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Is Chronic Stress Deteriorating Your Health?

WE OFFER NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO HELP YOU REDUCE STRESS SO YOU CAN RESTORE YOUR HEALTH

Is Chronic Stress Deteriorating Your Health?

WE OFFER NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO HELP YOU REDUCE STRESS SO YOU CAN RESTORE YOUR HEALTH

Is Chronic Stress Negatively Affecting Your Health?

Everyone experiences stress at one time or another, but chronic high stress, and how that stress is perceived, can be detrimental to your physical and mental health.

It can instigate feelings of anxiety and overwhelming fear.

It can also weaken your immune system and overall health, leaving you susceptible to colds and flu, an increase in aches and pains, as well as many serious illnesses.

Chronic stress silently deteriorates many aspects of your health, including hormone imbalances and modifications to the structure and function of your brain.

These changes make it more challenging to cope with daily stress, decrease concentration and memory, and eventually will lead to a mental or brain fog.

Amazingly, the effects of stress often go unnoticed until the accumulation manifests as mental or physical exhaustion or burnout.

Due to the overall compromised health and chronic disease stress causes, it has often been referred to as “The Silent Killer.”

Here are examples of symptoms and conditions that can result from chronic stress:

  • Decreased concentration

  • Mental or brain fog

  • Decreased memory capacity

  • Insomnia

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Fatigue

  • Muscle or back pain

  • Blood sugar dysregulation

  • Increased risk of type 2 diabetes

  • High blood pressure

  • Headaches or migraines

  • Hormonal and thyroid imbalances

  • Weight gain

  • Addiction (smoking, alcohol or drug abuse)

  • GI conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome

  • Frequent infections (such as cold or flu)

  • Accelerated aging

Is Chronic Stress Negatively Affecting Your Health?

Everyone experiences stress at one time or another, but chronic high stress, and how that stress is perceived, can be detrimental to your physical and mental health.

It can instigate feelings of anxiety and overwhelming fear.

It can also weaken your immune system and overall health, leaving you susceptible to colds and flu, an increase in aches and pains, as well as many serious illnesses.

Chronic stress silently deteriorates many aspects of your health, including hormone imbalances and modifications to the structure and function of your brain.

These changes make it more challenging to cope with daily stress, decrease concentration and memory, and eventually will lead to a mental or brain fog.

Amazingly, the effects of stress often go unnoticed until the accumulation manifests as mental or physical exhaustion or burnout.

Due to the overall compromised health and chronic disease stress causes, it has often been referred to as “The Silent Killer.”

Here are examples of symptoms and conditions that can result from chronic stress:

  • Decreased concentration

  • Mental or brain fog

  • Decreased memory capacity

  • Insomnia

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Fatigue

  • Muscle or back pain

  • Blood sugar dysregulation

  • Increased risk of type 2 diabetes

  • High blood pressure

  • Headaches or migraines

  • Hormonal and thyroid imbalances

  • Weight gain

  • Addiction (smoking, alcohol or drug abuse)

  • GI conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome

  • Frequent infections (such as cold or flu)

  • Accelerated aging

What Is Stress? What Are The 4 Key Stressors?

What Is Stress? What Are The 4 Key Stressors?

Initiation of the stress response begins within the brain and activates release of a series of hormones.

The stress response system includes the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).

 

The HPA axis and the SNS regulate your body’s fight-or-flight response, which is important for preparing the body to quickly respond to immediate danger, such as avoiding a car accident.

The result of HPA and SNS activation is a heightened sense of awareness, an accelerated heart rate and rapid breathing.

Cortisol is the primary hormone involved in regulating the stress response.

The adrenal glands secrete cortisol, along with the fight-or-flight hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). These hormones travel through the bloodstream preparing the body for a quick response to potential danger.

In addition to heightened awareness, you will experience an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure, as well as decreased immune defense, decreased digestion and a breakdown in muscle.

Once the stressor is removed, this state of “sympathetic nervous system dominance” will subside and your body will return to a normal relaxed state.

It is natural for the body to respond to occasional “acute” activation of the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system.

 

However, chronic stress resulting from living a stressful life is not what the body was built to withstand.

If the stressor(s) are not removed, or ongoing stress accumulates, the hormones will cause damage to the body by depleting the body’s resources and shifting into a state of catabolism, or breakdown.

