STRESS AND THE EFFECT IT HAS ON OUR HEALTH (STRESS PART ONE)

STRESS AND OUR HEALTH

The human body is very clever and nature has really thought of everything. One of the reason's why I loved teaching anatomy and physiology was how amazing and wonderful,l how cleverly crafted and designed it is. Anyone can remember anatomy by rote but it is understanding the physiology that brings anatomy to life and it makes the anatomy easier to remember. When you begin to understand the body's physiology you will become hooked and want to know more. It is all the more amazing when you realise what happens in our bodies during stress.

As we evolved as humans like most animals we had predators but nature being clever it gave us a mechanism to enable to deal with predators and danger for when we lived a simple life, it was this that caused us stress, this is known as "The Fight or Flight Response".

What this fight or flight response did was to make us super human for a short space of time, it gave us an extra boost of energy, it raised our heart rate, boosted blood flow to the muscles, so we could run away fast or give us the strength to fight off our predators and increased our oxygen levels so our muscle cells, both in the heart and skeletal muscles could function properly, like so.

The most primitive part of our brains is known as the 'Hypothalamus' it is this part of our brain that maintains homeostasis in the body, in other words regulates everything, it is the home of our moods and emotions and our drive and an important part of its job is to regulate our hormones, these are chemical messengers that target various organs in our bodies to achieve an effect. We can influence our hypothalamus via holistic therapies more about this later.

When we are frightened this evokes a reaction within the hypothalamus, now its a long time since we've had to cope with being a victim of predators and the stress that caused but we do have other stressors, as far as the body is concerned the stress of work, not having enough money or an argument with a partner, its all stress and we can expect the body to react in the same way as we evolved as humans. Therein lies the problem, life was simpler all these years ago, we hunted for food, we didn't have the society as we do now, we didn't have to keep up with 'The Jones's' as we do now coveting the latest gadgets and cars and not having the money to pay for them. As a result we are switched on to 'The fight or flight syndrome' for longer than nature really intended and this mechanism was only designed to be in use for a set period not the length of time it is today. The trouble is, how can you compare being chased by a hungry tiger to that of your work colleagues annoying you? In my opinion I would say the stress of having a tiger chasing me was the real stress and not the latter. I feel as humans we have somehow allowed ourselves to become more easily stressed for longer and we don't know how to switch this stress mechanism off.

To understand how stress affects the body you need to understand the physiology of what actually goes on in the body. Now anxiety, fear etc is felt in the hypothalamus it has a two fold reaction.

HYPOTHALAMUS

has two actions

1 Hypothalamus releases a hormone to the anterior lobe of the Pituitary gland to stimulate it to produce Adrenocorticotrophic Hormone (ACTH)	2 Fight or flight response Sympathetic Nervous Response
ACTH targets the Adrenal cortex (Adrenal glands) to produce Mineralcorticoids and Glucocorticoids and this can also trigger the release of more Androgens	Activates Adrenal Medulla to release Adrenaline and Noradrenaline
It is the Mineralcorticoids and the Glucocorticoids which sustain the effects of stress by keeping the blood pressure raised. Glucocorticoids also release more sugar into the blood to give the bodies cells more energy to deal with the stress	These hormones increase the heart rate and blood pressure by constriction of the very small arteries (arterioles) in the body diverting blood flow away from the less important organs in the body i.e. The skin and hair and keeps the blood to the core important organs such as the heart, lungs and brain. Adrenaline also keeps the brain alert to enable a fast response to danger
However if this stress continues for a long period the increased blood pressure which is sustained due to the effects of the release of mineralcorticoids impairs the body's immune system, it has an effect of decreasing the body's inflammatory response as this hormone affects the body's electrolyte balance (salts) Glucocorticoids whilst initially releasing more sugar into the blood as fuel can instigate type 2 Diabetes and thus poor healing if this continues for a long time. These corticoid hormones damage Fibrocytes, it is these cells which produce collagen and elastin so skin is damaged, losing its elasticity and firmness Increased Androgens (a knock on effect of the other adrenal hormones being produced) can stimulate masculine hair growth patterns and stimulate the oil glands in the skin causing spots	Adrenaline increases the blood pressure, increases the heart rate Sympathetic nervous system diverts blood from the less important organs such as the skin and hair and the digestive system to the muscles, lungs and heart and makes the mind very alert

Now nature never designed this system to go on indefinately it was only meant for short term use to protect us from danger, so can you now see how stress can affect our health, by impairing our immune system (the corticoid hormones damage T-lymphocytes and important part of our immune system) and how long term stress raises the blood pressure, straining the heart and can lead to kidney damage and strokes. It also has a detrimental effect on our skin and hair by reducing blood flow and damaging collagen and elastin, and impairs our digestion. The adrenaline prevents us from switching off and relaxing and impairs sleep. 

However all is not lost there are effective ways in reducing stress and alleviating all these effects and I shall write about this soon.

Maggie Brown (Author)

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