For millions of years,
the threats that the body faced were physical or material
in nature. Man had to fight or flee for safety, and both these
activities needed strength and energy. Over thousands of years,
the human body has countered external threats by generating
adrenaline. This is, again, a paradigm of the body mechanism.
The body knows that generating adrenaline is the best
way to overcome a threat to survival.
Adrenaline
has the following effects on your system:
- Heart rate and blood pressure in crease. - Blood is redirected to the large muscle groups to give you extra strength and energy. - Blood supply to other systems is reduced. Consequently, the other system (like the digestive and immune systems) becomes inactive in order to conserve energy. - The mind becomes hyperactive and searches for areas of danger. - Emotions like fear, anger, aggression, nervousness and anxiety grip you.
The rush of adrenaline also leads to the following adverse effects:
- Burning up of
your body resources leads to fatigue.
- Inactivity of other systems
leads to their disorder.
- The immune cells are no longer
able to pass through the capillary walls of the blood vessels.
This inhibits their ability to destroy and remove harmful
bacteria from the body. The immune system is thereby adversely
affected.
- Fatigue of the mind due to constant alertness leads to loss of concentration and temporary forgetfulness.
- You suffer sleep disorders. - Emotions become negative. You feel unhappy, and tend to become asocial.
Stress Erodes the Immune System
:
Hormonal imbalance caused by stress seriously affects the regulating mechanism of the system of the body. Excess release of adrenaline puts the entire system of the body into overdrive. Some organs become hyperactive at the cost of other systems. For example, excess secretion of gastric juices can cause ulcers. Similarly, unnecessary pumping of extra blood causing a higher pulse rate leads to circulatory disorders like high blood pressure.
The problem is that in modern society the natural process in not taking place to burn up the excess adrenaline and remove the extra toxins from the system. Over a period of time, the worst effect the hormonal imbalance does is to our immune system.
“This
is why stress has been called a silent killer.”
Stress is not something exclusively mental in nature. It is perhaps this dimension that distinguishes stress from tension, which is attributed mainly to the state of mind. Stress can be of the body also, or it can be of both. In fact, it works both ways. If our mind is in trouble, it affects the body and if the body is in any physical stress, it gives distress signals to the mind looking for rescue and generates stress in the mind also.
