Without a doubt, our food used to be very different than the food we eat today. Our prehistoric diet consisted of fresh fruit, wild vegetables, roots, wild herbs, nuts, seeds, honey, some wild grains, seafood, and meat. We, as well as our primate antecedents that came before us, evolved to thrive on this plant based diet.

For literally millions of years, we consumed a diet rich in nutrients, low in toxins, high in fiber, and rich in fats. As good as that diet was, it wasn’t ideal. Many prehistoric foods had naturally occurring toxins in them and were lower in nutrients than the best foods available today. Plus, humans were restricted to the foods available in the area they foraged.

In modern times, we can improve upon our prehistoric diet, provided the core concept resembles the same ratios of macronutrients. These ratios of nutrients changed dramatically for the first time, ten thousand years ago when we adopted agriculture. It was then that our diet, and our society, changed forever.

Agriculture spread from one society to another, gradually becoming the dominant subsistence strategy. Farming further reduced variety and increased grains, a change that resulted in a significant decline in health. There is a lot of evidence to support the notion that a high carbohydrate diet, especially when compounded over generations, has a dramatically detrimental effect on human health and vitality. This decline in health can be seen across time and across many cultures.

The average Spanish conquistador was dwarfed in size by the average North American Native American. Spaniards ate a diet high in carbohydrates and low in protein, with limited fruits and vegetables. Native Americans of North America consumed many plants, some fruits and nuts, wild game, some carbohydrates (mostly from squash and corn), and for many tribes, plenty of seafood. The natives in North America could look down on the Spaniards by as much as a half a foot.

South American Natives and Mexican natives are and were significantly smaller in stature than their Northern counterparts. South American Natives relied on agriculture. With farming came a denser population whose diet focused on grains, leading to much higher carbohydrate consumption and less access to meat, nuts, herbs, and vegetables.

The effect that diet has on size is fascinating. Many people attribute genetics to differences in size. Among individuals with a similar diet, this is true. But between populations, like the American population and the Mexican population, diet, over generations, greatly contributes to the average difference in size. Although the effect diet has on size is very interesting, diet has many more profound effects on all aspects of health. Differences in diet lead to different diseases.

Many experts predict that our current population will not live as long as previous generations. Diabetes, heart disease, strokes, hypertension, kidney disease, and obesity are all on the rise, and these diseases are predicted to noticeably shorten the American lifespan. But the story of the American diet doesn’t end there. Our diet did not go from the best in the world to one of the worst overnight, and it won’t go back to the best quickly, either. To understand where we are going, and how diet affects us, it is helpful to understand where we have been and how our diet has affected us in the past.

Freedom has long been lauded as the reason why so many Europeans crossed the ocean. Though religious freedom was certainly a factor, food was probably the bigger incentive. During the time period when Europeans were first settling America, Europe was a very crowded continent. Farming opportunities for European settlers in America were the best in the world. Europeans came in droves to realize the American dream, the dream of being able to feed one’s family, to live in abundance, an abundance of food. It was a modest dream to be sure, but when you can’t feed your family or your family is fed in a substandard manner, it is a dream worth great risk and sacrifice to achieve.

Within generations, a profound difference in size and prosperity emerged between Americans and their European counterparts. This difference in size can still be seen today, but the size gap between Americans and Europeans during modern times is disappearing.

In the early 1800s, most Americans lived on or near farms. Foods were restricted by seasonal availability, and cooking was done on an open hearth, a labor-intensive method.

In 1820, the cast iron stove was introduced. For Americans living in the 1800s this was as timesaving as a microwave is versus a modern day oven. Unlike a microwave, a cast iron stove didn’t eradicate nutrients anymore than the previous cooking method did, it just saved time.

In 1892, the U.S. government collected height and weight data on a representative sample of U.S. men. In white males aged 40-69 years old, obesity was estimated to have been at 4%.

From that time to modern times, a number of changes happened to our food supply, including how food is prepared, how it is produced, its availability, and what foods we choose to eat.

These are some of the changes:

• 1910s – Hydrogenated (trans fats) were introduced into the food supply
• 1920s – Gas and electric stoves became common
• 1920s – Refrigerators became common
• 1920s – Canned foods and frozen foods were introduced

In the early 1900s, foods like Nathan’s Hot Dogs, Oreo Cookies, Wonder Bread, Yoo-Hoo, Wheaties, Kool-Aid, VanCamp’s Canned Pork and Beans, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were introduced into the American diet and became very popular.

Trans fats dramatically extend the shelf life of foods. Proctor & Gamble learned methods for hydrogenating cottonseed oil from a German scientist. This fat was originally intended for soap, but it resembled lard, so Proctor & Gamble successfully marketed it as Crisco. (The name comes from crystallized cottonseed oil.)

New technologies not only allowed for easy storage of food, they also allowed for a more diverse diet, a diet less beholden to seasonal availability. For the sake of convenience, many more ready- to-eat foods were developed. Refrigeration technology did not just change the foods in the home, it changed the foods available in stores and restaurants as well. And refrigerated train cars, in use since the 1840s, allowed for shipping foods long distances.

Refrigeration and electricity created a technological platform from which commercialized food became more commonplace. This change is important because it is not as profitable for commercially prepared food to be healthy as it is for it to simply taste good and have a long shelf life. It is easier and more profitable for food manufacturers to misrepresent their foods as healthy, than it is for them to actually be healthy.

Consider these ads:

This misrepresentation is achieved by focusing on a few upsides to commercially prepared foods while blatantly ignoring the numerous downsides. Food manufacturers don’t attempt to convince us how great sugar is anymore. Their methods have grown more sophisticated. For instance, “fat free” while loaded with sugar; zero trans fat, when high in other fats; “all natural,” when genetically modified; made with real blueberries, when everything else was made in a lab; and my personal favorite, “fortified with vitamins & minerals,” which means this Frankenfood is so dead that in order for it to have any nutrition at all, the manufacturer had to add the cheapest, most unnatural vitamins and minerals known to man.

A Changing Food Budget

In 1889, 93% of all food spending was for food consumed at home. In 2009, only 51% of all food spending was spent on food to be consumed at home. Of the food purchased to be consumed at home, much of it was highly processed and commercially prepared.

Changing Activity Levels

While the standard American diet drastically changed, so did the physical activity levels of the average American. Two hundred years ago, most professions were physically demanding and exercise was a way of life. Over time, this has dramatically changed. Some Americans exercise a few times a week, but it is common for many to never exercise at all.

Obviously, this has had profound effects on American health.

Trading one Disease for Another

The first alarms were sounded in the late 1970s. A senate committee pushed its “Dietary Goals for the United States” urging Americans to eat less fat. It was thought that red meat, eggs, and dairy were killing us.

By the 1980s, nearly a million Americans were dying of heart disease each year.

Again, Americans were told to eat less fat and eat more carbohydrates. These recommendations were built into a monument and lauded to the public as the salvation for American health: The Food Pyramid.

The Food Pyramid recommended carbohydrates as the staple of a healthy diet. Fat was a killer, or so we were led to believe, therefore recommendations for fat intake were drastically reduced. A $150 million dollar study, which pushed the same message, came fast on the heels of these recommendations. The study said to eat less fat and avoid foods high in cholesterol in order to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Americans followed this advice and consumption of grains and sugar rose. Americans are now sicker than before. Deaths from heart disease have dropped a bit, but obesity and diabetes rose dramatically.

Whole milk has been banned from most of our public schools, but strawberry milk, chocolate milk, and soda machines are usually available. Whole plain yogurt is usually difficult to find in a grocery store, but low fat, sugar filled, artificially flavored, artificially colored options are everywhere. The prevailing belief is that these low fat options are healthier, even when loaded with sweeteners, than whole milk.

Though deaths from heart disease have declined, cardiovascular disease remains the nation’s number # 1 killer. According to Time Magazine, diabetes has increased 166% from 1980 to 2012. The low-fat trend was directed toward lowering cholesterol. And yet, few realize that high fructose corn syrup, found in nearly every processed food, is today’s leading cause of high cholesterol.

A Downward Trend

In every measurable way, Americans are in worse health than ever before. It is widely predicted that our lifespan is shortening; the generations that came before us will outlive us, and we are likely to outlive the generations that succeed us.

Most Americans simply want to lose weight, but some aspire to be healthier as well. For either goal or both goals, many Americans have lost confidence in government guidelines and have begun to look for other diets to follow. In the absence of sound advice from the government, many have turned elsewhere for ways to lose weight or to improve their health.

This has led to waves of diet fads, diets that rise and fall in popularity. These are some of the more popular diets:

• The Pritikin diet
• The Atkins diet
• The Gluten Free diet
• The South Beach diet
• The Mediterranean diet
• Weight Watchers
• The Zone Diet
• Volumetrics
• Raw Food Diet
• NutriSystem
• Macrobiotic Diet
• The Paleo Diet

Many of the diets have been designed and championed by doctors.

