Have you heard of the bucket effect before? I often use it as an analogy to explain to my patients how their bodies function under stress. The bucket effect can be used to explain why something causes an illness or allergy one time, but not the next.

What is the Bucket Effect?

The main idea is that each person has a bucket. As the level of water in the bucket increases, the load that you have to carry also increases. There comes a point where there is no more room in the bucket and it will overflow!

For example. If the bucket is empty or only partially filled, there are no allergy/illness symptoms (ie the person seems to tolerate things a lot more). The more the bucket fills, the less tolerance the body has. If you allow the stress to continue, the bucket will overflow and this is when your child appears run down, unable to fight colds, and reacting to a pile of foods.

I see this concept so regularly in children who can generally tolerate dairy or other allergenic foods, until they get a virus or the pollen levels change. Suddenly with the added stress, their eczema, asthma or allergy symptoms begin to appear. I have also noticed it is during these times of stress that their nervous systems become overloaded, and it is a good time to have a chiropractic check up!

The Effect of Stress on the Body

When I refer to stress here, I’m not just referring to the stress we sometimes feel with work or relationships. I’m talking about anything that makes the body have to work to maintain it’s balance (or homeostasis).

During periods of stress our bodies release cortisol, our stress hormone. High stress hormone in small bouts is fine, and what our whole stress mechanism is designed for. It spikes during times of ‘danger’ and once you’re out of danger it drops back to baseline levels. The issues is when the nervous system is telling your stress mechanisms that there is constant danger, and stress hormone is constantly released at high levels.

Chronic high cortisol decreases the function of the immune system to fight bugs, and increases the reaction to foods and other exposures that may have been tolerable in the past. It reduces the tone of your vagus nerve, which controls digestion, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. Once vagal tone has been lowered, your digestive system starts to slow down and struggle to digest your food for you. The vagus nerve is also one of the most important ‘brakes’ of your system, telling everything to calm down. Chronic stress tells the vagus nerve to “take your foot off the break”. With less calming influence, the stress mechanisms can go ahead unchecked and it becomes a downward spiral into chronic stress and eventually burn out.

How to keep your bucket empty (aka increase your resilience to stress)

I am of the belief that to change your habits to improve stress resilience, it’s much easier to ADD things into your life rather than take away your favourite ‘vices’. So let’s start with the things you can add in before I tell you some things you might be able to remove.

Move your body - not because you have to punish it for what you’re eating, or run until you can’t breathe… just move. Go for a walk, do some gentle yoga, or a pilates class
Breathing - most people forget how important breathing is for the nervous system! Take a moment to do some deep breathing. 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out, for 5 minutes. Slow your system down.
Water - stay hydrated. Our bodies are 70% water and we need to ensure we are maintaining the hydration of our cells.
Contact the earth - bare feet in contact with the earth has a large impact on our physiology, in particular calming the stress mechanisms right down. Whether it’s on some grass, or in the bush, or at the beach, it doesn’t matter. Find your favourite place and take your shoes off.
Organic foods - eating organic where possible will reduce the amount of pesticides and herbicides you’re eating. While we can’t see this residue, the chemicals have a large impact on our cells and their ability to communicate with each other.

Ok, what can you remove to increase your stress resilience?

Exposures to mould - if you have water damage or a mouldy shower, get rid of it the mould asap. The mould releases spores that you breathe and can make you sick without even realising.
Screen time - reduce the amount of time spent on screens. Blue light and constant eye tracking in the vertical direction has a stimulatory effect on the stress part of the brain.
Household chemicals - thankfully low-tox living is becoming a movement, and there are so many natural options these days. Everything from what you wash your clothes in, your dishes in, and your body in, can easily be replaced with natural and non-toxic products. It means you’re not eating, wearing, or bathing in chemical resides (and once these different chemicals are inside your body, who knows how they will react with each other!).
Emotional stress - we all experience it. And most of us would know that sometimes it is avoidable. Set strong boundaries for yourself and stick to them.

Part of my clinical assessment involves a heart rate variability assessment, as it gives me a good baseline as to how your nervous system is truly going. And as I like to say, you can’t hide from it! The proof is in the pudding. But it’s not all bad, finding something to work on means theres something to work on, and can give you hope to reduce your current experience.

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