In handling stress the brain uses large quantities of certain
chemicals called NEUROTRANSMITTERS. (Neurotransmitters induce or inhibit impulses in your
brain.) At some point, the amount of stress we endure causes the brain to run out of these
chemicals.
The human brain is very capable of automatically manufacturing
the quantity of chemicals it needs IF it is given the raw materials (nutrients from foods)
to do so.
However, because of the number of stressful situations we are
daily faced with, because of the world we live in, a normal diet does not supply enough of
the raw materials the brain needs to manufacture enough of these chemicals, or
Neurotransmitters, that the brain NEEDS and MUST HAVE to function normally. With the
amount of Modern Stress our bodies face every single day, we would have to consume
approximately:
Sixteen pounds of fish, Two gallons of whole milk, Two to
three pounds of cheese, One to two pounds of turkey, EACH AND EVERY STRESS FILLED
DAY, just to keep our Neurotransmitter levels normal. Or, we could accomplish the same
thing by taking 3 beCALM'd TM capsules! (Recommended
dosages are anywhere from 1-6 capsules each day.)
How are our bodies damaged by chemicals
released by our own brain?
The body responds to EMOTIONAL stress exactly like it responds
to PHYSICAL danger or stress. Your body produces chemicals for extra strength or energy.
This chemical reaction to stress is a physiological process that has evolved over millions
of years. In other words, The Brain Is Reacting To Todays Problems With Yesterday's
Primitive Responses.
When Stress was primarily physical - when cavemen actually
fought tigers - they had to fight the tiger or they had to run from it. Today's modern
Stress is of a different nature. We don't do physical battle with tigers, we do mental
battle with freeway traffic, unending meetings, or jobs that have no future.
SO THE BODY DOES WHAT COMES NATURALLY....... It still pumps high energy chemicals
(those needed in running or fighting) into our bodies BUT we don't fight anything, we
don't run. We sit there in our cars or at our desk, actually boiling in the chemicals our
own body has released. These chemicals, called ADRENALINE & DOPAMINE, which
power the "fight or flight" alarm reaction, can do great damage to all the
internal organs, especially the heart.
What happens when our brain runs out of
these chemicals?
Most of us never really understand our own bodies and how
marvelously they are designed. We never even think about why we feel different ways. We
know how love makes us feel but do we know what actually takes place, within our bodies or
brain, that creates the feeling. Same thing with anger. In freeway traffic, a car swerves
in front of us. We possibly yell at the person, we feel our faces getting hot and we can
even feel our heart beating faster. But do we really understand what actually takes place
inside of our bodies, that makes all of these PHYSICAL changes happen to us. These Feelings All Come From The Brain And They Are Chemically
Induced!
When our brain runs out of these chemicals or when different
chemical levels decrease or increase, we experience things like anger, lack of sleep,
irritability, anxiety, depression, insecure feelings and fear, not to mention the constant
release of ADRENALINE which causes high blood pressure, heart disease, gastrointestinal
disease and dozens of other problems. (Over 75% of all medical appointments made in
America are directly related to Stress caused illnesses.) There are 5 main chemicals or
neurotransmitters in the brains emotion center. The OPIOIDS, GABA, SEROTONIN, DOPAMINE and
NOREPINEPHERINE. When these chemicals are lowered a dangerous cycle begins within our
bodies. The cycle is called the Stress Cycle and the damage it causes is deadly.
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When Neurotransmitters Are Depleted, What
Happens To Our Bodies?
Any type of Stress causes the OPIOID levels to
diminish. This creates a sense of urgency in an individual. A person also becomes
irritable, easily angered, easily loosing their temper. Many people find relief from these
feelings from an artificial opioid that is released by Alcohol or other drugs.
Low OPIOID levels automatically causes an
increase in DOPAMINE release. This causes a feeling of alertness and anxiety. Continued
Dopamine release causes emotional fatigue. When Dopamine is released, it is exactly the
same chemical response as that following a small cocaine use. (The greatest natural
Dopamine release happens at the moment of sexual climax.) Low
OPIOID levels also causes the lowering of the GABA levels. When this occurs, feelings of
anxiety, insecurity and unexplained panic are felt. The most obvious feeling is deep
Depression.
