Stress is blamed for everything now, from forgetfulness to mistakes minor and major, to depression, overweight, poor sleep, emotional meltdown, health breakdown, poor work performance, to relationship breakup. Pioneering doctors of the 1920s to 1940s researched and collated the various symptoms that we now associate with stress, SAM and HPA.
In the late 1930s Hans Selye, a Canadian endocrinologist coined the term “stress” and defined it as “The non specific response of the body to any demand (stressor), whether it is caused by or results in pleasant or unpleasant conditions.” He first wrote about General Adaptation Syndrome, GAS, now generally know as the stress syndrome, in the British journal Nature in 1936.
Walter Cannon in 1932 established that shock or perceived threat quickly release hormones in the body for access to extra energy for survival action. We are designed to either face and attack the enemy or to out run it. Nothing else counts at that moment as all possible energy is diverted to in the moment survival, putting many functions on hold till the stress has gone.
Stress is a natural part of life and cannot be avoided. Stress is experienced when we extend beyond our comfort zone into new territory, be that socially, in our work situation, in questioning our life direction and changing direction.
Stress, physical, mental or emotional, sets off the same reaction in the brain. This reaction is in two parts, the instantaneous flight or flight reaction initiated by amygdala, the SAM axis, and the slower HPA axis triggered by long-term stress. They have opposite symptoms. Stress, SAM and HPA are part of your survival and adaption systems.
SAM – Sympathetic Adrenal Medullary Axis
HPA – Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis
SAM is the super fast fight or flight reaction your amygdala sets into action, totally bypassing any conscious thought process. It’s what happens when driving normally and suddenly a child on the footpath decides to run across the road – without looking – and you slam on the brakes and swerve to avoid hitting the child. That life saving reaction happens in less than the blink of an eye. And you are left with a pounding heart and gulping for breath.
SAM basically reroutes your blood flow to increase your heart rate, feed your brain and the muscles required for action, and limits the activities of parts of your body that are not required in the moment. This reaction settles down once the danger has passed.
HPA on the other hand, is slower in activation and continues to be activated long after the stressor has been removed. Its what happens when you go into “what if I had hit that child,” playing it over and over to the point of being too scared to drive at all.
It is regulated by hypothalamus that sends a hormone to your pituitary gland, both located in the brain, which then sends a hormone to adrenal glands in the body to increase output of cortisol. This is a self regulated system and relies on increasing levels of cortisol produced in the body to feedback to the glands in the brain to suppress the initial hormone cascade. But what if you can’t shut off the thoughts that you nearly killed a child, can’t sleep, can’t eat?
With prolonged stress cortisol initiates breakdown of muscle protein for the liver to convert to essential blood glucose, your brain’s fuel, and for other essential functions to deal with or adjust to the ongoing stress. Cortisol reduces reproductive and immune systems activity until the ongoing stress is resolved, which can be days, weeks, and even years. Stress, SAM and HPA are part of your inbuilt survival and adaption systems.
Who Is At Risk
Any stress you feel is impossible to resolve will keep you in this HPA cycle. This is common with family health carers, those who care for parents with dementia for instance, or for a disabled child. Its common after a failed business venture or marriage breakdown, or dealing with drug addicted teenagers, or post traumatic syndrome of war veterans.
Ask any world class athlete and they will tell you the risk keeping HPA cycle going through over training is very real when the focus is on winning or maintain their world ranking. Over training is a physical as well as mental and emotional stress plus a massive demand on constantly rebuilding the body to keep up with the rigorous training programs.
Even the medical professionals are acknowledging that almost all physical illnesses have mental factors that determine their onset, presentation, maintenance, and susceptibility during illness. Stress, SAM and HPA in active mode means the body is focused on survival with limited resources for recovery from illness.
What’s the Solution
Every body needs recovery time to repair the wear and tear of the day’s activity and life’s stressful experiences. Somehow we need to come to peace with the cards we are dealt in life, change our undermining beliefs and expectations, increase our resilience, adapt and lift our ability to function at our best in varying circumstances, with the least stress possible.
Kinesiology recognizes any imbalance will impact the physical, mental, emotional, biochemical, and spiritual elements of a person and they all need to be addressed and rebalanced for holistic wellness. The body will indicate the path to solutions through muscle response monitoring.
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