Stress Makes People Sick

Stress reduces serotonin in the brain and causes the mind-body system to not communicate well. Another way to say this is that over time, as we experience major and minor stressful events in our life, our serotonin level is reduced each time.  When the level goes below a threshold, our brain starts to imagine things that are not really happening. This triggers the fight or flight syndrome that causes our body to use a lot of adrenaline, suppress our immune system, move cortisol (a steroid) into the digestive system and prepare our muscles for action. When in fact in our modern society we can neither fight nor run from our work or home situations.  As a result, we experience symptoms as if we were sick due to some unknown illness or disease that our mind imagines we have.

Low serotonin is a medical condition that is only diagnosed when there is no other explanation for the symptoms a patient is experiencing.  Serotonin in the brain can not be measured directly and the indirect testing is expensive.  A typical patient will tell the doctor they feel like they are having a heart attack when tests show the person is in perfect condition. From experience, the doctor knows this means the person is having an anxiety attack.

The quickest way to increase serotonin is to use an SSRI drug like escitalopram. There are other SSRI drugs. There are non-drug therapy options such as Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Using Mindfulness, the practice of bringing the mind back to the present moment and focusing on the inhale and exhale of breathing, we can learn to listen to our body’s real experiences. Practicing body scan and meditation are methods to train the mind-body system.  Various meditation practices include: sitting, yoga, walking, swimming, counting, chanting a mantra and other techniques.

The primary purpose of the drugs and non-drug therapy is to switch off the fight or flight syndrome while focusing the mind and body on the present moment. Instead of letting the mind wander and imagine things that send signals to the body to react, meditation is a way to calm the mind and relax the body. SSRI drugs do the same thing by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain.