Happy Holidays! Love, King Cortisol and Stress

 

I LOVE THE HUMAN BODY! The heart can beat for a hundred-and-something years, the brain takes your hand away from a hot stove before you realize it, and when you eat, your body keeps the good stuff and excretes much of the bad. When I pick my dry cuticles until they bleed (a NASTY habit I cannot seem to curb), my skin literally heals itself by growing back, ready for me to pick another day.

As you have probably realized how weird and sometimes backwards I am, what I love more than the fully functioning human body…is one that does NOT function as it should. All body functions have a “plan B” (ALSO a very fascinating mechanism), but sometimes the malfunction goes beyond the backup devices, so the body responds in ways that we just don’t like it to. Knowing the “why” behind this can help motivate change and help one to start the path on his/her journey to wellness.

Anxiety. Tension. Worry. Fear. Hardship. There are as many synonyms for the word STRESS as there are hormones that get released in the body when stress is experienced. Hormones do SO much more than I can properly explain, so I am addressing only one, and I am simplifying it extremely. Cortisol? Front and center please.

The holiday season can, indeed, be a stressful time for people for many reasons: lack of time to prepare, financial challenges, highlighted absences (deployed military, deceased loved ones), pressure of gift giving/not meeting others’ expectations, loneliness, and special for 2020, there is COVID 19. That little fella couldn’t even come giftwrapped, could it! The body responds to stressful events by significantly increasing the body’s preferred fuel source—carbohydrates (THIS, broken down, is sugar, my friends)—to help get the body through the tense situation. If you are going to race into Walmart for the latest Playstation console for your son, you are going to need some quick energy to get you to the pallet in the back of the store before your competitors. Cortisol plays an active role in your Christmas shopping…er…uh, I mean, in increasing both the carb-to-sugar making process and the hike of sugar in the bloodstream, thereby energizing the body to combat your neighbor whose son loves Playstation just as much as yours. Once you emerge victorious, your blood sugar returns to normal. All is good, right? Not so fast…

Now you must return home and clean the house for guests (Does this cleaner kill COVID?), start the desserts (I heard my husband cough. I hope it’s not COVID...), wrap all the gifts (all the while wondering if the receiver will be disappointed. That had BETTER not be your son. You launched a crusade against your neighbor for that blasted Playstation. My throat is sore. Maybe the neighbor gave me COVID…), walk the dog (Can dogs get COVID?), make dinner for tonight while prepping for lunch for work tomorrow (Sally called out sick yesterday. I wonder if she has THE RONA…) …the list goes on.  That prolonged stress means that Cortisol becomes the holiday guest that stays too long...and then brings the pets. It either camps out, or it continues to increase to the point of imbalance. What does that mean for all that sugar? Just know that Cortisol plays kissy-face with Insulin (also a hormone), and it distracts the insulin from doing its job—keeping the sugar in the blood at normal levels. Now, already in the face of all that extra food, sparing no butter or heavy cream, King Cortisol also has the undivided attention of the one hormone that can reduce your blood sugar. How selfish!

Stress puts your overall health at risk, with or without Cortisol. Anxiety, depression, digestive issues, headaches, heart disease, sleep and memory problems, and weight gain can all be caused by stress, so it is ESSENTIAL to have some coping mechanisms in your back pocket:

·        Healthy Diet & Exercise (WHY IS THIS ALWAYS PART OF THE ANSWER?? Benefits of this will take a year to explain. Stay tuned into my weekly blog!)

·        Practice relaxation techniques: try yoga, deep breathing, massage, meditation, MINDFULNESS (I recently worked this into my daily routine. GAME CHANGER. More on this later.)

·        Take time for hobbies (books, music, etc.)

·        Fostering healthy friendships (Make sure they support you in your goal setting, not derail you.)

·        Having a sense of humor! (I have had to learn to laugh at myself. It is liberating.  Honestly.)

·        Volunteer in the community

·        Seek professional counseling when needed

When your peace of mind and a long, healthy life are on the line, shouldn’t taking care of YOU be put at the top of the list? I am sure even your neighbor, with or without a Playstation, would agree.

Choose to Be Well!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grapes with Capes: Earning the Superfood Title

Just think of all the words out there that start with the word “super”. A super visor works over or takes charge of other people. The super natural refers to things that are above or beyond normal phenomenon. And let’s not forget the famous super hero. I LOVE Aquaman, but sorry, Jason Momoa, my husband now takes the cape . To put it simply, he is amazing! The trendy term “superfood” has been increasing in assumed credibility, but more realistically, in simple popularity. You won’t find the term “superfood” in my nutrition textbook. If you have taken on the Healthy Habits Hunt challenge, you will run right into a superfood activity that involves identifying superfoods and including them in your diet. But how does a food earn its cape? What does it take for a food to be honored as “super”? The food industry bestows the superfood label on nutrient-rich foods with a supposed ability to positively affect health. Keep in mind, there is no single food that holds the key to good health, di...
Read more

Bleeding, Clotting, & the Stocking Stuffer

I am going to share a little something about myself—not to brag, but it will KINDA help to lead into my next discussion (this next topic is a tough one!) I have always been a very conscientious student. I won eight spelling bees in my 6 th grade classroom (I was terrified to be in front of crowds and refused to participate in a school-wide spelling bee.) I was a FAST speller—my teacher would always tell me to slow down so she could make sure I was spelling the word correctly. Many years later, while I was assisting my own child with his spelling words, he was attempting to spell “refrigerator.” He was stuck on the letter “g” and began to sound it out. “Juh…juh. Mom, is it G or J?” So, I asked, “What do you see?” Kid: “HUH?” Me: “Like, in your head. What do you SEE?” Kid: “Mom, I have NO clue what you are talking about. Sometimes the G and the J make the same sound and I get confused. Which one is it?” Me: “Wait a minute. You can’t see the word “refrigerator” in your head? ...
Read more

"A" is for Eyes

Social media entertains me. I don’t post much on Facebook or Instagram, but I do like to watch (ok, stalk…) the people that DO post. It is interesting to see what petty little things might be important to others. Haha. Occasionally, Facebook is brilliant, in that it becomes this one little spot where OTHER stalkers like me can get information in the blink of an eye. This CAN be very helpful—especially when you need to reach a large group of people very quickly. A long post written by me four years ago popped up in my Facebook “memories” this week. It is pertinent to my topic today, so I will attempt to share it, in brief (Have we met? When have you ever known me to be brief?) My then 15-year-old son was on a camping trip (under duress, I might add,) when I received a call from one of his youth leaders informing me that he would be taking my son to urgent care because he had been whipped in the eye by a tree branch. (I immediately began forming images in my head of his attempts to d...
Read more