The Pritikin diet basically echoes government recommendations, with less meat. The South Beach diet is very similar, with fewer carbs and more lean meats like fish and poultry. The Atkins diet is a protein-based weight loss plan that is low in nutrition and very unhealthy. It has been called a nutritionist’s nightmare. The gluten free diet works best if there is a reason for one to avoid gluten. Otherwise, unless one cuts back on carbs, it is unlikely to be beneficial to anyone trying to lose weight. Weight Watchers stresses eat what you want but in moderation and constantly count calories.

The Mediterranean diet is a seafood, wine, veggie, and whole grain weight loss plan similar to South Beach. The Zone diet suggests a rigid focus on macronutrients in regards to protein, carbs, and fat. Nutrisystem is the ultimate have someone else do it for you plan with all meals pre made and pre measured. Volumetrics promotes a focus on fruits and vegetables. Because of their fiber content, they make you feel more full. The raw food diet allows for unlimited raw vegan food.

These were among the most popular diets. Many diet fads were highly restrictive, absurd, dangerous, and downright scary like the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, the vinegar diet, and the liquid diet. Other approaches included the T.V. frozen dinner diet and even a Twinkie diet. The most dangerous and harmful diets were the diets that weren’t even based on food like the cigarette diet (whenever you’re hungry, just smoke), the eat sweets before a meal diet, or, even more crazy, the tapeworm diet, the baby food diet (substitute some of your meals with baby food), and worst of all the cotton ball diet, which recommended that you actually eat cotton balls dipped in juice. This is a choking hazard and can cause intestinal blockages, both of which can kill you. It was crazy, but these were all diets were practiced by some Americans.

Despite the variety of diets, popular and obscure, safe and dangerous, on average, Americans are fatter than ever before. Most Americans eat slightly less red meat and eat more lean meat, but they eat more sugar and more highly processed and refined foods. The CDC predicts that by 2030 up to 42% of the U.S. population will be obese, and 11% will be severely obese.

Experts do not agree on the health effect of grains and sweets. In Georgia, the only cereals WIC will pay for are cereals that contain some kind of sugar – corn sugar, sugar cane, or sugar from beets. Fruit juice sweetened and unsweetened cereals are considered health food and are not eligible for purchase under the program.

Over time, some foods have gone up in demand, while others have fallen in popularity. Sugar consumption from sugar cane has dropped 35% while corn based sweeteners (mostly high fructose corn syrup) consumption has risen by 8,853%. It’s not that Americans choose to eat corn syrup, they choose to eat processed foods, and high fructose corn syrup is added to nearly every processed food.

The current government guidelines are only a little different than the original food pyramid. The current recommendations are still high in grains, but the recommendation for fruits and vegetables is higher.

Conclusion

We recommend a diverse, whole food, plant-based diet. A full 80% of your diet should consist of raw, fresh, organic produce – more vegetables than fruits. Meats should be organic. Nuts and seeds should be soaked or sprouted. Grains should be limited and gluten should be avoided if any illness is present. Dairy should be organic and raw or limited. Omega 3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil, fish oil, or a blended oil and oily fish should be added to your diet. Clean water is also essential.

You should avoid all artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives; MSG; high fructose corn syrup; trans fats; and GMOs. Seriously limit or eliminate all processed sugar.

For more information about a truly healthy diet, read the 80% Raw Food Diet. Boost your nutrition with increased vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, learn how to make your own Total Nutrition Powder.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• 80% Raw Food Diet
• Is the Paleo Diet a Fraudulent Fad or the Healthiest Diet To Hit Mainstream? Could It Be Both?

Sources:

• The Height Gap – The New Yorker
• The American Diet – Stephan Guyenet
• Debunking The Paleo Diet – Christina Warinner
• Processed Foods History – Modern Pioneer Mom
• The Rise and fall of trans fat: A history of partially hydrogenated oil – LA Times
• The Ten Most Famous Fad Diets of All Time – Everyday Health

Mercury is an element (Hg on the periodic table) that is naturally found in our environment in the air, water, rocks and soil. Mercury can be found in several different forms: metallic mercury, inorganic mercury compounds, and organic mercury compounds.

Metallic mercury is also known as elemental mercury. At room temperatures, this form of mercury is a dazzling silver liquid. When heat is applied, metallic mercury becomes an odorless, invisible gas.

How does Mercury get into the Environment?

Mercury naturally occurs in our environment, but much more of it would be trapped in rocks beneath the surface if not for industrial processes. Coal-fired electricity generation, burning fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, smelting, mining, and incineration of waste are the main contributors of mercury to the environment. Of these coal power plants account for over half of the mercury that ends up in our seafood. Mercury used to manufacture light bulbs, switches and thermometers also pollutes due to poor adherence with safe disposal.

The Bioaccumulation of Mercury in Its Most Toxic Form

Mercury is emitted to the air through burning coal and falls onto the ground and bodies of water usually by way of rain and snow. Several species of soil-dwelling anaerobic bacteria that take up sulfate convert inorganic mercury to methylmercury through their metabolic processes. This conversion is problematic from an ecological point of view, because methlymercury is more toxic and it takes much longer for organisms to eliminate it from their systems. Bacteria that contain methlymercury either excrete the mercury into water or organisms higher up the food chain consume the mercury-laden bacteria. Methylmercury then travels the waterways to the ocean.

Methylmercury in water travels up the food chain from being absorbed by phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is then eaten by zooplankton, small fish then eat zooplankton, and small fish get eaten by larger marine life and so on. Methlymercury accumulates in organisms faster than they can eliminate it. Animals consume and retain higher amounts of mercury each step up the food chain. This is why methlymercury is found in the highest amounts in large predatory fish such as tuna. This mercury biomagnification is most problematic for fish-eating wildlife such as dolphins and some whales and certainly poses a problem for us.

The Seafood Highest in Methylmercury

This is how Scientific American and their article How Does Mercury Get Into Fish rank the severity of mercury contamination in fish.

Highest in Mercury:

• Bluefin tuna
• Walleye
• King mackerel
• Marlin

Higher in Mercury:

• Bluefish
• Shark
• Swordfish
• Wild sturgeon
• Opah
• Bigeye tuna

Also of concern, but to a slightly lesser extent:

• Orange roughy
• Chilean sea bass
• Blue crab
• Lingcod
• Spanish mackerel
• Spotted seatrout
• Wahoo
• Grouper
• Snapper
• Halibut
• Tile fish
• Rock fish
• Sable fish
• Blackfin
• Albacore
• Yellowfin tuna

Seafood Lower In Methylmercury

We recommend consuming a variety of fish that have lower contamination levels:

• Anchovies
• Butterfish
• Catfish
• Clam
• Crab (Domestic)
• Crawfish/Crayfish
• Croaker (Atlantic)
• Flounder*
• Haddock (Atlantic)*
• Hake
• Herring
• Mackerel (N. Atlantic, Chub)
• Mullet
• Oyster
• Perch (Ocean)
• Plaice
• Pollock
• Salmon (Canned)**
• Salmon (Fresh)**
• Sardine
• Scallop*
• Shad (American)
• Shrimp*
• Sole (Pacific)
• Squid (Calamari)
• Tilapia
• Trout (Freshwater)
• Whitefish
• Whiting

Conclusion

Always make sure any seafood you consume are sustainably caught, not farm raised, and fresh (not “fishy” smelling). Include foods in your diet that naturally chelate heavy metals like cilantro, garlic, onions, brazil nuts, chlorella, and spirulina. Check out this recipe for a homemade multi-vitamin nutrition formula that chelates heavy metals. And read Detoxify from Heavy Metals and the first three sources below for more on detoxifying mercury.

 Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula
• Shillington’s Intestinal Detox
• Shillington’s Blood Detox
• HM Complex – Pure Encapsulations
• Basic B Complex – Thorne Research

Further Reading:

• Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins
• 5 Reasons to Avoid Factory-Farmed Fish
• How to Detoxify from Vaccinations & Heavy Metals
• Mercury Fillings, Root Canals, Cavitations – What You Need to Know
• Oceana Company Highlight

Sources:

• How Does Mercury Get Into Fish – Scientific American
• So Where Does All That Mercury in Fish Come From? – Eco Centric
• How Does Toxic Mercury Get into Fish? – Oceanus Magazine
• Mercury in the Environment – U.S. Geological Survey

Stress is nothing new; it has been with us since time began. In its most basic incarnation, we are stressed when we are threatened and faced with fight or flight. In modern times, we need stress to focus our mind and to sharpen our wits. Stress helped to give us the edge we needed to survive. Large amounts of stress hormones (like cortisol and adrenaline) can enable us to do amazing things, feats beyond what we could do under any other circumstances.

