Understanding the Stress Response

In order to understand how Alphabiotics works, and can make a difference in your life, the first thing that we need to cover is the way in which your mind/body responds to stress. Most importantly you will need to know what the stress response is, and how it effects you on an emotional, physical, chemical and structural level. When you understand this, you will:

• Understand how and why people experience such amazing changes when they participate in Alphabiotics.
• Know why it is very important that you work to ensure that you do not get stuck in the stress response.
• Understand the incredible damage that is caused by being locked into the stress response for extended periods of time.

Unfortunately today most adults and many children are locked in an inappropriate stress state. This is the main reason that the general health of our society is declining, and why we are seeing an increase in the number of people suffering with degenerative diseases. We are going to look at the mechanics of the stress response, and how it effects us. After all, if we can better understand the cause behind many of our challenges we will be in a stronger position to overcome them!

Stressed/Out of Balance        Integrated/Balanced

How Your Mind/Body Responds To Stress:

You will find many excellent articles on stress, but an area that is rarely addressed is the actual mechanics of the stress response.

• What is Stress?
• What Happens when we encounter a stressor within our system?
• Why can stress lead to degenerative disease and/or emotional problems?
• Why do we seem to continue to suffer from the stress response when we know the original stressor has long since passed?
• What are some of the signs of being locked in the stress resonse?
• What affect can stress have on my brain? (to be aded shortly)

To answer these questions lets take a look at the mechanics of the stress response.

What Is Stress?

Stress is the response we go into when simulated by a stressor, which can be physical, emotional or chemical in origin. Hans Seyle M.D. the pioneer of the stress response, states "life is largely a process of adaptation to the circumstances in which we exist." He spent a life time studying the physical/chemical effects of stress on our body and termed the phrase General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). His book 'The Stress of Life' details his years of research, findings and conclusions. In essence he states that in most cases it is not the 'stressor' that causes us the challenges, but the way in which we 'interpret' the situation. He also states that "Almost no germ is unconditionally dangerous to man; its disease-producing ability depends on the body's resistance." Drawing upon these findings and subsequent research, Dr. Virgil Chrane in his work Alphabiotics, has given us a good picture of the flow of change that occurs to us mentally and physically when we go into the stress response:

What Happens When We Encounter A Stressor Within Our System?

The first thing to note is that the brain is the control center for our body. It interprets and communicates information to and from all parts of the body, to and from everyone of our cells. When we encounter a stressor it is our 'interpretation' of the situation that dictates whether or not we go into the 'stress response.' This is why some of us will 'stress over a situation' whilst others are not concerned/alarmed - it's all about 'interpretation!

When we go into the stress response we 'lock down' into defense mode chemically, emotionally, and physically to give us that extra power, alertness, fast decision making capability, strength and speed that is required in truly threatening situations. The chain of events is summarized as follows:

 

THE STRESS RESPONSE

We recognize a stressor (thalamus-sensory input, passes info. to neo-cortex)

Brain locks into limbic system, into dominant hemisphere & sends message via hypothalamus to pituitary "we're in fight or flight'

Adrenal glands activated

Heart rate & blood pressure increase. Blood vessels constrict (cold extremities)
Muscle tension on brain dominant side, muscle weakness on subdominant side.
Release of blood sugar for increased energy

Non-essential activities slow down or cease, as does non-essential chemical production.
Digestion grossly inhibited
Decrease in sex drive, fertility
Immune response greatly impaired

Excessive release of cortisol

Pro-longed Stress (exhaustion stage)
Most organs & systems are now effected. Often includes shrinkage in thymus, spleen & lymph nodes. Decrease in white blood cells (immune sys.) Excess stomach acid produced, high blood pressure, slow healing, poor memory, higher brain waves (beta), continued excretion of adrenal hormones which negatively effect hormones, the chemical balance of the body & your health.

Symptoms Include: Muscle tension, low energy, depression, muscle weakness, back/neck pain, acid stomach, digestive disorders, poor concentration/memory, anxiety, frequent illness, slow healing, structural imbalance.

Brain/muscle co-ordination & chemical balance are also adversely effected by the stress response.

***

This chain of events happens in a split second. We are now locked into defense mode and ready for action!

(In a truly stressful situation 1.time is usually of the essence, 2. you need immediate extra power to handle the fight or flight situation - to run faster than you've ever ran before; to fight, climb, lift, with the super human strength that one hears about in truly stressful situations. Our body is designed to move from balance into the stress response in a split second. The ideal is that you are in balance, you notice a stressor that is perceived to be very threatening, you bounce into the stress response, handle the situation, and then you return to balance.)

Why Can Stress Lead To Degenerative Disease Or Emotional Problems?

