Time Magazine ran a cover story last week that has raised a few eyebrows in the Health and Wellness community. John Cloud's “The Myth About Exercise: How exercise really won’t make you lose weight. It’s what you eat that counts.” has caused a bit of commotion over at The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and author and fitness instructor Joan Pagano has issued a rebuttal. And so has fellow WP blogger Nummyz in his blog today.

I'd like to add my two cents, from an Inner Game prospective.

I am not surprised when we receive questions about exercise and weight loss because we are all aware of how much research has been done connecting these with good health. Physical activity and a healthy diet are important components of a happy, healthy life.

From the inner game perspective, the critical factors are simple; exercise should be enjoyable and spontaneous. Watch children — they love to move and do things outdoors for fun. What about you and me?

Doctor Hanzelik and I have patients that push so hard that they are tired and injured from exercise, and others whose daily trips to the gym are painful attempts an idealized but unattainable body image. Training for a sport, or being obsessed with obtaining a body beautiful is not the same as enjoying the healthy exercise of your choice and at your pace. Some days I enjoy strenuous exercise, other days I want something more moderate. If I am tired; a gentle walk or stretching or a brief swim feels best.

The inner game model of learning is all about your unique process of discovering what works best for you. Experts differ and being afraid of not doing it right really blocks your learning. You can discover your own ground of certainty about what works for you by trusting your own learning. The book offers solid coaching tools to learn this approach.

Question: Can human beings adapt to chronic stress?

Sorry, here’s the bad news: nothing, absolutely nothing, in the human body or mind is capable of adapting to chronic stress.

Instead a major chemical imbalance is created that interferes with the normal functioning of every system in the body, including the immune system, digestion, reproduction, breathing, blood pressure, skin, bones and many more. This imbalance causes lots of symptoms and does not feel good. For me, I experience tightness in my neck muscles, a shakiness of the body and unclear thinking when stress has me in its grip. How does it feel for you?

Because it does not feel good, we tend to self medicate with alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, prescription and recreational drugs, food and sugar, which only make matters worse. We also tend to neglect our healthy habits like exercise and good food, which compounds our symptoms. I neglect all aspects of caring for myself when I’m stressed. I eat poorly, sleep less, exercise less, rest less and play less.

What can we do? Don’t we need a strategy for steering clear of chronic stress?

Of course, we do. And this is where the tools of The Inner Game of Stress come in. They work! Beautifully. They enable me to handle changes in my life without being chronically stressed. Writing a book while being busy in a medical practice, having a family and promoting the book can be stressful. I can feel it wanting to affect my body. But when I step back, reflect on my options and use some of the tools, I get clear and the stress begins to dissolve. Today, I felt stress creeping up on me and I chose to use trust. Instead of trying to be on top of the myriad of situations active in my life, I let go and opened up to the trust that things will work out. In fact, I got clear that I want to enjoy this process fully. I want it to be fun. And as I realized that, I started to feel better!

We are all designed with the capability to maintain our inner stability. And that is true no matter what is going on in our life. Of course, the more going on, the stronger our efforts need to be to preserve our balance.

My colleague John and I are inspired by Nelson Mandela. Almost 27 years in a South African prison and he emerges ready to be the first black man to lead his nation. Isn’t that amazing? His explanation: “For the political prisoners, determination and wisdom overcame fear and human frailty.”

Do you and I have these same qualities? I believe we do. In the Inner Game of Stress, we look at simple tools to help us access the qualities we need to maintain our calm under life’s circumstances. They work for me. They give me a definite edge over stress.

I’d love to hear how they work for you.

As a result of this hormonal activity, the heart rate and blood pressure increase. Blood rushes preferentially to the muscles. This is all in preparation for fight or flight. If there is a freeze reaction, the opposite occurs: both blood pressure and heart rate decrease.

The digestive system also gets into the act. The body understands that in a life- or- death situation there is no time to digest food. So the digestive process is turned off by reducing blood flow and decreasing digestive enzymes and saliva. The immune system contracts and becomes less active. The sexual and reproductive functions also diminish during periods of chronic stress.

The body is very smart. It knows what to do in response to a temporary crisis. But this systemic activity is supposed to be very short-lived. If the stress response continues and becomes chronic, the formerly protective activities become damaging.

Over time, with the fatiguing of the adrenals, the immune system can become overactive and lead to allergies or autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The impact on the bone worsens osteoporosis and delays growth in children. Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia are both exacerbated by stress, as are respiratory problems such as asthma. Psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, obsessive- compulsive disorder, and alcoholism are all greatly influenced by stress. Chronic stress clearly distorts the normal functioning and balance of the body systems.

A. T. Simeons, a student of the stress pioneer Hans Selye, wrote in 1961, “Fight- flight is an antiquated mechanism that has not kept evolutionary pace with the development of the human mind.” Of course, the stress system has its place. If you are engaged, freely in a challenging activity, such as skiing down a slope or giving a public talk, your stress system will activate and help gear you up for the challenge. Your vision and thinking will become clearer. Your body will be prepared for the coming demand. Or if you are in a genuinely life- threatening situation, such as a fire in your home, the stress system will quickly mobilize your resources to save your life. These are situations in which stress is good, but they are a very small percentage of the stressors we encounter. As soon as stress becomes chronic and persistent, the biochemical imbalance created interferes with health, performance, and mental clarity.

According to Phil W. Gold, M.D., the former chief of psychoneuro- endocrinology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the stress system is hardwired to feeling. Threat, frustration of needs, and pain provoke this system. We may ignore bad feelings because we do not see a way out of the stress, or because we have been taught to “suck it up.” We may have rationalizations for why we should ignore the discomfort. Unfortunately, as long as we feel bad and the stress system is up- regulated, we will experience physical, mental, emotional, and social consequences.

Harry Harlow, a psychologist in the United States, did an experiment which confirmed Rene Spitz’s observations. He raised monkeys with either real mothers or cloth mothers. The cloth mothers were designed to be exactly the size of monkeys. They had wire bodies with cloth covering them, and bottles where the breasts would be so that the infant monkeys could be fed as they were from their mother. The monkeys “raised” by cloth mothers couldn’t socialize, and they exhibited many behavioral problems. The monkeys raised by real mothers socialized normally. Recently, at the National Institutes of Health, a study was conducted with Rhesus monkeys showing that anxious mothers produced anxious children who did not integrate well into the monkey tribe. In order to discover whether this was caused by genetics or nurturing, the researchers removed some of the young monkeys and gave them to mothers who were not anxious. They grew up to be non anxious adults. Animal rights activists have protested these studies, asserting that the findings were obvious. Norman Cousins described in Anatomy of an Illness the great potential of another inner resource, humor. Faced with a life threatening illness, he watched hilarious movies, laughing raucously throughout the day. Remarkably, with this and other natural treatments, he recovered from the illness and was asked to be an Adjunct Professor of Medical Humanities at UCLA Medical School to teach about his experience.

When you think about the different nervous systems, it makes a lot of sense that when children grow up with a great deal of stress— particularly with abusive violence, anger, emotional distance, or neglect—the more primitive parts of their brains will dominate their responses. When children grow up in loving, laughing, and nurturing environments, there is a much better chance for their nervous systems to develop in a healthier way. There are four things children need for healthy nervous systems: basic physical care and protection, to be enjoyed and appreciated, genuine love, and to be understood as unique beings. Wouldn’t there be a lot less crime, substance abuse, and mental illness if each child received these four basic needs from the adults and cultures who care for them?