Having worked with many people in my career has shown me that no one escapes hard times in this life. Difficulties like prolonged illness, death, and loss of job, divorce or legal issues eventually touch everyone’s life. If I am wrong and your life is perfect, then the following information is not for you.

First, there are different kinds of stress the first is actually a “good” stress often called butterfly stress, or stress that motivates you to achieve a goal. This stress may be before a performance, before a final test, or before a first date. This is still stress, however, it is typically short lived, and usually for a positive event or to reach an objective you may have..

But then there is bad stress – stress that can actually kill you. That is correct, kill as in dead. But how can stress actually kill us?

First we should look at what stress does to us physically. When we are stressed, the first thing that pulled out of our body is Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient, that helps our body do many things, including to absorb iron correctly, and as an anti-oxidant to prevent the harmful affects of oxidation. But Vitamin C is also utilized quickly the minute we are stressed.

Next, the body uses up any store of B Vitamins, and then the trace minerals. Having a good supply of all these nutrients within our body will help keep us on an “even keel”. If you don’t eat well, you won’t have these nutrients to pull from, which can not only damage your existing cells by pulling needed nutrients from them, but also prevents new healthy cells from being made.

After we have depleted these important nutrients several other dreadful things happen.
The adrenal glands are where we store our “flight of fight” response. When the adrenals are depleted of nutrients, we become exhausted, or irritable. Often we are extremely fatigued but can’t relax or get the rest we so desperately need. We also lose the ability to think clearly or coherently.

Stress causes our autonomic nervous system (the sympathetic in particular) to release hormones known as epinephrine, norepinephrine and corticosteroids, such as cortisol. As these hormonel levels increase, this causes our body to become more acidic. Too much acid changes the way the protein receptor sites react on the cell, which causes our blood to thicken. In addition, these hormones destroy the elasticity of the blood vessels making them weak, narrow and susceptible to disease.

In addition, our stomach suffers as well. In Chinese medicine, there is an emotion tied to each organ and the emotion for the stomach is worry or stress. When we are stressed, we usually eat the wrong foods, but also eat too fast, not chewing our food well, and then it can’t possibly be digested properly. Having these poor eating habits can lead to a hiatel hernia, where a portion of the stomach comes up through the diaphragm muscle into the upper chest cavity. This is your stomach trying to talk to you to tell you to stop doing these bad things! If you don’t digest your food properly – how is anything else supposed to work well in your body?

Many people have hiatel hernias, most without any symptoms at all. Some symptoms they can cause is stomach upset, acid reflex, shortness of breath - as the lungs cannot reach the full capacity when the stomach is in the way, and can also put pressure on the heart, causing high blood pressure.

Finally, the next organ affected is the colon. The feeling associated to the colon is control, and when we are stressed we often are trying to control someone or something, which is impossible, or we are aware that we can’t control something and we internalize this. This may cause symptoms of constipation, diarrhea, gas or bloating. All of these issues prevent us from absorbing nutrients that we need to help keep our body in a balanced state.

All of these issues as you can see cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, pulse rate, skin conductivity (becoming too sensitive to touch), respiration and others. The body, in particular, the heart is working harder which affects the viscosity of the blood.

Stress is a major part of illness. Many of us take on so much responsibility that they neglect taking care of themselves. The body is a machine like your car, and if you kept your car running at the pace some of us run at each day, the car would eventually burn out. The same happens to us.

How can I tell if I am stressed?
Some people know when they are stressed, but other times it may be harder to pinpoint it as we are caught up in the drama of the situation. Check your blood pressure or your breathing. Are you breathing correctly? Many people breath so fast and they are not getting the necessary nutrients they would get if they were breathing correctly. Other symptoms may be eating too much, not eating at all, sleep disturbances, memory loss or illness in an otherwise normal healthy person.

What can I do to help be less stressed?
One of the first things I do when I’m experiencing stressful times is to take care of my body. Even when things are financially tight, I don’t skimp on nutrition – this is the fuel to help me get through these times – just like I put the right fuel in my car. I eat extra raw fruits and vegetables. After all, if you’re going to pull out of difficult times, you need to use all the resources you can, and fruits and vegetables provides us the most needed nutrients and enzymes for our bodies.

Unfortunately, this isn’t most people’s first instinct when we are feeling down. Most of us want to drown our sorrows or eat our pain away. Some turn to alcohol and drugs, and others turn to sugar and junk food, perhaps to remind us of good times in life and thus lift our spirits. The problem with these treats is these foods all add stress to the organs we mentioned above which give us even less ability to cope physically.

In addition to eating correctly, there are many herbal products you may find some relief with – herbs are a good way to get high concentrations of nutrients in small dosages. Check with your herbalist to find the best products for your body. Just remember that these will not compensate for poor nutrition for ever or make up for lost rest.

There are also many services and techniques to help people become less stressed. Some popular ones are yoga, exercise in general, therapy or massage. The best ones I have found don’t cost anything – breathe. I mean sit down in a quiet place, the bathroom if necessary and just breathe for 5 minutes. Nice deep breaths from your belly. You will be shocked at how much this will help you. You can do this easily in your car as well. Some others are; pamper yourself with a bath. Light some candles, use some fun bubble bath or oils, and just relax. Let got, let the universe take over your problems. It is amazing what happens when you let this happen. It may seem that the worst will happen, but things usually work out they way they are supposed to and usually it is for the best.

Maybe some of you are trying to burn the candle at both ends (eating incorrectly and not getting enough rest). Remember, if you don’t take time to rest, then your body will force you to take time to rest by making you sick.
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