How to Forgive Even When You Can't Forget by Thomas Herold - HTML preview

EXHAUSTION

“How To PERfoRM in THE SToRM”
by
TEYa SKaE

Ma (Media Production), dip. Health Science, dip. Clinical nutrition, Health and Relationships Coach, applied Kinesiologist, Lecturer, author

www.empowered-living.com.au

DEDICATED TO:

My mother who taught me to seek out the gift and wisdom of every adversity and embrace stress as an opportunity to do even better. In gratitude, I perform in the storm!

SPECIAL THANKS ALSO GOES TO:

Margaret Evans from NOVA magazine.
Your dedication to truth and integrity in the world of publishing has encouraged me to write both from my head and heart, and i continue to do so.

Analee Mathews from All Smiles Creative.

 

Your speedy edits and technical brilliance ensured a timely production schedule.

 

All the people who offered to share their stories and transformations over the years. You are my greatest teachers. Much love and gratitude to you all.

 

Keep spiraling upwards!

 

“In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy.”

 

– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Laureate in Physiology/Medicine, 1937
CONTENTS

What is adrenal exhaustion? 5
What is stress? 5
How to identify early signs of stress 6
Take a stress test 6
Dealing with stress 8
Types of stress 8
The impact of stress 10 Stress and the adrenal glands 12 Cortisol – A response to stress 13 The impact of emotions 18 What causes energy drains? 19 Balancing adrenal exhaustion 20 The role of bioavailable proteins 22 Choosing adequate fats 23 Drinks to avoid 24 Addressing emotional and mental stress 24 In summary 26 References 28 Contact Teya Skae 29 Testimonials 30

Important Note: The content of this publication is based on years of clinical experience research and writing articles for publications in the area of health, nutrition and stress as well as the results achieved by Teya Skae’s clients through Empowered Living Wellness and Education Centre. The aim of this publication is to provide readers with an educational resource. It should not be considered an alternative to, or replacement for any formal medical diagnosis or advice. Teya Skae and Empowered Living accepts no responsibility for any consequences, decisions or actions you may experience or make to your healthcare routine, based on your interpretation of the information provided in this publication. This eBook is written purely to help educate and empower you to make your own health choices, based on a greater

understanding of the mind/body approach to wellness.
© 2008 & 2009. All rights reserved. No information published here may be reproduced without written permission from Teya Skae.

TEYA SKAE
Empowered Living
Email: info@empowered-living.com.au Web: www.empowered-living.com.au

WHAT IS ADrENAL ExHAuSTION?

Adrenal exhaustion can occur in anyone at anytime, depending on how much stress the individual has endured and/or enduring. The most obvious sign of adrenal exhaustion is a state of perpetual tiredness, malaise, a depressed state of being with multiple symptoms arising that can leave people feeling listless, exhausted and even struggling to find enough energy to get through the day. In short, adrenal exhaustion leaves sufferers just not coping or able to meet the demands of their daily life.

Adrenal exhaustion is a condition where there is just not enough energy in the body to complete the tasks we need to, and not enough energy for the body to function properly, even for everyday activities such as proper digestion, nutrient assimilation, muscle tissue repair, balanced hormone synthesis, coherent thought processes, task performance, work productivity, and even turning up for social and fun activities.

Adrenal exhaustion is a condition of our times, especially in people who regularly play sports, also many teenagers, as well as men and women of all ages and from various corporate background and socio-economic sectors of the population. According to quantum physics the whole lesson underlying adrenal exhaustion is to teach sufferers how to increase our energy for life, by recognising and preventing any stress-induced energy drains.

But have you ever wondered what the real cause might behind this debilitating state of being?

 

It may surprise you to learn that stress is the culprit underlying adrenal exhaustion.

 

WHAT IS STrESS?

Stress is actually a technical name for pain, which can be experienced on physical, emotional or mental levels. The stress causes unease in our life, eventually, creating unease in our mind and body.

There are various kinds of stress but they all have one thing in common; stress is all about survival. Put simply, stress is when an impact or stimuli challenges our survival capacity which, in turn, causes an enormous amount of discomfort on all levels, including the unconscious level.

