Although the mainstream medical community typically refers to high blood pressure as the “silent killer,” I think that term more aptly applies to stress, since stress is something we ALL deal with from time to time.

Whether your stress is physical or mental, it makes no difference—ALL stress can become seriously harmful to your health. 

Let’s look at what stress really is, all the ways it can impact your health, and how you can fight back and minimize its harmful effects on you.

So, what is stress?

Stress reflects our ancient biological “caveman” programming!

Back in our early days, humans dealt with various physical stresses like hunting for food, physical conflicts with enemies, and dealing with environmental challenges.

When these physical stresses rise, our bodies prepare us for the “fight or flight” reaction—expecting that we would need to run like a gazelle or fight for our lives.

As this happened, the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol would cause various physiological changes getting us ready for fighting or fleeing. These include:

• The liver putting glucose into the bloodstream for energy

• The heart rate and blood pressure rising

• Pupils dilating

• Increases in respiration

• Sweating increasing and the muscles tensing up

Once the stress was over, all our bodily functions would return to normal, we’d refuel to replace lost energy, and all would be well.

Enter our current form of stress—MENTAL!

Nowadays we’re typically not hunting for our food, and we’re (hopefully) not getting into a lot of physical fights!

Our stresses are more mental in nature—a tough day at work, home/family challenges, money worries, etc.

But the thing is, your body cannot distinguish between physical and mental stress. So, it acts exactly the same way!

And this really becomes a problem when your stress is CHRONIC.

Here’s what I mean—here are some examples of how your body’s reaction to chronic stress can ruin your health and even shorten your life!

Digestive woes

Stress pulls energy away from your digestion.

Nothing the human body does demands more energy than digestion, so if stress takes energy away from yours, heartburn will become your regular companion. 

Plus, stress can also cause colon contractions, sending you rocketing to the bathroom with diarrhea.

Pancreatic exhaustion

Your pancreas carefully monitors your blood sugar level and when it gets too high, it secretes insulin to tell your cells to absorb the glucose.

Well, when you’re chronically stressed and your liver is dumping glucose into your system repeatedly, your pancreas can eventually get pooped out and not be able to secrete enough insulin for your needs.

Or your cells might stop responding to insulin’s “call of duty”—known as insulin resistance.

Either way, you may be looking at Type 2 diabetes. People with high levels of stress have a 45 percent greater risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Cardiovascular concerns

Glucose is an abrasive substance, so having lots of it repeatedly flowing through your blood vessels can trigger inflammation and raise your blood pressure.

Plus, inflammation in the tiny arteries servicing your eyes, brain or kidneys can lead to retinal problems, stroke, or kidney damage.

Immune issues

Stress causes harmful changes to your gut environment, giving dangerous microbes the “upper hand” and weakening your immune system functioning.

This can lead to repeated infections and viruses, as well as less protection against serious diseases like cancer!

Craving carbs

The stress hormone cortisol is responsible for telling your body to refuel itself, and it does so by giving you a voracious appetite for sugars.

Cortisol doesn’t know that your stress is mental—it thinks you just ran or fought—so it acts the same way regardless.

Well, over time with chronic stress, this can cause you to crave carbs like crazy!

In addition, sugar is addictive--it’s been compared to cocaine in terms of addictiveness—so that will cause you to crave even more carbs.

I’m sure you know what that means—that scale number will go up, up, up.

Hormonal imbalances

Pregnenolone is your body’s hormone “molding clay,” and your body divvies it up to wherever it’s needed to make hormones. This can include your thyroid, male and female hormones, your digestion, your brain, etc.

You have over 200 hormones that control virtually all of your body’s processes, and your body divides up your pregnenolone as needed to make those hormones.

EXCEPT when you are under stress!

Stress hormones supersede all other hormones, so when you’re stressed, your body directs ALL your pregnenolone resources into making stress hormones.

Leaving your other hormones running short!

Over time this can lead to hypothyroidism, PMS, digestive problems, insomnia, depression and much more.

How to help!

Clearly, fighting back against stress and minimizing its harmful effects on you is not only a good idea; it’s vital!

