Allostasis: Managing the Physiology of Stress

Quick Recap: Allostasis maintains stability through change. Allostatic load is the cumulative stress – physical, cognitive, and emotional – we encounter daily.

Stress Nuances: Acute stress is fleeting and manageable. Conversely, chronic stress lingers, piling on the allostatic load, which undermines both physical and mental performance. Whatever the type of stress, the longer it, the more quickly we exhaust ourselves.

Energy Economics: A higher allostatic load depletes our “energy battery”. The higher the load, the more energy we use. By reducing our load, we increase our capacity to perform.

Okay, top notes done. Let’s look at the legs of this thing.

The HPA Axis and Internal Fluctuations

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is our primary stress response system which involves the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland. Chronic activation leads to excessive cortisol, which is beneficial in small doses but detrimental over time.

Persistent high cortisol facilitates gluconeogenesis - the synthesis of glucose (used to power our cells) from non-carbohydrate substances like amino acids, lactate and glycerol.

This reduces muscle endurance and increases protein breakdown due to our body operating from a catabolic (use) state rather than an anabolic (growth) state, leaving us feeling exhausted more quickly.

High allostatic load changes the fuel your body uses to power itself.

Suppressed Recovery and Capacity

When our load is high, we ask too much of ourselves without enough to do it properly. Anabolic processes like muscle repair become suppressed. This continuous strain impairs our body’s efficiency in replenishing energy and mending tissue.

In turn, this slows down the recovery process, diminishes our resilience and accelerates the onset of fatigue.

Allostatic principles are incredibly symbiotic. You can’t gain in one area without taking from another.

A direct citation from a review of 168 studies states that “the majority of the literature finds that the experience of stress impairs efforts to be physically active.”

Simply put: High allostatic load leads to lower performance.

Autonomic Balance and HRV

Chronic stress affects the balance of our autonomic nervous system as we become sympathetic (fight or flight) dominant. This leads to elevated heart rate, higher blood pressure and increased energy expenditure. These are natural defence responses, but when they remain activated when we don’t require them, our ability to rest & recover (parasympathetic state) is diminished.

The overreliance on the sympathetic side of our nervous system reduces HRV – a key indicator of allostatic load – which consequently reduces performance and endurance.

There should be a marked difference between our heart rate during rest and recovery. The higher our allostatic load, the less variation there is between the two. The more similar they are, the faster we burn out.

The Cognitive and Inflammatory Cost

As allostatic load takes more precedence in the scientific literature, reviews have begun to emerge that underpin the notion that compounded stress diminishes your mental capacity too.

One study from just two months ago (Evans et al., 2024) and a review of 18 studies (D’Amico et al., 2020) looked at thousands of individuals to conclude that allostatic load directly impacts cognitive ability, with the latter straightforwardly claiming higher allostatic load has an “associat[ion] with poorer cognitive function.”

The correlation between allostatic load and performance entrenches the fact that physical, psychological and environmental stress all diminish our capacity, which although somewhat obvious to point out can reduce motivation and resilience and make you want to throw the towel in sooner than you would otherwise.

High allostatic load generates inflammation in the body, and for good reason.

Inflammation is actually a protective response to deal with problems the body thinks it needs to fix. But as you may have guessed by now. too much of anything is usually a bad thing.

Chronic stress maintains this internal response of inflammation which incessantly activates our immune system and increases oxidative stress on the body, in turn, reducing stamina and endurance.

Oxidative stress is the imbalance between free radicals (unstable molecules produced during metabolic processes) and antioxidants. We increase our antioxidant activity by diet and exercise – and we increase our oxidative stress through poor nutrition and chronic stress.

Inflammation is intrinsically linked to allostatic load. It also impacts our central nervous system, consequently promoting fatigue and reduced performance.

Oscillation: The Strategy for Recovery

The key lifestyle shift required to enhance your performance can be reduced to one idea: oscillation.

Exertion increases load, recovery reduces it.

Spend too much time focused on either side of this coin, and we’re unlikely to get the results we want.

In order to enhance our capacity and performance, we must regularly switch between exertion and recovery.

Recovery is part of the work. That’s the only way to view it if performance is the aim.

Pour from the cup. Refill it. Repeat.

System Redress & Regulation

There are two forms of redress with regard to managing your allostatic load:

Remove stressors
Increase recovery

But we know that’s not always possible.

We need to activate the parasympathetic system to counterbalance our sympathetic nervous system. Active rest does this: being in nature, walking, breathwork, cold/heat exposure, massage, yoga and stretching are some of the main ones.

That’s one side. The others are of course sleep [1/2], hydration and nutrition. The nutrients we consume enhance our body’s ability to adapt to the wear and tear of life.

ZAAG shots contain 29 vitamins, minerals adapatogens and amino acids that elevate your body’s adaptation response.

Magnesium impacts the HPA axis, N-acetyl-carnitine enhances muscle repair.
Creatine, resveratrol and phosphatidylserine have been demonstrated to benefit cognitive ability.
Amla Berry (Vit C) helps to produce energy and Vit B12 boosts energy levels.
Co-Enzyme Q10 “improves energy and augments the immune system.” Astragalus has been shown to increase white blood cell production, enhancing immune function. Snow fungus similarly is known to improve our immune response.

We could go on. Suffice to say, there’s a reason ZAAG users experience greater energy, focus and performance.

Recognising the Rising Temperature

Modern life encourages a creeping rise of allostatic load.

I’ll leave you with the boiling frog metaphor (whether factually correct or otherwise).

Chuck a frog into boiling water and it’ll hop out due to the pain.

Place it in cold water and ratchet up the heat slowly and it won’t notice the danger.

You need to be aware when the temperature – your allostatic load – is rising. So you can adjust accordingly.