Not all stress is bad. Actually we need some stress to adapt, grow and thrive as strength training – we break down our muscles by lifting heavy weights then we recovery, repair and rebuild better stronger muscles in our “rest” time in between sessions.
But what if you don’t let your muscles heal and rebuild in between training sessions?
What if you did heavy strength training back to back days as bench press or pull-ups?
Your muscles would not able able to repair and prepare for the next burst of “stress”.
Hormesis. A little stress is good for you. More stress is not good for you!
Stressor is on then we rest and recovery… a dose, a burst or blast of short periods of stress then it stops and we can recovery from the stress.
Some stress is beneficial but when the source of stress doesn’t stop and becomes on-going or chronic…then what is happening to our health at a cellular level?
Do you want to avoid internal breakdown and burnout of all your body systems as I did starting back in 2013? I thought I was super fit, strong and healthy on the inside and out. I walked the talk. I did everything I thought I was to be doing… hey I was a personal trainer, run/triathlon coach, and Superhuman Coach. I was doing everything… and that was my problem or rather my “area of opportunity”.
I needed to stop doing everything and living with the mantra “more is better” as I was a “super human” in my mind.
Everyone reinforced that belief in my head as each day at least one person would ask me “when is your next race Debbie”?
Less is more. It is the “Goldilocks Effect” for everything… almost everything. BUT how much is too much or too little depends on YOU as you are a unique individual with your own genetics, triggers, lifestyle habits, and gut biome.
You can transform the WHOLE you from the inside out with what I call “The WHOLESTIC Method” elements … lifestyle habits are essential to optimizing your health but we also need to run functional lab tests and take the right supplements to fill in the missing nutrients or support imbalances, as well as to assess what is “under the hood” to determine if you are actually fit and healthy from the inside out …or just fit on the outside and unhealthy on the inside.
Why wait until you become broken and can’t pedal another stroke on your bike ride as I did in March 2013?
Now I have a solution for you … you can take ownership of your health and well-being with THE WHOLESTIC Method elements that you can learn more about in my manual and workbook on Amazon plus on the podcast but also now with my new online health coaching program services.
Hormesis is defined as a dose-response phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, and has been recognized as representing an overcompensation for mild environmental stress. … The effects of DR are considered to result from hormetic mechanisms.
Beneficial effects of mild stress (hormetic effects): dietary …www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
When less is more: hormesis against stress and disease- All living organisms need to adapt to ever changing adverse conditions in order to survive. The phenomenon termed hormesis describes an evolutionarily conserved process by which a cell or an entire organism can be preconditioned, meaning that previous exposure to low doses of an insult protects against a higher, normally harmful or lethal dose of the same stressor. Growing evidence suggests that hormesis is directly linked to an organism’s (or cell’s) capability to cope with pathological conditions such as aging and age-related diseases.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5354599/
Do you want to be a HEALTH OPTIMIZER? Or are you already struggling weight unexplained weight gain, chronic fatigue, brain fog and depression? THEN you need to sign up for my 90-day + HEALTH REBUILDER coaching program!
As a certified FDN “health detective” practitioner and Nutritional Therapist, I focus on helping my clients identify their sources of chronic stress. Chronic stress comes from a combination of external stressors and “H.I.D.D.E.N.” Internal stressors that you don’t know about unless you run functional lab testing to find out if any…
- Hormone imbalances– cortisol/DHEA ratio, cortisol/Melatonin, progesterone/estrogen balance… circadian rhythm, HPA Axis, HP-Thyroid and Ovaries.
- Immune dysfunction– gut health, leaky gut, IP damage, pathogens, food sensitivities
- Digestion dysfunction- sympathetic dominance, poor stomach acid and protein breakdown, nutrient malabsorption, poor digestive acids, poor bile flow, gut health, leaky gut, IP damage, pathogens and food sensitivities.
- Detoxification- Phase I and II, liver congestion, bile flow
- Energy systems– mitochondria, oxidative stress, chronic fatigue
- Nervous systems- NT and PNS/SNS imbalances, imbalance
As FDN Practitioners, we DO not treat the test results or treat anything specific- instead we treat everything unspecifically. I learned this the hard way after eight years of struggling to repair, rebuild and restore my own health by seeing multiple doctors and practitioners who just seem to treat me lab results.
Part of my problem, or “area of opportunity” as I always say, is to improve my lifestyle habits. You can”t out supplement poor lifestyle habits as over training, under recoverying, poor sleep habits and more contributors to “living life as a race”.
