Can stress change your pH balance?

I often talk about the connection between body and mind, and recently a client showed me something that clearly demonstrated why the connection between your body and mind is so important. In this short video we talk about how stress can change your pH balance.

Stress is bad for your bones

Over the years, I’ve noticed again and again that emotional distress worsens metabolic acidosis. We know that emotionally charged thoughts such as worry or fear cause production of stress hormones, the best known of which is cortisol. Cortisol impacts the body in many ways, promoting a loss of minerals from the body and increasing the acid load – which is bad for your bones.

Dramatic data from my client Lynn

As with all clients, I asked Lynn to measure her first-morning urine and see how close her first-morning urine pH was to the ideal 6.5 to 7.5 pH range. After working with the Better Bones Program for several weeks, using our Alkaline for Life diet combined with our bone building supplement program, she achieved the ideal urine pH of 6.5 to 7.5 on a very regular basis. Lynn kept careful records of her diet, supplements, and emotional state while recording her urine pH level daily. She actually enjoyed seeing her chemistry move from a bone-depleting low pH level to the ideal bone-preserving 6.5 to 7.5 level.

At one point, however, Lynn noticed that her pH dropped dramatically. Looking back at her records, she realized that this drop in pH occurred after a few days of highly internalized emotional distress. Recognizing this, she modified her stress response and found healthy ways to cope — and sure enough, her first morning urine pH returned to the ideal range.

Listen to Lynn tell her story of how she discovered the link between stress and pH balance:

With any form of stress, half the battle is recognizing that the stress is there. Mindfulness — recognizing what’s challenging you and whether your response to it is helping or hindering — is an important key to ensuring that your thoughts don’t have a lasting effect on your body. Once you know the problem, taking steps to find inner peace can help you cope — and avoid harming your bones.

Reference:

Brown, Susan E. The acid alkaline food guide, 2nd ed. Square One Publishers, Garden City Park, NY, 2013