Stress and Cortisone
Most people do not realize how many of the common day-to-day sicknesses and illnesses are initially sparked off from stress. Stress then causes an entire chain reaction of bodily functions, with the first event being the release of cortisone.
A natural response to stress is the release of cortisone from the adrenal glands. The original benefit of this bodily function is protection from an instant allergy reaction, such as asthma or closing of the eyes, from dust that pops up from those items that irritate us. But if chronically elevated , cortisone destroys the body's resistance to the stresses of cancer, infection, surgery, and illness. Every lymph gland in the body shrivels up and immune response weakens. The ability to fight off even the smallest of colds, especially any major illnesses, is greatly impaired.
Ailments caused from stress
As a common example, young kids are typically brought to the doctor with one series of infection after another for the first five or six years after starting daycare or kindergarten school. Now of course this is partially due to catching other germs and viruses from the children at school, but the truth is that most of the sickness that children get are caused from their immune system being overloaded with cortisone. This is due to the stress of leaving the “womb-like” comfort of the home for the general self-conscience and strangeness of being thrown into a society with their peers.
Adults will also notice this phenomenon when in a new environment. Teachers suffer frequent colds caught from their pupils during the first five years on the job. Pediatricians, however, have it even worse. They often go through five years of diarrhea while getting t heir training!
Stress reduces the stomach's resistance
Chronic cortisone elevation also dramatically reduces the stomach's resistance to its own acid, leading to gastric and duodenal ulcers. And farther along the bowels, colitis can be aggravated.
Bones are made more brittle by cortisone. Thus they could fracture much more easily. Blood pressure can be elevated by the retention of sodium, which can also push a borderline heart failure case into trouble. A most direct example of this is the common response of eating a diet high in fast foods, rich in salt, which is thus even more harmful than usual. Adrenalin is also released by the adrenal glands, and mediates a host of bodily reactions.
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