When you wake up each morning, why is it a fact that your mood, body energy and vitality can be very different from the day before.
Why do you some days wake up refreshed and having slept well, feel ready for the day. How you feel is one part of the story, but today we will try to define one of 3 body systems that react within the body in relation to how you feel. And conversely what happens within your body’s systems directly affects how you feel.
The first body system which we will review today is called the Endocrine System.
So, the endocrine system is a complex network of Glands, (special tissues in the body that create and release substances) located around the body. Hormones, (chemicals), made by these glands are released into your bloodstream.
As the hormones move around the body via the blood the body’s organs and tissues have receptors which recognise certain hormones and pull them in as they pass by. This activates that organ to function a certain way as dictated by the hormone. For example, the Pituitary gland releases the hormone Adrenocorticotropin, known as ACTH. ACTH then goes via the blood to the adrenal glands, which are over the kidneys. This action stimulates within the adrenal glands the release of the hormone Cortisol. Cortisol handles the stress response within the body, by regulating Metabolism, (body balance), the inflammatory response, and the immune function.
Cortisol does this by increasing sugar, called glucose, in the bloodstream. It also enhances the brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances in the body that repair tissue.
Cortisol also slows functions that would be nonessential or harmful to the flight or fight situation.
The problem of course that you face daily is that there are so many triggers for the fight or flight situations that your body’s systems are exhausted, and you are running on empty. Meaning that we are constantly going from one stress situation to another. We have forgotten the ability to be still and relax in a meaningful way.
Now that you know how the endocrine system works you can make a positive effort to calm things down a bit.
Tips:
- When you wake up in a bad mood, realise that something in the past 24 hours, you or somebody else triggered your stress response and your body is still in the middle of it. So, take an extra 30 mins. for breakfast and reaffirm your daily/weekly goals and get back your stable datum on who you really are.
- Exercise daily. This will help run out any excess blood sugar in your body.
- Eat less sugar, less bread, potatoes, pasta and rice.
- Come to Get Back Health this week and get your spine aligned and adjusted. Your nervous system has a huge influence on your endocrine system and the more adjusted your spine is the better your life will be.
Yours in Health,
John Keane, Spinologist