Low GABA levels cause an increase in NOREPINEPHERIN release.
This encourages quick, emotional response like anger and discourages slower, deliberate
(logical) thinking. High NOREPINEPHERIN causes ADRENALINE to be released, which causes the
heart to beat both faster and harder and causes red corpuscle reserves to be placed in the
blood stream. It causes energy sources, nutrients, and oxygen to be diverted from
functional organs straight to the muscles. Here is where High Blood Pressure, Strokes and
damage to a number of pressure sensitive organs occurs. (The continued diversion of oxygen
and nutrition from the functional organs causes them to become diseased.)
Low GABA levels causes a decrease in SEROTONIN levels which
makes sleep difficult to impossible. Such a person also exhibits feelings of irritability
and a lack of rational emotion. The SEROTONIN reduction further pushes the OPIOID levels
lower. Thus, the Stress Cycle repeats with continually increasing intensity.
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The Stress Cycle figure, above, shows the portion of the
central nervous system, which applies in the case of stress. The subsystems shown are an
essential part of man and have been used over the years to produce (among others) the
psychophysiological mechanisms necessary for man to defend himself.
In the stress cycle "feedback" loop, the following
reactions occur, all of which are obviously useful to a person threatened by a predator or
a mortal enemy. However, they are harmful to the modern person under long term stress as
exemplified by the [bracketed] statements :
* Stress causes the opioids (endorphin, enkephalin, etc.)
levels to diminish. The lower opioids levels create a sense of urgency. This sense of
urgency is usually expressed as the need to respond to certain physical demands, e.g., if
one drinks a couple of quarts of iced tea at 10:00 in the evening, he or she will usually
awaken in the middle of the night with a very strong sense of urgency. As soon as the
body's need has been taken care of, the sense of urgency goes away.
If the sense of urgency is initiated by continuing stress and
there is no way to relieve it, the stress "signal" goes from the opioids to GABA
to Norepinephrine to Serotonin to Opioids to, etc. And, a loop occurs. Consequently, there
is a continued diminishing of the chemicals until the system's control of emotions is
lost. [The individual first becomes irritable, easily angered and finds him or herself
suffering from easy loss of temper. Many find relief in the artificial opioid released by
alcohol, tetrahydroisoquinoline, and thus become alcoholics. Others turn to opiates such
as heroin, morphine, etc. Some find relief in carbohydrate bingeing. Most, rather noisily,
just ruin their careers and their marriages.]
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* The lowering of the opioids causes an increase in dopamine
levels and a decrease in GABA levels. This produces a combination of alertness and
anxiety. [The so called adrenaline rush is in large part the feeling of exhilaration
caused by the dopamine release. It is exactly the same chemical response as that following
a small cocaine use. (i.e. cocaine use causes dopamine to be released in larger amounts
than the body requires for normal functioning such as sexual climax or appreciation of
beauty.) Continual extra dopamine release causes emotional fatigue which can become
debilitating. It can also lead to anhedonia, in which case, he or she can no longer enjoy
beauty, music, or even love, in the extreme case. Continuous anxiety from GABA reduction
can lead to depression and feelings of inadequacy.]
* The lowering of the GABA levels causes the norepinephrine
levels to increase and serotonin to decrease. The increase in norepinephrine causes
adrenaline to be released and the reduction of serotonin makes sleep difficult to
impossible. [It is important to note that serotonin is a sleep enabling neurotransmitter,
not a sleep inducing one. A lack of serotonin makes sleep very hard to achieve. Once the
serotonin becomes available, the body demands the sleep it now badly needs. When this has
been done the person feels rested and Fully refreshed. However, if the stress feedback
continues, the lack of sleep can cause a great deal of damage to the body.]
* The increased norepinephrine encourages a quick, emotional
response (e.g. anger) and discourages slower, deliberate (logical) thinking. [The anger
released by the lack of the opioids is triggered more rapidly in the presence of the
norepinephrine.]
