“Boom. Switch. Just like that we're in stress mode” - Dr. Tonia Winchester

WHY STRESS MAKES US SICK:

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Have you thought about how stress makes us sick? And if you’re thinking stress doesn’t make us sick, I invite you to be assured that this is physiologically true.

Stress inhibits our immune system, our digestive system, reproductive systems among (most) other systems in the body.

So how exactly does this happen? How does stress make us sick?

Lets look at this simply. It comes down to how our bodies use and divert energy.

Analogy time!

Imagine a toy train set with many tracks and one train. This particular train set (like all toy train sets has a hobbiest controlling the train.

The conductor - if you will - chooses which track to divert the train to as it travels around all of the connected tracks.

Our nervous system is the conductor of our bodies and decides where to divert the energy in our bodies based on it’s present priorities.

This is because in any given moment there is a finite amount of energy that the body has access to.

Of course! It can always make more, provided it is adequately nutrified, but for right now there is a cap on the energy pool.

A reminder from high-school science that the energy currency in the body is a molecule called ATP.

I'm going to assume that we're all on the same page that our body only has a limited amount of ATP at any given moment.

When we're stressed, our body goes into fight, flight, freeze, or faint mode.

The conductor diverts more energy to our survival systems like our adrenal glands, lower brain centres, muscles, and cardiovascular systems.

When we subtract the ATP required for survival from the total pool, we have less energy to divert to important thrival systems and organs like our digestive, immune, and reproductive ones.

In a word… harumph. 😕

In a perfect world, we would be relaxed most of the time.

This idyllic land of long term relaxation and short term stress mode is called rest, digest, and sex mode.

This is where we do our healing.

When we're relaxed, our conductor diverts energy to important organs like the stomach, liver, uterus, and higher brain centre.

Stress (fight, flight, freeze, faint) mode is the polar opposite of relaxation (rest, digest, sex, heal) mode.

It’s like switching the tracks so the train takes a different route.

We are not likely living in that perfect world I described above but in the opposite scenario where we are stressed most of the time and relaxed very little of the time.

The track is switched.

ATP is shunted down the stress pathway so we can survive the imminent stress. Less ATP is available for all those systems that help us thrive.

How this might show up clinically? Good question.

Chronic infections, autoimmune disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, period pain, infertility, memory, focus, concentration issues, anxiety, insomnia, burnout to name a SMALL few.

What is the way out? How do we keep our train on the proper track where we can thrive in our health and wellness?

Nutrients in. Wastes or toxins out.

That’s it. It’s a simple to say formula with massive implications. Where I get excited is applying this formula to the mental and emotional levels of the body.

What I’ve discovered is that often our past experiences affect our stress. It’s like the conductor is putting another train from our old memories on the track. Consider these memory toxins. ☠️

And because it’s more efficient - energetically - for the nervous system to predict a response versus create a new one, the painful imprint of those events and unresolved negative emotions from past now triggers the conductor to divert the energy down the stress track even though the event is long over.

The system says, I’ve seen this before - and could be something as benign as a red jacket or a song or a certain tone of voice or a specific smell - and it says, I know what to do here. I know exactly how to react.

🚂Boom. Switch. Survival track. Stress mode. Fight. Flight. Freeze. Faint.

This is how both past and current stress makes us sick.

Here’s the good news.

We can get the memory toxins of the past out of the nervous system so the conductor regains control of the train set and chooses to divert its energy back down the nourishing, nutrifying, thriving, healing track.

And that’s exactly what I help people do.

I facilitate people to change the way they remember things so they can change how their mind reacts to things.

We separate the thing that triggers them into stress mode from the action they take.

We give the conductor a new choice where it doesn’t HAVe to automatically take the stress track anymore. I mean… that remains as an option, but it’s also an option to divert the ATP down the healing track.

🚄Boom. Switch. Healing Track. Rest. Digest. Heal.

Now, they can choose how to react instead of doing what they used to do without thinking. This helps them make better choices and not just follow old habits.

We can talk more about how this works in another episode. But I know it works because I see people change quickly during a mind-body healing coaching process. In as little as 4 weeks, they let go of negative emotions (wastes out) and replace them with positive ones (nutrients in)… so they can handle things better.

❤️‍🩹By changing how we react to stress, we can get better and heal. We give our body new choices and chances to decide differently.

And that’s exactly what I do. I help people get past and current stresses out of their bodies so they can go back into healing mode.

I'm letting you know I'm here to help.

There are two simple ways to work together.

1️⃣FIRST if you haven’t grab yourself a copy of:

BREAK THROUGH THE INSOMNIA CYCLE: HOW TO SLEEP DEEPLY, WAKE RESTED, AND ENJOY HAPPY, ENERGIZED DAYS

2️⃣ SECOND: So if you’re needing any support to create new filters and new self care habits to help you reach your most desired goals... then I invite you to consider mind-body healing breakthrough.

This is where you’ll release the painful imprints of the past and go back into healing mode, easily able to create new habits and positive results in your health and life, then book a discovery call with me or my team.

We’ll spend 30 minutes helping you get very clear on what loops you’re wanting to close and where you’re wanting to go. If it’s a match I might invite you to enroll in a breakthrough and I’ll provide the easiest way to do that when we chat.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR CALL

3️⃣ THIRD. If you're curious to learn more about OTHER ways of working together, Click the image below.

I very much look forward to connecting and in the meantime...

🧠💗💫May you choose to make all your dreams come true!