HOW TO IDENTIfy EArLy SIGNS Of STrESS

Every time you worry about something real, perceived or imagined your body goes through a stress response. Stress is synonymous with change and change can bring a degree of worry, anticipation and, even, anxiety. Basically, anything that causes a change in your life circumstances will cause some level of stress in your mind/body system.

According to Dr Hans Selye, who has carried out extensive research on the subject of stress adaption, there are two types of stress: negative, called “distress”; and positive, also referred to as “eustress”. In brief they are:

Distress (negative stress) refers to anything perceived as “bad” in our life (for example, losing a loved one, losing a job, income reduction, change of status, losing a place on a team or losing a limb in an accident).

Eustress (positive stress) refers to sudden good news that brings change, such as an unexpected promotion, relocating to another city, moving into a new house or planning a wedding (although some people do have breakdowns around this time).

Regardless of whether stress is perceived as good, bad, real, or imagined, it is still stress at the end of the day and will evoke a physiological, biological and especially an emotional reaction.

TAKE A STrESS TEST

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe examined the medical records of over 5,000 medical patients as a way to determine whether stressful events may cause illness. Patients were asked to tally a list of 43 life events based on a relative score.

The rating scale in the box below was developed to investigate the relationship between social readjustment, stress and susceptibility to illness. Holmes and Rahe found that a person with a score of 200 to 250 during a one-year period had a 50 per cent chance of developing illness or a change in health. With a score of 300 or more, a person’s chances increased to 80 per cent.
It’s no surprise that the death of a spouse ranks highest on their calibrated scale at 100 points, followed by divorce (72), marital separation (65), death of a close family member (63) and personal injury or illness (53). Perhaps a little surprising is that marriage comes next (50), followed by marital reconciliation (45), change in health of family member (44) and pregnancy (40).

Significant for society’s current financial concerns, change in financial status ranks 12^th (at 37) and foreclosure of mortgage or loan ranks 16^th (at 30), and while we recognise the stress of Christmas (12), it was seen to have less impact than a change in sleeping (16) or eating habits (15).

STrESS INVENTOry

1. Death of a spouse (100)
2. Divorce (72)
3. Marital separation (65)
4. Death of a close family member (63)
5. Personal injury or illness (53)
6. Marriage (50)
7. Marital reconciliation (45)
8. Change in health of family member (44)
9. Pregnancy (40)
10. Gain of new family member (39)
11. Job Change (38)
12. Change in financial status (37)
13. Death of a close friend (36)
14. Increase in arguments with significant other (35)
15. Mortgage or loan of major purchase (home, etc.) (31)
16. Foreclosure of mortgage or loan (30)
17. Change in responsibilities of your job (29)
18. Son or daughter leaving home (29)
19. Trouble with in-laws (29)
20. Outstanding personal achievement (28)
21. Spouse begins or stops work outside the home (26)
22. Revision of personal habits (24) 23. Trouble with work superiors (23) 24. Change in work hours or conditions (20)
25. Change in residence (20)
26. Change in sleeping habits (16) 27. Change in eating habits (15)
28. Vacation (13)
29. Christmas (12)
30. Minor violations of the law (11)

0-149: no significant problem
150-199: mild stress, 35 per cent chance of illness
200-299: moderate stress, 50 per cent chance of illness
300+: major stress, 80 per cent chance of illness

Source: Holmes, T and Rahe, R. (1967) “Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale”, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. II.

DEALING WITH STrESS

Change is synonymous with stress, which may explain why many people try to avoid change. But because we can’t control life’s events – no matter how hard we may wish or try to – the key is not to avoid change or stress, but to teach our brain and body to “turn up” for stress. This can also be referred to as evolution.

There are practical ways to deal with stress. The goal, however, should be to not try and avoid stress but, rather, learn from stress and welcoming the associated changes. After all, what we resist persists, and even if it is only in our mind, it is still experienced internally as mental/emotional stress, which often tends to be the most debilitating type.

TyPES Of STrESS

 

Stress can be classified into five categories:

 

Physical stress relates to meeting our basic life needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, money, and the quality of life it brings us.

Biochemical and metabolic stress occurs during times of sleep deprivation, which wreaks havoc on the whole mind/body system the next day. Biochemical stress also occurs naturally when we undertake more cardio exercise than our body needs. The result is that oxidation and oxidative stress is created, which becomes a recipe for disaster, especially when coupled with inappropriate nutrition for one’s Metabolic Type^® (visit
www.empowered-living.com.au/?q=node/15 for more information on Metabolic Typing^®).