* The adrenaline release causes the heart to beat both faster
and harder and causes red blood cell reserves to be placed in the blood stream. It causes
energy sources, nutrients, and oxygen to be diverted for use by the muscles. This deprives
functional organs such as the liver, the digestive tract, etc., from their needed
resources. This results in the person being able to make an almost super human (though
perhaps illogical) physical response to the threat. [When the heart is required to beat
faster and harder over long periods of time, the illness commonly known as High blood
pressure usually follows. Unfortunately, this condition is usually not reversible. In the
extreme case, this condition can cause strokes and damage to a number of pressure
sensitive organs and passages. It can also cause damage to the heart. Further, the
continual diversion of oxygen and nutrition from the essential organs causes those organs
to become diseased.]
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* The norepinephrine increase causes the serotonin levels to
decrease. This makes sleep difficult or impossible. The serotonin reduction further
modulates the opioids downward. The cycle therefore repeats with continually increasing
intensity.
Decades of university research have been required to find the
means by which the "cycle" is kept from repeating over and over. If this cycle
were not brought under control grave illness would obviously occur as is does when we are
under unrelenting stress. As early as 1928, Dr. Hans Selye's research showed that when
stress is long term in nature, the "stress management chemicals" (as he called
them), which enable the body to maintain control, are depleted. Ultimately, the correction
can no longer be made. Selye showed that once these chemicals are totally depleted, the
subject dies!
The last 20 years of research by many notable scientists such
as Dr. Gerald Kozlowski, Dr. Terry Neher, and Dr. M. L. Barbaccia found that the stored
metabolites can be replaced from normal diet, but only very slowly. They further found
that the slowness was not due to a "lack of production facility" but rather a
"lack of raw materials". While the quantities required vary from one individual
to another, getting these additional nutrients from food is generally difficult. The
average person would require several pounds of exotic fish, a quart of milk, and a variety
of other high cholesterol and high fat content foods daily.
Thus, condensed supplementation is required to allow
replacement of the necessary metabolites during modern times of continuing stress. This
can be done by taking each of the individual supplements individually or by taking a
single capsule containing all of them. An example of the latter is beCALM'dĒ (patented
and other patents pending).
Whether through numerous single component capsules or the
patented "all in one" capsule formulation, the supplements must contain:
d/l-phenylalanine and l-glutamine in combination with Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Calcium,
Magnesium, and Chromium, and Folic Acid in proper proportions. This formulation of amino
acids, vitamins, and minerals, has been shown to enhance the opioids, GABA, dopamine,
norepinepherine, and serotonin availability.
Particular emphasis must be made that in the original
beCALM'd, a large amount of d-phenylalanine was used to inhibit the opioid destruction
enzyme, enkephalinase. This was done as the principal opioid precursors were so expensive
as to be very cost prohibitive. A new discovery (patent pending) found that a small amount
of d/l-phenylalanine combined with requisite amounts of folic acid provide the precursors
necessary to increase the opioid supply by up to 500%. Thus, the opioid shortage is
normalized rather than controlled by patient demand (PRN.)
Inspection of The Stress Cycle shows how such action works.
This having been done, the human is able to withstand a great deal of modern constant
stress without suffering the effects described above.
CONCLUSION: Today's preferred treatment of stress related
disease is not a new miracle drug or even significant life-style changes. (The latter
often cause more stress than they cure.) It is nutritional supplementation with common
items we all consume every day. . . but not in large enough quantities. For instance, the
primary ingredient in NutraSweet is l-phenylalanine. It is found in fish and algae's
in the
d/l form. L-glutamine is found in certain fish, (e.g. Bettyerel). Vitamin A is found in
fish liver oil, carrots, and diary products. Vitamin B6 is found in liver, eggs, and diary
products. Magnesium is found in many fruits and nuts. Calcium is found in a wide variety
of diary products. Chromium is found in shellfish and corn oil. And, l-tryptophan is found
in milk, cheese, ham, and turkey. If one were to eat the quantities of the above foods
that are required to handle modern continual stress, he would become obese in very short
order and would probably have cholesterol and triglyceride counts that would be life
threatening.
The concentrated nutritional supplementation is generally
water soluble and to take too much is a practical impossibility. Thus, this type of
nutritional supplementation is perhaps the most safe, practical means of managing this
century's new form of stressors.
The highly stressed individual needs the above nutrition to
survive. As a benefit he will be healthier and, because he is not on one emotional binge
after another, happier.
