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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1985)
STRESS: H ow M uch Is Too M u c h ? by Patrick Caplis, ti£>. ' In a recent interview from Lewis Thomas, author o f Lives o f a Cell, was queried about the role o f m icroorganism s in disease: You m ean to say that we ourselves cause disease, not the bugs?’ Tha t s rightf he replied. 7 believe that m icrobes are m ostly am iable and useful.’ " — from H olistic M edicine, Kenneth Pelletier Medicine, like many other disciplines, is som ewhat faddish. W hen Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch revealed the existence of tuberculosis bacilli to their colleagues in the 1890s they were rebuked because according to the prevailing opinion o f that period tuberculosis was caused by urban over crow ding and poor living standards. By con trast, m odem technologically oriented W esterners are so used to attributing most illness to som e multi-syllabic virus or bacterium that it is well nigh impossible to convince them otherwise, everyone “ knows” that m icroorganism s attack and invade our bodies, and that's why people get sick. It is stHI relatively uncom m on to find individuals willing to view their health m ore holistically. I believe that what we experience subjec tively as health or disease is a com plex multicausal phenom enon. Genetic, psycho social, environmental and biological factors all play a role in determining the state o f our health. And within this multicausal framework, stress appears to be the single most important factor predisposing an individual toward the developm ent o f a disorder. But what is it exactly that stress does to us that can make us becom e sick? About an hour ago, I was driving along 1-5 when suddenly a metallic silver object, later identified as a wrench, fell o ff the hood o f a truck in front o f me, twanged several times against the pavement and then landed smack in the middle o f my windshield cracking it A som ewhat frightening and certainly stressful experience. The other driver and I exchanged the usual information, and then both o f us returned to our vehicles and drove off. Over and done with. This is an example o f a situation in which the source o f stress is immediate, identifiable and resolvable. In this case, the mind and body react in what is known as a Type I Stress Response: the pulse quickens, blood pres sure goes up, as do serum levels o f glucose, free fatty acids and corticosteroids. This perfectly normal response o f brief duration is m ediated primarily by certain parts o f the nervous system and by the adrenal glands. W hen the situation is resolved, there is a period o f com pensatory relaxation, popular ized as the “ relaxation response” by Herbert Benson. Unfortunately, in mid-twentieth century America, most stressors are not of this type. More often we must cope with a vague and threatening uneasiness and an unremitting low level anxiety. This m ore long tim e and less easily resolvable type o f stress m ay be due to: the creation or breakup of relationships, the birth or death o f loved ones, struggling with personal success or failure, the fear o f being attacked verbally or physically, or the silent dread that each o f us must feel knowing that at any m om ent our entire planet could be totally consum ed in a nuclear Arm ageddon. W hen stress is prolonged, the result may be what is called a Type 11 Stress Response, in which each o f the above-cited bodily changes rem ans abnormally elevated over time. There is no outward discharge o f tension, nor is there any com pensatory relaxation phase. In stead, we establish a long-term adaptation to the stress which allows us to continue func tioning as best we can. But we bury the ten sion deep within our musculature and our guts, and our breathing tends to be shallow which m eans less oxygen enters the blood stream. Oxygen is the vital nutrient We can live for weeks without food, we can live with out water for several days, but after several minutes o f oxygen deprivation, we die. A faster pulse and long-term elevated blood pressure causes dam age to the inner lining o f arteries which can accelerate the process o f atherosclerosis, com m only known as "hardening o f the arteries,” which may in turn result in cardiovascular disease, tissue degeneration (including cancers), and pre mature aging. Recent epidem iological data suggest that psychosocial stress factors may actually be o f greater consequence in athero sclerosis than those which are now consider ed to be the leading culprits, such as high fat diet, high blood pressure and cigarette sm oking. The corticosteroids released during a long-term stress o f Type II inhibit certain functions o f the immune system, particularly T-cell com petence. T-cells are a group of white blood cells in the body which serve a key function in the im m unological system in that they switch other immune responses on and off. Cancer researchers are excited about these findings because if stress is one major way o f shutting down the immune system, perhaps stress managem ent will in the future be an important means o f maintaining or perhaps even enhancing function o f the im mune system, thus providing one m ore link in an overall approach to the prevention and cure o f cancer. In sum, m ore and m ore research is ac cumulating which suggests that we have greatly underestimated the role which stress plays in the generation o f disease. Stress it self is not inherently destructive, but too much stress over a short or long tim e period m ay lead to a poor mind/body adaptation to the situation. The list o f “ stress-linked" dis eases is a long one: high blood pressure, diseases o f the heart and blood vessels, cer tain diseases o f the kidney, rheumatoid ar thritis, skin inflammations, cancer, allergies, nervous and mental disordrs, spastic colitis and peptic ulcer disease, am ong others. In som e measure, all o f the above disorders are caused by an individual's faulty personal re sponse to stress. A key point to keep in mind is that the stress factor is double-edged. S om e indivi duals thrive on stress, others buckle under it S om e o f us m anage fine when we are younger but m anage stress less well as we age. Stress ful events in them selves may be less signific ant than the individual’s strategy for dealing with them. Som e people are "confronters” who actively prepare to m eet and deal with stress; other individuals are "avoiders" who sim ply attempt to escape the situation through denial or focusing their reaction in ward upon themselves. Either approach can be overdone. The point being that the abso lute quantity o f stress appears to be less im portant than the personal tem peram ent o f the individual experiencing the stress. And so, we com e full circle: bugs alone don ’t cause disease and neither does stress, per se. W e control our health by the con scious or unconscious decisions we make about ourselves and our lifstyie. And keep in mind that the very attempt to alter self- destructive patterns may actually induce further stress. Any approach to stress man agem ent is probably an effective m eans o f curbing the onset o f psychosom atic disor ders, but it cannot substitute for the ancient dictum to know ourselves as fully as possible. How much stress is too much? The answer depends on you. THE PRIMARY DOMAIN / € n T Happy Hour DAILY 4:30 to 7:00 Monday’s $1 Well Drinks 50$ draft 50$ all flavors Schnappes Thurs. 1033 n w Just Out. July 1985 16 th , July 8 OPEN MIKE with Candy Carr July 14 Jane Howard 8:00 pm July 17 Special Meeting of the Talents!! With Nan and Kathy of Motherlode; Kate Sullivan and Jane Howard. Don’t miss it!!! July 1 6 Kate Sullivan 8:00 pm July 22 OPEN MIKE with Candy Carr Stop in for a cool salad entree and a Tall Tropical Drink Try our Iced Coffee Specials!! (Non-alcoholic ones too!) AIR CONDITIONED 224-4135 9