Protect yourself not only from the Sun but also from Stress Just as you protect yourself from the strong sun these days, also protect yourself from strong stress. Just as excessive sunlight can cause skin cancer, excessive stress can trigger many diseases, including cancer.

Stress, the autonomic nervous system and the diseases it causes...

Today we will talk about a nerve network that is overlooked and controls the correct working mechanisms of the body.

Autonomic nervous system; Autonomous means acting on its own. Its mission is to coordinate the maintenance of life in health. This protection is exactly the collision prevention function of today's modern cars to coordinate the maintenance of life with health.

The autonomic nervous system also prevents our body from being traumatized by sudden situations. To briefly summarize the mechanisms by which it comes into play, it protects against cold by constricting the thin veins and preventing heat loss in the cold, and it also protects against frigidity by allowing us to sweat in the heat.

Its purpose is to protect body integrity and health. This mechanism we mentioned above manages the perception of cold and heat, which creates physical stress in the body. However, there are other situations where it is effective for the autonomic nervous system and stress is detected in different areas and automatic measures are taken. When the stomach is emptied, the autonomic nervous system is also active in control mechanisms such as sending a reflex to the brain due to emptying and making the person feel hungry, being able to quickly move away from the environment in case of danger, or ensuring that the tissue receives more oxygen and sugar by sending more blood to the tissues in order to defend the body.

Well, we can ask the following question: If the autonomic nervous system exists to defend the body against stressful situations and works in this way, why is stress control necessary?

I think saying that increasing stomach acid so that a person constantly feels hungry due to the feeling of threat during extreme stress causes stomach problems will help us understand the simplest of the problems that stress can cause. In addition, constantly eating and snacking on food due to the constant feeling of hunger and the nervous system feeling calm when fed is also prominent because it creates weight problems. Again, excessive stress overstimulates the system, which tries to send more sugar and oxygen to the tissues while trying to protect the body. As a result of this intense stimulation, cardiac fluid and pressure increase in order to carry more blood. We call this unnecessary overreaction high blood pressure and palpitations. At the same time, the amount of sugar that needs to be sent to increase the energy of the tissue will be increased more than necessary due to excessive stress, so sugar rises too much in the blood and mechanisms that can turn into advanced diabetes come into play.

In short, when we say stress control, we mean do not overstimulate our body's own protection mechanisms, do not disrupt your body balance and protect your health.

In our next post, we will talk about the cancer-triggering effect of stress...

Cüneyt Tuğrul MD General Surgeon