Diagrams showing stress response

I'm one of those people who are chronically stressed. I found these diagrams showing how the stress response works:





When I feel my stress levels increasing, thinking about the myriad of negative health effects actually helps me calm down.

These are great.

I'm also cronically stressed. What measures do you take to reduce stress, aside from remembering all of the negative effects it causes?

I find ashwagandha and PS very helpful. if you have to choose one ashwagandha is probably it. If you are also depressed, St johns Wort is pretty helpful short term. All of the above reduce cortisol levels and help with stress response.

Thanks. I've actually used ashawandha before and liked it, but did not take it long enough because I gave my remaining supply to a friend who had anxiety so that she can try it--and she likes it too. Might have to pick up some more.

I'm curious about your regimen. It looks good. How did you come up with it? Does it work for you? Have you noticed any benefits from the 4mg of astaxathin?

bh2o wrote:Thanks. I've actually used ashawandha before and liked it, but did not take it long enough because I gave my remaining supply to a friend who had anxiety so that she can try it--and she likes it too. Might have to pick up some more.

I'm curious about your regimen. It looks good. How did you come up with it? Does it work for you? Have you noticed any benefits from the 4mg of astaxathin?

Astaxanthin is one of those potent antioxidants I take not specifically for its hair benefits but for its health benefits. I like it especially because it is fat soluble.
Kelp is for iodine content, my current regimen is a bit different now, I will update it.
My goal is to reduce cortisol because I am very very convinced that's how my problems started. NEw research on Astressin-B is supportive of my theory. I knew it was about cortisol before but after this new research I am 100 convinced. My hair loss started right after a low carb diet at age 27 and never stopped. I later learned a low carb diet could skyrocket one's cortisol levels and mess up their adrenal response and associated things. Therefore almost everything I take now has to do with cortisol.

masterfree wrote:

bh2o wrote:Thanks. I've actually used ashawandha before and liked it, but did not take it long enough because I gave my remaining supply to a friend who had anxiety so that she can try it--and she likes it too. Might have to pick up some more.

I'm curious about your regimen. It looks good. How did you come up with it? Does it work for you? Have you noticed any benefits from the 4mg of astaxathin?

Astaxanthin is one of those potent antioxidants I take not specifically for its hair benefits but for its health benefits. I like it especially because it is fat soluble.
Kelp is for iodine content, my current regimen is a bit different now, I will update it.
My goal is to reduce cortisol because I am very very convinced that's how my problems started. NEw research on Astressin-B is supportive of my theory. I knew it was about cortisol before but after this new research I am 100 convinced. My hair loss started right after a low carb diet at age 27 and never stopped. I later learned a low carb diet could skyrocket one's cortisol levels and mess up their adrenal response and associated things. Therefore almost everything I take now has to do with cortisol.

Thanks. I've been thinking about picking up some astanxathin.

Interesting note about Astressin-B. I think that cortisol is also a problem for me concerining overall health. Carbing up early in the day is a good way to increase insulin and supress cortisol, which I'm sure you are well aware of.

As far as stress induced cortisol spikes, have you tried or considered the curcumin/resveratrol combo? I know that they work together to buffer neurogenic imflamation however not sure if it helps directly with stress.

Also, have you tried or considered a good probiotic? imprisoned-radical shared a study with me yesterday concerning probiotics effects on the stress response--very interesting. Maybe you could benefit from it:

imprisoned-radical wrote:

There's a 'gut-brain-skin axis' which links stress, digestion, and inflammation of the skin.

Is there a 'gut-brain-skin axis'?
Arck P, Handjiski B, Hagen E, Pincus M, Bruenahl C, Bienenstock J, Paus R.
Source

Center of Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany. petra.arck@charite.de
Abstract

Emerging evidence arising from interdisciplinary research supports the occurrence of communication axes between organs, such as the brain-gut or brain-skin axis. The latter is employed in response to stress challenge, along which neurogenic skin inflammation and hair growth inhibition is mediated. We now show that ingestion of a Lactobacillus strain in mice dampens stress-induced neurogenic skin inflammation and the hair growth inhibition. In conclusion, we are introducing a hypothesis, encouraged by our pilot observations and resting upon published prior evidence from the literature, which amalgamates previously proposed partial concepts into a new, unifying model, i.e. the gut-brain-skin axis. This concept suggests that modulation of the microbiome by deployment of probiotics can not only greatly reduce stress-induced neurogenic skin inflammation but even affect a very complex cutaneous phenomenon of (mini-) organ transformation, i.e. hair follicle cycling. These observations raise the intriguing prospect that feeding of just the right kind of bacteria can exert profound beneficial effects on skin homoeostasis, skin inflammation, hair growth and peripheral tissue responses to perceived stress.

Hope this helps.