The 4 Key Stressors

When most people think of stress, they usually limit their definition to mental and emotional stressors. Changing jobs or losing a loved one, for example, can send your stress (and cortisol) levels soaring.

 

However, events like blood sugar imbalances, inadequate sleep and inflammation, are also potent stimulators of cortisol production within the HPA axis. The result is an activation of the stress response system.

One of the most common and easiest stressors to control, is imbalanced blood sugar.

 

Skipping breakfast after fasting overnight, causes your blood sugar levels to drop. Your body attempts to restore balance by increasing cortisol levels which will restore blood sugar to normal.

There are no major consequences if this is an occasional occurrence, however, ongoing blood sugar fluctuations controlled by hormones can become a problem.

 

If blood sugar remains an issue, coupled with inflammation in the body, poor sleep patterns, and then topped with mental and emotional stress, you have created a recipe for disaster.

It is critical to identify the major stressors in your life so you may develop a plan to overcome stress before it becomes a pathway to chronic disease.

Discover Which Of The 4 Key Stressors Rule Your Life!

Initiation of the stress response begins within the brain and activates release of a series of hormones. The stress response system includes the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).

 

The HPA axis and the SNS regulate your body’s fight-or-flight response, which is important for preparing the body to quickly respond to immediate danger, such as avoiding a car accident. The result of HPA and SNS activation is a heightened sense of awareness, an accelerated heart rate and rapid breathing.

Cortisol is the primary hormone involved in regulating the stress response.

The adrenal glands secrete cortisol, along with the fight-or-flight hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). These hormones travel through the bloodstream preparing the body for a quick response to potential danger.

In addition to heightened awareness, you will experience an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure, as well as decreased immune defense, decreased digestion and a breakdown in muscle.

Once the stressor is removed, this state of “sympathetic nervous system dominance” will subside and your body will return to a normal relaxed state.

It is natural for the body to respond to occasional “acute” activation of the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system.

 

However, chronic stress resulting from living a stressful life is not what the body was built to withstand.

If the stressor(s) are not removed, or ongoing stress accumulates, the hormones will cause damage to the body by depleting the body’s resources and shifting into a state of catabolism, or breakdown.

The 4 Key Stressors

When most people think of stress, they usually limit their definition to mental and emotional stressors. Changing jobs or losing a loved one, for example, can send your stress (and cortisol) levels soaring.

 

However, events like blood sugar imbalances, inadequate sleep and inflammation, are also potent stimulators of cortisol production within the HPA axis. The result is an activation of the stress response system.

One of the most common and easiest stressors to control, is imbalanced blood sugar.

 

Skipping breakfast after fasting overnight, causes your blood sugar levels to drop. Your body attempts to restore balance by increasing cortisol levels which will restore blood sugar to normal. There are no major consequences if this is an occasional occurrence, however, ongoing blood sugar fluctuations controlled by hormones can become a problem.

 

If blood sugar remains an issue, coupled with inflammation in the body, poor sleep patterns, and then topped with mental and emotional stress, you have created a recipe for disaster. It is critical to identify the major stressors in your life so you may develop a plan to overcome stress before it becomes a pathway to chronic disease.

Discover Which Of The 4 Key Stressors Rule Your Life!

Introducing The SOS Stress Recovery Program

Introducing The Stress Recovery Program

The SOS Stress Recovery Program is a nutrition and lifestyle program designed to help bring the mind and body back into balance while eliminating the unhealthy effects of stress.

Each person’s response to stress is unique and complex. The essential tools in this program are designed to be flexible as they help support each component of the stress response, allowing you to find the perfect balance that restores your vitality and optimal health.

Throughout the program, you will better understand how stress affects your health on a daily basis – including why your body responds, or fails to respond, to the stressful events in your life.

 

Starting with the “Life Event Stress Inventory,” you will discover the life events that may be the most stressful. Additionally, the program outlines recommendations for the four major factors that trigger a stress response in the body: mental and emotional stress, blood sugar imbalances, insomnia and inflammation.

Once you understand these basic principles, you will have the tools to control your stress response, rather than be controlled by the events and circumstances around you.

Discover Which Of The 4 Key Stressors Rule Your Life!

