Lesson ThreeWhat The Drug Companies Don’t Want You To Know
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| When God created human beings, He knew there would be times when we would
meet danger and our bodies would need to react quickly so we could get to safety. So He
gave each of us a hypothalamus gland. The hypothalamus, located in the brain, is very
important— as it’s primary purpose is maintaining homeostasis; in other words,
it maintains an internal stability. It is incredibly sensitive to the psychological and
spiritual state of your body. When you are at peace walking down a nature trail, the
hypothalamus senses that peace, but the second you turn around the bend and come face to
face with a mother grizzly bear growling at you, the hypothalamus senses the fear and goes
into action. The hypothalamus does not know why you are scared, as it does not think for
itself, it is only a gland. It only knows that you are scared out of your wits, so there
must be some danger. The hypothalamus has the job of transferring thought into chemistry. It does this by secreting the hormone, CRF, which causes a chain reaction of over 20 other hormones, and neurotransmitters to be released throughout the body. For instance, when the hypothalamus senses stress, fear and anxiety, it releases CRF. When the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) receives the CRF, it releases a hormone called norepinephrine and at the same time it stimulates a gland called the Adrenal Medulla to release epinephrine (adrenaline). These hormones alone effect just about every organ system of the body, for instance they cause your heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood fats, cholesterol in your blood and your metabolic rate to increase. At the same time muscular fatigue is delayed, blood supply to the bladder and intestines is reduced and their muscular walls relax. But that is not all, your digestive juice output, carbohydrate production, breakdown of cholesterol, and insulin production all decrease. They also cause the sphincters to contract (muscles that assist you in having a bowel movement). While epinephrine and norepinephrine are busy effecting the body, another gland, the Adrenal cortex, releases the hormone Cortisol (also known as hydrocortisone). Cortisol effects many areas of the body, such as the liver, digestive system, muscles, skin and bones, protein production, heart, blood levels of amino acids and it suppresses the immune system. Imagine dozens of hormones and neurotransmitters all being released into the body and effecting pretty much all parts of the body in different ways every time your hypothalamus senses you are afraid. If what you are afraid of is a charging grizzly bear, these reactions are beneficial as you frantically climb the nearest tree. If on the other hand, you are constantly stressed, frequently anxious, and have lots of fears, this biological process never stops, homeostasis never returns and the process can become fatal. The Flight or Fight Stage is immediate, allowing us the needed energy to climb that tree. But when the fear is within, we soon enter the Resistance Stage— long term our bodies are geared up for stress (fear and anxiety). When this continues for very long, SOME (but not all) of the diseases or conditions a doctor may diagnose the individual with include; coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, stroke, irregular heartbeat, backache, tension headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, immunosuppression or deficiency, an autoimmune disease, an inflammatory disease, ulcer, irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, ulcerative colitis (inflammation and an ulcer of the colon and rectum), diuresis (kidneys produce to much urine), eczema, neurodermatitis (skin disease), acne, diabetes, amenorrhea (periods stop), fatigue and lethargy, overeating, depression, insomnia, asthma, hay fever, and allergies. How does fear lead to allergy? When an antigen enters the human body, a macrophage (a scavenger cell that eats bacteria and other foreign objects) picks it up and delivers it to a T cell (type of white blood cell). The T cell simultaneously produces and releases interleukin-1, a protein substance that effects other cells in the immune system, in this case it activates a subset of Helper T cells. These Helper T cells secretes interluekin-2, which stimulates the proliferation of still more T cells. These T cells can either activate or suppress B cells, whose job is to make antibodies. Cortisol, one of the hormones released in response to fear, inhibits the production of both interleukin 1 and 2 and macrophages, thus decreasing the ability of T cells to suppress the B cells from making antibodies to the antigen. In other words, when you are afraid, cortisol is released in large amounts. If fear and anxiety are a normal part of your life, elevated levels of cortisol begin to wreck havoc with your immune system preventing it from properly functioning. T cells diminish in number and those that are present just don’t work as well, allowing the B cells to start attacking every foreign substance that enters the body. When this happens the person develops allergies. Information for this article was obtained from: The Bantam Medical Dictionary and Shelby, Jane and McCance, Kathryn L. "Stress and Disease." Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children, Third Edition. St. Louis: Mosby, 1998. pp. 286-303. |