When Stress is Your Gateway to Purposeful Ascension
When stress is actually good for you …
When you optimise your body and fix all deficiencies, You can then move to practicing hormesis or Eustress. Hormesis is censured around biochemical/radiological and Eustress is grounded in psychological and/or physical good stress.
Forewarnings Of Hormesis …
If you have a chronic infection, it is paramount to take care of that before doing hormesis. This is because the dose is now the poison and you are no longer doing hormesis, but just adding too much oxidative stress to your body ie: your body may not be able to readily detoxify your newly added biochemical at a sufficient rate or it may not be able to repair the resulting damage of your stressor.
The dose is the poison. That means, that if your life is chaotic atm, if your nutrition is sub-optimal, if you are chronically unwell, if you have dysbiosis - then I suggest that you address these things first. Don't combine hormetic tools with these issues still floating around as the dose of stress will override the benefits. If you have a chronic infection or crazy amount of perceived stress in your current life, work on that first.
Good stress ideally works by adding a small amount of stress on your body. “Small” being the key word to create beneficial adaptation. Tailored exercise is a good example of this. This better prepares your body for stronger stressors in the future. Eating plant food is another example - the toxins in them (when eaten in low doses) produce the benefits (ie sulforaphane, resveratrol, curcumin, mushrooms).
Hormesis, if done properly can strengthen metabolism, longevity, and wellbeing as well as protect you from chronic illness in general.
I’ve both experienced and witnessed through clients, hormesis benefits in
Anxiety and Depression, Cognition, Insulin Sensitivity, Mitochondrial Function, Neurodegenerative Conditions, Recovery from Toxins and Stressors (ie heavy metals, exercise) and tolerance to foods.
The dose of the stressor is very important. You’ll need to get mindful in assessing both the timing and quantity of your stressor. Too little may do nothing, whereas too much may hurt you. When you reach this threshold (and not go over it), you are in the range to feel benefits.
Using hormesis as your panacea may take some time to feel (a couple days possibly), often it isn’t felt instantly, so you will need to keep mental or physical records to access the power and results of your chosen phenomenon or substance. In assessing your dose try on a tiny amount -you don't feel any effects then on your next session move up a little bit more.
Work this up every session until you start to feel benefits.
If you feel bad after doing it, you've gone too far and you want to go back down until you feel the benefits.
Personally I am once again exploring cold water therapy in addition to high Intensity 3RM cluster training and NRF2 Activation via my Body Fuel Organic Broccoli Sprout Powder (Sulforaphane) and my Body Fuel Focus Coffee Elixir.
As I believe it’s essential to take breaks and not do hormesis every day, I’m staying out of the ocean today to let my body full recover before my next session of hormesis.
Remember, until further notice, celebrate everything!!
