Toxic load, stress, and sleep:
Toxic load, stress, and sleep can all impact your health. Environmental toxins affect people in different ways, due to differences in body chemistry and effects from the food they eat, genetics, and lifestyle choices. These toxins include pesticides, air pollutants, heavy metals, excessive medications, and various toxins in our food and water supply, as well as the air we breathe. When it comes to total toxin load for an individual, many factors will contribute. Those factors will include some of the more obvious toxin exposures such as cigarette smoke, alcohol, and various drugs, but it will also include car exhaust, heavy metals, paint fumes, Teflon, aluminum cookware, mold, dry-cleaned clothes, pet dander, pesticides, nail polish, hair dyes, perfumes, fertilizers, plastics, etc. We use the word “stress” in everyday life, yet the meaning is ambiguous. Stress can be traumatic, or it can be eustress (good stress), simply reflecting the daily grind of life. The role of stress in health is well established, yet all too often overlooked by practitioners. Stress has many different triggers with many different manifestations. Therefore, identifying the presence of points of stress can be difficult. Psychoneuroimmunology is a term used to describe the impact of mental attitudes on the body’s resistance to disease, especially with respect to the links among and between the mind, the brain, and the immune system. The central nervous system and the immune system have constant communication. While short-term/acute stress can be healthy and important for our health (e.g., exercise), chronic/long-term stress is another factor increasing risk for development of chronic disease. After an acute stress response, the main stress hormone, cortisol, lowers again, and the body can return to a balanced state. However, in times of chronic stress, cortisol remains elevated, which has many negative effects on the body. During times of stress, the adrenal glands are working harder to produce cortisol. In this case, they also need additional nutrient support. Nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and sodium are in higher demand when the body is under stress. The brain first perceives a stressor and determines what is threatening. It then determines the behavioral and physiological responses to the stressor. Physiologically, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, immune system, metabolic hormones, and molecular processes within all organs adjust to combat the response. That is, these organs activate to achieve stability. These adjustments are manageable in the short term, but when they are overused or imbalanced for too long, the body can become overloaded. This overload or imbalance can affect systemic physiology via neuroendocrine, autonomic, immune, and metabolic mediators. Nutritionally, this overload requires more nutrient support. Studies have shown nutrient therapy such as with B vitamins has a beneficial effect on perceived stress, mild psychiatric symptoms, and aspects of everyday mood to support those under chronic stress. ANother part of stress is sleep. Having a properly functioning circadian rhythm is critical to healthy hormonal balance, metabolism function, memory and mental performance, optimal cellular energy production, and the immune system. Sleep is essential to health and even if nutrition is optimal but sleep is poor, one’s health status will quickly decline. Sleep hygiene affects nutrition intake and status, but nutrition intake and status also affect the ability to establish proper sleep hygiene. A 1999 study conducted at the University of Chicago concluded that restricting sleep to just 4 hours per night for 7 days led to increased insulin sensitivity and characteristics of diabetes. Additionally, research shows sleep deprivation increases various inflammatory markers. Research by Van Cauter shows that individuals who are sleep-deprived have an increased appetite, which aligns with other findings that have identified the relationship between short sleep duration and increased intake of unhealthy food with more sedentary habits. When it comes to sleep and nutrition, some nutrients have been studied more than others. Caffeine, for example, has plenty of literature showing an inverse relationship. Not surprisingly, the function of caffeine is evidenced to disrupt sleep quality and quantity. Conversely, vitamin D has also been shown to promote circadian rhythm at a cellular level. Light exposure is the primary regulator of circadian rhythm. Too much light after sunset affects melatonin production. The blue light spectrum from many artificial light sources such as TVs, cell phones, and computers enters the eye and feeds a signal to the brain that “it’s daytime.” The combination of poor sunlight during the day and excessive blue light at night has major implications on circadian rhythm. Many other factors also contribute to circadian rhythm, including activity, stress, micronutrient status, and transition activities before bed, but each client will have different levels of readiness on where to start. Bringing awareness to the importance of sleep is step one and can begin during an assessment when collecting information on their habits. Colon motility is faster in the morning and slower at night. Disruption of the circadian cycle can provoke changes in gut motility. Circadian rhythm shifts that occur with traveling, night shifts, or other sleep disruptions can lead to gut symptoms, including bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation.
Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy by: Diane Noland, Jeanne A. Drisko, Leigh Wagner
