There are four common causes of imbalance that affect our health:

Trauma
Toxins
Deficiency
Emotional distress

Stress triggers a flood of hormones that sacrifice healthy organs in order to solve the stress crisis. Chronic stress causes us to wear out and age prematurely.

According to the book, "Who Gets Sick?" stress is reducing the quality and quantity of life of most people in North America - including you! It strangles the joy and pleasure from your days and nights. It makes you miserable, and then it makes you sick. You become susceptible to diseases such as heart attacks, cancer and diabetes. Once you are sick, stress keeps you from responding as well to medical care. Yes, stress is a killer!

Know your enemy!

Stress is short for distress. Distress describes an unpleasant influence by forces outside or even inside your body trying to tear you apart; it can come from your environment, your body or even your thoughts.

Stress triggers the fight or flight mechanism. Your body will prioritize resources to meet specific demands of stress. In fight or flight, your body prepares to do battle or run away. Either of these actions will require fuel - and right now!

Where do you get that fuel? From organs you don't need at that moment to survive.

So, if you are being chased by a lion, you don't need digestion. Stress will take nutrients from digestion as fuel to meet this particular crisis. The same is true for other organs and systems: Stress will literally rob nutrients from your reproductive system, your bones, and aspects of your immune system, your nervous system and more - all in an attempt to survive.

Now, assuming you survive the stress, are the nutrients returned to those systems? No, not at first. They are taken out quickly and returned slowly, just in case there is another lion around.

Gradually, you begin to show signs of chronic stress that we call premature aging: your blood sugar becomes more difficult to control; your arteries begin to clog up with cholesterol; and your muscle and bone mass begins to melt away. Then, enzymes in your cells begin to turn off and caramelized sugars begin to damage your brain and nerves. You can't think and you have no energy. Your body cannot stand that kind of stress and it breaks down.

Fighting back

This illustrates why we need nutrients from food and supplements to combat stress. The more nutrients we have "on board," the less fuel your body will have to rob during a crisis.

The opposite of stress is homeostasis. So, while stress is constantly trying to pull you apart, homeostasis is constantly working to put you back together. Homeostasis is the priority process your body uses to combat stress. It requires nutrients to function. So, a key strategy for helping reduce the impact of stress is to take Healthy Aging nutrients (including a robust supply of Sublingual B-12) every day.

Rather than being just an isolated event, stress accumulates over time. A single stressful event can affect you for up to two years or more. Therefore homeostasis must be constant, relentless and dynamic in working to return you to a normal state. It must do this no matter which direction stress is pulling you.

Homeostasis is a very important process in our body and we need to support it in every way we can. Homeostasis encompasses all of our resources: our brain and nervous system, our immune system, our hormonal system and every other body function. Adaptogens support homeostasis in all body systems. Adaptogens are "non-specific" in that they help your body reclaim balance. Adaptogens are non-toxic at any level, so you can feel free to take an added serving of Adaptuit as needed in order to break the cycle of stress. A daily serving of adaptogens can help keep you calm and relaxed.

A specific target of stress is the thyroid gland. Specific proteins found in Energy Now! support healthy thyroid function when stress creates thyroid imbalance.

Healthy Aging nutrients along with Adaptuit and Energy Now! can help protect against the relentless stress we all face. We need nutrients and nurturing; these lifesaving resources are found in the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness. Learn them and live them, and you will be able to resist the relentless killer: stress!