QUESTION:
Stress has shown to have many deleterious effects on our bodies. It has shown to increase our satiety, puts us at risk to acquire fat and fatty deposition and hampers our will to actively take care of our health.
The main stimulus is fear or threat that compels our body to initiate a release of cascade of neurotransmitters which includes epinephrine, corticotrophin releasing hormone and cortisol. Adrenaline pushes the blood flow away from the visceras and to the large muscle groups. Cortisol, a stress hormone, forces the body to start eating to replenish the energy stores that were exhausted while fighting or fright. Further, cortisol also directly influences various other hormones that indirectly have effects on appetite. These hormones are leptin, neuropeptide and corticotrophin releasing hormone.
Fast food or any other food craving has a profound effect on the health of an individual. These foods are called comfort foods because they are loaded with processed and refined sugars and have high fat content. High fat diet and foods containing sugars and salts are very risky for health and make individuals prone to develop diseases like hypertension and diabetes.
QUESTION:
In this article, the author suggested that cortisol is actively secreted only by the influence of CRH. But, the author also mentioned another hormone and described its role to be very central in the stress mechanism of our body. Besides CRH, our bodies also secrete Vasopressin which is a small hormone responsible to increase water reabsorption from the kidneys and causes the vasculature to constrict thereby increasing blood pressure. The authors also talk about hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis that is activated by CRH and vasopressin both and involves hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenals.
Low blood sugar or hunger stimulates the production of cortisol because it counters the effects of insulin. The effects of cortisol are beneficial but it also poses certain danger to an individual. It depresses immunity by blocking the proliferation of T-cells. It also cease process of inflammation by stopping histamine release. It is for this reason; anxious and chronically depressed individuals are more prone to get infections. Amplified quantities of cortisol depress memory function by over whelming hippocampal cortisol receptors. It has also been postulated that higher quantities of cortisol blocks the feedback loop.
QUESTION:
The short term effects of high cortisol levels are delayed wound healing, intolerance to vaccinations and repeated infections. On the contrary, long term effects are compromised cognition, depressed thyroid function and accumulation of visceral fat. These responses are particularly important because they increase the chances of acquiring cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and stroke. Besides these risks, high cholesterol and salt can lead to dyslipidemia and hypertension. These two are the most major risk factor to develop a coronary artery event like myocardial infarction or even cerebrovascular accident like stroke.