Contents

• Rising to the Occasion

• Side-Effects of Chronic Stress

• Stress Hormones Defined

• Positive Aspects of Stress

• It’s All In Our Heads

• It’s Good to be King

• The Fine Line Between Stimulating and Stressful

• Ease The Pain

• Apathy

• Release the Pressure and Handle Stress Better

• Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

• Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue and Chronic Stress

• Candida and Adrenal Fatigue

• Grounding for Adrenal Fatigue

• Fitness for Adrenal Fatigue

• Conclusion

Under the rush of life or death circumstances, our perception of time slows down. We become hyper-focused upon our goals, blocking out all other distractions. Relevant sounds become more prominent, irrelevant noise less so. Reflexes sharpen, and our reaction time improves. Pain is diminished, and we gain strength beyond measure. In those times, the world snaps into focus, and in the rush of the moment, we can reach beyond human limitations.

There is a lot to be learned about how this process takes place in our bodies, and science has not yet teased apart all the steps of this complex phenomena. Ethical restraints prevent scientists from recreating life or death circumstances for study. But throughout the years, many people have been witness to extraordinary acts by those in the heat of the moment.

Rising to the Occasion

It was the primal response to danger that enabled Tom Boyle Jr. to do what would otherwise have been impossible. Sitting in traffic, Tom and his wife witnessed a gruesome spectacle. Sparks sprayed from beneath a car ahead of them as it drug 18-year-old Kyle Holtrust and his bicycle, his flesh being torn open along the road. After 20 to 30 feet, the driver finally came to a stop, and Tom Boyle leapt into action.

The bicyclist was pinned beneath the frame of his bike and a 3,000 lb. Camaro. Kyle screamed in agony, pounding the side of the car with his free hand. In that moment, Boyle reached under the frame of the 3,000 lb. car and lifted it off of Kyle. The driver of the car then pulled Kyle to safety. After an amazing 45 seconds of holding the car, Boyle set it back down. Boyle doesn’t deny that it was the extreme stress of the moment that made the difference “There’s no way I could lift that car right now.”

When it’s life or death, we can do amazing things. Other stories similar to this one are easy to find. A Canadian mother, Maureen Lee, used only her bare hands to throw a cougar off of her 3 yr. old daughter. Understandably, the cougar was terrified of her hysterical strength and ran away.

Angela Cavallo lifted a 1964 Chevrolet Impala off of her son after it fell off of the jacks and onto him. Angela held the car long enough for others to arrive and to put the car back onto the jacks. Lydia Angyiou attacked a polar bear that was threatening her son and another boy. While the boys ran for help, Lydia managed to engage the bear in physical combat long enough for help to arrive. Help came in the form of a neighbor armed with a gun. He shot the bear four times, ending the fight. Surprisingly, Lydia’s wounds were minor. This is the kind of stress that we are biochemically equipped to handle.

Life is expected to be stressful, and we are designed to rise to the occasion. But we are designed for extreme stress. In today’s modern world, extreme stress rarely happens. The kind of stressors that we encounter today are usually more of the low-level, ongoing variety like relationship troubles, financial difficulties, and abrasive bosses. Our bodies are not well equipped to handle long term, chronic stress. Ongoing stress can bring on a multitude of diseases and send us to an early grave.

It’s true; stress can kill you. The Japanese call this Karoshi, which means death from overwork. But it is the stress from work that kills us, not the work itself. That is, the stress and lack of sleep from overwork, which further adds to our stress.

Stomach ulcers were the first disease linked to chronic stress. It took many more years of research to learn that many diseases are linked to chronic stress.

The old saying, “Whatever doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger,” may not hold true when it comes to chronic stress.

Health Problems With Excessive Stress Hormones

• Acne
• Addictions
• Anxiety
• Alzheimer’s
• Bone Loss
• Cancer (due to reduced immune system)
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Digestive problems
• Heart disease (stress actually creates plaque in the arteries)
• Infertility
• Inflammation
• Impaired immunity
• Insulin resistance
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar)
• Metabolic syndrome
• Memory and concentration impairment
• Osteoporosis
• Reduced libido
• Senile dementia
• Sexual Dysfunction
• Stomach Ulcers
• Strokes
• Weight gain (stress encourages fat to be retained in the body, especially around the abdomen)

Unfortunately chronic stress can lead to all kinds of poor health outcomes, not just the problems listed above.

More Side-Effects of Chronic Stress

Mice subjected to chronic stress had smaller brains, fewer connections formed in their brains, and fewer brain cells. The areas of the brain associated with learning and memory were particularly affected.

Chronic stress kills human brain cells as well, and it has also been shown to lower I.Q. When we are stressed, our ability to use our higher-level thinking (our frontal lobes) is disrupted, as well as our ability to access memories.

Chronic stress may shorten telomeres. Telomeres are at the ends of our DNA strands. Every time a cell divides, telomeres are slightly shortened by the cell’s division. So by further shortening our telomeres, chronic stress can shorten your lifespan and make you age faster. Centenarians tend to possess two common traits: long telomeres and a low-stress approach to life.

Scientific understanding of the stress response has improved a great deal in recent years, but there is still a lot science does not yet fully understand. Physiological changes brought on by stress are very complex. What we do know is that when we are stressed our body releases adrenaline, endorphins, fibrinogen, norepinephrine, corticotrophin, cortisol, and vasopressin, and we have a working knowledge of the changes in the body that are brought on by these substances.

Stress Hormones Defined

Adrenaline is also known as the fight or flight hormone. Adrenaline gives you an instant surge of energy, and it focuses your attention to immediate threats. Adrenaline directs blood flow to our arms and legs. Heart rate and respiration quicken, and we may start sweating. Adrenaline is released from the adrenal glands after the brain sends a warning of imminent danger.

Corticotrophin’s primary function is to drive the release of other stress hormones. Corticotrophin also suppresses appetite, improves memory (even as other stress hormones dampen memory), increases overall anxiety, and it focuses attention. Corticotrophin also plays an important role in inflammation. Corticotrophin is produced in small quantities by white blood cells and in larger quantities by the hypothalamus.

Endorphins are released in times of stress to act as a natural painkiller. Many people report not feeling any pain from injuries until after the threat to life or limb has passed. By numbing our sense of pain, we are able to push ourselves further than we otherwise could, straining muscles and pushing past injuries to do what is needed.

Fibrinogen is a protein that aids in blood clotting, providing some protection against excessive bleeding. Fibrinogen is also why high levels of stress forms plaque on the arteries.

Norepinephrine is a hormone that is very similar to adrenaline. It makes you very alert, more responsive and invigorated. It also diverts blood from the skin, the digestive tract, and other non-essential areas, shifting more blood to your muscles. This can further aid in any fighting or fleeing that you may need to do. The adrenal glands and the brain produce norepinephrine.

Although norepinephrine might seem redundant considering that adrenaline (which is also called epinephrine) mirrors its affects; it actually works as a back up and as a compliment to adrenaline. If your adrenal glands are not working well, you can still get a solid dose of norepinephrine from your brain.

Vasopressin is also known as the antidiuretic hormone or arginine vasopressin. This hormone causes reabsorption of water by the kidneys, which concentrates our urine. This is why we are less likely to think about trips to the bathroom in highly stressful situations. It also induces something called vasoconstriction, which is the constriction of blood vessels. This raises our blood pressure. Vasopressin is produced by the hypothalamus, then stored and later secreted by the pituitary gland.

Cortisol has been nicknamed the “stress hormone.” It is, in fact, not the stress hormone, but one of many. Cortisol does a lot of good things for us. It aids in metabolism and many other bodily functions. Under stressful situations, cortisol takes a little longer than the other stress hormones to kick in. It is meant to provide us with sustained energy over a longer period of time.

Stress hormones are some of the heavy lifters that helped Tom Boyle leverage the Camaro off of Kyle. This ability to respond to extreme circumstances with extreme measures is undoubtedly one of the upsides of having stress hormones. There are other benefits to stress hormones as well.

Positive Aspects of Stress

“He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.” – Edmund Burke

Stress can make you feel alive. It is this rush of stress hormones that give us that thrill when we are watching action movies or horror movies. Our bodies release stress hormones when we are watching sports and when we are playing games like paintball, laser tag, and video games. Some amount of stress is good, healthy, and invigorating. It can make us feel more “in the moment”.

Another upside to stress is its ability to act as an effective motivator. Ever heard that old adage, “I work best under pressure”? The right amount of stress sharpens our focus. The right amount of stress coupled with an optimistic outlook hones athletic performance. Under the right circumstances, stress can be our ally.

The difference between good stress and bad stress is mostly how we perceive the circumstances. The majority of people think of stress as something that happens to them, from external factors, like one too many straws that broke the camel’s back. This idea of one too many is often extended to those in mental institutions and prisons, as we ask, “What was the last thing that made those people snap?”

The idea of too much, too many, is a good model for physical stress. Bridges, houses, and buildings are all built to withstand a certain amount of physical stress. When subjected to too much stress at once or too much stress over an extended period of time, the structures collapse.

