How to Build Resilience, Optimize Healing, and Prevent Cancer with Hormetic Stress

One of the primary pillars we use in our coaching is the importance of tapping into our evolutionary systems to build resilience. Resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to maintain or restore relatively stable psychological and physical functioning even when confronted with stressful life events. The more resilient we are, the less of a negative impact stress has on our body. And when it comes to cancer, lower stress resilience has been linked to increased risk.

There are physiological systems that have evolved in our body to keep us healthy and free of disease. This is known as “hormesis”; which refers to the adaptive responses made in a body when presented with moderate challenges. Hormesis improves the functionality & tolerance we have to more intense challenges. In other words “what doesn’t kill you, does indeed make you stronger & builds resilience.”

A Personal Story of Healing

According to Dean Hall from Swimming in Miracles, this was definitely the case for him. After losing his wife of 30+ years to an inoperable brain tumor and facing a recurrence of his cancer (Leukemia & Lymphoma) only 1 year later, he fell into deep despair. In an effort to do something meaningful before he died, he decided to try and check off the English Channel Swim from his bucket list.

As he began swimming and training for this dream, slowly building his strength and endurance, he noticed some remarkable changes start to happen. He began to sleep better and was finally able to start processing the grief from losing his beloved wife. He started to regain the 61 lbs he lost from cancer. He simply started to feel better…like himself again. 

He decided to shift his goal to be the first person to complete the entire 184-mile length of the Willamette River in Oregon and in so doing raise money for a cancer charity. He started training in the pool in August of 2013. By April 2014 he moved into the cold river to train and in June 2014, after swimming 10 miles a day for 22 days, he reached his dream and became the first (& only person so far) to swim the entire length of the Willamette River.

Not only was Dean able to complete this truly remarkable feat while faced with cancer, he actually ended up curing his cancer. By the time he completed his swim his blood levels showed no more leukemia in his system…without any traditional treatments. His doctors were shocked…and so was Dean. They suspect that all that time spent in the cold river, moving his body, and cycling in and out of ketosis provided the physiological changes for his body to heal. Dean is also the first one to say that the emotional healing that happened through this process was likely another big contributor to his healing.

This adaptive evolutionary response that Dean was exposed to has been the subject of many longevity related studies. Dr David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard University, has demonstrated with his studies that high stress of short duration is needed to stimulate the cleaning and repair functions in our body, which then stimulates our anti-aging mechanisms. Whether it is exposure to cold, high intensity training, or fasting, (all of which Dean had done) short but intense stress on our cells makes them less complacent and boosts our health by getting rid of less efficient cells and investing in stronger ones.

According to Dr. Sinclair, “our genes didn’t evolve for a life of pampered comfort. A little stress to induce hormesis once in a while goes a long way.”

Stepping Into Discomfort

Many anti-aging experts agree, “the more we are willing to be in discomfort, the more resilient we become, the more alive we feel, the more connected to the planet, ourselves, and each other we learn to be”. And all of these things actually program healthier genes, cells, and ultimately bodies.

When you move through discomfort your brain gets rewired. Your dopamine (or feel-good hormone) increases. You feel more empowered and capable. This is why scientists have been looking at how discomfort can improve both our physical and mental health.

Benefits of Hormetic Stress

Here are an impressive sampling of some of the ways hormetic stress can benefit us:

• Better immune activity
• Lower blood pressure
• Less colds & upper respiratory infections
• Quicker recovery from illness
• Lower inflammation
• Higher antioxidant levels
• Better recovery from injury, strain, or physical activity
• Less anxiety & depression
• Better sleep
• Less stress & better mood

You can read more about these benefits here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 

5 Ways to Activate Discomfort

So how do we do this? You may not be ready to swim 100+ miles like Dean did in a glacier-fed river but there are ways you can start tapping into these benefits. We find resilience by learning how to dig deep and work through hard things. This means we have to actually experience hard things. Discomfort (or hormetic stress) can be experienced as a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual challenge. It’s basically anything that pushes you outside of your comfort zone. The key to it not becoming harmful or having negative consequences is based on duration & intensity.

Here are 5 ways you can activate this stress response in your body and build resilience both physically & mentally.

