Saturday, January 24, 2015

* * * Cortisol, Telomere Length, and Stress




In the 1920s, American physiologist Walter Cannon was the first to make apparent the “ fight or flight” response wherein stress hormones prepare our bodies for battle, or give telling energy and speed for us to lose from danger ( Cannon 1915 ). Hans Selye ( 1907 - 1982 ), however, is considered to be the father of stress research, and was one of the earliest scientists who published thick manuscripts on stress, the hormone cortisol, and their impact on health and disease in the early decades of the 20th century. Selye authored the book Stress without Distress, locality he called stress “ the spice of life” ( Selye 1974 ). Selye recognized stress had positive values when the works properly into life, but also recognized that an wrongful reaction to stress in life was a major cause of disease, and that cortisol moderated these effects ( Selye 1954 ).



Cortisol is a hormone that is private by the adrenal glands which are located atop the kidneys. Cortisol and noradrenaline initiate a stress response, known as “ the fight or scamper response”. A massive burst of energy and feelings of process follow the release of cortisol into the bloodstream. This physiologic event is fueled by dramatic increases in respiration and increased levels of glucose in the blood stream, which allows the muscles to work harder, faster and for a longer periods of time. This response has one aspiration: to get you out of harm’ s way. Classic examples could be avoiding an approaching vehicle or escaping from predators.



For most of us the word stress has intrinsically negative connotations. The stress response enables an unusual to deal with the stressor ( stress causing event ), whatever it may be. Stress is an“ experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, reasoning, and behavioral changes that are directed either toward adaption the stressful event or kind to its effects” ( Taylor 2010 ). Stress can be positive or negative depending on lone suggestion. Cortisol is beneficial only while the dangerous stressing event is present: it makes you alert in the workplace, it aids your concentration and overall sharpens your mental and physical faculties. The problem is that it has been known for decades that elevated and prolonged cortisol levels present health risks which cannot be understated.



Since Selye’ s research day one in the mid - thirties, practical evidence has supported the hypothesis that chronic stress results in long term chemical changes in the body which display themselves in conditions such as, heart and arterial disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, immunosuppression, obesity and increased body mass guide ( BMI ), neuron damage, insomnia, depression, increased risk of suicide, osteoporosis, dementia and Alzheimer’ s disease. The end two may be caused by cortisol - associated damage to the hippocampus ( the area of the brain associated with memory processing and design ). In fact, researchers have found that prolonged elevations of cortisol literally caused brain deprivation ( indigent hippocampal niche ) and memory deficits compared to mortals with general cortisol levels ( Lupien 1998 ). This does not suggest that the stress response is in itself dangerous or life threatening. As stated senior, the stress response is essential to our survival. For humans the very real danger is that stress is necessary and that each stressing event instigates the same response: cortisol is unseen by the adrenal glands in times of emotional stress. The stressor and subsequent release of cortisol can be unrelenting, and may last for extended periods of time. Accumulated cycles of cortisol release can lead to adrenal tiredness from superfluous loss of the adrenal hormones during long - term stress, or alternately to cortisol resistance station cortisol levels are dangerously physiologically high in the bloodstream, but at low levels within the cell. Cortisol resistance may lead to a curious combination of both tiredness and agitation ( Cohen et al 2012, and Menke et al 2012 ). Some examples of long - term stressors could be a messy divorce, an buildup conflict in the workplace, or even the stress of the daily rush hour each morning and afternoon. The index is endless, and we all have different triggers. It is not always the stressor, but how we as people operate to that stressor. Each person’ s reaction to the same stressor can be remarkably different. For this ground alone, “ stress has long been suspected in the etiology [study of causation] of many diseases, and can be immunosuppressive and thus may be detrimental to health” ( Dhaber and Mckewen 1999 ). The basic inference is that after the stressing event has passed, the body needs time to breakdown the stress hormones circulating in our blood stream into innocuous substances. If the body does not have the metabolic efficiency or the time to do this effectively, cortisol subsequently will become a toxin. The time taken for cortisol to turn from beneficial ( latitude we feel energized, and elated ) to bad ( latitude we feel hesitant, anxious, and fatigued ) has been called, “ the cortisol switch” and has been measured at approximately 16 minutes. ( Gottfried 2012 )



The vitality of cortisol in the blood stream is analogous to the “ oxygen debt” location aerobic respiration enables the body to function at its top; overstepping this top initiates anaerobic ( oxygen - free ) respiration in the muscles. The arrangement of this anaerobic respiration is a build - up of lactic acid: we recognize this by feeling an increased heaviness and prostration in the muscles, accompanied by progressively more rapid and innumerable breathing. There comes a point situation you have to stop the movement and pament back the “ oxygen debt” by inhaling large amounts of oxygen, and allowing the lactic acid to be pleasurable by the circulatory system to the liver situation it is oxidized to statue dioxide and water. Similarly, we must be removed from a stressing event, or learn adequate coping mechanisms to respond to the stressing event in a more healthy fashion in order to confess cortisol levels to return to typical. If this is not accomplished, cortisol levels continue elevated and can quickly become perilous.



Cortisol is exclusive among hormones for it is the only hormone whose concentration in the body increases as we age. Part of the ground for this is that younger people metabolize ( breakdown ) the hormone more rapidly than older people. So if our lives are over stressful for an extended interval of time the by-product is elevated levels of cortisol which effectively have nowhere to go. In essence, the body fails to arrange that cortisol levels rapidly return to typical and ride within homeostatic limits.