It’s All In Our Heads

Emotional stress doesn’t need to affect the body in the same way. All of our stress passes through our minds before it goes on to affect our bodies. Our thinking about stress either magnifies our stress or dampens it. Many of us think of our jobs as stressful, our boss as stressful, or traffic as stressful. Although some occupations are more stressful than others, we can mitigate the intensity of our stress by changing the way we think about it. Being stuck in traffic isn’t fun either, but we can all take a deep breath and listen to enjoyable music instead of obsessing about how much time we’re wasting looking at the sea of brake lights ahead. It is the way we react to these situations, the way we think about them, that makes them so stressful.

Many people thrive under stress, while others do not. Usually the difference is in perception, but it also helps when events are seen as being somewhat under their control. For many, powerlessness amplifies stress exponentially.

It’s Good to be King

Where you are in your corporate hierarchy also matters a great deal. When your boss tells you that his or her job is more stressful than yours they’re probably lying – if not to you, then at least to themselves. Numerous studies have shown that stress is lower at the top of corporate structures, not the other way around. The higher rank someone is, the less stress they endure and the longer they live. Rank does indeed have its privileges.

The Fine Line Between Stimulating and Stressful

Those who do well under stress also do not wallow in negative events. As an example, lawyers and doctors have stressful occupations. The difference between a lawyer or a physician coping well with their stressful careers lies in part with their ability to leave their job at work and not take the stress home with them. To those who thrive in stressful jobs, their jobs are rarely all that stressful-because they don’t perceive them to be that way. To them their job is challenging.

The right kind of stress is stimulation. The good kind is that thrill we get from a rollercoaster ride, the rush we get from a good horror movie, or the exhilaration we get from watching a sports game. Even in these examples, the way we perceive the stress is key.

Take sports for instance. It’s possible to become too emotionally involved in sports, even as a spectator. Sports fans have a way of feeling both the triumphs and failures of their favorite teams. Taken too far, this can be unhealthy.

In one study, researchers tracked the health outcomes of soccer fans. The Dutch fans of the European Cup Soccer game were devastated by their teams’ loss. The Dutch fans risk of heart attack increased by 50% shortly following the game.

So stress can take a lot out of us. Evolved out of dire necessity stress hormones divert energy away from reproduction, tissue repair, digestion, anything non-critical. Our bodies’ design is to worry about these things later, if there is a later. This can allow us to do incredible things, when life or death is at stake.

Ease The Pain

When stress is ongoing, it hurts our health and it takes away from our quality of life. Looking for a way to cope, many people try to self medicate when they are chronically stressed. Drug use and alcohol abuse are commonly used to cope with stress. We recommend turning to vitamins or supplements instead. A good B complex vitamin, tryptophan, and supplements for the adrenal glands are very effective without such harmful side effects. See Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue below.

There are other adaptive ways to foster resilience. Caring and compassion create resistance to stress. Connecting with others and sharing a laugh are powerful ways to mitigate the harmful affects of stress.

Oxytocin is the body’s natural antidote to stress. Known as the cuddle hormone, it has anti-inflammatory properties and promotes healing, especially for cardiovascular damage.

Positive emotions also spur on the enzyme telomerase, an enzyme that can actually repair telomeres.

Apathy

Some amount of stress is actually good for us, and without some stress, boredom sets in. The key to coping with stress is to see hardships as challenges. If you can view some stress as helpful, it mimics the biological changes induced by joy and courage. The trick is to change your perception of stress from a negative thing to a positive motivator.

My favorite analogy about stress being helpful comes from Dr. Mike Evans. He describes optimal stress as keeping stress high but not too high. Perceive current events as relevant, but not overwhelming and manage it like a bicycle tire. Give it enough pressure to keep rolling, but not so much it explodes if you hit a bump in the road.

Release the Pressure and Handle Stress Better

When you feel close to that breaking point, there are a number of techniques you can use to bring the pressure back down to optimal levels. These include some of the old standbys like deep breathing, exercise, humor, meditation, spending time in natural surroundings, and sharing your troubles with your friends.

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

Chronic stress, stress managed poorly, poor sleep quality, and addictions lead to adrenal fatigue. When dealing with chronic stress, the adrenals are being severely taxed.

Adrenal fatigue is a collection of symptoms, known as a syndrome, that results when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level. Most commonly associated with intense or prolonged stress, it can also arise during or after acute or chronic infections, especially respiratory infections such as influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia. As the name suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep, but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger. You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or “gray” feelings. People experiencing adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, colas and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.” – What is Adrenal Fatigue?

Life is much harder when someone suffers from adrenal fatigue. When the adrenals aren’t working, the whole body isn’t working. The body does its best to make up for under-functioning adrenal glands, but it does so at a price.

Symptoms include:

• ADHD
• Anxiety
• Balding lower legs
• Body fat accumulation
• Brainfog
• Breast cancer
• Chemical sensitivities to paint, fingernail polish, plastics
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Coffee, tea, or energy drinks addiction
• Cold hands and feet
• Constipation
• Cravings for salty or sugary foods, alcohol, caffeine, high protein
• Dark circles under eyes that does not go away with rest
• Dependence on sunglasses
• Depression
• Dry skin
• Dysmenorrhea advancing to amenorrhea
• Electrolyte imbalance
• EMF sensitivity, including cell phone and computer monitors
• Endometriosis
• Exercise helps first, but then feels worse
• Feeling “wired” and unable to relax
• Feeling of adrenaline rushes in the body
• Feeling tired in the afternoon between 3:00 and 5:00 pm
• Fibrocystic breast disease
• Fibromyalgia
• Grave’s disease
• Hair falling, randomly or alopecia
• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
• Heart palpitations
• High or low blood pressure
• Hollow cheeks
• Hormonal moodiness, bad PMS
• Hyper activity
• Hypoglycemia symptoms, though lab results normal
• Inability to handle stress
• Inability to take in simple carbohydrate
• Insomnia
• Irritable bowel syndrome, with more constipation then diarrhea
• Irritable under stress
• Joint pain
• Kidney health issues
• Legs that feel heavy
• Lines in fingernails
• Lines in fingertips
• Loss of healthy facial skin tone color
• Low back pain
• Low energy
• Low libido
• Low thyroid function, hypothyroidism
• Muscle mass loss
• Muscle pain
• Numbness and tingling in extremities bilaterally
• Ovarian cysts
• Pale lips
• Panic attacks
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome
• Poor emotional and coping ability
• Post partum fatigue and depression
• Premature aging skin
• Premature menopause
• Psoriasis
• Recurrent miscarriages during first trimester
• Short of breath
• Systemic Candida
• Temperature intolerance
• Tinnitus (chorionic ringing in the ear)
• Unable to get pregnant
• Unexplained back or knee pain
• Uterine fibroids
• Vertigo
• Wake up in the middle of the night
• Weak immune response

Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue and Chronic Stress

Adrenal fatigue can be treated naturally with herbs and supplements, but diet and good habits have to be in place. Bad habits need to be removed (caffeine, alcohol, smoking anything). The gut and thyroid need to be healed as well. 

The following herbs are used to treat adrenal fatigue:

• Licorice
• Rhodiola
• Shisandra
• Holy Basil
• Ashwagandha root
• Astragalus
• Ginseng Root

The following vitamins and supplements are helpful in treating adrenal fatigue:

• B-complex – especially B5
• Vitamin C
• Adrenal extracts

Candida and Adrenal Fatigue

Candida is the number one cause of poor health in our country. An overabundance of Candida will eventually cause adrenal fatigue (along with many other problems). If you’re experiencing adrenal fatigue, cut out stimulants completely. No more coffee. Clean the intestines.

Grounding for Adrenal Fatigue

Get outside and get grounded. Learn how to breathe! And take up yoga or meditation, preferably outside and barefoot.

Fitness for Adrenal Fatigue

Don’t push yourself too hard, but do exercise. Exercise is good for the thyroid and the adrenals. Any exercise from yoga to high intensity interval training (HIIT) will help you normalize your energy levels. But be careful with intensive training. If you have severe thyroid or adrenal problems, intense exercise could be dangerous. Once your body and your adrenals are responding to detoxification and proper nutrition, HIIT can radically accelerate the thyroid and adrenals’ improvement.

For long-term health, mix it up and add variety to your exercise routine.

Conclusion

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another” – Dr. William James

If you feel that your life is stressful, and there’s no avoiding stress, you’re right. Stress is unavoidable. Life has a way of giving us ups and downs, and worse still, life has a way of kicking us when we’re down. We’ve all been there – when things couldn’t possibly get worse and then they do.

We all have choices to make. How are you going to take care of your body? Will you eat the healthiest diet possible? Will you exercise? Will you get enough sleep? How are you going to react to life’s inevitable setbacks?

These choices are actually life and death choices. This may sound melodramatic, but it is true. Poor nutrition, lack of sleep, little to no exercise and giving in to negative emotions will send us to an early grave. We have a choice in the way we live life, and our choices become our reality.

