STRESS - TIME TO UNDERSTAND IT !
Stress can cause inflammation , which, in turn, can lead to muscle seizures. Scientific research has shown that stress is contributing directly or indirectly to heart disease, brain stroke, diabetes, cancer, lung ailments, liver cirrhosis, infertility, besides addiction, obesity and de- pression leading to suicide. Stress is no stranger to humankind; as a normal bodily function, it is as old as existence itself. The human body is primed both to recognise it, and to deal with it, through a combination of responses that make up what is called the " fight or flight" mechanism . THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS The key to the body's response to stress lies in its endocrine system, along what is called the hypothalamic-pituitary-ad- renal (HPA) axis. The hypothalamus is the command centre of the brain, regulating a multitude of things such as mood, the body temperature, heart rate, food intake, sex drive, energy, thirst and the sleep cycle. It also controls the secretion of hormones-ch