My Answer to Breast Cancer: Stress and Breast Cancer Connection

Hello, Hello? Hello, Facebook. It is Monday night. It is seven o'. Clock. And what does that mean? It means it's time for my answer to breast cancer. This is Dr. Jen Simmons with Real Health MD and throughout the month of October we were talking about prevention. And October is almost over, so I'm just going to put my last minute plug in for what prevention isn't. And it's mammograms. They are not prevention. Mammograms are early detection, but not prevention. But that's not what we're talking about tonight because tonight we are talking about the stress breast cancer connection. So I think that this is something we just simply do not talk about enough. And so I want to get into it tonight. I actually, I want to get into it. I want to talk about how stress is related to breast cancer. But, but I also want to hear from you because when I announced that that was tonight's agenda, there were lots of people who responded to me that they didn't understand that connection. So I want to make sure that we get into it, that everyone understands the stress breast cancer connection. And it's not just breast cancer. Stress has a lot to do with every chronic disease. But because it's my answer to breast cancer, we're talking about breast cancer. So I first want to talk about what stress is. So stress is something that you perceive, you interpret and it is a fundamental part of our survival. So we are designed to be able to be highly, highly functioning under stressful situations. And those stressful situations can be famine. So we were designed to be able to function as well in our non fed state as we are in our fed state. But that stress could also be a saber tooth tiger waiting for you on the other side of the cave. So we need our stress mechanisms to be able to survive. And those stress mechanisms serve you really, really well when you are in certain situations that require the things that happen as we turn on that stress cascade. So you need extra energy and you secrete hormones that, that bring glucose into your bloodstream so that you have that extra energy. So they bring sugar into your bloodstream so you have that extra energy. So, so, you know, if you're. I always like the imagery of. For those of you that remember the Incredible Hulk and I am definitely dating myself right now, but for those of you that remember the Incredible Hulk, you know, he was so mad that he couldn't pick up the car and turn it over. There are times when we need extraordinary strength and that's what our stress response is for. It's also for things like healing a broken leg, healing anything. Actually, we need our stress response in order to heal ourselves. However, what we don't need our stress response for is every time we get an email, when our boss is yelling at us, when we have deadlines, when we're stuck in traffic, when we're having an argument with someone, that we don't need that stress response. And yet, because these situations are eliciting a reaction in us, we're getting that stress response. And what that is translating into is instead of your blood sugar being up for that time period where you need to run away from the saber toothed tiger, instead you're sitting at your desk all day and that stress response is going off and off and off. You're having elevated blood sugar and yet you're not doing anything to burn it off. And so over time, this chronic stress, these little tiny mini stressors that we're getting all day long, they build up and they take their toll. So what happens when we have glucose that's elevated over time? We get diabetes. And when we have glucose that's elevated over time, we have organisms that feed on glucose that actually thrive, like fungus, like things that wouldn't otherwise flourish are flourishing because our glucose is raised. So, and stress actually changes your chemistry. So it goes from a normal chemistry which has its own ph balance and its own PH range, and it changes that. And so what happens when you live in a new environment? You adapt, right? And so what are your breast cells doing when they're put in this new environment, this chronically stressed environment? They adapt. Guess what that adaptation is? It's cancer cells. So we don't think that stress, little bits of stress over time are meaningful. We don't realize the power that they have. But ultimately that's what's happening. It's causing blood sugar imbalance, it's causing blood pressure imbalance, it's causing a lack of sleep because you have way too many of these stress hormones circulating and you're not sleeping at night and your blood sugar is disrupted, so you're not sleeping at night. And all of this takes its toll, changes your chemistry, changes the chemistry of your body. And your breast cells are forced to adapt to this new environment and their adaptation is cancer. So what can we do, right? We can give it different meaning. So yes, if you are in a car accident, if you break your leg, if you have some kind of injury, you need all of that stress response to heal. But what you don't need is that stress response coming each time you get an email or a text or, or a phone call, or you're having an interaction with a friend or family member or co worker that is constantly eating at you. So it's really about taking stock in your life and figuring out, you know, taking a long look and figuring out where those stressors coming in for you, what are your triggers? What is making your switch flip and remove things as you can remove them, right? So if you have a relationship that's not serving you, if you have a relationship that is changing and you can tell, I mean, those things are fairly obvious, they eat at you. When you dread that phone call, when you dread that email, when you dread that text, if you can get rid of that relationship, you really ought to get rid of that relationship. And if you can't for the things that you cannot get rid of, what you can do is change their meaning. And there are lots of ways to do that. You can change their meaning, you can change their impact. And one of the greatest ways to change the impact is to learn to do breath work. Because when your switch is about to flip or even if it has and your heart is racing and you're breathing quickly and you're doing all of those things that change us over into stress chemistry, you can override that in that moment and halt