Dear Editor,
I refer to the ‘What the people say’ column on the subject of relieving stress in your publication of November 9. It is helpful for us to be aware of the value of exercise and muscular activity in counteracting the effects of stress in our lives.
To understand this concept, we must go back to prehistoric times and the lives of ancient man. The greatest challenge for ancient man was survival, and that basically meant avoiding being killed and eaten by wild animals and killing wild animals for food. At that time, the skill and knowledge of hunting animals from a distance was not yet acquired, so ancient man had to confront and grapple with animals to make a kill for food. This was indeed a stressful situation. Ancient man had two options – fight or flight. In order to assist him to better execute either option his body developed glands which produced the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These were released into the bloodstream to boost blood sugar and oxygen levels and stimulate the heart to push more blood to the brain for increased alertness and to the muscles for a surge in the energy levels which produced the speed to flee or the strength to kill. These hormones were metabolized during the episode involving fight or flight.
Today, modern man still has to deal with stressful situations. But there is no fight or flight option involving muscular activity. For example, the executive in his office is confronted with the stressful situation of an impending strike by workers at his organization. To avoid the strike, he calls in the union boss and they work out an agreement and the situation returns to normal. However, during the crisis, adrenaline and cortisol were released into his bloodstream. But he did not use muscular activity to solve the situation. He used his brain. Now remember that the two hormones are absorbed only during muscular activity, and over a period of time a series of stressful situations can result in high levels of these hormones in the blood which can be manifested in all kinds of diseases and chronic ailments. The only way to avoid this is to put the body through regular exercise routines and meaningful muscular activity.
As a bonus, during exercise certain chemicals called endorphins are produced which stimulate the neurotransmitters of the brain to give the body that ‘feel good’ effect. This is close to the same feeling we get from eating a piece of chocolate, which is a food that triggers the release of endorphins.
These are compelling reasons for us to exercise regularly.
Yours faithfully,
Lloyd H Marshall
