline (a hormone). The adrenaline increases the amount of sugar in the blood and spikes the heart rate. The pituitary gland is also signaled to release cortisol, the other powerful hormone that serves to keep the blood sugar and heart rate up. All this hormonal activity is triggered expressly for the purpose of taking action: running away from danger or confronting it.

This response is typically called the stress response. When it gets triggered all the parts of the body that are urgently needed are put to use. All the other parts that aren’t urgently needed are either shut down or reduce functioning. All this stress focuses our energy on the task of protecting ourselves as efficiently as possible. Once we accomplish the task of self protection our minds and bodies get back to normal. The stress response is meant to be short-term.

If, on the other hand, we experienced a continuous stress response throughout the day, week, month or year(s), the effect that these hormones would produce could be catastrophic. Our blood pressure might be high all the time (potentially causing a stroke or heart condition); our digestion might be faulty (gastrointestinal disease can occur); we might contract diabetes due to high blood sugar; memory might be negatively affected due to improper blood flow to the brain; and our immune system might become compromised.

Chronic stress is a prolonged stress response. It is also, therefore, a major contributor to poor health, disease and death. Almost every aspect of a person’s life, physical and mental, can be affected by chronic stress.

Chronic stress can occur when a person is faced with protracted distress such as the aftermath of a bad hurricane or the life threatening illness of a loved one.

Although all of us are subject to the travails of life, some people are more susceptible to experiencing everyday life as hostile, a danger or something to be feared. These are people who may have some the following characteristics:

They act as if everything is an emergency,
They need everything to be perfect,
They are often micromanagers,
They need to control everything,
They often consider others incompetent,
They may get angry easily,
They rarely enjoy the moment and are often thinking about something else,
They often have a dark or negative view of things,
They can be unreasonable or “bullheaded”,
They are “always right”,
They can’t take criticism, even though it may be constructive,
They see things as black or white with little or no grey areas,
They may get angry or depressed easily.

People who have the above characteristics are often more predisposed to feeling continuously stressed out. They elevate their hormonal levels by virtue of the way they view the world, ultimately causing themselves more stress for longer periods of time. Unless it is brought to their attention that they are behaving poorly they may not notice. It is often because of the involvement of family or friends that a person suffering with chronic stress decides to get help or make changes.

We are all creatures of habit and develop patterns of behavior we rely on, even if these patterns are dysfunctional. Breaking old habits is not easy. In the case of chronic stress however, changing the patterns that got you there in the first place may save your life.