Interestingly, biochemical stress is commonly found in people who run regularly, because running often creates a huge nutritional deficit (in the form of amino acids, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants, which are lost during exercise). They are also not usually replenished quickly enough to meet the demands of post-exercise recovery and this can create symptoms, such as fatigue, cravings and suppressed immune function, as well as lean muscle tissue loss. In addition, eating over-processed foods can lead to malnutrition along with biochemical toxic waste floating in the bloodstream, and this creates energy drain on the whole digestive system and even greater fatigue.
Nutrition directly affects our brain chemistry and the whole neurotransmitter pathways that create moods, biofeedback and act like a relay station. And so, inappropriate nutrition can deplete the body further. Similarly, relying on stimulants such as caffeine or white sugar further overworks the adrenal glands, which actually causes stress levels to increase.

Mental stress commonly refers to our thinking patterns and belief systems. It could include pressure or pressing deadlines, constant expectations to perform and produce, or work demands with a perceived lack of time. This type of stress often leads to sugar/food cravings. Unfortunately, many people experience this type of stress constantly.

Environmental stress can refer to ongoing noise pollution or toxicity from exposure to chemical/environmental pollutants. Chemical exposure could include toxins such as mercury exposure from amalgam dental fillings, or inhaling toxic fumes (e.g., paint, industrial chemicals or petrol).

When we are already under stress the immune system is challenged and anything that it has to deal with extra becomes too much. This too creates multiple symptoms.

Emotional stress refers to perceived pressures brought on by relationship issues such as human connectedness; family; issues relating to self-worth or esteem; love and bonding; or unresolved hurt and resentments from any relationships lacking closure. Emotional stress is extremely draining and also stems from our conditioned past limiting beliefs and our perceptions of what is.

Out of all stresses emotional stress is the one we are taught to control early on, yet it is the one that actually controls us at a subconscious level. Emotional stress drains our energy and creates multiple symptoms that force us to accept the “unacceptable.”

THE IMPACT Of STrESS

As we mentioned, out of all the stress categories mental and emotional stress tends to create the most havoc in our mind/body system. It is often when this type of stress continues – without any resolve – that the debilitating symptoms of adrenal exhaustion occur.

In January 2008, an article called “Work-related Stress Can Kill, Study Finds” examined research findings, which involved 10,000 British public servants, who were assessed over a 12-year period by a team from University College in London. During this time seven surveys were conducted, making the research the first large-scale population study to examine the effects of work-related stress on heart disease. The study revealed that chronically stressed workers – people identified in the first two surveys to be “under severe pressure” – had 68 per cent higher risk of developing heart disease than their less stressed counterparts.

Study supervisor and epidemiologist, Tarani Chandola, said the findings suggest stressinduced biological changes may play a more direct role in the development of heart disease than previously thought. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date, of how “on-the-job” stress disrupts the body’s internal systems to the point that our risk of heart disease is significantly increased.

Chandola also indicated that the research identified stressed workers as having lowered heart rate variability – a sign of a poorly-functioning weak heart – and higher-than-normal levels of cortisol, which is a “stress” hormone that provides a burst of energy for the “fight or flight” response.

High levels of cortisol have been known to damage blood vessels and the heart, suggesting that if people are constantly stressed, the high cortisol levels can break down muscle tissue, including those surrounding the heart and other organs.

So what, exactly, happens when stress impacts our life?

 

Stage 1: Alarm reaction

Also known as the fight or flight response, during this stage our body is preparing itself to ward off stress, which could be anything or anyone (e.g., time pressures, money issues, love and relationships, or challenges to our identity). During this stage, the body is alarmed by the initial stressors and mounts an aggressive anti-stress response to reduce stress levels. Some doctors call this the “early fatigue” stage.

Stage 2: resistance response

This refers to when the stress persists for a few weeks or even months. In this hypervigilant state the body is resisting the stress but, often, at the expense of the adrenal glands, over-producing stress hormones to accommodate the ongoing underlying duress.

