Why Are Stress Related Illnesses Killing Americans?
Kathi Casey ERYT CPI, the Health Boomer Body Expert and author of Get Off the Couch, Potato!
According to a 20 year study by Kaiser Permanente, 70% to 85% of all illnesses sending patients to their doctors were caused by stress. Not just aggravated by stress, but CAUSED by stress. This study included only illnesses that sent people to their doctor – no colds or minor injuries. That means that we Americans are spending at least 70% of our annual health care spending on stress related illnesses.
The sad news is that stress is easily prevented. That means that 70% of healthcare costs in the United States are preventable. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States today. It wasn’t that long ago that heart disease killed mostly men. However, in recent years, as women have become business and community leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners, their daily stress levels have increased. This has caused increasingly higher incidences of stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure and other stress related illnesses. Currently, the number one stress related illness, heart disease, is killing both women and men at the same rate.
You might wonder why stress related illnesses have become an increasing problem in recent years. Bill Joy, the Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems, has an interesting theory. Bill estimates that the speed of change is doubling exponentially every 18 months, and the speed of change will only increase in coming months, years and decades. Change is stressful, even good change. Think about getting married or having a baby. These are examples of good changes in our lives, yet they can certainly be stressful!
While the change we have faced is daunting, it’s nothing compared to the next generation’s challenge of managing the stress of their accelerating change. It is in everyone’s best interest to provide stress management tools not only to adults, but also to the next generation. I believe that stress relief techniques should be an integral part of the curriculum in every school in America today.
We need stress hormones for our “fight or flight response”. Adrenaline increases our heart rate and elevates blood pressure. Cortisol slows bodily functions that would be nonessential in a “fight or flight” situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system and the reproductive system. It also effects mood, motivation and fear.
Back in the day, we needed the extra “juice” to either run away from the saber toothed tiger or chase down that woolly mammoth for dinner. Then the event would be over, the extra hormones would be used up and our bodies would return to normal. Even today, if we witness a child falling into a lake or pool, these important stress hormones enable us to run quickly over a great distance, to dive in, pull the child out and give CPR if necessary.
Where we run into a problem is that in today’s high stress society, we release too much cortisol for too long. In fact, many people today are releasing stress hormones almost constantly. This is reducing our brain power and putting us at risk for heart disease without good reason.
The problem is twofold: first, stress hormones may divert glucose to larger muscles, reducing the amount available to fuel the brain. Secondly, cortisol interferes with our neurotransmitters, chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with each other, so our memory may be impaired.
Have you ever run in circles trying to find your car keys when you’re late for an appointment? If you calm down and just think through when the last time was that you used the car, where you went, what you did when you got home, you remember that they’re in your other coat pocket.
With chronic stress comes constant release of cortisol, which over time also physically damages the hippocampus, the portion of the brain needed for memory and learning. Cortisol also remains in the brain longer than other stress hormones, compounding the problem. Chronic stress can lead to the very real physical sensation of “brain exhaustion”.
There are many simple techniques that you can use to reduce the level of stress hormones coursing through your body. Stress relief and breathing are very much interrelated. We’ve become a nation of shallow breathers. As our day goes on and we feel more pressure and not enough time to get everything done, our breathing becomes shallower and shallower. It’s completely unconscious. We certainly don’t decide to stop breathing. It just happens in response to stress. Shallow breathing deprives our organs, glands and muscles of the oxygen needed for proper functioning, resulting in disease.
There are many simple techniques that you can use to reduce the level of stress hormones coursing through your body. My top no-cost stress relief technique is a simple lifestyle change that anyone can make starting today: I recommend breathing breaks to all of my clients. They are easy and have a proven track record in relieving the chronic stress in our lives, thus reducing stress related illnesses.
Here’s how it works:
Schedule regular breathing breaks for yourself. You can set your watch so that the alarm goes off every hour, or set a reminder on your computer that pops up every hour and STOP. This is important. You must stop what you’re doing, close your eyes, sit tall in your chair and inhale deeply while counting to 6 or 7. Then, exhale long and slow, counting to 7 or 8. Repeat for 1-2 minutes.
The longer exhale reduces your blood pressure, so set your goal to exhale longer and longer as you become comfortable making breathing breaks a part of your daily schedule.
Taking the time to focus on your breathing, regularly, results in several more minutes of normalized breathing afterward. This gives your bodily systems an opportunity to normalize as well, greatly reducing your risk for all stress related illnesses. If you only make this one small change, you’ll notice a big difference in energy levels and your ability to handle stressful situations in as little as a few days.
Best of Health,
Kathi Casey, The Healthy Boomer Body Expert
Kathi Casey, “The Healthy Boomer Body Expert” , is a renowned health and wellness coach, author, popular speaker and radio/TV show guest. Kathi has shared her techniques on Fox 23 and ABC Evening News and produces her own weekly TV show called “To Your Health”. Casey is a columnist for The South Shore Senior News, Life After 50, Boomers Forever and has been published in More Magazine. She’s the founder of the Healthy Boomer Body Center in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Kathi has developed programs and products to end chronic pain, enhance your immune system, reduce stress, lower blood pressure and laugh yourself well with Laughing Meditation! Her latest book “Get Off The Couch, Potato!” is a fun and adventurous beginner’s fitness program that you can start while lying on your couch watching TV. For the last 8 years, she’s been teaching people all up and down the East Coast how to take charge of their own Health Care. No need to wait for Congress to make up their minds! More information can be found on her web site:
Visit Kathi’s site and read her book to learn how to prevent stress related illnesses. Remember also to keep visiting The Ultimate Stress Blog.
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