Day 14 - How Stress Affects Mind and Body

Hello everyone, Christopher Lord here, and I am continuing my series on stress with an emphasis on how stress affects body and mind.

In the previous entry, I introduced you to Dr. Hans Selye, the father of modern research on stress.  Now I want to introduce you to one of his earliest and best-known contributions, the discovery of the organ systems responsible for the human body’s response to stress, the “Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis”, or “HPA Axis” for short.

It’s a mouthful to be sure, but I hope to make it easily understandable in this entry, and then later dedicate future entries to learning more about the HPA Axis and its’ associations with medical and mental health problems.

Okay, back to Dr. Hans Selye, who was a medical doctor who specialized in endocrinology, which is the branch of medicine concerned with organs (called glands) that make a substance (called a hormone) which is then released into the body where it has an effect somewhere else.  A classic example of a gland is the pancreas, which makes insulin used by all cells of your body to get sugar inside for fuel.

It was Dr. Selye’s hope and wish to discover the mechanism by which the human body dealt with stress, again defined as "any event which may make demands upon the organism, and sets in motion a non-specific bodily response which leads to a variety of temporary or permanent physiological or structural changes".

He did this by studying mice (which are used because they have organ systems a lot like our own) and repeatedly saw that the result of stress to these animals was the build-up of certain glands and hormones, the same hormones in fact, no matter what the stress was.  With a lot more careful work, he was able to see that the final hormone that he gathered was one called “cortisol” and two others “adrenaline” and “noradrenaline”, all of which have come to be called the “stress hormones”.

Back again to this thing called the HPA Axis, which I will write more and more about in future entries.  The “H” in HPA stands for Hypothalamus, which is a gland in our brain that does lots of stuff, via inputs from the eyes, ears, nose and skin it is part of our brain’s response to the environment. The “P” stands for Pituitary, which is another gland in our brain that communicates with the Hypothalamus and the Adrenal gland, which is the “A” in HPA Axis.  The word “Axis” refers to the name we give all the players involved in this system, which has been called the “stress response” or stress cascade”.

Let’s put it all together: we experience “stress” through our senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) which are relayed by whatever sensory organ that perceived it to our brain. One target for that information is the Hypothalamus, who then upon being triggered sends a chemical message (hormone) to the nearby Pituitary gland (also in our brain) who then sends a hormone to the distant Adrenal glands (which sits on top of each of our kidneys) which then responds by releasing chemical messengers- the so-called “stress hormones”- cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline, which initially produce helpful effects- for example increasing blood flow to certain areas, increasing heart output, allowing extra sugar in the blood stream to be used for this “emergency”- whatever stress our body perceived.

The big deal is this “stress cascade” or “stress response” is not inherently a bad thing, but it’s only for short-term/temporary use, to respond to some crisis, then it’s supposed to turn off and go away until needed again later.

The bad thing (in the form of medical and mental health problems) is when this “stress response” or “stress cascade” is always on, because the “stress hormones” cause high wear and tear to our systems, or as Dr. Selye put it, the stress hormones cause “temporary or permanent physical changes” in us that can be potentially life threatening medical and mental health conditions.

More to come!

Thank you for reading

Christopher E Lord

-------------------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

 

CHAPTER 14 - WHEN GOD SEEMS DISTANT

God is real, no matter how you feel. 

It is easy to worship God when things are going great in your life -- when he has provided food, friends, family, health, and happy situations. But circumstances are not always pleasant. How do you worship God then? What do you do when God seems a million miles away? 

The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving him when he seems distant.  

How do you praise God when you don't understand what's happening in your life and God is silent?

• Tell God exactly how you feel 
• Focus on who God is -- his unchanging nature
• Trust God to keep his promises.  
• Remember what God has already done for you 

 Point to Ponder: God is real, no matter how I feel.

Verse to Remember: "For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.'". Hebrews 13:5

Question to Consider:   How can I stay focused on God's presence, especially when he feels distant?

Do you praise God in both of these situations?

Day 13 - Worship that Pleases God

**Pastor's Message to come**

----------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 13 - WORSHIP THAT PLEASES GOD

God wants all of you.

God doesn't want a part of your life. He asks for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires your full devotion, not little bits of your life.

