A Bear Behind Every Tree
How chronic stress can ruin our health and vitality
Seven months ago, my fiance and I took his two children to the beautiful, serene mountains of North Carolina. We wanted a quiet get-away that would keep us safe from COVID and give us a little bit of a vacation from work and school. Our first hike for the weekend started on a peaceful trail located within Dupont State Forest. Dupont State Forest is home to several unique waterfalls, including Hooker Falls, our destination for the first hike. Barely a mile into the hike, we rounded a bend to find a bear directly in our path. I stopped short and almost couldn’t breathe. I have been hiking plenty of times and never encountered a bear. Having the kids with us was even more terrifying. My fiance and I spoke slowly to the kids and slowly back away and didn’t make any noise. The bear looked at us for a few seconds, which felt like minutes, and calmly walked into the forest. My heart dropped, and I felt frozen. I was scared the bear would come back or come charging out of the woods with a branch yelling, “get out of my forest!” This became the joke later as we continued our hike after waiting a few minutes.
The joking was good for the kids and us, but I could not shake the feeling that the forest was watching me and that around every bend, a bear would be there to attack. I never entirely calmed down during that hike. I was poised to run at any moment. When we got back to the cabin, I felt exhausted.
Imagine feeling like a bear is about to attack you or a loved one daily. What would that look like? What would that do to you mentally and physically? It seems silly to think about a bear in your neighborhood or at the grocery store, but that is exactly what is happening when we look at the root cause of chronic stress. How about a crabby boss who is never satisfied with an employee's work? That’s a bear. A bear can be camouflaged and hide in places we don’t even know. For instance, last year and starting 2021, the political unrest and the increased polarized nation we live in is a bear, a really angry bear. COVID is a mean sickly bear that keeps kids in the house always due to virtual learning. How about your spouse or significant other criticizing you or pulling away from you emotionally? That is most definitely a bear. Bears live on social media too, and we should be cautious in using it as a source of news or health information.
Bears can come in all shapes and sizes and even colors. Bears attack from hidden places, real or imagined. Bears are literally everywhere and people, are under threat. At least, that is how our bodies are responding to this onslaught daily. This response is key to the survival of the human race. The sympathetic pathway is our ticket out of a situation in which we may not survive. Without this pathway, we would spend too long thinking about running away from the bear and not enough time running from the bear. It is automatic, and we literally have no outside control once the hypothalamus sends out SOS signals to the rest of the body to run away or fight for your life.
The master hormone
Cortisol is a master hormone and one of the primary hormones released during responses to stress. Epinephrine and adrenaline also play a key role in preparing your body to flee or flight. High levels of cortisol racing around the body shifts several neurological and immune pathways into a hypervigilant state. In the short term, we absolutely need to be able to react quickly to save ourselves. For instance, you don’t want to be digesting your food and using energy for that if you have to fight for your life when the neighboring tribe arrives to pillage and plunder. However, if the body remains in a hypervigilant state for too long, it can lead to a hyper-stimulated stress axis and chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome and a weakened immune system. It may seem like the human race has advanced by leaps and bounds, but the basic physiological functions are still caveman era, and these functions always respond the same way whether the stress is a bear or your iPhone.
How does cortisol affect the body?
The hormone response works in a coordinated fashion to protect you from harm. There are cortisol and sympathetic pathway endocrine receptors located throughout the body. No system is unaffected and cut off from the sympathetic mode.
- The gut is severely impacted by chronic stress. Poor digestion results from decreased gastric acid levels, slowed gastric emptying time, and decreased motility of the intestines. If the gut is not functioning properly, nutrient absorption and breakdown is compromised, leading to nutrient deficiencies. This, in turn, can cause even more issues as the body needs more nutrients to survive in a high-stress environment. By itself, stress causes the body to burn up all the fuel to keep itself on high alert.
- High cortisol impairs melatonin overnight leading to poor sleep and a low cortisol awakening response.
- High cortisol also affects thyroid hormone function, which can lead to a hypothyroid condition and impair immune function, which can also impair thyroid function.