This stress response has evolved over millions of years, and works perfectly well as long as the stressor has a clear beginning and end. The problem arises when we do not see a clear end to stress and we thus get stuck in the stress response. We truly can get stuck! From this point forth we are operating in all aspects of our life, locked in 'defense mode,' stuck in 'fight or flight'! It is in this mode that the stress related symptoms appear.

Due to being stuck in the stress response, your body continues to believe that it is appropriate to be in the stress response. As such you will continue to operate from this mode - causing physical, mental and chemical imbalance. Meditating, taking natural or chemical compounds to rebalance/ compensate for this imbalance in your system, often only serve as Band-Aids. Our body is designed to be self-healing, self-correcting, self-balancing, and self-maintaining. The imbalance is not because the body has forgotten how to operate, or is mis-functioning, it is in this state because it believes it is appropriate to still be in the stress response! Thus medicating or manipulating the body can only serve as a temporary release, as your body will bounce back into the stress response if this is where it believes it should be!
So why does the body believe that it is appropriate to hold in the stress response when the stresssor has long since passed?

Why Do We Seem To Continue To Suffer From The Stress Response When We Know The Original Stressor Has Long Since Passed?

Simple & Complex Stressors
There are two main kinds of stressors, simple and complex. Situations involving pain and/or high emotional content, that have a very definite beginning and a very clear ending, such as experienced by a hunter in meeting a saber-tooth tiger, are simple stressors. Simple stressors have been the dominant source of stress to us throughout our evolution, that is until recently.

Complex stressors are those that do not have a clear beginning and end. Things like lack of power in relationships, pollution, dealing with traffic, inactivity, job difficulties, poor nutrition, money problems, etc. these are on-going low-level complex stressors.

Seeing the all-clear to stress

Over the past 30 years or so, our life style has changed so drastically, that basically our stress response has not evolved quickly enough to catch up with these changes. Rarely do we face true life threatening stressors of the simple type. More typically we face complex stressors - on-going low level stress, but we are still responding by going into the full blown stress response. Thus what typically happens is that something triggers us to go into the stress response appropriately. (Appropriately refers to the fact that the stressor correctly signals the possible need for the resources available to us in fight or flight stance.) As previously mentioned, to release from this place we need to see the all clear to all stress. However, due to our life style and the continual bombardment of on-going low level stress, our system does not always register an end to stress. This is not because our system is 'broken or faulty' but due to the fact that today we have a high level of perceived emotional stress.

Most of us have experienced the fact that certain things that bother us when we are feeling particularly stressed or challenged, do not bother us (at least not to the same degree) as when we are in a happy relaxed mind-set. Thus when we have gone into the stress response appropriately, now that we are 'on alert' these on-going low-level stressors appear far bigger than they really are. As such we are 'signaling' to ourselves that it is necessary to stay in the stress response as the stressors are still out there! Holding this stance for an extended period of time will lead to exhaustion, which will eventually show up in the form of various symptoms.

What Are Some Of The Signs Of Being Locked In The Stress Response?

A clear sign of being locked in an inappropriate stress state is when you have a symptom that persists or keeps returning, i.e. always the same tight spots at the masseuse, same spinal subluxations, frequent migraine headaches, degenerative disease with diagnosed chemical imbalance or systems not functioning fully, depression or anxiety with no current obvious cause etc.

If being locked in an inappropriate stress state is your issue, what you need to see is that the body believes it is appropriate to be in the stress response. As such no matter how good your therapist or medication is in trying to rebalance your system, your body will try and take it back to the stress response because that's where it thinks it should be! It has not received the all clear signal. This is best likened to a paper jam in a photocopier - the paper jams, you remove the paper but the copier won't work - it still reads paper jam. You know there is no jam, but until you reset the system (usually this means turning the copier off and back on again) so that the copier can do its own systems check, and see that its clear, it will not work. Our body is similar. It needs to see a clear end to the stress, and thus release/reset.

Image a thumb with a piece of string tied tightly around it, it will hurt and eventually degenerate - no matter how much you rub it; massage it, talk to it, apply cream it, until you untie the string, nothing will really make a lasting difference. Once the string is removed, yes these 'therapies' may assist in the speedy recovery!

Our bodies will incur undue ware and tear whilst locked in the stress response. Over time symptoms will appear. Addressing the symptoms without removing the cause will in some cases have little lasting effect and in other cases it will take far longer for the symptoms to respond to therapy.

So How Do We Reset Our System?

Naturally the goal is to reduce the stress in our lives and to return to balance. However if we are already 'locked' in the stress response, what we need is a stimulus to release us from this state - much like rebooting our computer system, or resetting our photo-copier. The alphabiotic unification process is such a stimulus.

"Remove the cause and watch the symptoms disappear."

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