“Damaging stress is created when forces or circumstances outside the body overwhelm the mind, the physiology, and the senses in the body causing them to go through a negative change.

“Unlike the obviously harmful events such as a fresh cut that bleeds, the damaging and even deadly effects of stress can often be a silent killer.”

There is a direct link between stress and the dysfunction of various parts and systems within the body. Stress reactions alter the digestive system, over-stimulate certain glands while under stimulating others, affect heart function and change breathing. As a result, stress has an actual, measurable negative impact on:
• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol
• Electrolytes
• Brain chemistry
• Blood sugar levels
• Joint function
• Hormonal balance

All of the physiological problems associated with stress will speed up the aging process and cause or contribute to literally every type of symptom or disease known to man. Stress even makes you gain weight.

“People all face much of the same outside factors that cause stress. Work, relationships, school, personal and family health problems, money issues, and even positive events like weddings and parties can all be stress-producing circumstances. However, none of these things are necessarily bad.

“Both happy events and tragedies alike cause a stress response in the to not get up in the morning!

“On the other hand, stress only becomes negative when your response to it is negative. The condition we call stress is entirely self-induced. It is how each individual responds to stress, and not the stress itself, that causes a negative reaction in the body.

“Stress is not a person, a condition or an event. Stress is a reaction to a person, a condition or an event. Just how negative this reaction is will determine the amount of emotional turmoil and damage done to the body. Effectively, any injury induced by stress is a self-inflicted wound.”
-Dr Ben Lerner

Okay that’s interesting so far… But why do we feel so horrible when we are stressed? The fight-or-flight response our physiological response to stress is the same no matter what the stressor is, be it physical danger, psychological distress or imagined threat. The ‘fight-or-flight’ response is one of our body’s built-in defense mechanisms. Its purpose is to stimulate the system so that it can either escape from danger or confront it. The response occurs with any perceived threat, regardless of whether it is real (in a physical sense) or psychological (imagined). This means, of course, that the fight-or-flight response can be triggered either by physical danger or by our feelings and thoughts about a possible threat or danger. Today we have many more stressors than our ancestors faced. We also have the problem that, unlike our ancestors, it’s not polite to hit another person on the nose for ‘stressing you out’ or running away from the boss or place of work when the going gets tough. Paying the mortgage is still going to be there at the end of the month, isn’t it.

When we are under stress, our bodies respond with the fight-or-flight response. How does this occur? Well, we know that our brains respond to both real and imagined danger by sending signals to the part of the brain called the Hypothalamus. This activates the stress response, stimulating the nervous system. The nervous system reacts and creates changes in our bodies, releasing chemicals that get us pumped and ready to fight or to run away from the perceived danger. This response was all well and good for our ancient ancestors in dealing with the occasional sabre-toothed tiger or going on a hunt for mammoths. Life for us today is quite different from those far-off times, yet the stress response is still with us and triggers changes in our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscles just as it did in our ancestors’ days. If, however, we cannot turn off the stress response, or if it is triggered constantly, we’re in trouble.