it, stop it in its tracks. So there are a number of different breathing methods. I happen to like the 4, 7, 8 breathing method. Some people talk about box breathing where they draw in for four, they hold for four, they breathe out for four, and they hold for four. So there are lots of different, there are lots of different ways to do it. Again, I happen to like the 4, 7, 8 method. This is a method where you, you start by blowing out all of your air. You breathe in for four, you hold for seven, you breathe out for eight, and you do that four times in a row. But it doesn't matter which technique you have, just get one of those techniques in your toolbox. It's so important for you to be in control of how you feel and for you to be in control of what meaning you give to what and what interpretation that has in your body. Because you can control so much more than you think. So much more than you think. So I would be remiss if I had any conversation about prevention that didn't talk about stress management. Because again, it's not the stress, it's the meaning that you're giving to it. So people who meditate and meditate on a regular basis, and for those of you who have never heard me Talk about meditation. Maybe we'll do that next week. But meditation is done not for the purposes of clearing your mind. It's a ridiculous notion to think that you can clear your mind. Your mind will think. It will always think. But meditation is not being about. You know, you don't practice meditation to get better at meditation. You practice meditation to get better at life. You practice meditation so that as those thoughts come in, you can either stay with them or you can say thank you for sharing and get rid of them. Because it's the inability to get rid of those negative thoughts that translates into that stress chemistry in your body. And again, over time, that stress chemistry builds and builds and builds and has long term effects. And that's what we want to avoid. And even if you're already there and you've had the most stressful year, two years, five years, whatever that is, you can still turn anything around. Anything. You can turn anything around. It is not over until it's over. So I'll just look through the comments to see if anyone has a question. I'm happy to talk about it. Oh, hi, Emily. You heard me on the Making the Breast of it podcast. I love the breasties. I'll be on again soon. And yeah, it's just always a great conversation to be had. So I hope that this resonated with all of you. I hope that you now understand the connection between how stress actually changes the chemistry in your body and that once that chemistry changes, your cells are living in a different environment. Cancer is merely an adaptation to that new environment. So we weren't meant to have cancer, but we also were not meant to live in constant stress. So we were meant to either run away from the tiger or get eaten by the tiger. And there was kind of no in between. We didn't spend our whole lives fearing the tiger. We either escaped it or we didn't. So think about what those tigers are. Think about what's lurking behind the bend for you, and think about the meaning that you're giving to it. And what can you do to change that chemistry of stress to chemistry of joy? Because at the end of the day, this is all about creating a joyful existence. And my work, everyone's work, should be about how do I create the most joyful life? Because that's the chemistry of health and that's what we all want and need. Hi, Carolyn. Oh, thank you for sharing. Carolyn says that she can 100% say that stress was a factor in her breast cancer diagnosis. And Carolyn, you are not unique in saying that stress is a tremendous factor for everyone. For everyone. And we are not. We don't come out knowing how to deal with the stressors of today. Remember that we are living in modern times on a very, very ancient gene set. Our genes have not changed significantly since the beginning of time. So we need to. Learned to adapt to this period of time and we need to learn to manage the stressors of this time differently. Because the stressors of now are very, very different. I mean, especially right now as we talk about the virus and what impact that has had on you personally, on your family, on your community, on your. On the world. I mean, everyone has suffered through this. Everyone. And there's no one that has. That has gotten out of this unharmed. But again, what are you making of it? What meaning are you giving to it? How are you. How are you interpreting this for you? Because again, that. That is what it is. Stress is not real. I mean, I hate to say that, but stress is not real. It is only as powerful as the meaning that you give to it. Now, there are terrible times, and I agree there are terrible times. But, you know, I will use my husband as an example. He is just so amazing. He just takes everything in stride. He has a huge deal fall through and he says, well, would have been nice and, you know, maybe we'll have another one tomorrow. And he. He manages his stress so beautifully. Most people can't do that, and I shouldn't say they can't do that, but they don't learn to do that. They don't make that a priority. And they don't make it a priority until they are confronted with a disease, Right? Until they. Until they are in a situation where they have to make it a priority because now they have a diagnosis. So I think I'll end by saying that the best prevention that you can, that you can possibly do both to prevent primary disease, but then to prevent a recurrence, the very best prevention you can do is you can figure out how to create the chemistry of joy, how to manage your stress in such a way that it does not affect your chemistry. And in creating the chemistry of joy, you will create the chemistry of health. And at the end of the day, that's what we all want. That's what we all need. So if you're just tuning in, I'm done. But this is Dr. Jen Simmons with Real Health MD. I will be back next week, same place, same time. Shout out to me at Dr. Jenn Simmons at Facebook, Dr. Jenn Simmons on Instagram. You can email me@infooealhealthmd.com stop by my website, say hello in any way and I just posted a link for someone. If you if you need more, if you need some direction, if you need to know where to go next, schedule a discovery call with me and I'll help you the best I can. Have a great night everyone. Thanks for watching.