Hidden Connections

So what is stress? It is not all bad, there is the good stress ‘eustress’ and then there is the chronic ongoing stress. Eustress helps us keep motivated and FEEL good about life. Physiological response to PERCEIVED stressful events in the environment”. These stressful events can also be physical stressors NOT just mental/emotional such as the exposure to toxic chemicals such as chemical pollutants.

It is vital to understand this in relation to illnesses that are linked to stress such as high/low blood pressure, anxiety, colic in newborns, eczema, asthma, auto-immune conditions, IBS, chest infections, and so forth.

H is for Hypothalamus, P is for Pituitary and A is for Adrenals. The H speaks to the P that speaks to the A through releasing hormones. This connection is vital for dealing with stress, for survival.

The increase in diseases in the 21st century which includes the above and the connection between the stress hormone cortisol released by the adrenals for ‘survival’ due to stress and the fact that cortisol (aka the stuff in steroid medications but a synthetic version) is used to ‘treat’ asthma, eczema, auto-immune conditions. We are using stress hormones to ‘manage’ and in all honesty suppress illnesses.

So imagine asthma, where the lungs are struggling to get in oxygen, suddenly this ‘critical’ life-threatening event is relieved by a STRESS HORMONE i.e. steroid inhalers. So asthma is a disease of stress if it is relieved by a synthetic version of our stress hormone.

Stress has 3 events

– the event/stressor

– processing apparatus of the stressor/event

– the final physiological stress response

Suggested Read: Simple Way to Relieve Stress

A lot of stress is subconscious beliefs

An example, a baby is crying as mum/dad leaves for work or has to go somewhere or gets dropped off at nursery. The child experiences the stressor which is being abandoned, cries and cries, and cries, the second event is to process this in order to survive, this processing sets up subconscious beliefs, these beliefs can be anywhere from,

– I am not loved

– I am not worthy

– Something is wrong

– I am not safe….

Then the 3rd event is the adaptation, so when mum comes back the baby may be defensive, detached, develops eczema, chest infection, ear infection, streaming cold, etc.

So we tell ourselves these stories and the fact that they are unconscious we become disconnected to our true authentic self. We adapt to survive.

These beliefs that are set up in our early years can go onto contribute to illness, these early experiences become templates of how we ‘do/live a life’. We can live life with a chronic illness such as Hashimoto’s disease (an auto-immune condition) or with asthma or eczema, or an addiction, etc.

Suggested Read: Stress Management Techniques

The MINDBODY connection is the most ‘avoided’ in traditional medicine and we have a system that divides our body into parts like a vehicle, if you have digestive system issues, see a gastroenterologist (but don’t even bring up the word autism), if you have hormonal issues see an endocrinologist if you have high blood pressure see a cardiologist if you have cancer see an oncologist…catch my drift?

Has an oncologist ever asked, “what are you running from?” Has a cardiologist asked, “how was your childhood?” Has an ENT specializing in asthma asked: “what can’t you get off your chest?”

It is not all just ‘touchy-feely’ but as human BE-ings, we are absolutely ‘touchy-feely’…that need for connection is deeply wired into us.