Recommended Supplements:

• Total Nutrition Formula
• Adrenal Cortex – Thorne Research
• Stress B Complex – Thorne-Research
• Shillington’s Female Energy Formula
• Shillington’s Male Formula
• Thyrocsin Thyroid Support – Thorne Research

Further Reading:

• Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue
• Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies
• Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium
• 10 Things You Can Do To Have More Energy
• Is Coffee Healthy?
• How to Kill Candida and Balance the Your Inner Ecosystem
• Earthing, Grounding
• How to Breathe
• Yoga – A Beginner’s Guide
• Make Your Immune System Bulletproof with These Natural-Remedies

Sources:

• Can Stress Actually Kill You? – ASAP Science
• Kelly McGonigal: How To Make Stress Your Friend – Ted Talks
• The Science of Stress – National Geographic
• Long Term Effects of Stress on The Body – Gina Kloes
• 90:10 The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do – Dr. Mike Evans
• Adrenaline, Cortisol, Norepinephrine: The Three Major Hormones Explained – Huff Post Healthy Living
• The Physiology of Stress: Cortisol and the Hypothalami˚c-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis –Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science
• Corticotrophin-releasing hormone – You and Your Hormones
• 75 Signs, Symptoms and Alerts of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome – Dr. Lam

When chemicals were first introduced in farming, everyone marveled at what they could do. Yields were dramatically increased. In the beginning, the soil was so healthy, any damage done by chemical fertilizers was imperceptible, and pests had yet to evolve resistance to the insecticides. Our technologies were exported around the world as a revolution in agriculture – the green revolution.

Chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, factory farms, and genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. It just keeps coming. Almost no one calls it the green revolution anymore because there is nothing green about it, at least not in the modern ecologically friendly meaning of the word green.

Downsides to the Green Revolution

There are a number of problems brought on by conventional agriculture’s techniques. Conventional methods are inhumane to animals; they spread disease and pollution and degrade our nation’s soil and water. In the interests of sustainability, protecting our nation’s resources and improving our health, conventional agriculture needs to be banned, both in the U.S. and abroad.

A return to organic agriculture, which prohibits the use of chemicals and encourages crop rotation, will protect our nation’s arable land, increase the nutritional value of our food, and dramatically reduce our food’s toxicity.

Toxic Food

Yes, our food is toxic when grown by conventional means. Ninety-three percent of Americans tested by the CDC had metabolites of chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxin in their urine. Chlorpyrifos has been banned for use in homes because it has been linked to autoimmune diseases and neurological damage, but it is still commonly used on golf courses and in bait containers, and it is sprayed all over our food.

Over 99% of Americans tested, tested positive for exposure to DDT. DDT has been banned from use in the U.S. since 1972. But it’s still perfectly legal to manufacture it in the U.S. ship it to Mexico and other countries, and then have it sprayed on food, and then sell the food to the U.S. DDT has been linked to various cancers and birth defects. It is a persistent toxin that stays in the environment for an extended period of time.

The government sets limits on how much of each pesticide can be on our food, but there is no limit to the number of different approved pesticides that can be on our food or the total amount of chemical contamination. The Pesticide Action Network tells us that Americans are exposed to an average of 10-13 pesticides every day.

As a last resort, organic farmers do use pesticides; however, organic farmers use pesticides that are plant based. These bio-chemicals naturally, quickly decompose. In contrast, conventional agriculture uses a vast array of chemicals, most of them synthetic. There are over 600 pesticides used in the United States. Many of these chemicals are known to last for hundreds or thousands of years before breaking down, and they are toxic to both humans and animals. The degree of exposure to these chemicals directly affects one’s risk of developing numerous cancers, especially cancer of the brain, prostate cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma.

If growing nutrient deficient, chemical laden food isn’t bad enough, conventional agriculture has gone even further by genetically modifying our food to make it easier to grow at an even higher cost to the consumer’s health. Many genetically modified foods are modified to produce pesticides within the plant. GMOs radically alter the microorganisms in the soil, damaging the soil’s fertility. GMOs introduce new allergens, new toxins, and unknown proteins into our bodies.

“Every day we make life or death decisions, decisions about what we eat. This may sound melodramatic, but it’s true.” Superfoods RX

Studies have repeatedly shown that the nutritional content of organic food is dramatically superior to the nutritional content of conventionally grown food. Before the advent of today’s conventional agriculture, our food contained more nutrients. Organic agriculture’s predominant strategy is to cultivate nutrient rich soil. In order to add nutrients back into the soil, organic agriculture uses crop rotation and natural fertilizers. This produces healthy plants, which makes for healthy food.

What About the Soil

We must protect our nation’s arable land in order to protect our food supply for future generations. With approximately 18% to 19% of America’s land being arable, we have the world’s most abundant farming resources. Even though agriculturally viable resources are obviously of great economic value to the entire nation, our nation’s soil is treated as though it were disposable. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and petroleum-based fertilizers strip the soil of nutrients and kill beneficial organisms such as earthworms, predatory insects, and microorganisms. In order to grow anything in such chemical laden soil, more chemicals are added. This process degrades the topsoil and causes salts to build up in the land, leaving barren dirt. After this process strips the land of its agricultural viability, conventional agribusiness moves on, acquiring more farmland. Then the process is repeated, rendering more land barren. By comparison, organic farming replenishes the soil through crop rotation, natural fertilizers, and the use of time-honored, natural techniques.

Deadly Germs

A whopping 50% of antibiotic use is not for human beings but for livestock. The media is constantly warning about the dangers of overuse of antibiotics. The concern is that overuse (and abuse) of antibiotics can breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

It is commonplace to add antibiotics to livestock feed, even when the animals aren’t sick. This is because conventional methods typically overcrowd the animals so badly that too many of them will get sick without an on-going diet that includes antibiotics.

It is cruel and inhumane to force animals to live with their own waste and in such crowded conditions. To keep consumers in the dark about the realities of factory farming, many states are passing laws forbidding filming inside these factory farms. The stench of these crowded pens is unbearable to any but the most stalwart and habituated individuals, and the animals’ waste is so concentrated that it poses a risk to nearby natural water sources.

These are perfect conditions for pathogens to thrive. It provides bacteria with the opportunity for many different food sources, and many different animal hosts to infect. This gives bacteria an opportunity to develop resistance to our medications. These conditions are also ideal for viruses to spread from animal to animal and potentially to humans.

Dead Zones

Conventional farming utilizes phosphorous and nitrogen chemical fertilizers. When rain and runoff carry these fertilizers into the ocean, marine life is suffocated. The fertilizers trigger overgrowth of marine plankton. Once the masses of plankton die, their death feeds ocean bacteria. The bacteria consume oxygen, and with an unnatural overabundance of plankton, the bacteria consume just about all of the oxygen left in the ocean. Shrimp, fish, and all other forms of marine life either leave the area or die from lack of oxygen. The end result is hypoxia, oceanic dead zones. These areas are devoid of nearly all life other than plankton and bacteria.

Scientists have documented coastal dead zones, areas that are hypoxic in over 400 coastal areas. All over the world, these dead zones are found downstream of conventional farming from Chesapeake Bay to Oregon to Denmark, and to the Black Sea.

We have a vested interest in marine life. It is not only shameful that marine animals suffocate as a side effect of our farming pollution, it is also economically damaging. The ocean provides us with billions of dollars worth of food annually. Nothing of commercial importance survives a dead zone, fish, shellfish, and shrimp all either leave the area or suffocate in the dead waters. Many of these dead zones are thousands of square miles. The dead zone off of the Gulf of Mexico was once recorded as being an area larger than the state of New Jersey, 22,000 kilometers.

Conclusion

Pesticide residue, antibiotics, preservatives, and genetic modification directly affect the long-term sustainability of farming, fishing, the consumer’s health, and the health of those who grow and produce the food. We do not exist separately from the environment in which we live. If what we consume is polluted, our bodies become polluted. Beyond choosing what we buy in the store, we as a nation must choose, for the long term or short term, organic or conventional. This choice affects us all, even those not yet born.

If you are in a position to grow your own food, check out How To Start A Vegetable Garden and Ten Great Gardening Tips. If you’re not growing your own food in very healthy soil, it’s time to get more nutrition: Make Your Own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula.

Further Reading:

• Can Progressive Cutting Edge Organic Agriculture Feed Everyone
• How Vertical Gardening Could Help Save The World
• Five Reasons Small-Scale Gardening Could Save the World
• Permaculture Agriculture the Transition To A Sustainable Future

Sources:

• Superfoods RX by Stephen Pratt M.D.
• Toxic Relief by Don Colbert M.D.
• Environment The Science Behind The Stories 4th edition by Jay Withgott and Scott Brennan
• Pesticides on Food – Pesticide Action Network
• Chlorpyrifos – National Pesticide Information Center
• CIA World Factbook
• Pesticides On Food – Pan North America
• Chlorpyrifos – National Pesticide Information Center

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease in which the body reacts to the protein found in gluten in a unique way. With most food allergies, people experience a reaction immediately or within minutes of consuming the offending substance. For those with celiac disease, a reaction occurs up to 72 hours later and could be extreme or largely go unnoticed, which can confuse and delay an accurate diagnosis.

