What happens when we are currently under stress?

A Metabolic Explanation

 What is Stress?

It is any Exogenous or Endogenous stimulus that outcomes a biological response. Based on the type, timing and severity of the applied stimulus, spree can exert various actions on the body ranging from alterations in homeostasis to life threatening effects and ultimately death (example a heart attack). In many cases, complications of stress (metabolic diseases) are derived from subjects exposed to stress at work or living in a stressful environment. It can be either a triggering or aggravating factor for many diseases and pathological conditions .

Stress response mobilizes our body’s energy stores in order to respond a threatening  situation, that can be either a physical threat or an emotional status. Irrespective of the type of stress, information  about the situation  converges on the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus , a brain region involved on the stress response. So, everything that we perceive at a physiological level, has been converted on our brain.

During stress our body releases hormones like Cortisol, which prepares our body to the stressful event. Heart rate increases, lungs take in more oxygen, blood flow increases, and parts of the immune system become temporarily suppressed, which reduces the body’s inflammatory response too pathogens. When it become chronic , your immune system becomes less sensitive to cortisol, which may halter inflammatory responses. This increases your chances of becoming sick.

Inflammation  is partly regulated by the hormone cortisol and when it is not allowed  to serve this function, inflammation  can get out of control, and here your own body will “fight” against itself developing many auto immune diseases of the skin, thyroid, pancreas, muscles, etc. The immune system’s ability to regulate inflammation  predicts who will develop a certain disease, but more importantly it provides an explanation  of how stress can promote disease. When under stressful situations cells of the immune system are unable  to respond to hormonal control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease.

Modern life stressors are typically chronic, such as : financial worries, work problems, family responsibilities, health concerns, and many others. In this context, it response is not beneficial but rather harmful, predisposing individuals to anorexia, visceral obesity, cardiometabolic disease, diabetes, cancer, auto immune disorders, all leading causes of death worldwide.

Several metabolic changes happen during a stressors situation, for example and for some people, acute intense stress in commonly associated  with feeding suppression and reduced body weight gain, impeding healthy weight gain and leading to outmost anorexia. This is explained by the activation  of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the release of corticotropin-releasing hormone, which will then stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and catecholamine release, inducing weight loss, through  their effects on the liver and on white and brown adipose tissue.

For some other people instead, chronic stress can lead to dietary over-consumption (especially junk foods), increased visceral adiposity and weight gain. These obesogenic effects of stress are mainly explained by the chronic release of glucocorticoids and neuropeptide Y.

Stressful situations can activate all of these systems together, and the metabolic outcome of stress exposure is determined by a host of intrinsic and external  factors.

The equilibrium between the different components of the stress response that accompany chronic stress situations is essential  to prevent the long-lasting adverse metabolic effects induced by stress.

Is Stressors altering our energy balance and homeostasis ?

Considering the picture at the beginning of this article and the latter picture, we can infer that under chronic stress, the load of “toxic stuff” we put in our body is massive. We stop eating , or overeat, we get deprived from sleep, we smoke, we use drugs, we don’t get enough nutrients to help our body cope with stress and the result often seen is metabolic diseases .

Therefore, it seems evident that stress can impact on energy balance and in homeostasis in many diverse ways and at different levels, by either triggering obesogenic-like response or and anorexigenic-like response reflecting a variety of intrinsic  and external factors such as individual differences, (palatable) food availability or the type of tree itself.

You can prevent the development of stress-linked metabolic disease, by doing simple lifestyle changes on your daily routine:

• Increase sun exposure: Vitamin D is essential on helping the body cope with stress. 15 minutes per day is sufficient to increase Vitamin D levels.
• Avoid sugar and fructose if you are stressed : Increased Insulin and Glucose levels put you at risk for developing Diabetes type 2, sickness and premature ageing. If stress triggers your eating button, prefer to opt for whole foods such as raw vegetables and nuts, plain yogurt, avocado.
• Eat plenty of raw organic foods during every meal, either by drinking a glass of a fresh pressed green juice, or by adding a small salad portion.
• Avoid denatured oils and chemically altered foods, such as fried potatoes, crackers, pies, cookies, that have zero nutrients and will create more inflammation  on a stressed body.
• Exercise regularly ! Exercise helps promote the circulation of immune cells in the blood, which neutralize pathogens in your body.

by Adriana

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