- Cortisol signals the liver to release glucose from fat stores and mobilize it in the muscles and tissues needed in the sympathetic response. This leads to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a progressive imbalance in glucose homeostasis and, if left unchecked, will eventually lead to diabetes. The body responds to an incredibly stressful situation by mobilizing glucose stores in the liver and adipose tissue, leading to increased energy for flight or fight. Some might think this would be a good thing and help with fat loss. However, over time it becomes a vicious cycle where the body pumps out more glucose while we consume even more glucose. Then the body has to respond by increasing insulin. The cells become desensitized and worn out from dealing with all that insulin and become resistant. Excess blood glucose is converted to fat and stored as adipose tissue. It continues progressively, leading to higher blood sugar levels and damage to the arteries, kidneys, eyes, and brain.
- Progesterone is a vital sex hormone, especially in women, and can be converted to cortisol within individual cells. This can be particularly devastating to women who are already in an estrogen dominant state. Without progesterone to balance out the estrogen, women are more likely to experience heavy periods, mood imbalances, and fertility problems. High levels of cortisol also inhibit GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone), which controls sex hormone synthesis of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone). These hormones are important for the release of the egg during ovulation and follicle maturation.
One cause, multiple chronic diseases
Thoughts are powerful. Thoughts can cause the hypothalamus to respond and react in ways we don’t have much control over. An imagined conversation can be just as detrimental as a real conversation. The nervous, immune and endocrine system is connected through an axis of glands known as the HPATG axis. HPATG stands for hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal, thyroid, and gonadal. This axis is a signaling pathway through which the glands send signals up and down the body to every organ and all related tissues. It is in constant communication, and even our thoughts can set off a cascade of stress signals that will ultimately lead to fight or flight. This axis works to keep us in balance and to allow us to thrive in our environment. When we are sympathetic dominant, meaning in an elevated cortisol state, this axis works to keep us alive. It is purposeful and self-preserving. This axis keeps us running from the bear, but it also leads to acid reflux, anxiety, depression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, weakened immunity, high blood pressure, insomnia, and infertility.
We cannot exist in this hyper state and still expect to live a life where we are thriving, growing, and reproducing like rabbits. It ain’t gonna happen. The body won’t let it happen because that would not be safe. We would not survive. So why is it mind-blowing that we believe as a society that existing in a chronic state of stress is ok? Why is being stressed a badge of honor? Why are we more likely to joke about stress but do nothing about it? Why do we compete on a more stressful life, and who is tolerating their stressful lives better? Why is it so wrong and weird to practice mindful meditation, have a daily yoga practice, or stay off social media?
How can we calm this system down?
It may seem as though we don’t have much control over how our body responds, which is valid on a chemical level. The body is gonna do what the body has been programmed to do for thousands of years. We can change certain aspects of our lifestyle and behaviors, which will give the body the information it needs to live in a rest and digest state most of the time.
- Get more sleep! Turn off all electronics at least an hour or more before bed and create a bedtime routine that gets you that extra hour of sleep you need. Meditation and yoga for just 15 minutes can help the body wind down from the day. Practicing gratitude and journaling can also be a source of calm after a long day.
- Eat quality food. Food is information for the body. If we feed it nutrients that it needs to function properly, we can reduce our bodies' physical demands. We do not have a pantry of nutrients stored in our gut. We have to eat daily to get adequate nutrition. Eliminate food-like substances and decrease caffeine and alcohol consumption.
- Get more exercise. Not just cardio, but resistance training and mobility and flexibility movements. If the body is in a hypervigilant state, high intensity and prolonged cardiorespiratory activities can cause even more cortisol release. Skipping the stressful stuff like HITT and running more than a few miles, and heading to the weight room can decrease stress hormones and lower insulin resistance and blood sugar levels.
- Prioritize an environment for stress reduction. What exactly is a stress-free environment. In most cases, it is more about our perceptions of the environment than the actual environment. Individual situations can be outside our control, especially at work. We can choose to respond differently in those situations by focusing on the breath and taking a minute to breathe in deeply and exhale completely. This automatically calms the sympathetic pathways.
Deal with the bear
For most of us, the ability to recognize we are in a hypervigilant state is difficult. It seems it’s the norm to be “wired and tired” and at the same time be dealing with multiple chronic diseases. Prioritizing a restful stress-free environment is not something the western culture is particularly good at. Dealing with bears is a personal journal and one that is unique to all of us. There is no quick fix or magic pill and most of us aren’t taught how to deal with stress in healthy ways. I would say if you are a child of the ’80s most likely you were taught to suck it up. I challenge you to deal with your bear this week. Step 1. Identify the bear! Be honest with yourself and come up with a strategy to eliminate or reduce that bear.
