Biometric Testing 'Proves' Our Perceptions of Stress Are Not Always Correct

If you ask most Americans which is more stressful work or home, work always gets the nod. But not so.

A California researcher, Arlie Hochschild,  was curious why employees at Fortune 500 companies did not take advantage of flex time, part time, maternity leave and other family-friendly benefits. It seems many of us see work as an escape from family problems. In fact, 20% of those she interviewed said they felt more supported and appreciated at work.

Penn State researchers took up Hochschild’s work and recruited 122 men and women, most with ‘good’ jobs (not minimum wage, with salaries between $35K and 75K) and used saliva testing (a la www.i-calq.com and www.MySanyx.com) to measure cortisol levels.

As reported in www.bizpsycho.com/tag/cortisol/: “Over a 3-day period each participant gave a saliva sample which was tested for the level of cortisol, a stress hormone.  Each participant was also asked 6 times a day how happy they felt and how much stress they were under. The researchers found that cortisol levels, a biological marker of stress, were significantly lower at work than at home, indicating lower levels of stress at work.

“Although this goes against the idea that work is stressful it supports the fact that people who work have better levels of mental and physical health than people who don’t work.”

According to Peak Biometric Laboratories, the manufacturers of Sanyx, the physician-created ‘Stress Mitigating Compound’ designed to limit the effects of excess cortisol, “We’ve gotten a lot of anecdotal evidence from Sanyx users who test their cortisol levels with the i-calQ smartphone app (www.i-calQ.com). They say their cortisol is higher on weekends when we suppose they’re spending more time at home.”

Stress and resulting excess cortisol have been called the new American health epidemic. That may seem like an exaggeration, but when we see research like this, it makes you wonder if calling it an epidemic is pretty accurate.

Stress, Cortisol and Smartphone Testing for Around $5

A very interesting article from the legitimate health-related web site www.qualityhealth.com is the latest in what seems to be a media frenzy around the negative effects of excess cortisol and new, smartphone-based systems that allow users to test their cortisol levels right on their phone.

The article did an excellent job explaining how and why the stress hormone can affect almost every organ system… including your brain.

The author put it this way: “Prolonged stress and chronically elevated cortisol levels are associated with multiple health problems, including anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, and heart disease; stress is also linked to diseases like diabetes.”

It’s quite a litany of what you might call problems created by our stressful American lifestyle. And remember, the key phrase is “excess cortisol.” In and of itself, cortisol is essential to help us deal with real ‘fight or flight’ situations… to increase adrenalin, which, in turn, makes your heart pump faster, increases circulation and increase glucose in your bloodstream to provide more energy… all things you need when a danger is at hand. As the article states, when you’re trying to outrun a lion, not deal with an angry boss or a tight deadline.

Now here’s the good news about testing for cortisol. Simply put, expensive testing is a thing of the past. Now, with the help of a smartphone and some clever technology, you can test cortisol levels for as little as $5. And readers of this blog know, the way to test in the privacy of your own home is via i-calQ (http://i-calq.com), the latest smartphone app and software that’s also been licensed by supplement manufacturer Peak Biometric Research and Sanyx to help people test the efficacy of the company’s exclusive cortisol controlling, stress mitigating formula (http://MySanyx.com).

“… the expense and time associated with these tests has led researchers to seek out faster, cheaper ways to measure cortisol. Now, new software and cell phone technology might make this test more affordable and accessible. According to research presented at a recent joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago, patients may soon be able to upload a saliva specimen through a special tube attached to their phones to measure cortisol and deliver results within minutes for about $5.”

That’s the power of i-calQ and the promise of Sanyx: fast, inexpensive testing of cortisol levels. And when they are high, a new physician-created supplement to lower excess cortisol levels. You can then retest and see exactly how well Sanyx is working. Finally, the revolutionary ability to test the efficacy of a dietary supplement… an idea that will eventually change the entire industry.

Chronic Stress, Cortisol and Pain... Can Sanyx Help Break the Link?

There’s a long, long list of studies linking stress and pain.

Simply put, stress, triggered by fear or a perceived threat, prompts the secretion of sympathetic epinephrine and norepinepherine and the stress hormone, cortisol.

This response in the short term plays a positive role. For example, cortisol mobilizes glucose reserves for energy.

Chronic pain, however, can cause prolonged stress that, in turn, creates a cycle of unhealthy, excess cortisol secretion. The result can be widespread inflammation and increased pain. A vicious cycle can ensue where excess stress and unwarranted fear could perpetuate cortisol dysfunction, widespread inflammation, and pain.

Bottom line: it’s important to break the cycle of pain, excess cortisol, fear, and more pain.

Helping to break this cycle is one reason why physicians created Sanyx (www.MySanyx.com)… to mitigate the effects of excess cortisol.

Sanyx from Peak Biometric Research has been marketed as "the most important nutritional supplement of the decade." That sounds like hype; but for those experiencing pain, mental confusion, and chronic inflammation the hype might just be true.

