You Created Your Disease Through Stress. Neuroscience Explains It All.

What happens to your body when you are stressed 

Perception of danger (whether real or imaginary) turns on the sympathetic nervous system, which then mobilizes a huge amount of energy available in the body, to best respond to the stressor (threat). This results in dilated pupils (optimized ability to see); faster heart and respiratory rates (to be able to run); a release of higher amounts of glucose into the blood (providing the cells with more energy); and direction of the blood flow towards the limbs (to be faster). While stress hormones (such as adrenaline and cortisol) flood the muscles, the blood withdraws from our forebrain and redirects toward the hindbrain. This survival mechanism is adaptive and keeps us alive. But it also deprives us of our capacity to rationally think and analyze the situation, forcing us to rely on our instinctive reactions. We either fight or run away from the danger. In other words, in survival mode, we rely primarily on our senses, and we narrow our focus to the danger in front of us.  

The dangers of chronic stress 

Sporadic and short episodes of stress are tolerable and do not adversely impact our well-being as, once the threat is gone, the body re-establishes its equilibrium. The problem is that the predator animal of our ancestor’s distant past is now replaced with a multitude of modern stressors, related to our jobs, relationships, 24/7 exposure to news, and other day-to-day struggles. The brain is always in a state of extreme alertness and arousal. It habitually narrows its focus and keeps shifting its focus from one stressor to another. As a result, the brain becomes compartmentalized and out-of-balance. The neurons fire in an incoherent manner, which makes us inefficient.  

So, we remain in a state of maladaptive chronic stress, and the stress chemistry is always “on.” Severe trauma and prolonged or repeated exposure to stress compromise the body’s ability to bounce back to a state of balance. Since in a state of stress, all our energy is directed peripherally (to deal with the danger), healthy expression of the genes is downregulated, the immune system weakens, and the body loses its capacity for growth and repair.  

Keeping the stress “alive” through negative thoughts  

One of the worst ways in which we keep the stress “alive” is by constantly thinking about problems and worries, by remembering and re-living the negative experiences of the past, and by projecting negative anticipations about our future. Since the body is not able to distinguish between an actual and a perceived threat, it biochemically responds to our troubled thoughts in the same way it would have responded had the threat been real.  

By focusing on a memory of a particularly negative experience from the past, we enter a vicious circle—neural pathways associated with that memory get strengthened, the body relives the same negative emotions, and the stress hormones keep getting released into our bloodstream. The negative event from the past becomes imprinted into our neural architecture. So, when we encounter any new situation or a person which reminds us of that past negative experience, our brains trigger the same biochemical response. Physiologically, the body is dangerously stuck to the past. This is the devastating impact of the emotions of the past stored in our bodies. 

The addiction to stress  

Chronic stress weakens our immunity, and a compromised immune system leads to illness and disease. With time, one can become addicted to stress, i.e., to the chemicals (the stress hormones), as they provide a rush of energy and lead to a heightened state. When that happens, the baseline emotional state determined by the corresponding internal chemistry becomes stronger than any new external conditions, and the person tends to slip back into negativity even after the external conditions have improved.  

Elevated emotions boost the immunity system 

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is a protein marker for the strength of the immune system since it provides the primary internal defense against various invasive microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi). The increase in the level of stress hormones lowers the IgA levels and compromises immunity. Nurturing elevated emotions (love, gratitude, joy) in a state of meditation can up-regulate the genes for IgA and thus provide a boost to the immune system. Dr. Joe Dispenza has documented that the IgA levels among the meditators in his programs increase by 50% (from an average of 37-87 mg/dL to over 100 mg/dL) because their emotional states changed. Furthermore, the participant’s cortisol level went down by 16%, evidence of down-regulation of the genes responsible for the production of stress hormones.  

Sources

~ This article is based on Dr. Joe Dispenza's book “Becoming Supernatural — How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon” (Hay House, Inc., Carlsbad, California, 2017) ~