Stress seems synonymous with life in the 21st century. Who doesn’t feel rushed, pressured, hurried, anxious, or worried about deadlines, commitments, work, finances, or relationships. Whether from a charging lion, or a pending deadline, the stress response is the same. It stimulates the release of Cortisol, Adrenaline, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, DHEA, Growth Hormone, and several other powerful hormones that nature designed to help you adapt to the stress.
Adrenaline gives you the strength and speed to fight or flee from impending danger. It raises your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure, tenses your muscles, boosts your mental processing and speeds up your nervous system reaction time so that you can quickly get out of harm’s way. This rush of hormones has probably saved your life while driving, but when released too frequently due to the constant barrage of modern life stresses it can cause serious health problems.
Lasting Stress Effects of Stress
Even relatively short periods of stress may cause changes that leave brain cells hypersensitive for weeks, according to new research to uncover the molecular root of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Stress hormones can make you more alert and your muscles and nerves primed for action, but, chronic, cumulative or traumatic stress may cause long-lasting harmful effects. (Science 2002 Jan 18;295(5554):508-12)
When Adrenaline is high, the calming neurohormones Serotonin and GABA are lowered. Your nervous system can’t be on high alert and calm at the same time. As the immediate threat of danger passes your Serotonin and GABA levels are once again raised to inhibit the stress hormones, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, relax your muscles and calm your nerves. If, however, your stress is unresolved and unrelenting the constant flow of stress hormones over a prolonged period of time will increase your risk of ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, insomnia, anxiety, depression, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
On-the-Job Stress Causes Heart Attacks
Regardless of the occupation, researchers have found that workers who reported high job stress – defined as too much work as well as a lack of satisfaction and feeling undervalued and unappreciated – were 2.2 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than workers with low job stress. (British Medical Journal 2002;325:857-860)
Marriage Stress
Among couples who seem the most hostile during discussions of marital troubles, three stress hormones – Adrenalin, Norepinephrine and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) – rise considerably in their blood. These three stress hormones have been shown to be consistently and significantly elevated in couples who later divorced. These hormones cause high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess stomach acid and decreased nutrient absorption. The elevated hormone levels didn’t just appear in the blood drawn during the discussion of marital problems. It was also found in samples taken days later, even in samples drawn while the participants were asleep. (Psychol Bull 2001 Jul;127(4):472-503)
Stress Raises Risk of Catching a Cold and Cancer
According to recent research, psychological stress, particularly the chronic type, is a risk factor for more frequent or longer lasting infections. Psychological stress can take a toll on the immune system by raising stress hormones that suppress the immune system, including immune cells that help to ward off infections and cancer. (Epidemiology 2001;11:345-349)
Testing Your Stress Hormones
Recent advances in laboratory testing are now allowing doctors to test your key neurohormones to determine precisely which of your neurohormones are imbalanced. At the Hansen Clinic of Natural Medicine we can test all of your stress hormones including the calming neurohormones Serotonin and GABA as well as the excitatory neurohormones Epinephrine, Norepinephrine and Dopamine. These five key neurohormones maintain the body’s balance of mood and focus. Chronic stress can deplete Serotonin and GABA, the calming neurohormones and raise your excitatory neurohormones leading to anxiety, high blood pressure, ulcers, depression and more. If you have any of these symptoms of stress you should get tested so that we can help you get back in balance.
For more information about Stress Hormone Testing, click here.