Stress, Anxiety, Hormones Linked to Mental Decline

A 2012 study, brought to our attention by noted endocrinologist Dr. Joel Ehrenkranz, entitled The ageing cortical synapse: hallmarks and implications for cognitive decline (by John H. Morrison & Mark G. Baxter) offers new and thought-provoking insights into how and why cognition declines with age.

The breakthrough idea is that the deterioration can be related to stress, anxiety and hormonal changes, and as such, cognitive impairment should be treated

as a systemic problem, rather than a localized condition of the prefrontal cortex, for example.

To quote the paper itself: “The data on the effects of stress and sex steroids on the ageing brain and cognition… make it clear that the brain cannot be viewed in isolation with respect to the neurobiological basis of cognitive decline. Given the impact of menopause on women’s health, as well as the requirements to maintain optimal executive function in the face of stressful conditions, future work should target the nature of these interactions with an eye towards interventions that might be behavioural as well as pharmaceutical. “

The research was conducted in monkeys and rodents, but the implications for human cognition are significant.

You can read the article at http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n4/full/nrn3200.html

Here’s the point: it seems that almost daily, science uncovers more ways that stress can harms us… everything from damaging the heart to compromising immunity to encouraging weight gain and altering metabolism… and now (it seems) to speeding our cognitive decline.

There just seems to be no end to the negative, long-tail effects of stress, anxiety and excess cortisol.

The link between stress and mental decline needs a lot more research… but for aging boomers, in particular, finding ways to reduce stress and normalize cortisol seems like a very prudent thing to do.

Meditation, massage therapy, supplementation to normalize cortisol (p-serine is a good place to start), and any number of relaxation techniques will help reduce stress and anxiety and that’s always, always a good thing.

NOTE: The use of formulations like Sanyx (http://MySanyx.com) to lower stress-induced cortisol can be a solid first step in mitigating the negative effects of stress and anxiety.

Defeat Stress, Cortisol and Ab Flab with Exercise, Mediation and Sanyx

Fat around the middle, ‘affectionately’ known as Ab Flab, is an American problem. Just take a walk around your local mall and you’ll see what I mean. Men, women, children… belly fat is ubiquitous.

In many cases, Ab Flab is the direct result of excess, chronic stress which creates high cortisol levels that scientists claim actually kill neurons in the brain and interfere with neurotransmitter hormones like dopamine and serotonin… tings that make us feel good.

Essentially, we’re stressed, we eat to ‘escape’ the pain (not because we’re hungry) and voila… Ab Flab.

Plus, when were stresses we have the tendency to eat whatever is quick and at hand – meaning fast foods and junk foods, which only make the problem worse. Even the most conscientious eater tends to abandon his or her healthy routine for a fast food fix.

Then there’s alcohol, of course. We’re stressed, the feel good hormones aren’t doing the job, so we take a drink or two or more. That’s more useless calories followed by more junk/comfort foods.

The answer isn’t one thing, it’s many. Exercise, of course, to burn calories and reduce tension. Even a 30 minute walk reduces hypertension significantly.

Exercise and meditation of any kind can help release endorphins (they help you feel better) and serotonin (which improves your mood so you’re less likely to binge eat.

It’s easy to understand how excess cortisol caused by stress can be a primary trigger for a cascade of eating behaviors that lead to Ab Flab. Help control cortisol and you could start seeing a slimmer waistline!

Again, exercise and meditation are great first steps. Stress mitigating supplements like Sanyx can be great tools for ameliorating the effects of stress via its cortisol-antagonizing action, and reducing your desire for comfort foods and, in turn, shrinking Ab Flab.

Stress, Cortisol, Obesity, Squirrels & Bigger Babies

OK, it's squirrels, not people, but the research has implications for humans.

Canadian researchers examined the way stress affects red squirrels and concludes that mother squirrels exposed to high levels of stress had bigger babies… even though the others didn’t eat any more calories.

In a related study, squirrels were fed cortisol-laced food and the results were the same.

In both cases, if there were elevated levels of cortisol in the mother’s body, the baby grew bigger and faster.

So here’s the question – could this fact explain the meteoric rise in obesity around the world? It’s theory that’s gaining in popularity – even if the jump from squirrels to humans is… well… quite a leap.

Still, this is just another link, perhaps coincidental, in understanding the relationship between cortisol and stress… stress and your health.

It couldn’t hurt expectant mothers to relax a bit more, could it? And maybe, just maybe, their children would be less likely to become obese?

It’s worth a try.

Sanyx Update: What Do You Know About Stress and Cortisol?

Here’s a list of the possible adverse effects of excess stress and cortisol. Which ones are medically correct?

• Suppressing the immune system
• Lowering thyroid function
• Increasing blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
• Slowing the healing process
• Causing osteoporosis from loss of bone density
• Contributing to muscle wasting
• Contributing to diabetes
• Increasing appetite, obesity, and abdominal fat
• Raising toxicity for brain cells
• Increasing incidence of depression and tendency toward Alzheimer’s Disease
• Shutting down the reproductive system

You’ve already guessed – ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Now do you see the importance of controlling stress and cortisol – through exercise, meditation, proper nutrition and Sanyx, of course.