Understanding Stress And Cortisol

Check out these two stress responses that the brain coordinates:

1. The Sympathoadrenal Axis =  Primarily norepinephrine (noradrenalin) and epinephrine (adrenalin) as know as the fast track, you have NO control over this response.
2. The HPA Axis = Mainly cortisol, as known as the slow track; you have an extreme amount of control over this response.

Both perfectly fine in the correct context.

What’s interesting is that these systems can work independently or together.

The HPA access is where the problem lies because when stressed without the sympathoadrenal:

• There are NO physical cues
• You could feel tired (Avoidance)
• You could be thinking about insecurities (Alarm)
• You could be simply distracted.

It could be because…

• You don’t like Mondays
• You didn’t get caramel in your latte
• You got cut off in traffic
• Basically any emotional hot button
• They all trigger the HPA access.

Is it a flip of the coin?

You can switch off that stress pump, you know, and pump performance out from the androgen pump (DHEA and testosterone) to power your physiology.

What can you do to bring cortisol back to normal levels?

We give the brain what it needs: Trophic support:

We eliminate what I call light and heavy sleepers:

This optimises the four main hormonal systems bring harmony back to your cellular intelligence and your life.

Video explaining how at the bottom of this page.

Through science we know that every thought we have produces a biochemical reaction by the brain.

These chemical signals (neuropeptides) enter the bloodstream and bind to receptor sites in the body where they act as messengers.

The thoughts you think, produce chemicals in the brain that allow you to feel the way you’re thinking.

In a nutshell, every thought produces a chemical recipe that matches how you feel; such as the discomfort you feel going into work on Monday.

So when you think wonderful and inspiring thoughts about doing something exciting, you act and feel excited and inspired.

The brain releases glutamate, dopamine and noradrenalin which excites and energizes the brain and sends energy to myocytes (muscles) to prepare for this experience.

If you entertain anxious, frustrated, angry or thoughts, the brain does the following because it a perceived threat.

1. Neural nets trigger neurotransmitters to engage the HPA axis, the sympathoadrenal axis or both to create stress hormones to release energy and focus on the threat
2. Thromboxane is created and released to:
   • Cause vasoconstriction
   • Coagulate the blood to prevent bleeding if injured
3. Blood is diverted from essential systems such as:
   •  Digestion and immune function
4. And that blood is sent to working muscles
5. Cortex is powered off because it’s too slow. 40 bits of data per second vs 40,000,000 per second.
   •  This is achieved by constricting blood vessels in the cortex and enlarging in the midbrain essentially dropping out IQ 30 points
   •   But that doesn’t matter because we are reacting to the situation with uncontrollable emotion
6. The hippocampus changes function by powering up the end attached to the amygdala and powering down the end attached to the cortex.
   • Emotional learning heightened
   • Intellectual learning blunted
7. Dynorphin is released giving you the feeling of discomfort:
   • As dynorphin builds along with other stress hormones, it’s a signal for you to stop because the discomfort is too much. This is a backup system so cell stress isn’t too great.
8.  This is achieved by inhibition of cell in the intercalated cell masses:
   • http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/13/5131 [Ref]
   • http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/39/13272 [Ref]
9. GABA inhibition is set into motion via the same pathway, the intercalated cell masses
   • GABA makes you feel calm and in control
10. You’re now ready for action and combat
    • Real or perceived threat, you know like going to work on Monday morning or being cut off in traffic
    • Or simply thinking about going to work on Sunday night will cause the same stress response

Now, if you have control of your HPA access, here’s what happens when the threat clears:

1. Androgens power up to grow from the stressor, and adrenals power down.
2. Blood and vascular system back to normal fast because, thromboxane has a short half life of 32 seconds.
3. Blood is then diverted form muscles to non essential systems such as digestion
4. Immune function back to optimised function
5. Blood back to the cortex to think and plan for the next exposure to the stressor
6. GABA inhibition is now switched off, feel calm
7. Opioid inhibition now switched off, feel good
8. DHEA and testosterone production now a priority to grow physically and mentally from the acute stress.

That’s a perfect response – Excellent work!

Issue 1:  However, if light sleepers are in the system it will slow and impede that process

Issue 2:  If you have heavy sleeper, you could become a frog in water slowly come to the metabolic boil.

What are sleepers?

If you have heavy sleepers, this dysfunction will constitutively (meaning always) impede the growth process any you’ll performing WELL below what YOU ARE capable of.

Watch this video to learn more:

Would you like to get private access to the tools seen in this video?

Contact me: