Stress is like anger. Well used and well managed, it can be constructive and have its usefulness, like reacting to an urgent situation. But if cortisol, a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands (upper kidneys) in reaction to danger is too often produced it causes fatigue. It is known that everyday life can create situations where we need to be alert but are not a threat to life.
But, as stress can be both physical and mental, sources that can affect these two parts of a person can be numerous. Erroneous perceptions, conflicting relationships with others, pressure at work, pollutants, fast food, harsh physical work, injuries, sickness or accidents are all sources of stress for an individual and if he does not take care, complications may happen.
Fatigue, obesity, confusion, insomnia, digestive problems, prematurely aged skin, depression, are problems that can occur when too much stress is experienced. Human beings have great capacities to note different states they go through, to identify causes and reduce stress levels. 40% of all the stress sources would be caused by food and bad feeding choices will keep perpetuating the effects.
For the Native American people before colonization, all food absorbed would be for life necessities. No refining. Corn grains would be ground and the whole grain would be used. No additives were added to meals, salt and sugar appeared at the same time as Europeans. Fat was available in meat and bone marrow and was necessary to help go through the winter and was expended in the long distances traveled by the nomadic hunters’ families.
Many of other stressing situations were resolved by talking with the family, to the elders to gain knowledge, in healing ceremonies or to the clan council : naming the problem, meditating to find the cause and if necessary, finding someone in the community who could help solve the imbalance. Doing this in the presence of nature, with gratefulness towards all life, created conditions where people lived long healthy lives. Obesity, baldness, premature aging, cancer and other diseases related to stress were unknown to Native People before colonisation by the Europeans.