Stage 3: Exhaustion

The body can only resist stress for so long. When it reaches its own set point or dangerous limit as to how much stress it can bear or compensate for, exhaustion sets in. Typically, this can happen after one, two or more years of living with some stressful situations with the attitude of resisting it. During this stage is when sufferers start to experience fibromyalgia symptoms (persistent aches and pains, especially after minimal exercise; backache; muscle tension; a suppressed immune system; and general weakness). Many people in this stage experience sluggishness and weight gain, which occurs because our hormonal system is significantly altered during stress and ongoing stress. This is particularly common among sufferers aged 35 and older, as hormonal changes create weight gain, particularly around the mid-section, even in thin people.

Stage 4: failure

After some of years of consistently over-producing stress hormones, eventually the adrenal glands become completely exhausted. People in this stage have a high chance of cardiovascular collapse, nervous breakdown and, according to Dr Hans Selye, total collapse or even death.

Dr Hans Selye (who is also known as the “father of stress response” – because he was the first medical doctor/endocrinologist to elaborate on the GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome) response.

As an author of 1,700 scholarly papers and 39 books on how stress affects our entire system, Dr Selye concluded that headaches, insomnia, high blood pressure anxiety/panic attacks, cardiovascular and kidney diseases are all brought on by stress. He also stated that “Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.”

STrESS AND THE ADrENAL GLANDS

 

To understand how and why adrenal exhaustion occurs, we need a basic knowledge of the functions of the adrenal glands.

Adrenal glands (also called adrenals) are walnut-sized glands located on top of each kidney. Their purpose is to help the body deal with stress and their functionality is required for us to survive. Our ability to have sustained energy during demanding times of stress depends on the strength and function of our adrenals.

The adrenals are the control centre for many of the body’s hormones. The outer layer of the gland, called the adrenal cortex, produces hormones including cortisol, DHEA, oestrogen and testosterone. The centre of the glands also produce adrenaline, hence their name.

The basic task of our adrenal glands is to rush all our body’s resources into fight or flight mode by quickly increasing production of adrenaline and other hormones. When healthy, our adrenals can instantly increase our heart rate and blood pressure, release our energy stores for immediate use, slow our digestion and other secondary functions, and sharpen our senses. If the adrenals are already challenged then everything is an added chore and a greater physical struggle.

Some people are born with strong adrenal glands and other people are born with weak adrenal glands, but regardless, everyone can improve their health and their overall adrenal function. That is the positive side of balancing stress with kinesiology and mind/bodyintegrated energy based techniques such as EFT – they all help to retrain the brain.

As a clinical kinesiologist, I balance all types of stress that can potentially lead to adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue. I really enjoy seeing the change in people’s perceptions of what is stressful, and this often occurs even after just one session. This new awareness is, technically, new neural associations, which enable people to respond to stressful issues in new and different ways; in ways where they have more “neutrality” (i.e., not necessarily a good or bad response, but more so just a response). After a while, people learn to not see the event as stressful anymore, and that is the power of working together with the mind and body to balance stress.

COrTISOL: A rESPONSE TO STrESS

Cortisol is a potent hormone, also known as a “glucocorticoid”. It affects the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and, especially, glucose. Cortisol increases blood sugar levels by stimulating the release of glucose from glucose stores in cells. It also acts to inhibit insulin, thus affecting glucose transport into cells.

It is normal for our adrenals to release a high amount of cortisol during the early hours of the morning (6am to 8am). Cortisol levels normally rise and fall during the day (called a diurnal variation (daily rhythms)). This hormonal fluctuation typically sees cortisol at its highest in the morning and gradually falls, until it reaches its lowest point around midnight.

During stressful times cortisol stays high all day long, leading to insomnia or heightened adrenals. This can make it difficult for people to fall asleep, even if they go to bed early. People often feel like their mind is racing, or like they are having a “second wind” and, of course, this then makes them feel even more tired the next day.

When this pattern continues it affects the balance of other hormones (which are just as important for our survival capacity).

Cortisol is also an anti-inflammatory, which we need, hence why our adrenal glands produce it. This occurs because during stressful times, the body goes through a process of inflammation. Despite being the good guy and preventing inflammation cortisol is also known as “the death hormone” because in its multi-tasking as a stress hormone it eats away at existing muscles tissue; catabolising (literally, tearing down) muscle tissue for energy.