In Chronically tense persons the body cleverly does not have the time to recover and re - energize after a expereincing a stressful event, now the body is in a near constant state of alacrity or “ stress - response mode”. Speaking personally [Mark] my last teaching job resulted in an enormously painful tether in the quarry of my belly on a Friday, that did not fully subside until Sunday, just in time for the whole cycle to start again. This is just one of the many symptoms that fall under the troop of adrenal exhaustion ( i. e. resulting from stress and not a pathological kind such as Addison’ s disease ). The point execution is a complete breakdown of the ordinary stress response and the transformation of a beneficial substance ( short term ) into a toxin ( long term ). Some of the long term implications for cortisol’ s precipitate on cellular metabolism are discussed below.



On the tips of our chromosomes, which contain our DNA, located in the gist of every cell in our body ( aside from red blood cells ), lies a structure called a telomere. Telomeres have grudging and stabilizing functions. A telomere is like the ready cap at the confine of a netting, which keeps the netting from growing. With each cell division the length of the telomere is bad off, so as we age the telomeres on all of our chromosomes progressively contract. Eventually, when telomere length is notably scanty, a aspect called cell age occurs; the cell is metabolically active but is incapable of division. Research over the last decade provides a picture of how “ at the cellular level, stress may promote earlier assault of age - related disease”, ( Epal et al. 2004 ). This research suggests that the stress response has a detrimental sequence on cell metabolism, and in particular cell disjunction ( mitosis ). Equally concerning is the stress response ( i. e. cortisol ) denouement on telomere length and thence on cell longevity. Cortisol has a unpleasant backlash on the enzyme telomerase which “ relengthens the telomeres so that they get the same length as before embarking on cell division” ( Bojesen et al 2013 ). Travel shows that chronic stress can subtract 10 oldness to your lifespan. The cell’ s environment now regulates both the bustle of telomerase and telomere length with unfathomable consequences such that chronic stress is associated with “ telomeres shorter on prevailing by the figure of at number one one decade of more aging” ( Epal et al 2004 ), as compared with less tense humans. There is now a expressing body of explore documenting the detrimental chain reaction of ether stress ( or the associated fatality of cortisol during stress ) on telomere abridgement ( Daubenmier et al. 2012; Tomiyama et al 2012; Parks et al 2009 ). When the telomere length is zero, cell apoptosis ( self - suicide ) occurs. Wherefore, telomere length is one of the chief factors of cell longevity and age. Stone broke telomere length has been associated with high finis rates in elderly people. The subject is that altitudinous and persistent cortisol levels hurry this process such that the mapping of telomeres has submerged implications for the cellular basis of chronic stress and age related diseases, in adjunct to boosting understanding inspection cancers, the apt treatment of those cancers, and the genetic links between telomere length and the planned development of cancer. ( Bojesen et al 2013 ).



Any high coach biology drop out or fitness schedule tells us that a balanced diet is essential for overall health and well - being. If it is slaphappy to avoid the stressing events, is it possible to gorge the impression of steep cortisol levels, or is it possible to block stress response pathways?









In suggestion we are appeal if it is possible to inhibit the try of cortisol. Survey and clinical catastrophe seeing the mid - nineties have shown that a relevance derived from the whites of fertilized chicken eggs called Young Tissue Extract, or YTE, may play a crucial role in reducing cortisol levels in young as well as in elderly subjects, and inasmuch as this influence may play a role in stress management. It is important to interpret that YTE does not inhibit ordinary stress response but, “ restores the ability of chronically strained subjects to tailor to supreme stress” ( Schult et al 2009 ).



YTE is marketed internationally under the name Laminine, and due to it is not a prescription drug, but is a nutritional supplement, the manufacturer cannot make any claims for the prevention, mitigation, treatment, or cure of any disease. The freeze - dried supplement does contain a league of essential amino acids, peptides and growth factors which have been shown to exalt levels of a value called 17 - ketosteroid. This steroid ( a critically important beauty of biological grain ) has many functions, but one completion of ingestion is, that it reduces the standard of the body’ s production of cortisol. Laminine has been shown to inhibit the stress response by elevating the body’ s production of serotonin, which promotes feelings of profit and relaxation ( Solberg 2011 ). Effectively, our stress hormone levels drop whereas we lose our feelings of anxiety, trouble, insecurity and related negative emotions. We all know the short term consequences of stress work in insomnia, impoverished appetite, receptivity overwhelmed or torpid and increased alcohol intake to cope with these feelings. The long - term consequences can be severly debilitating, or even life threatening. It is important to note that chronic stress should be avoided at all costs, however, sometimes this is just not possible and it may be idealistic to say, “ just remove the stressing event”. For persons enduring an extended stressful interval Laminine may be an answer as people who are chronically taut “ profit both psychologically and physiologically from YTE”. ( Schult et al 2009 ), along with proper diet, exercise, stress reduction and relaxation techniques, and the limits of alcohol ( Mendelson et al 1966; Thayer et al 2006; Stalder et al 2010 ) and coffee intake ( Bennett et al 2013 ), the end two of which are also associated with elevated cortisol levels.



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