We’ve all heard the expression before….”Stress is a killer” and most people will nod their head in agreement with that statement, but did you know that we also actually need STRESS in our lives?
So, what stress in your life is good and what stress in your life could be the root cause of significant health problems?
Most people associate the word stress with work, busy schedules, deadlines, bills and things of this nature, and while these are most certainly a major source for most people, stress comes in so many other forms.
Here is a list of possible stressors in your life that you might not be aware of:
STRESS
- Physical
- Mental
- Nutritional
- Chemical
- Electromagnetic Thermal
All of these stressors are actually needed to some degree in our lives and have amazing benefits in the right dosage.
For example, for Physical stress, our bones and muscles actually require a load, or “stress” in order to grow. If you are not moving, working out and putting some amount of stress in the form of weights on the body on a regular basis, muscles will atrophy (be lost) and bone will deteriorate, leading to osteoporosis.
All of science actually agrees (and that’s unusual) that 2 days of a scientific training can prevent and even reverse bone deterioration. So, that is a necessary and good physical stress on the body!
However, take the same physical stressor, and if you are OVER-training, without proper recovery that can have one of the most serious health consequences on your body long-term, leading to depression, fatigue, injury, upper respiratory infections and serious hormone changes.
Mental Stress is something we need to grow as human beings. Take a deadline for a project, for example. It is often very stressful on the person to get the project, essay, homework assignment, etc. in by a certain time, however without that deadline, we may never accomplish anything and similar to our other muscles, a stagnant brain can also lead to deterioration. A struggle in life also usually, makes us stronger, better people, so mental stress we experience also allows for huge personal growth. The negative side of mental stress is our thoughts. We have anywhere between 50,000-70,000 thoughts a day and unfortunately, for a large majority of the population most of those thoughts are NEGATIVE and in particular negative about self. That is hugely stressful on the body and just by changing your negative thoughts to positive thoughts can instantly have a positive impact on the body.
Nutritional Stress is another major problem in our society as we are bombarded by hundreds of different online articles and magazines telling us what we SHOULD and shouldn’t do. The positive stress with nutrition is that our body is “stressed” with digestion and extracting the nutrients from our food. We need that in order to survive and be be healthy. If you’re eating according to your Primal Pattern* type and acquiring the appropriate ratio of macro and micro nutrients for your own body, the good stress will allow you to be strong, full of energy, have great skin, hair, nails and sleep well. The negative stress in our present society is that most people are either eating way too much or way too little and ”dieting” and this is extremely damaging to our bodies.
The other component with nutrition and eating usually aligns with Chemical Stress as well. Unfortunately, unless you’re eating organic and unprocessed food for most of your meals, you are certainly taking in a high level of chemical stressors daily in the form of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, food coloring, preservatives, food thickeners and the list goes on and on. Your shampoo, make-up, soap, laundry detergent, etc. also have extreme detrimental effects on your body. Everything you put in and on your body is can be a stressor and if 90% of these chemicals are negative, it WILL negatively impact your health.
Electromagnetic Stress in the form of excessive computer and cell phone use, bright lights and microwaves are also very bad for your health and cause hormonal and autonomic nervous system problems and have now been linked to many diseases and cancer. Sunlight as an electromagnetic stressor in the right dosage is a necessity to our health, however too much sunlight can also lead to severe problems as well.
Paraclesus, a 16th century Physician said “Poison is in everything, and NO thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy” and this is true with our stressors…they can either be helpful or harmful, depending on how much we allow in our lives.
What can you change in your daily life that can decrease your stress level in all of these areas and lead you on a path of good health?
