3 Lesser-Known Stimulants that May Be Harming Your Health

Many people who are tired and depressed become dependent on stimulants for energy. Common stimulants include coffee, chocolate, sugar, tea and other caffeinated drinks.

Stimulants are harmful because they do not nourish the body and they tend to cover up energy problems. Therefore, renourishing your body and reducing stimulant use is an important step in taking control of your health.

While most people are familiar with the above mentioned stimulants, there are several lesser-known stimulants that may be harming your health. These are discussed below.

1. Exercise

Aerobics and other strenuous exercise is a powerful adrenal stimulant. It provides a temporary high that can become addictive, especially for those who are tired and depressed. If you don’t feel well when you skip a day or two of exercise, you are likely addicted to the stimulation that strenuous exercise provides.

The Liver King, for example, appears to be addicted to exercise. In a leaked email, he revealed that he quite literally “can’t stop” exercising. Without his crazy, twice-a-day workouts, he would likely feel depressed and exhausted. So, he keeps pushing himself, using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and whatever he can to keep up his exercise routine.

Exercise can be dangerous if your health is poor. While gentle exercise is beneficial for everyone, strenuous exercise always depletes the body. For example, exercise uses up magnesium, glutathione, and dozens of other nutrients. If your body is already exhausted and depleted, strenuous exercise will worsen your nutritional status.

2. Anger

Chronic anger is also a common stimulant that fuels millions of people. Many people rely on anger for energy and consciously or subconsciously seek activities that arouse anger. For example, many people listen to the news, talk radio, or seek out different forms of media that arouse anger and offers this type of stimulation.

Anger can be positive if it leads to productive action. However, most people don’t take action and instead choose to brew in their anger, which makes them feel alive. In this case, anger is a harmful stimulant that depletes the body. It is a dangerous way to obtain energy.

3. Cold Exposure

When your body becomes chilled, it releases adrenaline and other powerful catecholamines as part of the stress response. The release of hormones is experienced as an increase in energy and alertness, which can last for an extended period of time.

The most extreme form of cold exposure is cold plunging or cryotherapy, which is promoted as being beneficial for health and performance. In reality, it is an extreme stress on the body that is harmful, especially for those with a slow metabolism or other health issues. Cold does not nourish the body and works only as a stimulant.

For these reasons, anyone with health issues should strictly avoid any form of cryotherapy. Also, always dress warmly to reduce stress from cold exposure.

Far too many people dress inappropriately in cold weather. Many young women, for example, do not wear coats in cold weather for fashion reasons or because they want to show off their bodies. Parents need to make sure that teenagers are dressed appropriately for the weather before leaving the house, especially during seasonal changes and in areas where the temperature can drop substantially at night.

Even if you are traveling in a heated car and going to a heated location, you should always be prepared for an emergency and dress appropriately. Also, keep gloves, a hat, a coat and and extra set of warm clothes in your car as part of your emergency kit.

Summary and Recommendations

It’s important to understand that dependency on stimulants is due to a lack of energy and that using stimulants will only worsen the situation. Restoring your energy is mainly a nutritional process and can be done easily with a complete nutritional balancing program, although it can take six months to several years in some cases.

1. Exercise. Do gentle exercise only, such as walking, until you restore your energy.
2. Anger. Become aware of things that you may be using for anger. Turn off the radio, news, and any websites that encourage anger.
3. Cold. Always keep your body warm and dress appropriately in cold weather.