Discovering The Cause of Chronic Disease

Discovering The Cause Of Chronic Disease 

Food and nutrition is just one small piece of the complete picture of health. This larger overall picture is something many healthcare professionals are not even aware of.

And sure, while it’s an accepted fact… obesity is a major cause of serious conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, my findings point to another much deeper cause. This same cause may well be the root of many other diseases.

When we look below the surface to see what is really going on there is a common link. If you really wish to experience true healing you need to understand what is going on with your body.

How Wild Baboons And Macaque Monkey’s Reveal A Deeper Cause Of Disease

After discovering the research of Robert Sapolsky, who has spent the past 37 years studying wild baboons on the plains of East Africa, I began to make some astonishing discoveries about the true nature of disease.

In his studies, Sapolsky found many of the baboons were suffering from increased heart rates, high blood pressure and elevated stress hormones.

This posed an interesting question…

If the baboons were living in their ideal environment and eating their ideal natural diet, then what could be causing them to suffer from these same health related problems as modern humans?

The Baboons Ladder Of Death

Intrigued by this finding Sapolsky further observed the baboons to have an intricate hierarchical social structure, just like modern humans. Those at the top of the social ladder were the most dominant alpha males, those at the bottom were the inferior subordinates.

Within this hierarchy the alpha males would assert their dominance over the lower subordinates through physical violence and bullying. This behaviour, it appears, is common across all primate species, including humans.

Sapolsky’s studies then revealed those at the bottom of social hierarchy were the ones with the highest blood pressure, increased heart rates and elevated levels of stress hormones.

Even though the wild baboons were living in what we would consider a natural way, in harmony with nature, they were still suffering from what we call ‘stress’.

And this stress was killing the ones at the bottom of the social ladder faster than the ones at the top.

Fat Bellied Monkeys

Stresses role in disease is further backed up by Carol Shively a pathologist at Wake Forest University. Her work studying macaque monkeys revealed those at the bottom of the social ladder had increased plaque formation in their arteries.

They were also putting on visceral fat, the most deadly type, around the belly area in response to the stress from their monkey society.

visceral fat cells actively secrete hormones and other agents that affect the metabolism of sugar and the way the body burns calories. In people, visceral fat has been linked to metabolic changes, such as higher blood pressure and blood-sugar levels, that increase risk for diabetes and heart disease.

‘Fat-Bellied Monkeys Suggest Why Stress Sucks’ – Alice Park Time Magazine, August 2009

We’ll come back to the monkeys later, but are you beginning to see a pattern?

My research has led me to believe many of the diseases we are plagued with in the modern world are caused by chronic stress. Let’s examine this even closer.

Connecting The Dots Of Disease

You’ve heard of the ‘fight or flight’ response? It’s the natural way all animals bodies react to stress and it’s a response which has evolved over millions of years. When danger is present animals prepare themselves to either fight or flee.

Humans have the same system, except for one small issue. Unlike animals humans don’t have an ‘off switch’.

In almost all animals, the stress response comes and goes very quickly. As a result the nervous system returns to normal almost instantly. On the other hand, when you are under a constant barrage of stress triggers, your natural stress response system is working over drive, and never shuts down.

Like Being Ravaged By A Hungry Wolf

Imagine a rabbit being chased by a hungry wolf.

Just being in this state of constant danger with nowhere to hide, how long do you think the rabbit would last? How long before it’s nervous system gave in and it had a heart attack or collapsed from nervous exhaustion only to be ravaged by the wolf.

When stressed, you are like the rabbit. Except your stress triggers aren’t you being chased and ravaged by the wolf.

It’s any of the following, quite often more than one, which can eventually lead to you being ravaged by stress.

• Job dissatisfaction
• Financial worries
• Lack of sleep
• Steroid and drug use (including smoking and drinking)
• Diseases such as diabetes
• Bullying
• Divorce / difficult break up of a relationship
• Death of a loved one
• Social dislocation / separation from communities (such as emigrants, Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians)

Lets’ take a look at what happens when your body is under this deadly stress response

How Your Body Reacts

There are two different aspects of the nervous system – sympathetic and parasympathetic, neither of which is under our conscious control.

