#9 The Father of Stress

Throughout most of modern medical history, specific illness or symptoms were assumed to have specific causes. If your throat hurt, it was an infection or injury to the throat. But Hans Selye (1907 - 1982), who was nominated for the Nobel Prize 17 times, made important scientific research that gave new insights into the non-specific responses of an organism to stress (or “stressors”). Using experiments with laboratory rats, he discovered that placing an organism under general stress causes general illness, with broad symptoms not derived from any specific cause. In fact, Selye was the first to use the word “stress” in a medical context. He defined it as, “...something that, in addition to being itself, was also the cause of itself and the result of itself.” So Selye saw stress-related illness as a loop: the more stressed we are, the sicker we get, and the sicker we get the more stressed we are.

This led to the development of a model for the nexus of stress and illness: the General Adaptation Syndrome. Psychological, physiological, environmental stressors trigger the autonomic nervous system to shift the body into crisis mode through the release of adreneline. This causes profound metabolic changes that must be counterbalanced by rest and recovery. But when stress becomes chronic, the autonomous nervous system’s feedback and response loops become stuck. The results can lead to general loss of thriving, chronic illnesses, and severe metabolic disorder.

Breaking this stress cycle requires gaining greater control over the mind-brain connection, the brain-body connection, and the operations of the ANS. This means changing those feedback loops, providing positive feedback through technology. This is what Dr. Royer has spent his career doing, what he has helped thousands achieve, and what he created Inner Armor to do, so that everyone, from professional athletes to ordinary people, can perform at their potential.

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