Common challenges that cause stress include: a lack of sleep; a demanding boss; the threat of losing our job; financial pressures; personality conflicts with others; yo-yo dieting; relationship turmoil; death or illness of a loved one; skipping meals; reliance on stimulants like caffeine or starchy carbohydrates; over-exercise; illness or infection; and unresolved emotional issues from our past or present. If faced with too many of these stressors, too often, our adrenal glands simply become depleted, as they don’t have the opportunity to rest, recover or renew energy.

Common symptoms directly related to stress:

• Weight gain around the waist and inability to lose it.
• Regular bouts of colds/flu and other respiratory ailments.
• Reduced sex drive.
• Poor memory
• Lack of energy in the mornings and also in the afternoon between 3 to 6 pm.
• Need coffee or stimulants to get going in the morning.
• Pain in the upper back or neck with no apparent reasons
• Mild depression
• Food allergies
• Increased effort to perform daily tasks
• Poor Digestion and Hunger
• Hypoglycemia – low blood sugar
• Nervousness
• Palpitations and even states of anxiety
• Unexplained hair loss – in women often related to a sluggish thyroid which does not show up on blood tests

THE DESTruCTIVE EffECTS Of COrTISOL

Every challenge to the mind and body creates a demand on the adrenal glands. The response of the adrenals is to produce and release stress hormones, one of which is cortisol and, as mentioned earlier, when the levels become excessive cortisol can be very harmful to the body.

In its normal daily function cortisol helps us meet the stressful challenges by converting proteins into energy, releasing glycogen and counteracting inflammation. And for a short time, that’s okay. However, at sustained high levels cortisol can actually cause serious damage. And if that’s not bad enough, prolonged elevated cortisol levels also affects our brain function by reducing our ability to focus, concentrate and remember things, as well as severely diminishing our immune system capacity.
One of the reasons this happens is to force us from “soldiering on” forever. The other is because cortisol, literally, steals our foundational hormones, pregnenolone and progesterone.

AN OVErVIEW Of STErOIDAL PATHWAyS

Pregnenolone is a foundational hormone; it is like the “grandmother” of all hormones and it’s made from circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol along with B5 (pantothenic acid) and Acetyl-CoA. The benefits of pregnenolone have not been widely promoted, however; and this is because pregnenolone is not patented by pharmaceutical companies. For more information about foundational hormones from renowned endocrinologist Dr Ray Peat, visit http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/three-hormones.shtml

In order to maintain a healthy hormone system you need LDL cholesterol in the pathway.

The pre-cursor to all the steroidal hormones is pregnenolone, which is manufactured by the adrenals from vitamin B5 and cholesterol (reinforcing the importance of fats in the diet). Under normal conditions and in a state of ease (adaptation, homeostasis), pregnenolone is converted to progesterone and the “mother” hormone DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). DHEA is absolutely necessary to modulate the balance of hormones in the body and from DHEA, testosterone and the oestrogens (oestrone, oestriol, and oestradiol) are produced.

Question: Where do you find the cholesterol and B5 that is needed to synthesise pregnenolone?
Answer: In egg yolks!
Question: Where do you find all the necessary nutrients combined - zinc, selenium, Vitamin D, iodine, B6 and L-Tyrosine – needed synergistically to manufacture thyroid hormones?
Answer: In egg yolks!

As long as the eggs are organic/free range you can enjoy them daily and if you happen to have an allergy to eggs, there is something else going on in the body that needs to be balanced as allergic reactions to foods are based on unresolved deep seated stressors related to early development associated with childhood past. Many people who are very stressed would have enzyme deficiencies that would cause them difficulty in breaking down most proteins, so initially balancing the stress is a priority and light nutritional plan with rice/pea protein powders works fine

Chart courtesy of Healthexcel, 2008

When under stress, the body naturally shifts over to its “preferential stress pathway” in order to raise cortisol, the body’s primary stress/anti-stress hormone. Now, instead of pregnenolone feeding the normal pathway of DHEA => testosterone, oestrogen, and progesterone, it is “stolen” or shunted away to cortisol (via progesterone). This is known as the cortisol shunt, or the pregnenolone steal (illustrated in the chart by broken arrows) and it occurs in response to stress.

A basic task of the adrenal glands is to rush all the body’s resources into “fight or flight” mode by increasing production of adre