T cells attack the lining of the small intestine in response to gluten being passed through the digestive tract. Over time, villi in the small intestine are damaged beyond repair, severely inhibiting the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food.

Symptoms

There are over 300 known symptoms of celiac disease. The more common symptoms are listed below.

• Abdominal bloating and pain
• ADHD
• Anemia
• Arthritis
• Anxiety
• Bone pain
• Bedwetting
• Chronic fatigue
• Constipation
• Delayed growth and puberty
• Depression
• Diarrhea
• Eczema
• Failure to thrive
• Infertility
• Irritability
• Irregular menstrual periods
• Joint pain
• Malnutrition
• Migraines
• Miscarriages
• Osteoporosis
• Persistent canker sores
• Rashes
• Seizures
• Tingling sensation or numbness in hands or feet
• Unusually foul-smelling stool, blood or undigested foods in stool
• Unexplained weight loss
• Vomiting

Diet Is the Only Known Treatment

The treatment for sufferers of celiac disease is to avoid gluten entirely, to eat a completely gluten-free diet. The FDA does not require food manufacturers to list gluten on their labels. Wheat is required to be clearly labeled, but gluten is not. The following foods contain gluten:

• Wheat
• Barley
• Bulgur
• Couscous
• Durum
• Einkorn
• Emmer
• Farina
• Farro
• Kamut
• Malt
• Mir
• Oats (unless labeled gluten free oats- oats are often contaminated)
• Rye
• Seitan
• Semolina
• Spelt
• Triticale

Gluten is commonly found in breads, bread crumbs, baked goods, beer, biscuits, brewer’s yeast, brown rice syrup (often made with barley enzymes), cereals, communion wafers, crepes, croutons, dextrin, flour tortillas, food coloring, food starch, French toast, granola, gravies, herbal teas, malt vinegar, marinades, sauces, pancakes, pastas, roux, salad dressing, soup, soy sauce, starch, stuffing, waffles, and wine. Any processed food made in a facility that also processes foods with gluten may be contaminated.

Other non-food items that may not be gluten free include:

• Lipbalm, lipgloss, lipstick
• Supplements
• Pharmaceuticals
• Vitamin and mineral pills
• Over the counter medications
• Playdough (some kids will eat copious amounts of the stuff when playing with it)

This list is not meant to be comprehensive. Many processed foods contain gluten, and unless the package says certified gluten free, it probably isn’t. Many items that one might think are gluten free like corn flakes and rice cereal use malt or barley extract as a sweetener. Restaurants that do not offer gluten-free menus cannot guarantee that their food is gluten free. And sadly, many that do offer gluten-free choices contaminate the food while preparing it.

Conclusion

Celiac disease is a very serious condition that requires strict dietary changes in order to heal the gut and properly digest the nutrients in food. Celiac disease is now recognized as either a pre-curser or a companion disease to many other autoimmune diseases. We highly recommend that anyone with any autoimmune disease completely remove gluten from their diet and concentrate on healing the gut. Be sure to check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.

Recommended Supplements:

• FloraMend – Thorne Research
• Formula SF722 – Thorne Research
• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse
• Shillington’s Intestinal Detox

Further Reading:

• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• The Reasons Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease Are On the Rise 
• 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Gluten
• How Gluten Can Affect Your Brain, Gut, and Skin
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Sources:

• Gluten-Intolerance – GB Health Watch
• Professor Anne Ferguson (Anne Collee) 1941-1998 – LWW Journals
• Gene-Environment Interaction – National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance – National Center for Biotechnology Information
• Celiac Disease Genes Identified In Immune System – Medical News Today.com
• The Biology of . . . Sourdough – Discover Magazine
• Sources Of Gluten – Celiac Disease Foundation
• Celiac Disease – Food Allergy Research and Resource Program

We spend, on average, a third of our lives asleep. Most Westerners don’t value that time very much, considering it unproductive. We set our alarm clocks to keep us from oversleeping, and many of us consume stimulants in an effort to extend our waking hours. After all, no one pays us to sleep.

When we’re sleeping, it doesn’t look like much is going on. We barely move and we rarely speak. But our bodies are very much at work, repairing our tissues and recharging our minds to prepare us for the next day. There are many health benefits to sleep, which are not fully realized until we get enough.

Sleep Balances the Body’s Hormone Levels

Turns out, hormones are not just for sex. Hormones are chemical signals produced by the body’s endocrine glands that regulate all kinds of bodily functions. Metabolism, mood, behavior, libido, immune function, growth, weight loss, and muscle gain are all strongly influenced by hormones. All of these hormones are needed at precise levels in the body.

Sleep helps to regulate cortisol. The right amount of cortisol enables us to metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. It is needed to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure. Even the immune system is dependent upon proper levels of cortisol for optimum functioning. But lack of sleep can cause the body to produce too much.

Excessive cortisol makes us irritable, anxious, and depressed. We put on extra weight and are even prone to insomnia, which creates a vicious cycle. Over the long term, very high levels of cortisol can do even more serious damage to our systems. Excessive levels of cortisol impair digestion, damage muscle and bones, interfere with healing and regeneration, disrupt mental functions, hinder immune response, and further disrupt the proper levels of other hormones in our bodies. The easiest, cheapest, and most natural way to regulate cortisol levels is to get adequate sleep.

Our bodies produce growth hormone when we are sleeping. This is the main hormone that stimulates children’s bodies to grow. In adults, this is one of the hormones that helps to regulate muscle mass. Growth hormone also helps to control body fat. Like cortisol, too much is not a good thing. The best way to get the correct nightly dose of growth hormone is to get enough sleep every night.

Grehlin and leptin are additional hormones that are produced during sleep. Grehlin and leptin both play an important role in regulating our urges to eat. An out of control appetite is arguably the most crippling obstacle to controlling weight. Without adequate leptin, it is difficult to find satiety at the end of a meal. In order to get a properly balanced dose of these hormones, we need to get a full night’s sleep.

How Sleep Affects Brain Waves

Cells, known as neurons, use electricity to send signals throughout the brain. The combined electrical activity of the brain is referred to as brainwaves because of the oscillating, wave-like effect of the electrical activity. Science has denoted four different types of brain waves: delta, theta, alpha and beta. Each type of brainwave is distinct due to the different speeds of oscillating charges that make up the brain activity.

Beta brainwaves make up the fastest cycles, firing at 13 to 60 pulses per second. Generally, when we are awake, we tend to exhibit more beta brainwave activity than any other. Routine stressors of everyday life typically require us to be able process information quickly, and beta waves are perfect for that. We don’t exhibit beta brainwaves when we are sleeping.

Alpha brainwaves are somewhat slower, oscillating at 8-13 pulses per second. Alpha brainwaves can occur when we are sleeping or awake. Alpha brainwaves are present during REM sleep, but they are more common when an individual is awake, relaxed, and in a state of focused calm. When our brainwaves slow to alpha speed, we put ourselves in the ideal frame of mind to handle complex information, to create art, to acquire a foreign language, or to analyze concepts at a deep level.

Theta brainwaves are present in deep meditation and light sleep. Theta brainwaves are common in stage 1 sleep. Theta brain waves are markedly slower, oscillating at 4-7 pulses per second.

Delta brainwaves, oscillating at speeds of 0.1 to 4 pulses per second, are the slowest brainwaves. Typically, this is the rhythm the brain favors during stage 3, deep sleep.

What Happens When We Sleep

The experts have previously broken down sleep into five stages. Recently this has been changed to combine stages 3 and 4 into one stage. The first three stages are unimaginatively called stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3. The other commonly used term for stages 1-3 is NREM or nonrapid eye movement sleep. The last, and most important stage, is REM or rapid eye movement sleep.

Stage 1

State 1 is the borderland between consciousness and sleeping. In this stage of sleep, we are still somewhat aware of our surroundings, as this is the lightest stage of sleep. At this stage, many of us don’t realize that we are asleep yet, and it is very common for someone when woken up from this stage of sleep to say that they weren’t sleeping.

At this stage of sleep, brainwaves move from fast pulsing beta waves to a more relaxed state, producing slower alpha waves; and then even slower theta brainwaves.

It is not unusual at this stage of sleep to experience something known as hypnagogic hallucinations. These are extremely vivid sensations experienced as one is falling asleep. A sensation of weightlessness, the feeling of falling, the sensation of being touched, or hearing someone call your name are prime examples of hypnagogic hallucinations.

Another typical but jarring experience in this stage of sleep is the myoclonic jerk. Have you ever been falling asleep and then abruptly startled awake, but seemingly without any cause? This is the experience of a type of myoclonus reflex. Although very disconcerting, myoclonic jerks are common during stage 1 sleep.

