(NaturalNews) Demands at work, financial worries and concerns about the future, plus the sugary refined carbohydrate diet eaten by many can put the body into a state of chronic stress. Stress accelerates aging and can be deadly. The American Medical Association has noted that stress is the cause of more than 60 percent of all illnesses and diseases. Learn how your body reacts to stress and how to treat it in order to achieve inner balance.

Know your stress reaction type

In the same way we all react differently when it comes to food (some people gain weight easily, while others don't), so too there are different reaction types when it comes to how our bodies respond to stress.

Stress-agitated reaction. Stress-agitated reaction type people produce too much of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can increase blood pressure and damage the heart and brain. Stress-agitated reaction types typically suffer from a nervous disposition and a racing mind that won't allow them to relax or sleep. Stress-agitated reaction types may benefit from supplements and herbal products that help prevent excessive cortisol and adrenaline release during times of stress, which protect the heart, brain and cells from stress-induced damage. These supplements include vitamin C and Rhodiola Rosea and Ashwagandha herbal extracts. Melatonin is a natural hormone that may be useful for insomnia.

Stress-exhausted reaction. Stress-exhausted reaction types produce too little cortisol. After years of stress, the adrenal glands that produce cortisol may become exhausted, and cortisol levels drop. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue include tiredness, cravings for foods high in salt and fat, depression, decreased libido, light-headedness when getting up, brain fog, muscular weakness and low blood pressure. Stress-agitated reaction types need adrenal healing and adrenal-stimulating supplements and herbal products which may help to restore normal adrenal function, thereby boosting cortisol to normal levels. These products would include ginseng and licorice herbal extracts, adding good quality sea salt to the diet, vitamin C, and a specific type of vitamin B5 known as panthethine.

Stress-transition reaction. Stress-transitional reaction types benefit from herbs and vitamins that heal and protect the adrenal glands, while buffering their activity, which helps to prevent both over and under production of cortisol and adrenaline. This buffering is known as an adaptogenic effect. An adaptogen is a substance that demonstrates a non-specific enhancement of the body's ability to resist a stressor. Adaptogens such as Eleutherococcus, Rhodiola Rosea, Shizandra and Ashwagandha herbal extracts, magnesium, Reishi mushroom and the B-vitamin group promote healthy adrenal function.

Each stress reaction type can be mild, moderate, severe or extreme in severity. Seek the advice of an integrative doctor before self-medicating.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Adaptogenic_Herbs.shtml

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.natratech.com

About the author:
Fleur Hupston is a professional freelance writer. She is passionate about living as natural a life as possible and reducing damage to the environment wherever possible. She spends a lot of time researching and writing about alternate medicines and healthy, green living, and manages to find the time to home-school her two daughters.