Here are some of the most effective ways you can ensure that stress doesn’t get the best of you (or your health!):

1- Get regular exercise

I know exercise is a dreaded word to many people, but nothing beats it in terms of undoing the harmful effects of stress.

The key is picking something you like (or will at least tolerate), doing it for at least 30 minutes 3-4 days a week and creating doable goals.

Also, get a workout buddy if possible! You’ll talk and laugh the time away, and you’re more apt to stick to your workout routine if you have someone counting on you. 

My MMA partner Mariana and I work hard at the dojo, but we also have a blast!

2- Pamper your liver

Your poor liver is really challenged when you are stressed—it’s responsible for putting glucose into your bloodstream, as well as making cholesterol which is then turned into pregnenolone for your stress hormones.

So, it’s important to pamper your precious liver! You can do this by drinking a large glass of water every morning to which a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime has been added. Also, incorporate onions and garlic into your meals, as they are helpful to the liver.

And of course, control the booze. Don’t rely on alcohol to relieve stress.

3- Support immune health (and more) with Elderberry

Elderberry has a long history of use as an effective immune-supporting herb. 

One of the biggest endorsements for elderberry came from the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine, who referred to elderberry as his “medicine chest” because of how successful it was in helping his patients.

One of its most heavily studied features is its powerful immune-boosting ability. The berries contain chemical compounds called anthocyanidins, which have been found to have strong immune-supporting properties.

Elderberry can also stimulate glucose metabolism and the secretion of insulin, which in turn could help lower blood sugar levels and prevent Type 2 diabetes (and thus counteract stress-induced high glucose levels).

Its anti-inflammatory effects can also help reduce allergy symptoms as well as hay fever.

Plus, elderberry has been shown in studies to reduce cholesterol levels and improve HDL function, which lowers your risk of heart disease.

Our very own Elderberry Immune Blend is your ticket to putting this impressive herb to use in supporting your great health!

Elderberry Immune Blend is a non-GMO gummy supplement that combines the impressive immune-supporting actions of elderberry extract along with Vitamins C, A, D3, B12 and zinc—nutrients that are crucial for sharp, strong immune function!

4- Get enough sleep

Make sure you are getting at least 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Proper rest is essential for your mind and body to regenerate.

Even if you’re stressed out and can’t fall asleep right away, just lying in your bed in a dark room is helpful and encourages melatonin production.

You can also try sipping chamomile tea, listening to soothing music, or taking a warm bath with Epsom salts.

At the same time, avoid alcohol and sugar at night, and turn off the TV and social media.

5- Other stress relievers to try

Here are some other stress relief measures to try:

• Prayer

• Meditation

• Yoga

• Massage

• Adopting a pet (if you’re an animal lover)

• Counseling or therapy

• Deep breathing

Don’t let stress ruin your health and possibly shorten your life!

Fight back and minimize its harmful effects safely and naturally.

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

PS: An important announcement for you all...

Please bear in mind that today is Juneteenth, a federal holiday therefore shipping is unavailable today and our office hours extremely limited.

Danielle will be out of the office from June 20th to the 30th therefore shipping operations, emails, and phone calls will be suspended for that time.

What this means...

• Any orders placed after June 18th's shipping cutoff will be held until her return on June 30th. Upon her return she will begin shipping orders out in the order in which they were received. Barring any flight delays, she is due back June 30th in the afternoon.

• Any emails or phone messages sent in her time away will be addressed upon her return in the order in which they were received.

• Common questions and inquiries are easy to address right on our website by using the “search” function at the top of the home page. There you may type in the subject you’re looking for information on, and it will provide you with easy to navigate answers.

• Please familiarize yourself with our updated SHIPPING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES if there are any questions regarding your shipments prior to her leaving, or after. PLEASE NOTE: Super Shield no longer ships with ice packs as of November 2024. This practice change is fully addressed on the shipping page, the Super Shield page, and in a message from me– all three readily available to read through by clicking.

Danielle does not often use her allotted vacation time, and she is incredibly grateful for your patience and kindness over any disruption her time away may cause.