Stress In The Modern Age - Part 1

Stress is a major factor in illness. This seems to be commonly agreed upon but not commonly dealt with. I say this because I have been on a healing path for years but feel like I am just starting to finally tap into the removal of stress. When I say stress I mean anything that taxes the body or puts it in the fight or flight state engaging the sympathetic nervous system. It is important to note that stress in short bursts can be good (eustress). What I am referring to is long-term stress that keeps your body from entering into the restoration process. 

There are stressors everywhere in the modern world and everyone is different so what I'm going to point out are the factors that have impacted me that I did not know about in the past. Addressing these stressors will make traffic or spilling your breakfast on your clothes on the way out the door more bearable. The more you remove stress from your life, the more manageable remaining stress will be. I don't know if there is anything more important for your health than removing stress. This ties directly into my recent blog Sleep In The Modern Age Along with many other past blogs.  

I'm going to target 4 stressors that stick out to me most. Sure, eating clean, stop smoking/drinking and any number of others could have made my list but these are the ones I feel have the biggest bang for their buck and are most often overlooked.

In the image above you see a person lets call him Sam. Our friend Sam is 40 and has been feeling out of shape so he started the day early with a pre-workout drink (full of caffeine) and heads to the gym for some heavy lifting (under junk LED lights). He pushes himself super hard and is running late. Off to work where he will be sitting for extended periods. He is now over trained, drinking more coffee in an effort to be "bulletproof", sitting and staring at a blue lit screen with is wifi phone in his pocket, his cordless mouse, his wireless laptop. Are you starting to see the picture? 
 
4 causes of stress to look at: 
-EMF
​-Light 
-Caffeine 
-Over Training 

All 4 of these will steer the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) off course, resulting in Sam's health to be diminished overall. I'm not going to dive too deep into the SNS but when you are in a fight or flight state for prolonged periods, good luck avoiding illness, loosing weight or having a good mental /emotional life or relationships. The overuse of the sympathetic system causes a magnesium deficiency that in turn causes many more problems in the body. Magnesium is key for relaxation and does hundreds of functions in the body. The more stress the faster you burn magnesium. 

EMF -
Electro-magnetic frequencies from our tech are stressing our cells to the max. Anyone who knows me knows I'm focused on telling the EMF story but outside of just being bad for the functions of your cells I'm proposing that EMF may be a primary reason you overreact or have a bad temper. We may not feel the effects of EMF directly since it's sub-sensory, but the constant bombardment of frequencies from tech is higher than ever and is only going to get worse as our addiction to tech increases. We have convenience from our "smart" tech but this is dissonance to the harmonic frequencies of our bodies that are also electro-magnetic. Just go to Health Blog Index if you're new to the blog. There is a lot of good information on EMF there. The take-away is to remember that the tech environment is adding to stress in a major way meaning that it is that much more important that you get the controllable factors under control. 

Fake Light - 
This one goes along with EMF as light is a frequency generated by electro-magnetics. It stands apart in the sense that we use artificial light so often (day & night). Artificial lights are changing all the time and getting worse as technology becomes "greener" (stripping more frequency out to increase efficiency, harming you more). Incandescent bulbs vs. LED is a good example. Most street and traffic lights are LED and now even new cars have them. I pay a lot of attention to my light environment and if you are concerned with stress you should too. Remember that the light from our tech is excitatory....it is a literal stressor that triggers the dopamine channels in your brain and engages the stress mechanisms directly through the eye. 
Get a pair of blue blockers from The Store to help protect yourself. 

Here is a brief video on light. 

I'm not done, stay tuned for Part 2 where I will have some solutions. Until then talk a deep breath and go for a walk in the sunshine.