Chronic stress accumulates and overfills your “beaker of stress” and leads to dysfunctions downstream from north to south as HPA Axis dysfunction leads to all sorts of imbalances in our other body systems as our body and hormones work together as a type of “orchestra”.
For example, when we run the DUTCH Complete hormone panel, we work with the DUTCH doctors to review the report and our AFDNP medical directors to create recommendations for you, the unique individual client, in our “D.R.E.S.S. for Health Success” protocol. We don’t treat the lab results- we are just collecting clues in our investigation into your HIDDEN internal stressors then correlating all the data together to put your missing pieces of the puzzle back together to restore your health and vitality back together to the optimal ideal you!
My example is on the DUTCH complete hormone test coming back with LOW CORTISOL. Do we treat the results and give them supplements to improve their cortisol production and stress adaptagens?
Not necessarily as we need to figure out the WHY… why is this individual not producing enough cortisol to respond naturally to stressors?
We learn in our program on chronic stress and hormone imbalances that a result of low cortisol is actually an “adaptation that is occurring in the brain and is the body’s attempt to protect itself from excess production of cortisol.” HPA Axis… the hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary gland who then sends signals to the adrenal gland to respond to a “stress” by releasing cortisol. The communication signals could be broken or damaged from over use.
- Cortisol is a catabolic hormone = the body is in a “breaking down” phase rather than a “building up” (anabolic) phase.
- If necessary, it will break down muscle tissue (including the lining of the gut) to fuel its immediate need for energy.
- high cortisol is an immune suppressor, the body may be choosing to suppress cortisol production due to a need for high immune function (to fight an infection or cancer, for example).
Cortisol is ordinarily anti-inflammatory and contains the immune response, but chronic elevations can lead to the immune system becoming “resistant,” an accumulation of stress hormones, and increased production of inflammatory cytokines that further compromise the immune response [18].Oct 1, 2015
Current Directions in Stress and Human Immune Function
- The big question is, why aren’t the adrenals producing very much cortisol?
- When the cortisol is low – we want to know what is going on that the brain is not signaling the adrenals to produce more cortisol…just the opposite as when the cortisol levels are high- WHY?
- Many of the factors can high cortisol can also cause low cortisol.
- What is your WHY?
- STOP GUESSING and START TESTING so we can ASSESS
Keep in mind that.. we learn in our FDN Practitioner program:
Something that may have caused an elevated cortisol level initially (an acute infection), may eventually lead to a low cortisol level when the stressor becomes chronic and the body attempts to adapt to this situation the beat it”
Stress is a broad concept that comprises challenging or difficult circumstances (stressors) or the physiological or psychological response to such circumstances (stress responses). In humans, among other species, one of the systems that responds to challenging circumstances is the immune system. Broadly, the immune system comprises cells, proteins, organs, and tissues that work together to provide protection against bodily disease and damage (see Box for explanations of relevant immunological parameters). Several facets of the human immune system have been empirically associated with stress. During acute stress lasting a matter of minutes, certain kinds of cells are mobilized into the bloodstream, potentially preparing the body for injury or infection during “fight or flight” [1]. Acute stress also increases blood levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [2]. Chronic stress lasting from days to years, like acute stress, is associated with higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, but with potentially different health consequences [3]. Inflammation is a necessary short-term response for eliminating pathogens and initiating healing, but chronic, systemic inflammation represents dysregulation of the immune system and increases risk for chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis and frailty [4]. Another consequence of chronic stress is activation of latent viruses. Latent virus activation can reflect the loss of immunological control over the virus, and frequent activation can cause wear-and-tear on the immune system [5].
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/
Interestingly, these responses may not be the same for everyone. Those who have experienced early adversity, for example, may be more likely to exhibit exaggerated immune reactions to stress [6, 7]. Currently, the field is moving toward a greater understanding of who might be most at risk for chronic inflammation and other forms of immunological dysregulation, and why. This question is important not only for health, but also for longevity, as evidence suggests that the immunological effects of chronic stress can advance cellular aging and shorten telomere length [8].
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/
Stop guessing if you are healthy and take you “car” in for an annual tune up… find a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner to help investigate your sources of external and hidden internal stressors then create a “D.R.E.S.S. for Health Success” protocol for you…
- DIET
- REST
- EXERCISE
- STRESS REDUCTION
- SUPPLEMENTS
Contact me for a complimentary “interview” to see if you are ready to hire a “health detective” and be motivated (compliant!) to a 90-day plus protocol to transform the WHOLE you from the inside out as we find your missing pieces of your puzzle and put you back together. Sounds like “Humpty Dumpty” story.
