Addicted to Stress

Tuesday - March 16, 2010

Addicted to Stress

Yes, there is such a thing as being addicted to stress! How could a person possibly want to over stress himself? When you are pressured to produce, the body calls on adrenaline to help meet your wishes. But adrenaline happens to closely resemble amphetamines. Amphetamines give people a high. This helps explain why some people actually "live" on stress ... until their adrenal glands (or something else) just wears out. Thereafter, it's hard to even get out of bed in the morning.

These are the people who need artificial stimulants to keep them going. They become dependent on stimulating drugs (like coffee or Pepsi) just to make it through each day. Others seem to purposefully search out an emergency - or make one - to stimulate adrenaline in order to produce the energy they need to meet their goals. And their stress seems to be contagious to co-workers and family!

CARE AND FEEDING OF THE ADRENALS

Sitting atop both kidneys are the adrenal glands. Central portions secrete hormones to help control the body's automatic responses (like heartbeat and movement of food through your digestive tract). Adrenaline is the major hormone.The outer portion of each gland helps control digestion and your use of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and governs your general energy level. The whole gland produces around 50 different steroid hormones, fueling the sex drive and controlling any inflammation in the body. You can see why a deficiency here could be a reason for arthritic inflammation. In the first place, stressful activities use up a large amount of Vitamin C. Under duress, a person could use up several grams in a day. Animals do, but they are usually able to manufacture enough vitamin C in their livers. Humans do not have this capacity.

Licorice Root is the most famous adrenal building herb, and with good reason. It contains several hormone-like compounds that are easily converted for use by the adrenals. One of these is "Cortin", which is very similar to the body's "cortisone". As you may be aware, artificially produced cortisone has dangerous side-effects that are not experienced when you make your own. Always protect the ability to make your own!

Licorice root contains glycyrrhizinic acid that gently stimulates the adrenals and also helps clear the lymph nodes of toxins. It is very soothing and encourages good digestion, too. This herb is mild and can be beneficial for children, and is useful in all affections of the respiratory tract. Although licorice is wonderful, remember that too much can deplete your body of potassium.For the stress of menopause, licorice root also has estrogenic activity. In fact, the adrenals have some capacity to produce estrogen for you! So, for those going through the change of life and know that estrogen helps keep their bones strong, healthy adrenals are important.

In addition to using licorice, a general high-powered supplement program will be essential to recover from burnout.

Posted: Tuesday - March 16, 2010 at 04:15 PM
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