Stress is one of the most potent contributing factors to health especially for those suffering with other chronic health problems or injury.

When we are considering the stress response we also need to recalibrate our understanding of what stress is. 

When most people think of stress, the obvious external factors that cause it come to mind like, screaming kids, job related pressure, relationship problems or just trying to do too much in the time we have.

However a huge amount of stress comes from invisible internal factors such as:

·        Lack of sleep

·        Blood sugar imbalance

·        Chronic pain

·        Food intolerances

·        High Carbohydrate diets

·        Autoimmunity

·        Chronic inflammation

·        Exposure to environmental toxins

Your bodies stress response is complex and involves many factors but the main players are your nervous system, adrenal glands and hormone production, which in turn affects other parts of your body like the brain, heart, liver and muscles to respond accordingly. 

Adrenal Gland Hormones

The adrenal glands produce three main types of hormone the mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids and catchecholamines.

Mineralocorticoids such as aldosterone play a role in controlling water and electrolyte balance in the body. 

Glucocorticoids, the most important being cortisol, help you with:

1.   Breakdown of proteins - Glucocorticoids increase the rate of protein breakdown, mostly in muscle fibre which release amino acids into the blood stream. The amino acids can then be used by the liver cells to make new proteins such as enzymes for metabolic reactions or by other cells for ATP (energy) production.

2.   Gluconeogenesis - Production of glucose in the from amino acids or lactate.

3.   Lipolysis – Glucocorticoids stimulate the breakdown of triglycerides and fatty acids from adipose tissue.

4.   Resistance to Stress – By providing tissue with energy via ATP this helps the body to combat a range of stressors, including - fasting, exercise, fright, temperature extremes, pain, altitude, infections, trauma and disease but because they also make blood vessels more sensitive they cause vasoconstriction and therefore higher blood pressure.

5.   Anti-inflammatory effects – Glucocorticoids are anti-inflammatory they will, reduce the number of mast cells (a type of immune cell which releases histamine), slow the release of inflammatory enzymes, decrease capilliary permeability reducing swelling and depress certain immune cells – On the other side of this coin they will also slow down wound healing and connective tissue repair.

The catchecholamines, adrenaline and noradrenaline, are both sympathomimetic hormones, meaning they activate the sympathetic nervous system which is often referred to as the “Fight or flight response”.

These hormones also help the body to resist stress and have many effects on your body:

1.   They increase heart rate and force of contraction increasing blood pressure

2.   Increase blood flow to the heart, liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue.

3.   Dilate the airways to the lung

4.   Increase the levels of blood glucose and fatty acids

If you look at the list above you can see how it would prepare the body to either “fight or flight” from a stressor – Imagine coming across a tiger on your morning walk – do you stay and fight or run?

Your body’s ability to produce these hormones in response to stress is perfectly normal – in fact it is essential but it must be balanced with periods of rest.

Problems arise when stress becomes too great and our bodies are in a state of constant stress or put another way are always in a “fight or flight mode” and are never able to switch off.

We are not always able to remove external stressful events from our lives but we are able to manage internal factors that will affect our ability to handle stress. The basics of eating a well balanced diet, doing daily exercise and maintaining good loving relationships and getting good amounts of sleep, all have a significant positive impact on your ability to handle stress, improve your ability to recover from injury and boost your immune system.