Module 4 - SLP STRESS AND THE CARDIOVASCULAR AND DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS

Stress and the Cardiovascular and Digestive Systems Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Stress and the Cardiovascular and Digestive Systems Everyone knows the feeling of stress, whether it is their heart racing, trembling hands as they get down to do something or having trouble sleeping as they worry about what will unfold in the next minute. Stress is an inevitable aspect of life that no one can escape; only few seem to understand the physiological mechanisms underlying this aspect. When we are consumed by anxiety, there emerges an elegant balance of the stimuli and responses. This paper will discuss the effects of stress that we seem to be dismissing and the hormones that are triggered by stress during stress response. Part One: Stress and Weight Gain When people have tight schedules to keep them mindlessly find themselves rejecting their idea of never to eat sugary foods. Most of them find themselves eating ice creams as they try to keep deadlines or make ends meet, with time they realize that their waistlines are expanding without them noticing. As they try to make ends meet, they experience stress that exists as long as there is need to make ends meet. Prolonged stress is a weight gain trigger, it increase the appetite of individuals making them hold onto fatty foods interfering with their willpower of keeping a healthy lifestyle. The brain is wired in a way that when it detects any threat, it triggers a release of chemicals such as cortisol, adrenaline, and CRH as a sign of response to the detected threat. The release of these chemicals prepares the body to handle the threat making one alert and be ready for action. The release of adrenaline not only makes one alert but also less hungry as is drawn to the muscles to prepare for an action. As the effects of adrenaline wears off, the stress hormone (cortisol) starts controlling food supply in the body. Today we are not like our ancestors who used to burn fat by hutting of fighting off the wild animals, we are not engaged in energy consuming activities and this is not good when dealing with stress. We are either on the couch or on the balcony and our brains still tell us that we should catch cookies. Prolonged stress makes us prone to "visceral fat" which is unhealthy and difficult to rid (Greenberg, 2013). Excess adrenaline increases anxiety levels triggering "emotional eating". One will get into unhealthy eating as a response to stress. Since we are not involved in any active activities, the temptations of overeating are high reason why the extra calories cannot be burned off, instead more is being added. Anxiety also may make individuals to eat mindlessly as they think about their tro...