A Reflection on Stress, Stillness, and Supporting the Way We’re Designed to Heal
The more I learn about health and longevity, the more I realize:
Our bodies are doing incredible work behind the scenes every single day.
They take constant hits — physical, emotional, environmental — and somehow keep showing up for us.
But here’s the hard truth most of us ignore for too long (I sure did):
Daily life is already stressful enough. We can’t afford to pile more on.
The Modern World Is Tough on the Body
“Allostatic load” is just the scientific way of describing the wear and tear that builds up when stress hits us faster than our body can recover.
And we’re dealing with way more stress today than our grandparents ever did:
- Poor sleep
- Constant technology
- EMFs
- Ultra-processed food
- Too much sugar
- Not enough real movement
- Mental overload
- Environmental toxins
- Noise
- Emotional stress
- Even just trying to “keep up”
One of the panelists, explained that our DNA simply hasn’t caught up.
Our genetics change slowly… but our world is changing fast.
So our bodies are running at full speed trying to adapt to things they were never designed to handle.
But the conversation didn’t leave me discouraged — it actually left me amazed.
Because the big takeaway from that panel discussion was this:
The human body is constantly trying to bring you back into balance — every minute of every day.
It’s always adjusting, repairing, signaling, communicating, cleaning, building, and protecting.
It’s doing everything it can to keep you alive and functioning well…
as long as we give it the support it needs.
And that brings me back to daily habits.
We Need to Start Caring for Ourselves Like It Matters
- We need movement — all kinds of movement. Walking, strength training, stretching, mobility, even getting on the floor and getting back up. If you can’t get down on the floor and stand back up, life gets hard really fast.
- We need stillness — moments where the mind quiets down and the nervous system can ease off the gas.
- We need good sleep — the kind where the body can truly repair.
- We need better food — real food, grown in soil, not manufactured in factories.
- We need real connection — healthy communication in relationships, and honestly, communication within ourselves.
- And I personally believe we even need things like handwriting and reading good books — slowing down enough to think, reflect, and process instead of living by the next notification.
These aren’t luxuries.
They’re the foundation of long-term health.
And when we don’t give our body these basics? The wear and tear shows up sooner than we expect.
Not all stress is bad.
Your body actually needs certain kinds of stress to stay strong.
The problem is when stress becomes constant and unrelenting.
CHRONIC STRESS (Harmful)
Constant stress that never shuts off. Examples:
- Poor sleep
- Emotional strain
- Technology overload
- Processed food
- Environmental toxins
- Unresolved inflammation
- Sedentary lifestyle
Effects:
- Elevated inflammation
- Exhausted redox signaling
- Hormone disruption
- Mitochondrial fatigue
- Faster aging
- Higher allostatic load
This is the “wear and tear” stress that slowly breaks the body down.
BENEFICIAL STRESS (Hormesis)
Short, intentional stressors that make the body stronger:
- Walking or hiking
- Strength training
- Mobility work
- Cold exposure
- Fasting
- Sunlight
- Sauna
- Learning new skills
- Handwriting, reading, mental challenge
Effects:
- Better mitochondrial function
- Improved repair pathways
- Stronger redox signaling
- Lower inflammation over time
- Enhanced resilience
Hormesis challenges the body just enough to activate healing.
The key difference:
Chronic stress drains the system.
Beneficial stress activates it.
Supporting the Body’s Communication System
Redox signaling molecules act like messengers. They help your cells say:
- “Fix this.”
- “Clean that up.”
- “Inflammation is getting high — lower it.”
- “Turn on the repair pathways.”
- “We need to adapt.”
But modern stress drains our supply of these molecules faster than our mitochondria can make them.
That’s one reason my own health collapsed after ignoring that tooth infection for eight years — my body simply ran out of its ability to keep up.
Discovering ASEA Redox in 2012 was a huge turning point for me. I’ve said this many times, but it felt like someone turned the lights back on in my system. I love having it in my wellness toolbox, not because it replaces the basics, but because it supports the way God designed the body to repair itself.
The new study discussed in the panel showed something I found truly remarkable:
Over 120 days, healthy individuals taking ASEA experienced an 80% reduction in a key marker of systemic inflammation (IL-1β).
That number is enormous.
And these weren’t sick people — they were healthy going in.
It’s just another reminder of how much stress the average person carries without realizing it… and how willing the body is to respond when you give it some help.
A new independent study (Aspen Labs, 2025) looked at how ASEA Redox affects systemic inflammation and the body’s overall “allostatic load.”
Participants:
Healthy adults with no known chronic conditions.
Amount taken:
4 oz twice per day (8 oz/day total).
Major Findings (over 120 days):
- IL-1β (a key inflammatory marker): ↓ 86.8%
A massive reduction — extremely rare in human studies. - IL-6 (another major inflammation marker): ↓ 10%
- Glutathione (the body’s master antioxidant):↑ 11% at 60 days
Then naturally down-regulated once inflammation dropped — a normal, healthy response that can’t happen with glutathione supplements. - Most improvements happened between days 60–120
Meaning people need at least 90–120 days to understand the full impact.
What this means:
Even healthy people are carrying hidden stress loads.
Supporting redox signaling helps the body get back to balance — from the inside out.
Your Body Wants to Heal
The body will always choose healing if you give it the chance.
Even after long-term stress.
Even after poor habits.
Even after ignoring symptoms for too long.
Even after life gets messy.
The human body is built to recover, rebuild, and bounce back.
So take the walk.
Do the mobility work.
Eat food your great-grandparents would recognize.
Sleep like your life depends on it.
Read something meaningful.
Write by hand sometimes.
Talk to the people you love.
Find stillness.
Give your body the raw materials it needs.
And don’t forget the inside communication system.
That’s where I’m grateful for tools like ASEA Redox — something that helps support the body’s natural signaling so it can do what it’s always trying to do:
Bring you back into balance.
We only get one body.
And honestly, it’s doing an incredible job.
The least we can do is give it the support, space, and respect it deserves.