The SOS Stress Recovery Program is a nutrition and lifestyle program designed to help bring the mind and body back into balance while eliminating the unhealthy effects of stress.

Each person’s response to stress is unique and complex. The essential tools in this program are designed to be flexible as they help support each component of the stress response, allowing you to find the perfect balance that restores your vitality and optimal health.

Throughout the program, you will better understand how stress affects your health on a daily basis – including why your body responds, or fails to respond, to the stressful events in your life.

 

Starting with the “Life Event Stress Inventory,” you will discover the life events that may be the most stressful. Additionally, the program outlines recommendations for the four major factors that trigger a stress response in the body: mental and emotional stress, blood sugar imbalances, insomnia and inflammation.

Once you understand these basic principles, you will have the tools to control your stress response, rather than be controlled by the events and circumstances around you.

Discover Which Of The 4 Key Stressors Rule Your Life!

learn more

Is your stress an underlying root cause of some of your health symptoms?

how stress affects your body

Our hard-wired stress response is designed to gives us the quick burst of heightened alertness and energy needed to perform our best. But, stress isn’t all good. When activated too long or too often, stress can damage virtually every part of our body. Sharon Horesh Bergquist gives us a look at what goes on inside our body when we are chronically stressed.

how stress affects your brain

Stress isn’t always a bad thing; it can be handy for a burst of extra energy and focus, like when you’re playing a competitive sport or have to speak in public. But, when it’s continuous, it actually begins to change your brain. Madhumita Murgia shows how chronic stress can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes.

learn more

Is your stress an underlying root cause

of some of your health symptoms?

how stress affects your body

Our hard-wired stress response is designed to gives us the quick burst of heightened alertness and energy needed to perform our best. But, stress isn’t all good. When activated too long or too often, stress can damage virtually every part of our body. Sharon Horesh Bergquist gives us a look at what goes on inside our body when we are chronically stressed.

how stress affects your brain

Stress isn’t always a bad thing; it can be handy for a burst of extra energy and focus, like when you’re playing a competitive sport or have to speak in public. But, when it’s continuous, it actually begins to change your brain. Madhumita Murgia shows how chronic stress can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes.

Frequently Used Links

Did you know that you can access lab testing without an order from your physician? Theresa can answer your questions and provide education about this. Schedule your free call here.

There’s an easier way to refill supplements! We’ve partnered with Fullscript, an online dispensing platform that ships recommended products to your front door! Create your free account now.

Deciding where to start is often the most difficult part of your health journey. The easiest way to know what to focus on first is to take this free assessment and then talk with Theresa to discuss your results.

At this time we are only able to work with clients that live in states that recognize compact nursing licenses. We are hopeful this will change in the future, but if you live in one of the following states then we cannot work with you at this time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Feel free to contact us to learn more.

Alaska, California, Conneticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon.

Theresa is not a medical doctor. Therefore, she does not diagnose or treat specific disease. Instead, she provides education so that you can become empowered and start to make better, more educated and informed decisions regarding your health. The information provided on this website, by Theresa, or any member of the Empower and Flourish team is intended to be construed as education, not medical advice. Please refer to our disclaimer, privacy statement, and terms and conditions for more information.

Did you know you can access lab testing without an order from your physician? We have partnered with Vibrant Labs to offer you a comprehensive set of labs for a fraction of the price you would pay elsewhere. Check it out now and let us know if you have questions.

All supplements are not created equally. That's why we only recommend Practitioner Grade supplements. We have partnered with Fullscript, an online dispensing platform that ships recommended products to your front door! Create your free account now.

Deciding where to start is often the most difficult part of your health journey. The easiest way to get started is to chat with us so we can help you decide where to focus your efforts. Once you schedule your call, we will send you a link to take the free health assessment.

At this time we are only able to work with clients that live in states that recognize compact nursing licenses. We are hopeful this will change in the future, but if you live in one of the following states then we cannot work with you at this time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Feel free to contact us to learn more.

Alaska, California, Conneticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon.

Our staff are not medical doctors. Therefore, we do not diagnose or treat specific disease. Instead, we provide education so that you can become empowered and start to make better, more educated and informed decisions regarding your health. The information provided on this website, by Theresa, or any member of the Empower and Flourish team is intended to be construed as education, not medical advice. Please refer to our disclaimer, privacy statement, and terms and conditions for more information.

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