EFT & Cortisol

Why does excitement in our lives make us feel alive as humans?  What causes the buzz we feel when we are participating in stressful things in our lives?

The answer to both questions is learned stress hormones.  Adrenaline, Cortisol, Norepinephrine are the 3 major stress hormones in our lives that are triggered by our limbic brain.

So, how does all of this connect together, giving us an understanding of how this impacts our lives today? 

Our limbic system, comprised of Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Cingulate gyrus, Amygdala, Hippocampus & Basal Ganglia, was created by God to keep us safe from predators and other bodily threats. If a loud, unexplained noise occurs, the hypothalamus, a small area in the base of your brain, sends an alarm through the body via intricate system of nerve and hormonal signals, prompting the adrenal glands, sitting on top the kidneys, to release a flood of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. The flight, freeze or flight mechanism has just been activated, keeping us alert and aroused, watching out for danger.  Heart rate increases, blood pressure is elevated, glucose to the tissues is released, blood leaves the neo-cortex for the larger muscles in the legs in case flight is necessary, digestion is interrupted (no time to eat now!), immune system literally takes a hit, suppressing it, sex and growth are out of the question at the moment, as survival is utmost in the body’s mind. Estrogen, testosterone, & the neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, are also involved in this struggle to a lesser extent. All non-essential bodily functions cease until the situation resolves.

This survival mechanism was implanted only for short-term use. The limbic fight, flight, or freeze is activated, problem gets resolved, and the stress hormones return to normal levels, dropping the heart rate & glucose levels back to normal. Sometimes it takes days for the stress levels to fall back to normal levels, especially when the body has chronic stress.

DHEA levels are restored from their depressed levels for more bodily repair and growth, allowing immune system to take over maintaining good health. Now, time has come to think about food and sex!  The body has returned to a relaxed state.

A problem remains today; however, in that we humans tend to remain in this high state of alert because of the high functioning lifestyles we lead, many times by choice. We actually become addicted to the elevated stress levels, leaving us feeling sad and uncomfortable when we begin to slow down for a short period of time. Once accustomed to high stress levels, the subconscious tends to want to keep us there. It has become our standard MO. In fact, the subconscious will even put us in situations to provoke an increased stress level, keeping the hormones & glucose at higher levels. It truly is addicted to the chemicals!

We may feel relaxed, but most times we continue nearly constantly in a high beta brain wave state. It’s the state of modern life.  Unfortunately, it is killing us - literally, killing us. Our bodies weren’t built for long term limbic activation.  Continuous high levels of cortisol are known to cause huge physical issues, including increased abdominal fat, weight gain, obesity, memory impairment, heart disease, etc.  Metabolic syndrome, with its illness list, is caused by these huge glucose level increases, necessitating activation of the pancreas to pump out extra insulin to deal with it.  This introduces diabetes, more heart disease, & stroke. The depression of the immune system is a gigantic issue, as it opens us up to every infectious disease we encounter, including just that continuous cascade of one viral cold after another, that chain of unending illness that sap our strength & endurance, giving our employer fits because we need sick day after sick day.  Because of the decrease in immune function and the lack of DHEA to promote growth, we open ourselves up to other illness, such as cancer.

Since most of us no longer face true physically life threatening situations, the threats are really just “paper tigers” – they are all in our mind. Because of the physiology of the brain, particularly the limbic system, our mind doesn’t know the difference between a real physical threat and the one we create in our own imagination. Case in point: The body treats worry just the same as it treats something really happening. Worrying about the boss firing us or the boss actually firing us will trigger the exact same chemical release in our bodies. Each situation appears to be the same to our mind during our thinking and feeling process. The limbic system doesn’t differentiate between perceived and real situations. Worry is stress, as we all know. That same worry will break down our bodies, causing physical illnesses.

So, how do we solve this problem? There are many true “relaxation” techniques out there, including meditation. Often times, when we feel relaxed, we actually aren’t relaxed at all.

Here is where Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) excels. When employed regularly, EFT will cut through this stress and worry, taking us back to a state of relaxation on a daily basis, allowing us to short circuit this flight or fight mechanism implanted in us. The neural networks are reconfigured. We unlearn the cognitive patterns of our earlier years, breaking down those destructive habits that keep us locked into those stressful states, whatever they may be.

EFT is easy to learn and it takes much less time than meditation. In our hurry up world, we all look for shortcuts. EFT is one, but it is a good, healthy shortcut.

I can also teach you other quick stress reduction techniques, if that is of interest. There are many other ones out there.

Is EFT God’s healing mechanism for you?  Pray about it please, and email me for a free Christian coaching with EFT consultation. I’d love to talk with you.

For more information, go to www.eftforchristians.com

To schedule a free EFT coaching session, email me at eftforchristians@gmail.com

Always remember to take complete responsibility for your own health and well-being.