Stress, Energy Deficiency and Your Symptoms
Howard F. Loomis
Jr. DC
This article is the first in a series that will attempt to explain in simple terms how stress causes energy deficiency in our bodies. Each article will deal with one organ exclusively and is designed to help the reader understand his or her symptoms and how to help treat them.
First, we must define stress, a word meaning "all-encompassing." It may result from any of the following:
• Emotional stress is certainly a factor and can lead to inability to maintain cognitive function.
• Physical stress, traumatic injury, or excessive exercise.
• Visceral stress that involves an organ or tissue, such as a heart, lungs, or digestive organ, for example. Biological stress would fall into this category following infection, infestation, or allergic response.
The American Medical Association has noted that stress is the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease, and identified it as the number one proxy killerdisease today. Proxy, meaning "most often stress," is the real cause of illness, but it goes unnoticed!
Untreated stress is insidious, dangerous, and very expensive to treat. It affects the body's ability to regulate the structural, visceral, neurological, and immunological systems of the body. Thus, it is behind the initiation, exacerbation, and maintenance of most killer diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, mental illnesses, etc.
Our goal in writing these articles will be to recognize that stress is a specific diagnosis that precedes every pathological process. The problem is how to determine the deleterious effects of stress on the body before disease can be diagnosed.
Recognizing the body's stress response
Regardless of the cause, symptoms of stress all result from an organ or tissue not having adequate energy to perform its normal functions to maintain health. That brings up the question of what the body uses to make energy and how it does it.
Normally, the body uses carbohydrates to produce energy. In fact, that is the only reason it uses starch, sugars, and soluble fiber. It can't make anything else from them except energy, and it doesn't store significant amounts of glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in the body except for the muscles. That is why we must eat every four to six hours.
Of course, when needed, it can convert amino acids for energy, but they are normally used by the cells to make proteins for growth and repair of tissues. So, you can see that the body will only use them for a short period before turning to stored fats for energy. Short-term or acute stress does not have detrimental effects on the body, and we seldom even notice any problems except for hunger.
However, chronic stress is unrelenting and causes an entirely different result. First, the body turns to stored fats for conversion to energy, hoping to conserve glucose for the essential functions of the brain. This will trigger many other responses on the part of the body that is seeking to remain healthy, one of which is to store more fat. This is similar to you adding money to your checking account that is being drained, so don't write a check your body can't cash. That will take another article to explain. For now, let's look at how we recognize the early warning signs of organ and tissue energy deficiency.
When the brain recognizes it lacks adequate glucose to meet the energy demands being made on one or more of its organ systems, it strongly stimulates both the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system to elevate available glucose levels. These responses instructthe cellsto change from using glucose to fat for cellular energy. This allows the glucose to be preserved for exclusive use by the brain, eyes, and reproductive system. The following indications result from exhaustion of stressed tissues unable to produce adequate energy to meet demands made upon it.
Immediate Systemic Changes:
• Increases arterial blood pressure. Do you or your patients have high blood pressure? Do you check patients' blood pressure every visit?
• Increases rates of cellular metabolism throughout the body. Are you or your patients taking thyroid medications?
• Increases mental activity. Do you or your patients have difficulty sleeping and struggle relaxing and becoming serene? Which of your patients routinely use "sleeping pills"?
• Increases blood clotting. Are you or any of your patients taking so-called "blood thinners" or a baby aspirin every day?
Immediate Visceral Organ system changes:
• Decreased blood flow to organs that are not needed for rapid activity Which systems would that be?
• Decreased digestive secretions and peristalsis. How many patients have digestive and/or bowel elimination problems?
• The cells send their amino acids to the liver for conversion to glucose. How many of your patients are protein deficient? Are you familiar with the symptoms of a protein deficiency?
Howard F. Loomis, Jr., DC, has an extensive background in enzymes and enzyme supplements. He is the founder andpresident of the Food Enzyme Institute. His extensive knowledge of physiology, biochemistry, and enzymology has made him a sought-after speaker and a prolific writer.
I hope to answer these and many other questions in future articles. In the meantime, if you have questions, you can reach The Food Enzyme Institute at 800-662-2630 or go online to www foodenzymeinstitute. com