Stage 2

This is a deeper onset of unconsciousness. At this stage of sleep we are unaware of our surroundings. Breathing and heartbeat are regular, and the body’s temperature drops slightly. This temperature drop is only by a couple of degrees Fahrenheit, but it is crucial in order get to deeper stages of sleep. This is why sleeping in a cool room helps; most prefer temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stage 3

Dreams are more likely to occur in stage 3 than in the previous stages of NREM sleep. A small drop in blood pressure occurs. Breathing slows. Brain activity slows. Delta brainwaves are common in this stage. Many different hormones are released. Blood supply to muscles increases, tissues are repaired, and growth occurs. This stage also restores energy to the body.

Stage 4 or REM Sleep

REM sleep stands for rapid eye movement. Many changes in the body take place. The cardiovascular system speeds up, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and our breathing becomes more rapid. Brainwave activity increases. In this stage of sleep, alpha waves are common.

It used to be believed that dreams only took place during REM sleep. Actually, dreaming is more common in REM sleep than in the other stages of sleep, but dreams can occur at every stage of sleep.

During REM sleep, dreams tend to be more intense. This is why our bodies paralyze us until we cycle out of REM sleep. This paralysis is caused by chemical signals sent from the brain that inhibit us from acting out our dreams.

REM sleep plays a crucial role in our mental health, and REM sleep is the stage of sleep needed for memory consolidation.

Stages Revisited

After stage 4, or REM sleep, the stages are repeated, excluding stage 1. So on a typical night, we first experience stages 1,2,3, and 4, then we experience stages 2,3,4, and 2,3,4 over and over until we wake up. The length of each stage depends on many factors, including our quality of sleep. With optimal rest, REM sleep usually lasts 90 min.

Dreams

Everyone dreams, and usually we have several dreams a night. If you don’t remember your dreams, there is a good chance that your sleep cycle is disrupted.

Dreams can vary a great deal from person to person, due to different life experiences. There are, however, a few common themes that many of us experience in our dreams. Dreams of falling are very common, as are dreams of flying. Dreams involving violence are also commonplace. Dreams of being chased and dreams of being followed are experienced by nearly everyone. Everyone dreams about sex. Forgetting to get dressed is also a common theme shared by many.

Lucid dreams are the dreams wherein we are aware that we are dreaming and we have some control over the dream. The extent of control over the dream varies, and in order for the dream to be under our control, we must first be aware that we are dreaming. Lucid dreaming is a skill that can be practiced and later mastered. If, before going to sleep, we focus on our desire to control our dreams, then we are more likely to be able to do so, at first to a limited extent, and later to a large extent. However, complete control of our dreams all night, every night, is beyond human ability.

Nightmares happen to everyone from time to time. If they occur frequently, they can be a symptom of an underlying neurological or psychological condition. One of the most effective treatments for frequent nightmares is to practice lucid dreaming. Life isn’t always pleasant, so it only makes sense that dreams are not always pleasant either.

Sleep Revs Up The Immune System

Individuals who sleep nine hours a night, instead of seven hours a night, have greatly enhanced NK cells, or natural killer cells. NK cells are special white blood cells. They are the special forces of the immune system that patrol the body in search of pathogens. They can kill cells infected with cancer or cells infected with viruses. They can also kill viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminthes.

NK cells are just one component of our complex immune system. All parts of our immune system work more efficiently with adequate rest.

Snoring

What causes snoring? Like many things in life, it is a combination of factors, not just one. We all have differences in anatomy. Variation is found in uvulas (the soft tissue that resides in the back of the throat), tonsils, and nasal passages. Structural differences in these anatomical structures can play a role in snoring.

Most of the people who snore are overweight. More often than not, a lack of muscle tone around the neck area, and excess fat around the neck is the main problem. Usually, weight loss and exercise is the best cure.

Smoking, alcohol, muscle relaxers, tranquilizers, and sleep medications, can all make snoring worse. Smoking cigarettes or smoking marijuana tends to generate excess mucus, which can obstruct the airway, contributing to that aggravating, rasping sound. The other drugs mentioned tend to relax the muscles around the throat, further aggravating a snoring problem.

Insomnia

Insomnia afflicts one half of Americans at some point in their lives, and many people suffer from insomnia on a regular or even nightly basis. There are a number of causes of insomnia. If insomnia has been a persistent problem, lifestyle changes are necessary in order to overcome chronic sleeplessness.

Lifestyle changes include giving up habits that are detrimental to our health. This is easier said than done. In fact, for most people, it is very difficult to give up those things that get in the way of sleep, even when they really do want to sleep well.

Alcohol

Many people think a nightcap or two will help them relax before turning in for the night. It’s true. Alcohol helps us relax, but it doesn’t help us to enter a deep sleep or to stay asleep, making the night’s sleep less rejuvenating.

Coffee and Energy Drinks

Coffee and energy drinks contain harmful substances in addition to caffeine. Caffeine increases levels of adrenaline and cortisol in the body, and increased levels do not help us sleep. Caffeine can stay in your system for up to 20 hrs. The average American downs three cups of coffee a day, usually drinking extra coffee following nights that they don’t sleep well. Unfortunately, this can create a vicious, exhausting, grouchy cycle. Both drinks are also very hard on the kidneys.

Smoking

The nicotine found in cigarettes stimulates the body to release adrenaline. Of course adrenaline interferes with sleep, and the hundreds of other chemicals that are found in cigarettes aren’t likely to help us sleep either.

How to Cure Insomnia

Camping

Camping is one of the most effective cures for insomnia. Time away from urban living helps to clear the mind, as does being immersed in natural surroundings. Being outside helps to get our bodies in tune with our natural circadian rhythms. In other words, it can help reset your biological clock.

Another thing that we can only get from the outdoors is the realignment of our nervous system. This realignment is different than the kind you can get from a chiropractor. Our nervous system runs on electrical impulses, so it needs grounding from time to time. When we are indoors or outside and wearing shoes all the time, the body’s electrical nervous system never gets properly aligned. Try standing outside with no shoes on when camping for fifteen minutes a day. It is amazing how rejuvenating and relaxing it feels at the same time. It will make you feel in sync.

Staring at artificial light sources such as TVs or computers interferes with the body’s production of melatonin, nature’s sleep aid. Electronics can also interfere with our electrical alignment, so leave the electrical devices in the car.

How Much Sleep Do We Need

Sleep needs vary by age. The following are recently revised guidelines from The National Sleep Foundation’s panel on how many hours of sleep we need at different ages.

• Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours a day.
• Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours a day.
• Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours a day.
• Young children (3-5 years): 10-13 hours a day.
• Children (6-13): 9-11 hours a day.
• Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours a day.
• Young adults (18-25): 7-9 hours a day.
• Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours a day.
• Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours a day.

How well we sleep is one of the best predictors of our longevity. Sleep slows the aging process. Those who sleep poorly actually age faster. Chronic sleep deprivation can shorten a lifespan by an average of eight to ten years. Instead of trying to get more hours out of the day, we should all be trying to get more years out of our bodies. In the end, isn’t that the best way to get more out of life and to get more done?

Many people boast about how they can function just fine on five or six hours of sleep a night. These are usually the same individuals who chug energy drinks, drink copious amounts of coffee, and pop energy pills. Instead of functioning at full capacity, they have learned to “get by” with only a shadow of their physical and mental capacities. Many of these people don’t realize that they are chronically sleep deprived because they’ve grown accustomed to being low on sleep and stimulated all of the time.

Signs of Sleep Deprivation

The most noticeable sign of sleep deprivation are dark circles under the eyes. Unfortunately raccoon eyes can also be a sign of kidney and liver toxicity, and it can be difficult to tell the difference between dark circles caused by a lack of sleep, dark circles caused by a build up of toxins in the body, or both.

Another common symptom of sleep deprivation is a pronounced difficulty in making decisions. Commonly this manifests as a tendency to delay decision making, to relegate decisions to a spouse or close friend, or to freeze when faced with important, time sensitive decisions. For others this manifests as a tendency to impulsively make the wrong decision or to overreact to an aggravating situation.

Clumsiness is another common symptom of sleep deprivation. No amount of caffeine or other stimulants can mask this symptom completely. The lack of coordination is often caused by dozing off, also referred to as micro sleeps. If we’re lucky, we drop a bowl of food, or the remote control. If unlucky, we have more serious accidents.

According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the U.S. alone at least 100,000 automobile accidents a year are the direct result of driver fatigue. Sadly, of these crashes, there are roughly 1,550 fatalities, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in financial losses. These figures may only be the tip of the iceberg. According to Harvard Medical School those figures are the tip of the iceberg and the real figures are actually much worse.

“Every week, 2 million Americans nod off at the wheel; drowsy drivers get into 1.9 million crashes a year; and 20 percent of all serious motor vehicle accidents—one out of every five—involve sleepy drivers. The annual death toll is 7,500, and serious injuries number 50,000.”

