THE STRESS RESPONSE
Stress is never only in your head. In fact, the feeling of stress involves specific physiological changes that will trigger the release of hormones and neurotransmitters, which during an acute accident, like been chased by a tiger, can save your life, literally. This is referred to as the “fight or flight” response: fight the danger back or run away from it. This acute stress response is activated by our sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates our adrenal glands to quickly release adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, which act as hormones and neurotransmitters. Their release into our bloodstream activates specific physiological changes:
- increase in blood pressure, by contracting the smooth muscles of the blood vessels, so to speed up nutrients and oxygen delivery;
- enhance of musculoskeletal and cardiac muscles contractility and their blood supply;
- boosting of lungs dilation, to keep up with increased oxygen demand;
- raise of blood sugar levels, through the promotion of glycolysis in the liver. This is in order for the body to sustain a higher energy expenditure.
In other words, during a “fight or flight” response your entire body has super powers.
Study:
If you would like to read a systematic review on Ashwagandha, please read this one. From that study: ” Clinical trial studies revealed conflicting results on the effect of Ashwagandha extract on anxiety and stress. Additionally, the non-linear dose-response analysis indicated a favorable effect of Ashwagandha supplementation on anxiety until 12,000 mg/d and stress at dose of 300-600 mg/d. Finally, we identified that the certainty of the evidence was low for both outcomes. The current systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of RCTs revealed a beneficial effect in both stress and anxiety following Ashwagandha supplementation.
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