Splice of Life

This summer is sooooo hot! (Here's where you ask: "How hot is it???") It's so hot that ...

Well, I'm not going to try to make a joke about the heat because, frankly, it's too darned hot! I'm thankful to have a brand-new air conditioner as well as plenty of ceiling fans to keep the air moving. I realize this is a luxury many don't have. And certainly, people who lived on this prairie in little houses in the 1800s weren't so fortunate. Plus, they worked outside in the heat, in long dresses or pants, without the convenience of cold showers at the end of each day. That just makes me wonder how they survived. And although previous centuries had their share of disease and destruction, those folks were survivors. Here's why:

The stress response system of our bodies was designed for the age-old “fight or flight” — you know, evading the hungry lion on the plains, wrestling alligators in the swamps, outrunning fast-spreading prairie fires and the like. When faced with a significant threat, the human body would divert blood and body fluids from peripheral areas (mouth, skin, extremities) to power the heart and muscles. Blood pressure would rise, adrenaline would surge, and in the event of injury, the lack of blood flow to skin and digestion would limit bleeding and soiling.

The prairie people (or mountain people, etc.) were active people. They were outside planting crops, building houses, chasing bad guys (or cattle, wolves, or children). They were living the life that our bodies are designed to live, pumping the blood, limbering the muscles, and giving adrenaline plenty of chances to surge and subside. They faced real threat and thwarted it!

Nowadays, with convenience foods instead of spears in our hands and stress levels rising faster than cost-of-living raises, our bodies are confused. For most of us, our greatest physical threat is the paper cut. How to react to these new stressors which threaten us mentally and emotionally but (often) not physically? We worry about issues that our stress response system is not designed to handle. How will we pay that huge repair bill on the car without picking up a 2nd job? Will tonight be another all-nighter to get that report done for school or work?

From paying bills to juggling hectic school/work/family schedules to staying on the cutting edge of fashion, modern lifestyles are causing our brains to dump harmful loads of stress-fighting chemicals into our bloodstreams. In the traditional stress-response system, the wolf would leave and our bodies would relax and recover from the flood of chemicals. Our stress system would reset itself and get us ready to fight another day.

Not so in modern living, and our bodies pay the price for this continual onslaught. We get fatter, sicker, sadder, and slower. Some of the side effects of the stress system include:

memory problems
digestive shutdown
impaired immune function
emotional rollercoasters
high blood pressure and increased risk for heart attack and stroke
diseases ranging the gamut from diabetes to back pain

Recommended read: Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky

What's the solution? Stay active! For ideas and support to get started with exercising, visit SparkPeople. SparkPeople is a free site dedicated to healthy people and families. Watch out for your health so that next time you face down a wolf or bear, your body will be ready to run!