Under physical, physiological or emotional stress,
one’s body protects itself by reversing its polarities, shifting
the relative balance of the autonomic nervous system, which
is actually made up of two systems. The sympathetic nervous
system is the part that is responsible for the fight or flight
response, while the parasympathetic part is responsible
for relaxing the nervous system after the alarms are set
off. Chronic stress acts like a weight on a scale; it tilts the
scale in favor of the sympathetic branch at the expense of
the parasympathetic branch. The action of normal stress
response involves the synchronized action of three hormone
glands: hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal. With regard
to performance, we are concerned with the effects of cortisol,
produced by the adrenal gland, as a catabolic hormone; it
will function to break down muscle tissue and convert the
proteins from tissue into energy. The adrenals will flood the
so destructive to performance revolves around the adrenal
glands’ production of cortisol, which occurs during chronic
stress. Stress’s destructive effect on the nervous system ability
to communicate translates into decreased performance as
evidenced from many studies. Cortisol is an anti-inflammatory,
catabolic hormone, which is essential to life. Release of high
amounts of cortisol for short periods enables the body to
deal with stress. To help performance, cortisol elevates blood
glucose, decreases protein synthesis, and promotes fatty acid
mobilization, making these substances available for energy
and for synthesis of other compounds needed by different
tissues of the body. It is only when excessive amounts of the
hormone are produced that problems arise.
system with cortisol in traumatic situations, such as exposure
to cold, heat, harmful biological invasions (viral, bacterial, and
fungal), starvation, bleeding, surgery, infections, injuries, pain,
situational problems (job, family, etc.) and excessive amounts of
exercise.
Stress has been shown to significantly influence the
prefrontal cortex (PFC), a key brain region controlling cognition
and emotion. Interestingly, acute short-term stress can affect
corticosteroid stress hormones and the PFC in such a way
as to enhance learning and memory. This makes sense due to
the fact that when a person is exposed to a dangerous stressor,
heightened vigilance is essential for survival. However, longterm, chronic stress can have the opposite effect and can damage
cognition, emotion and memory. One of the reasons stress is
It is my opinion that one of the most effective ways to
help performance is to utilize Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s book. Live
Right for Your Type, which highlights some interesting research
about why the blood type of a individual has a relationship with
a specific gene that controls stress response. When the body of
research on stress and blood type is examined, we see clear
differences in the ways humans respond to stress and recover
from it. Knowing your blood type and understanding more
about the type of machine, i.e. body, you have, is immensely
valuable for customizing diet and physical training for optimal
fitness.
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