The sympathetic system deals with instinctive, “fight or flight” reactions:

• Speeds up your heart rate;
• Redirects blood flow away from your gut to your muscles;
• Stimulates your liver to release glucose into the bloodstream for quick energy; and
• Triggers the release of various blood-clotting factors.

The parasympathetic system does the opposite. It:

• Relaxes you
• Prepares the body to eat, digest and store energy.

During a time of stress (a ‘fight or flight’ response) your body produces special hormones which serve important functions. The release of these stress hormones is controlled by the hypothalamus and pituitary glands together in unison.

Under stress, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to release hormonal messengers to your adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol.

This process is known as the HPA axis. When you are under stress the HPA axis becomes dysfunctional producing excess cortisol.

As a result your immune system suffers, and inflammation gets out of control.

This immune system response is linked to over a dozen serious conditions including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Here are just some of the conditions linked to chronic stress

• Cardiovascular disease
• Hypertension
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Sexual dysfunction
• Infertility and irregular cycles
• Frequent colds
• Insomnia and fatigue
• Trouble concentrating
• Memory loss
• Appetite changes
• Digestive problems and dysbiosis
• Increased visceral fat – the deadly fat around the abdomen
• Diabetes – again linked to stress
• Auto-immune disease
• Cushing syndrome – a result of elevated cortisol this little known condition results in many of the above symptoms

Are you beginning to see the connection?

Stress will not only ravage you from all directions like a pack of hungry wolves, it will tear you to pieces from the inside out.

Here we’ve identified stress as the major contributor to many diseases. How do we directly combat its effects and live a healthier more fulfilling life, free from pain, disease and the misery it brings?

Finding The ‘Off Switch’:

4 Proven Ways To Beat Stress

Meditation

In a documented study, 50 Chinese students were given 20 minutes of training in an integrative body-mind method, five days in a row.

The participants showed significant changes:

• Decreased anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue;
• Improved scores on the Attention Network Test;
• Increased vigour on the Profile of Mood States scale;
• A significant decrease in stress-related cortisol;
• An increase in immuno-reactivity.

In another study, Antoine Lutz and other researchers showed that regular meditation supports emotional balance and well-being by improving attention and memory.

Meditation is an amazing tool to bring down stress levels and return a sense of balance to your life.

Music and Sound Therapy

Music has also been proven to benefit people who suffer from stress and anxiety.

A Cochrane Systematic Review found that in patients undergoing treatment for coronary heart disease, music helped to decrease blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety.

Researchers reviewed data from 23 studies, comprised of 1,461 patients.

Across the board, music was found to be highly beneficial in reducing stress and anxiety.

The best thing about music is it’s a passive pleasurable exercise. You simply sit back and relax while listening.

Deep REM Sleep

No one exactly understands the phases of sleep, or how sleep works to restore us. We just know that we need it to survive.

Individuals who consistently lack the REM cycle in their sleep pattern can run the risk of falls, injuries, car accidents, as well as physical and mental health problems.

Lack of REM sleep can have a detrimental effect on concentration, motor skills and memory.

Sleep deprivation can affect the immune system and the nervous system. This is all because the body is not given a chance to reach the state of deep restorative healing it needs on nightly basis.

The real trigger for my autoimmune disease was a combination of: heavy work stress, feeling constantly disillusioned, lack of sleep and other bad lifestyle choices.

Exercise

Yes, you’ve heard exercise is important. But do you really know why?

Did you know the part of your body which deals clearing toxic waste, called the lymphatic system, does not have a pump like the blood?

It relies on skeletal movement instead. Therefore inactivity results in an impaired lymphatic system. Regular movement and aerobic exercise is essential for you to stay fit and healthy, else toxicity accumulates in your body

In fact every hour you sit each day it is said that you lose 20 minutes of your life!

Maybe you think you don’t have enough time to exercise?

