By Karen McElroy
Naturopath, Medical Herbalist and Mind-Body Counsellor
Modern life for many of us is fraught with constant low grade stress. Even being available and switched ‘on’ 24/7 can often give us a feeling of mild stress. We are always anticipating the next thing to do in our ‘inbox’ or the next stress to deal with. Common stresses that I see amongst my patients include work dissatisfaction, a difficult boss, financial stress, relationship dramas and parenting demands. Then we also have the issues of environmental stress such as air pollution, electromagnetic radiation and chemicals in food and water. All these stresses in turn can lead to a variety of physical and psychological health problems that can themselves be a further source of stress!
The body has an inbuilt survival mechanism which allows us to mobilize its resources to escape or fight off danger and survive. The fight or flight response is a well known cascade of physiological effects that harness energy and strength to enable us to survive. While we may have evolved dealing with real life threatening situations (such as escaping from a wild animal or an enemy clan) our bodily response to modern day stresses are essentially the same. We don’t differentiate very well between true life-threatening stress and mere emotional stress, because the part of our brain that responds to stress needs to act quickly and automatically. Taking time to consider the options and engage the rational mind, may delay actions that could be costly or deadly.
The adrenal glands are small glands that sit like a hat on top of the kidneys and they are responsible for working with our stress responses. They are powerful little endocrine glands that manufacture and secrete steroid hormones such as cortisol, DHEA (which in turn can be made into oestrogen and testosterone) as well as adrenalin (sometimes called epinephrine). Many of the hormones produced by the adrenals are essential for good health and vitality, so if your adrenals aren’t functioning well, there can be widespread impacts. They modulate and support the function of every tissue, organ and gland in your body to maintain balance during stress or illness to help you heal or keep you alive. The adrenal hormones closely modulate many metabolic processes in the body and it is also the job of the adrenal glands to keep our body’s reactions to stress in balance so that they are appropriate and not destructive.
Adrenal burnout is a common condition that can arise when the adrenal glands are overworked and our stresses are high and demanding. Adrenal fatigue can give rise to everything from anxiety, depression, low energy and poor sleep to weight gain, recurrent infections and digestive issues.
There are wonderful herbs and a range of key nutrients that can really help your body function better under stress or help to deal with any interrelated medical issues. I find that nearly every medical condition is worse for stress. Learning to manage our stress in a practical sense is thus also essential for health and wellbeing on every level. Much of what I do with many of my patients is help them make choices and create strategies that can moderate their stress. We go through all the events or situations which contribute to their stress load and identify the things that they can change in a practical sense. In some cases, even just changing our attitude or perception of situations can help decrease the effect of these stresses on our health and wellbeing. Learning how to meditate or engage in mindfulness practices as well as applying practical tools in understanding our individual patterns and behaviours can all be very useful in managing stress.
Karen McElroy is a leading naturopath, medical herbalist and wellness consultant on the Sunshine Coast, specialising in women and children’s health. For an appointment, BOOK NOW online or call us on 07 5449 7088.
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