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Try this test recommended by Dr. Don Colbert. During waking hours, try sitting in a comfortable chair in a dark room, without any music or noise for five minutes. If after five minutes you feel tired, then you aren’t getting enough sleep.

The Power of Naps

The vast majority of mammals (more than 85%) are polyphasic sleepers, which means that they sleep on and off throughout a 24 hr. period.

It is normal for people to grow tired twice in a 24 hr. period. We are polyphasic sleepers, but more specifically we are bi-phasic sleepers. We are designed to sleep twice a day – a short time in the afternoon and a longer, deeper sleep at night. Interestingly, at both times that we are designed to go to sleep our body temperature drops slightly, in the afternoon and at night.

There is no reason to believe that human beings should only sleep for one long stretch a day. Americans and others in the Western world are often under the impression that if they sleep during the day, they are being lazy. Other cultures have an entirely different take on this.

Throughout much of the world (especially in hot areas near the equator) afternoon commerce comes to a stop, businesses close, and people everywhere turn in for a siesta or a nap. In the Mediterranean, Southern Europe, and Latin America, afternoon naps are seen as necessary to maintain a high level of productivity. Siestas, to them, are a physical necessity, not an extravagant luxury reserved for small children and the elderly.

Not everyone works a job with the flexibility to take naps during the workday. But those who do should take advantage. It will make you more productive. Napping on your days off can also help you to make the most of your time away from work.

Afternoon naps are favored by many of the most successful people in history including Albert Einstein, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, Leonardo Da Vinci, Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Edison, and Winston Churchill.

Naps have been shown to:

• Improve productivity by 34%
• Enhance alertness by 100%
• Reduce the risk of accidents (at work and on the road)
• Improve negotiation and communication abilities
• Reduce stress
• Promote positive emotions
• Provide extra energy

Conclusion

With today’s busy lifestyle, sleep is often a low priority. Most of us do not fully understand what sleep does for us, other than making us feel less tired. This is why so many substitute stimulants for adequate sleep. But stimulants only make up for our lack of energy, not for our lack of sleep. Even though it takes more time to get adequate sleep, we get more out of our bodies, more out of our minds, and our waking hours are much more productive when do make time to sleep and sleep well.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Formula
• L-Tryptophan
• Stress B-Complex – Thorne Research
• Basic B-Complex – Thorne Research
• SleepThru – Gaia Herbs
• Sleep & Relax – Gaia Herbs
• Shillington’s Cal-Calm Tea
• Skullcap Herb – Gaia Herbs
• Vitamin D
• More supplements for insomnia

Further Reading:

• The Glymphatic System – How Insomnia Leads to a Filthy Mind
• Pure Sleep – 11 Tips for Better Sleep
• Natural Remedies for Insomnia
• Thyroid Disease Epidemic – How is Yours Doing?
• Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue
• Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium
• Earthing – Touching Earth
• Earthing – Ground Your Body for Optimal Health

Sources:

• Why Sleep Matters-Harvard
• What Happens When You Sleep-National Sleep Foundation
• Brainwaves-Doctor Hugo
• Why Cortisol is Good For You-SCD Lifestyle
• How Dreams Work-How Stuff Works
• Siesta Facts-ZZZ National Siesta Day
• How Much Sleep Do We Need-Science Daily
• Facts and Stats-Drowsy Driving by The National Sleep Foundation
• Drowsy Driving-Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University
• The Seven Pillars of Health, by Don Colbert M.D.

No one can squeeze more hours into a day, but we certainly try. Unfortunately, too many of us extend the hours of our day by cutting back on sleep. There are many health and safety reasons to consider if you are not getting sufficient sleep. Here are the warning signs telling you that you are overdoing it and probably have been for some time.

You Need an Alarm Clock to Wake Up

If you can’t wake up on time without electronic help, this is a sign that you’re sleep deprived. It’s prudent to set alarm clocks just in case, but if you’re jolted out of a deep sleep every workday or feel the need to repeatedly hit the snooze button, you’re not getting enough sleep. Do you sleep late on weekends when if you went to bed at your usual time? Make-up sleep is a sure sign of sleep deprivation.

Impaired Decision Making

Chronic sleep deprivation impairs our ability to make minor decisions. The decisions could be as inconsequential as where to sit in a movie theatre, what movie to see, or whether to take a window or an aisle seat on a flight. Difficulty ordering from a menu, choosing what clothes to wear, what errands to run, and what order in which to do things are also common examples of impaired minor decision making. Trivial decisions have a way of appearing to be profoundly important when we are overly tired.

An inability to make important decisions is just as common for sleep deprived individuals. This can manifest as a propensity to freeze or panic when faced with highly stressful situations. Delaying major decisions like firing a subordinate when they clearly aren’t a good fit for the job or leaving a job you’re unhappy with are common. It takes a lot of mental energy to look for a new job or fire an employee and replace them. Chronically exhausted people are using everything they have just to get by. They are often caught in a holding pattern, putting off any major decision.

Impulsivity

There is another form of impairment besides an inability to make decisions. Some aren’t paralyzed. Instead, they have lost the ability to think things through and rush into making major decisions on impulse, without thinking through the consequences.

In addition to decision-making, they will react impulsively to aggravating stimuli, sudden desires, or other emotions.

Irritability

We all have our moments, and it can be hard to tell if the real reason is the people around us, or our lack of sleep. If you ask the people around you if you’re often grouchy, you may not get an honest answer. If you ask yourself, you may be kidding yourself. Ask your spouse or partner, he or she will know if you’re irritable.

Your Pillow Looks More Attractive Than Your Partner

Lack of sleep can lower sex hormones and increase stress hormones, which of course further lowers the sex drive. This is more noticeable in the over 30 crowd, because they have already passed their sexual peak, but it can happen to anyone who’s exhausted all the time; young or old.

You Get Sick All The Time

How many times have you been sick in the past year? If you can’t remember, but you know it was a lot, then you probably have an impaired immune system. Many people blame getting sick on germs, and though germs play a factor, with an optimal immune response we rarely, if ever, get sick. Frequent colds and bouts with the flu are a warning sign that you aren’t as healthy as you could be. Our immune system needs adequate rest to function at optimal levels.

You Honestly Can’t Recall

If you don’t know what happened to your memory these days, lack of sleep may be the culprit. All of the mnemonic tricks in the world pale in comparison to adequate rest.

Inability to Concentrate

Similar to an impaired memory, our ability to concentrate is dependent on adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can lead to lower test scores, reduced productivity at work, and increased distractibility. This also includes lackadaisical staring off into space that sleepy people tend to do.

Clumsy

If you don’t know what happened to your sense of coordination, lack of sleep is quite possibly the problem. Sleep deprived individuals are more clumsy than those who are legally drunk. Video gamers take note: pulling all-nighters makes you less coordinated.

Nodding Off or Micro Sleeps

When we don’t give our bodies needed rest, our bodies will steal it from us. At inopportune times, we fade out, and we don’t necessarily even know that it happened to us. Over half of American drivers have admitted to nodding off at the wheel, and most of them simply keep driving. If you’re fading out during the day, your body is trying to tell you something.

Conclusion

What makes us more clumsy, drinking more than the legal limit?  Or being awake for 19 hours? If you think the answer is staying awake, you’re right. Most of us wouldn’t go to work drunk, but far too many of us go to work sleep drunk and seriously impaired.

Many of us feel the need to push ourselves beyond what we can get done in a day. When something has to give way, we cut into our sleep. But all we are doing is creating a cycle of diminishing returns, wherein we get less and less done during the day, leading us to feel we need to stay awake longer, in order to get more done.

Pushing yourself beyond your limits can be dangerous, even fatal. Falling asleep at the wheel is the most obvious way to kill yourself through sleep deprivation, but it certainly isn’t the only way. Sleep deprivation increases our risk for a multitude of diseases including chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndrome, autoimmune diseases, hypertension, obesity, and depression, to name a few.

Our bodies tell us in a multitude of ways if we have been pushing ourselves too hard. Take heed and listen to the warning signs.

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Formula
• L-Tryptophan
• Stress B-Complex – Thorne Research
• Basic B-Complex – Thorne Research
• SleepThru – Gaia Herbs
• Sleep & Relax – Gaia Herbs
• Shillington’s Cal-Calm Tea
• Skullcap Herb – Gaia Herbs
• Vitamin D
• More supplements for insomnia

Further Reading:

• The Glymphatic System – How Insomnia Leads to a Filthy Mind
• Pure Sleep – 11 Tips for Better Sleep
• Why We Need Sleep
• Natural Remedies for Insomnia
• Thyroid Disease Epidemic – How is Yours Doing?
• Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue
• Mental Health, Physical Health & B Vitamins – Nature’s Valium
• Earthing – Touching Earth
• Earthing – Ground Your Body for Optimal Health

Sources:

• The Seven Pillars of Health, by Don Colbert M.D.
• 5 Signs You’re Sleep Deprived – Prevention
• Drowsy Driving – Radcliffe Institute For Advanced Study Harvard University