The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

1. God is pleased when our worship is accurate
2. God is pleased when our worship is authentic
3. God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful 
4. God is pleased when our worship is practical. 

When Jesus said, "Love God with all your strength," he pointed out that worship takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or comfortable, and sometimes worship is a sheer act of will -- a willing sacrifice.


 
Point to Ponder: God wants all of me

Verse to Remember: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

Question to Consider: Which is more pleasing to God right now -- my public worship or my private worship? What will I do about this?

Day 12 - Christian Yoga

Over the past centuries, Christianity has lost sight of the significance of our body in relationship to our faith. We have forgotten that God has created us in His image, both male and female…and when He finished His creation, it was the only thing He stated as being “very good”. We don’t appreciate, perhaps, the importance, when God came to earth, He did so as a man. Jesus used His entire body in acts of worship, prayer and acts of corporal mercy. When Jesus invites us to the communion table it was to take part in His body and blood. The church is not a place to worship, but a “body of believers” who make up the “Body of Christ”. We are told to remember that our bodies are a holy temple for the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). When Jesus died, He was buried but then rose bodily to be forever at the right side of God the father. Jesus’ own resurrection is our assurance that we too will be bodily resurrected.

So- how can we as Christians, learn from this ancient philosophy of Yoga to deepen our own relationship and faith in Christ. In my opinion, it is always best to start with the bible for discernment.

The most important command

Mark 12:29-30 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength.’”

If loving God with our heart, soul, mind and strength, is the most important commandment, then we should be able to worship Him with these things as well, for what is the difference between loving the Lord and worshiping Him. One cannot happen without the other.

Treat our bodies as a holy temple where the Holy Spirit lives

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

We are taught, that not only are we to use our bodies in Worship and to glorify God, but that this is pleasing to Him. We are no longer by ourselves. The Lord’s Holy Spirit lives within us and our bodies are precious to Him.

Where are we to worship?

Matthew 18:20 “Were two or three come together in my name, there I am with them"
For the first 300 years of Christianity, Christians did not worship in a church because it was illegal. Christians had to hide when they gathered to worship, study or pray. The church building was created for the worshipers, not for God. He doesn’t need a “structure” to be confined to in order to be worshiped. Of course, it is pleasing to the Lord to see His people gather together for fellowship and worship, but it is not the only place that He finds acceptable for these things. Wherever we are, if we invite Christ to be with us, He will be there.

Freedom in Christ

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

If our intention is to Glorify God and not become idolaters to ourselves or others, our actions can be holy before God.

When we choose to pray, what we are actually doing is responding to the presence of God that never leaves us. It is up to us to cultivate our awareness and responsiveness of heart, to God’s presence in and around us where ever we are and whatever we are doing. Therefore, whatever we do, if we offer it up to God as a prayer offering or an act of worship, we can grow closer to God.
And as the scripture above reminds us, our bodies can be used in spiritual worship (Romans 12:1)

During your time on the mat, you can choose for that time to be holy. Allow your mat to be a scared space. Forget about the others around you and focus your mind and body on communicating with God. Every breath you draw in can be sacred, every movement can be offered as an act of thanksgiving and praise, every pain or strain, can be handed over to the Lord of creation in humble acknowledgment of our own limited abilities and remember that it is from Him we gain our strength. We can offer our successes and our failures, our intentions and needs to God. He wants them all.


 by Jo-Dee Collins, Christian Yoga Instructor and Spiritual Healer




------------------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 12 - DEVELOPING YOUR FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

You are as close to God as you choose to be.

Like any friendship, you must work at developing your friendship with God. It won't happen by accident. It takes desire, time, and energy. If you want a more deeper, more intimate connection with God you must learn to honestly share your feelings with him, trust him when he asks you to do something, learn to care about what he cares about, and desire his friendship more than anything else.

Developing your relationship with God in 6 steps (see blog post Day 11 for first 2)

3. I must choose to be honest with God.
4. I must choose to obey God in faith.
5. I must choose to value what God values.
6. I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.

Point to Ponder: I'm as close to God as I choose to be.

Verse to Remember: "Draw close God, and God will draw close to you." James 4:8a (NLT)

Question to Consider: What practical choices will I make today in order to grow closer to God?

