The Link Between Stress And Inflammation

With the go-go society we live in, we never switch off and so our body rarely returns to homeostasis. This constant alarmed stage (aka “fight or flight” response) will over time lead to inflammation, which is a precursor to loads of chronic diseases.

Stress affects your blood sugar regardless of the foods that you eat which can cause inflammation and throw off your immune system.

Your nervous system actually affects your hormones which then affect your overall immune system.

Stress in your life, whether it’s coming internally (gut issues, overworked liver, toxicities, viruses…) or stress from the environment (traffic, work, relationships, etc) will have an effect on your blood sugar.

When blood sugar is affected, it leads to a cascade of events. This then causes detrimental effects on your overall wellness as well as the ability to burn fat (especially belly fat).

The autonomous nervous system is what allows our body to recognise danger which will then shift us to the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”). In this state, the body is more catabolic, it’s breaking down and aging at a faster rate. 

However, the autonomous nervous system also allows your body to shift to the parasympathetic nervous system if it believes that you’re not in danger. In this state, the body is relaxed, anabolic, healing, restoring and rejuvenating. 

You need both, you can’t go too far on either side. The problem is that the majority of people are stuck in the sympathetic nervous system for too long, and in this state, you’re on your way to a host of health issues…

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

In the sympathetic nervous system state, the body will start producing more of the stress hormones such as adrenaline and norepinephrine to get you ready to either fight or run away. At that point, the body needs a short-term fuel source so it will start breaking down liver glycogen (the stored sugar in your liver) and bring it to your bloodstream. If there is no more sugar in the liver, your body will then obtain glucose by breaking down your own muscles.

The same thing happens when you do a very hard workout. This is why you can’t just focus on HITT training all of the time. It’s all about balance, and that is the reason why workouts in Synergised Nutrition are divided into three sections (strength, sweat, and stretch) so you can achieve the ultimate equilibrium that your body craves.

If you’re chronically stressed, your body will chronically produce insulin to get rid of all of that glucose circulating in your bloodstream. Over time, your cells can become less responsive to insulin, which means that the glucose is not properly absorbed and remains floating in your bloodstream.

THE RECIPE FOR INFLAMMATION & BODY FAT

The higher levels of sugar without you actually doing the physical activity that would use the blood sugar will cause you to store it as body fat. High levels of stress, doing hard workouts all the time and too much caffeine can lead to that!

This is how you can gain weight or body fat without even actually changing your diet!!!

As you begin to produce more insulin, you begin to produce more inflammatory cytokines in the body. It is an immune-based response to higher levels of insulin which will then lead to a lot of allergies, asthma, skin rashes, headaches, joint pain, and any inflammatory issue really…

High levels of inflammation will then cause a spike in cortisol levels again, so it is a vicious cycle!

BOTTOM LINE

 

There is always an underlying root cause, but the problem is that the majority of people just mask the symptoms with medications.

Nutrition is extremely important, and you shouldn’t be eating foods that cause inflammation but controlling your stress levels is just as important!

That is why I combined the low-inflammatory recipes and guided meditations in Synergised Nutrition. You cannot truly heal if you do one and not the other!