Don’t worry as you will find out you don’t have to be an exercise freak, doing hours of training a day to stay fit.

A simple exercise routine which takes just 7 minutes a day, is proven scientifically to boost your health better than any long boring work outs. This is known as high intensity interval training (HIIT) and requires just a chair and a wall, with absolutely no need to go the the gym for hours on end.

These are four powerful ways to reduce stress and set you on the road to healing, yet their power can be greatly amplified by what I’m about to reveal.

The Incredible Ice Man…

One strange phenomenon is a guy called Wim Hof who was proven under scientific study to be able to control his own immune system. He uses a special breathing technique, similar to one called Tummo, which is used by Himalayan monks to survive extreme cold conditions.

Hof holds 21 Guinness World Records, including including running a full marathon above the Arctic circle wearing only a pair of shorts. He regularly immerses himself in baths of ice for over an hour at a time. He even attempted to climb mount everest in only his shorts and no shirt.

...And The Attack Of The Cytokines

A case study titled “The influence of concentration/meditation on autonomic nervous system activity and the innate immune response” demonstrated Wim Hof’s able to directly influence his own immune system through his breath alone.

It was found Hof seems able to raise his cortisol levels and lower the amount of cytokines (inflammatory mediators) just by using his meditation techniques.

The regulation of cytokines play an important role in fighting disease. When your cytokines are out of control, inflammation and disease run rampant in your body.

“All diseases in the human body are initially the result of a cytokine imbalance manifested in the form of symptoms associated with that disease/condition.”

Andrew M Keech, PhD DSc

This Amazing Immune System Modulation Is Achievable By Anyone

Hof’s method of immune system modulation underwent further scientific study in 2014 when a he trained a group of 12 subjects to also control their immune systems through the use of his special breathing technique. The subjects were put against a control group and on average had lower flu like symptoms and inflammatory responses to an injected toxin.

If Hof had been alone in his ability he may have been regarded a freak of nature. The fact he could train others to repeat the effect under controlled scientific conditions is nothing short of remarkable.

“Healing is every breath.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathing and meditation are the secret behind Wim Hof’s incredible feats, (including climbing mount everest in nothing but his shorts). It’s also the reason why the Himalayan monks who practice Tummo can dry soaking wet sheets on their naked bodies in freezing cold conditions and never become sick.

Yet you don’t have to perform these miraculous feats to take back your health.

The Healing Power Of Your Breath Revealed

How you breathe is one of the few things you have conscious control over, and learning to be consciously in control of your breathing can help you to change the deepest parts of your physiology.

There is an ancient Indian breathing technique known as Pranayama, which literally translates as “extension of the life force”.

When you begin to practice the discipline of deep controlled breathing you begin to start the healing process, extending your own lifeforce.

This form of deep breathing signals to your body it is time to heal and it also allows you to be more in control. Breath is where healing begins.

How To ‘Extend Your Life Force’

In The Next 30 Seconds

Lets do a simple exercise right now.

Put your right hand on your chest, and your left hand on your belly.

Now inhale…

Which hand rose first?

If it was your right hand, you are one of the majority of people who shallow breathe. This means you are only using around 30% of your total lung capacity of oxygen.

If it was your left, give yourself a pat on the back, as this means you are filling your entire lung capacity for oxygen.

Oxygen happens to be one of the most vital ingredients necessary to keep us alive.

In fact many modern advances in treating chronic diseases like cancer involve treatments using oxygen rich supplements or hyperbaric oxygen chambers.

But just by changing the way you breathe right now is a free and simple, fast and effective way to transform your wellness.

You can learn more about how to overcome disease and reach optimum states of health using the Alpha Healing System. This is a 5 step, 11 week program created by the author of this article, a pharmacist and a respected integrative health advocate, Niraj Naik MPharm who healed himself from a chronic autoimmune condition without medication or surgery and has since helped many others do the same. Each step is designed to build on the other, as it systematically programs you to overcome any personal challenges and elevates your mind to a state of optimum self healing.

By Niraj Naik