Day 11 - Breakfast for Champions!

We have all heard the saying "breakfast is the most important meal of the day."  But is it really?  Science has proven that it absolutely is!  Here are my Top 6 Reasons why you should wake up and nourish your body:

Top 6 Reasons to Eat Breakfast

1.)  Because it's been way too long since you've last eaten.  Think about it -- if you skip breakfast, your body could go upwards of 18 hours without eating anything.  That's unhealthy for anyone and everyone!  Eating upon waking has many health benefits, including refreshing hormone levels, which can help with weight loss, appetite, metabolism among many other things!

2.)  Eating breakfast supplies focus.  Think of your body and nervous system as a complex computer that needs a reboot every morning.  You don't want your computer to run slow through the day....  A healthy breakfast supplies that energy burst your brain needs to work properly.  This goes for adults and kids alike!

3.)  Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism.  It's true!  Eating a balanced breakfast in the morning is what gets your metabolism started for the day.  Overall, (and consistency is key) it will help your body regulate your food intake throughout the day, which will help manage weight!

4.)  Breakfast puts you in a good mood.  Eating breakfast makes you less irritable. You need those blood glucose levels to even out in the morning, and your breakfast is the meal for that particular job.  Healthy blood glucose levels mean you won't be so cranky.

5.) Breakfast sets the tone for your day.  I'd like to remind you to take time out of your morning for breakfast.  All too often we let our busy schedules take hold and find ourselves rushing around after the alarm clock sounds and flying out the door to get to work/school on time.  Turns out you're going to feel rushed and empty the rest of the day.  If you can give yourself just 10 minutes every morning for breakfast, it will set a different tone for your day.

6.)  People who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight.  See #3.  And, not starting your day off with a balanced, healthy, filling breakfast has been shown to lead to bad decision making food-wise for the rest of the day.  You're more likely to pick up unhealthy foods that you can get fast if you're in a state of semi-starvation.

And that leads me to WHAT TO EAT for breakfast.  The food you choose to eat is actually more important the act of eating breakfast itself!  To acheive the most balanced and healthy meal that will jump-start your metabolism, supply focus, and keep you feeling full, the best components to your breakfast meal are: Clean Protein, Healthy Fat and Fiber (healthy carbs).  You want to avoid flours, sugars, grains, and other refined carbohydrates in the morning.  Stick to the "Foods by God" principle.  Some of the easiest breakfast dishes to prepare are simply 2 fried eggs, 2 cups of sauteed veggies, and a drizzle of flax seed oil  OR  a simple berry smoothie of 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 scoop protein powder, handful of frozen berries, blended.  Breakfast doesn't have to take long to make, as long as you have whole food ingredients put on this earth for you to thrive on.

Shakes and smoothies are a favorite quick-fix breakfast today.  Here are three of my favorite breakfast smoothie ideas:

Berry Coconut Breakfast Smoothie
Raz-Apple Smoothie
Green Green Smoothie

-  Elise, Healing Cuisine

 ----------------------------------------

CHALLENGE

Starting this week, for the remaining 30 days of our Lenten Renewal, I challenge you to add in breakfast every morning.  Do the best you can, and remember easiness comes after practice and consistency.

 ----------------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 11 - BECOMING BEST FRIENDS WITH GOD

God wants to be your best friend.

We were made to live in God's continual presence, but after the Fall, that ideal relationship was lost. Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.

Through the Bible we can learn the SIX SECRETS of growing in friendship with God. Here are the first two: We can grow in our friendship with God...

1. Through constant conversation
2. Through continual meditation 

The Bible says, "Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises." Psalm 25:14 (LB)

Point to Ponder: God wants to be my friend

Verse to Remember: "Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him." Psalm 25:14a (LB)

Question to Consider: What can I do to remind myself to think about God and talk to him more often throughout the day?

Inspiration: I Will Praise You

As God guides you through these 40 days, remember to thank him daily. This is a great song that will get you inspired for the week to come! 

Take time today and recap last week and plan for this one. Did you stick to your goals? Were you slacking somewhere possibly in your diet or exercise routine? Map out your days this week to make sure you are successful! No excuses!

God Bless!

