Fatigue and Stress
Depriving ourselves of enough rest and sleep, especially when this happens over an extended period of time, can be extremely detrimental to our health. Going without adequate sleep over the long haul greatly compromises our ability to stay healthy and heal, because it’s when we’re resting, and particularly when we’re asleep, that our bodies are provided with the best opportunity to rebuild, repair and rejuvenate themselves on the deepest levels.
Chronic stress is another factor that takes a great toll upon our health, as it puts a constant strain upon the entire body.
Living with chronic stress can put us in a perpetual state of ‘fight of flight’ response, which is a natural physiological reaction to stressful situations that was meant to happen occasionally, and to provide us with an extra burst of energy for a brief time – not as a way of life.
When we lived in simpler times and experienced a fight or flight response, chances are that the adrenaline released into our systems would quickly be utilized, and thereby rapidly dissipate as we expended the physical energy required to fight or flee. However, when we experience the kind of chronic ongoing stress with which many people are dealing today, we’re generally never able to properly expend the sort of vigorous physical energy the body makes available and is designed to utilize as a result of the fight or flight response. Once we have exerted ourselves in rigorous physical activity after the flight or flight response is engaged, the body is much better able to naturally restore its equilibrium and return to a state of relaxation. But when we're repeatedly stressed and do not let off the corresponding fight or flight stress-triggered "steam," as it were, through physical exertion, this situation can become significantly problematic over time in terms of the potentially damaging effect it can have upon our health.
Considering this issue from this perspective, it becomes easier to see how our chronic lack of physical exertion during the fight or flight response can contribute to a serious ongoing physiological imbalance within us.
If we’re seeking out natural paths to healing and wellness, it’s imperative that we understand the impact ongoing stress can have upon our health and the ways in which it can cause us to become run down and burned out. Chronic stress not only places a great burden on the adrenal glands but it can also jeopardize the immune system’s ability to function properly, leaving us unnaturally vulnerable to chronic health challenges.