1. Cold Exposure: cold temperatures trigger a fight-or-flight response that initially releases stress hormones quickly followed by endorphins & oxytocin. This provides a boost in both mood & energy as well as feelings of relaxation. Cold temperatures have also been shown to activate the immune system and decrease pain. It increases antioxidants and helps to protect the body from inflammation. Here are some ways you can add cold exposure to your routine:
   1. Taking a cold shower
   2. Sitting in an ice bath
   3. Swimming in cold water
   4. Exercising in the cold
2. Heat Exposure: hot temperatures can also trigger a hormetic response. Much like cold exposure, heat exposure triggers oxidative stress and shock proteins that reverse damage from sudden changes in temperature, protect your cells, and trigger full-body repair. Heat exposure ultimately makes the proteins in your cells more resilient to stress and slows down cellular aging. Here are some ways to accomplish this:
   1. Using a sauna for at least 20 minutes (an added benefit with this is that cancer cells typically can’t survive in temperatures above 40C)
   2. Exercising in the heat
3. Fasting: Reducing the amount or frequency of meals can also trigger hormetic stress. This can be accomplished with intermittent or extended fasting; typically at lengths of 16 hours or more. Humans have evolved surviving periods of famine. When we fast we make our cells more resilient to oxidative damage, we lower inflammation, & we boost the immune system. I’ve spoken at length about the benefits of fasting and cancer.
   1. You can read more how to get started with fasting here: https://groundandroot.com/blog/fasting-to-boost-cancer-recovery/
4. Exercise: Regular, moderate-intensity exercise is another way to take advantage of the hormetic stress response, explains a paper in Aging Research Reviews. When you exercise muscle fibers get torn & inflamed but then build back denser and thicker, to prevent future damage. You also release lots of anti-inflammatory compounds during exercise. Although any type of exercise will offer some of this benefit, here are some that will accomplish it quicker:
   1. High Intensity Interval Training
   2. Rucking
   3. Hiking or Jogging on uneven terrain
   4. Training for a 5K or Half-Marathon
   5. Any workout that challenges you
5. Mental or Emotional Challenges: Mental activities that push you to the edge of your comfort zone can also be beneficial in addition to simply facing the adversities of life. Every time you endure adversity, you build your resilience to future adversity and you prove to yourself that you can get through it. Without seeking out adverse events in your life, here are some ways you can stimulate mental challenges:
   1. Learning something new (like a language or musical instrument)
   2. Crossword puzzles or other types of puzzles
   3. Strategy games like chess

Getting Started

Perhaps you are already doing some of the things I listed above. If so, great! Keep it going and challenge yourself to add something new. If this is a brand new concept for you, then start slow. 

When I first started following Dean on Instagram a couple of years ago I was immediately inspired by his story and he challenged me to start thinking about how I can step into discomfort. I was already playing around with fasting but decided to add to this by committing to walking every day outside for at least 20 minutes, no matter the weather. That’s exactly what I did for all of last year.

This then led me to discover the “Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter and the work of Wim Hof which encouraged me to elevate my game this year by adding in cold water exposure. Since the first of the year I (along with my husband and girls) have added cold showers to our daily routine. We gradually increased the time we could stay under the cold water. This then motivated us to jump into the ocean in March when we were at the beach and then a glacier fed lake in April. Since May we’ve been adding swims in our local lake and hope to continue this for as long as possible as we move into the Autumn and Winter. I am truly surprised by my increased tolerance for the cold and how energized and good I feel after being in the cold water.

The science is there. This is a very impactful tool we can use to boost our resilience and ultimately optimize our health. And when you’re trying to do everything you can to heal or prevent cancer then activating this hormetic response should definitely be part of your plan.

This is why I’ve made this pillar an important component to my coaching programs and encourage all of my clients and group coaching members to add ways they can build resilience into their day. We also do challenges as a group, like extended fasting, to help us move through a new & potentially uncomfortable experience as a community. You can learn more about my group coaching program here: https://groundandroot.com/group-coaching or we can hop on a call if you’d like to chat more about what’s going on for you.

Our modern-day comfortable lives may very well be at the root of much of the illness and disease we see in our culture. Our bodies were meant to push through discomfort and in so doing we actually become stronger and healthier. My question to you today is how can you add a bit of discomfort into your life? Maybe you can persist a few minutes longer when you want to stop something. Try ending your normal shower with a burst of cold. Get outside and take a walk no matter the weather. Say “yes” to something new & challenging. Don’t shy away from the adventure.

We are far more capable than we realize. And as Dean showed us, when we start to tap into this potential, miracles can happen.