Day 10 - Consistency is key

Deciding to start an exercise program is just one hurdle to jump.  Once you have started your personal fitness program the problem becomes being consistent.  I find people struggle with this more than any other single issue.  Life throws all sorts of curve balls whether it is from work, family or even friends.  If you are not careful your fitness program disappears in the depths of "I shoulds".

How do we become consistent with our program?  Listed below are some points to help you attain that regular opportunity to get a little more fit.


     1.  Start slowly, only one or two days a week.  You can always add a third day later.  Most people that take on too much in the beginning actually quit instead of reducing to a more manageable schedule.

     2.  Pick a time of the day in which you have the least amount of distractions.  If you have lots of meetings at the end of the day then exercising after work probably won't work, try the morning before work.

     3.  Carve out your time.  No one is going to give it to you, you have to take it.

     4.  Find a exercise buddy.  It is tougher to pass on exercising if you have a friend waiting for you.

     5.  Establish an achievable, long term goal and then break it up into smaller goals on a timeline.  It is very rewarding to reach little goals knowing it's getting you closer to your personal goal.

     6.  Have fun with your exercise.

Consistency over time, it's not an Einstein formula but the results can be dramatic and personally rewarding as well.
 
Thom Uhlir
Thomfit@aol.com
704-332-1081

--------------------------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 10 - THE HEART OF WORSHIP

The heart of worship is surrender.

In today's competitive culture we are taught to never give up and never give in -- so we don't hear much about surrendering. If winning is everything, surrendering is unthinkable. We would rather talk about winning, succeeding, overcoming, and conquering than yielding, submitting, obeying, and surrendering. But surrendering to God is the heart of worship.

It is the natural response to God's amazing love and mercy. We give ourselves to him, not out of fear or duty, but in love, "because he first loved us."

There are three barriers that block our total surrender to God: fear, pride, and confusion.

Sometimes it takes years, but eventually you discover the greatest hindrance to God's blessing in your life is not others, it is yourself -- your self-will, stubborn pride, and personal ambition. You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans.

Surrender yourself to the Lord today. 

------
 Point to Ponder: The heart of worship is surrender.

Verse to Remember:  "Surrender your  whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes." Romans 6:13b

Question to Consider:  What area of my life am I holding back from God?

 

Day 9 - Who's stressed out?

Stress: Part 1

Hello reader, my name is Christopher E. Lord and I am a Doctor of Medicine with a specialty in Psychiatry. I was delighted to have the opportunity to share what I know about mental health concerns with you all in an effort to assist you in meeting your personal goals during your journey through Lent.

I was given the topic of “Stress” to cover and like many of you; I am no stranger to stress! But I figure what is “stress” to me might not be stress to another, so I thought I might start by defining what stress means to me as a medical doctor.

The modern medical concept of stress was developed by a Hungarian endocrinologist named Hans Selye, who began research in this area in the 1930’s. He defined stress as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change". I really appreciate this (arguably oversimplified) definition of stress because as I enter this Season of Lent with the goals I have set for myself I notice “stress” as I make demands for change in my own personal habits!

Dr. Selye later offered another definition for stress: "any event which may make demands upon the organism, and sets in motion a non-specific bodily response which leads to a variety of temporary or permanent physiological or structural changes". Although people who study the modern concept of stress would argue that even this definition is too narrow or antiquated, it is the one that I have studied the most and therefore is the definition with which I am most comfortable.

I will devote future blog entries to sharing with you some of what we know of these “bodily responses” and “temporary or permanent physical changes” due to stress and also (time and space permitting) some new treatments under development to remedy some of these changes.

Thank you for reading!

Yours most sincerely,

Christopher E Lord

-------------------------------------

The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 9 - WHAT MAKES GOD SMILE

The smile of God is the goal of your life. Since pleasing God is the first purpose of your life, your most important task is to discover how to do that. So how do we make God smile?

• God smiles when we trust him completely 
• God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly
• God smiles when we praise and thank him continually
• God smiles when we use our abilities. 

Point to Ponder: God smiles when I trust him.

Verse to Remember: "The Lord is pleased with those who worship him and trust his love." Psalm 147:11

Question to Consider: Since God knows what is best, in what areas of my life do I need to trust him most?