Covid-19 & Health Update: Chronic Stress = Inflammation & Illness
RVAchironeuro • February 28, 2022
Hello again everyone:
Stress is an inevitable part of life, and we do need some stress to function optimally. Without any stress we would atrophy and wither across all of our systems including muscular, bone, brain, heart, immune etc. However, too much stress for too long is degenerative across all systems as well. We can measure our stress response to see if it is normal by looking at the normal ups and downs of the primary stress hormone, cortisol. This hormone is highest in the morning and lowest at night. When this normal up and down curve happens, researchers find we have the fewest health problems…yet when the curve is flattened or reversed, we have the most health problems.
Highlights
- Meta-analysis shows flatter diurnal cortisol slopes are associated with worse health
- Results are significant for 10 out of 12 health outcomes and across multiple age groups*
- Strongest effects are found for Inflammation and immune system outcomes
- Effects are found across most types of diurnal cortisol slope measurement
- Use of objective compliance monitors is associated with larger effect size
*immune and inflammatory system dysregulation, fatigue, cancer, obesity/BMI/adiposity, externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, depression symptoms and disorders, other mental health, other physical health, and mortality outcomes were all associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope.
Bottom Line:
Chronic stress leads to immune dysregulation and inflammation across multiple organs and systems. As you all know, inflammation causes, perpetuates, or aggravates every known human ailment. There are several things that may ameliorate and normalize the diurnal cortisol slope and most of us will need to incorporate several of them together to successfully reduce stress:
- Get 7 to 8 hours of restful sleep every night.
- Exercise at least every other day and go for a walk on non-exercise days, but at the minimum we should move daily even if we just walk every day…yoga is fantastic!
- Avoid foods that increase inflammation such as sugar and processed foods of all types.
- Consider taking adaptogen herbs to help normalize the stress response: ashwagandha; ginseng; rhodiola; tulsi
- Meditate and/or incorporate mindfulness strategies daily.
- Consider anti-inflammatory food plans and supplements such as turmeric or Boswellia or ginger.
- Avoid unpleasant news such as TV and other media.
- Reduce screen time and spend more time outdoors and read uplifting books
- Reduce or avoid alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine products…study and practice relaxation methods.
- Make sure your short- and long-term plans, goals and expectations are realistic.
- Our time is one of our most precious resources…consider spending your time only where you feel good and being there furthers your life purpose and service goals.
- Consider removing yourself from the presence of negative influences or find a way to detach but remain loving and helpful if possible.
- Take some ‘me’ time when possible…read the book “One Minute for Yourself”
- Connect with others with whom you feel close to or are important to you or who share similar values.
- Practice peace in every aspect of your life.
Our sincere thanks to you for spending some of your precious time with us. Our mission is to supply you with empowering information to upgrade your life and health. Love and gratitude to all!
The post Covid-19 & Health Update: Chronic Stress = Inflammation & Illness appeared first on RICHMOND CHIROPRACTIC NEUROLOGY.
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Your Brain on Food
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To Avoid Chronic Disease, Watch What You Eat
Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
