Cellular and Metabolic Health

Here’s How to Create Long-Term Comfort from Short-Term Discomfort

Practical use of hormetic stress for neurogenesis, mitogenesis, autophagy, and mitophagy with six lifestyle habits

This article introduces the mechanism, value, and benefits of hormetic stress for health and longevity. In addition, I present six practical ways to initiate cell re-generation and healing systems through hormetic stress.

Careful use of hormetic stress can contribute to cellular, mitochondrial, metabolic, immune, endocrine, neurological, and mental health.

Comfort creates a paradoxical situation.

Most of us desire a comfortable life. However, constant comfort is against our nature. Our body craves to be comfortable as a default, but it needs discomfort to grow and maintain homeostasis. Therefore, this creates a paradoxical situation for us.

Long-term comfort requires short-term discomfort. Biological systems cannot survive and thrive without a certain amount of pressure and stress. This principle applies to the human body too.

Excessive, prolonged, and uncontrollable stress can be harmful to the body. Chronic stress can affect us at a genetic level. However, intentional, mild, and well-controlled pressure is essential for the growth and maintenance requirements of the body.

The body has several mechanisms activated through physical pressure and mental stress we apply. I’d like to explain these mechanisms as scientific concepts briefly in simple terms so that my points in subsequent sections make sense.

A Brief Introduction to Neurogenesis, Mitogenesis, Autophagy, and Mitophagy

Neurogenesis and mitogenesis refer to the re-creation of cells. The first is for the brain cells (neurons), and the second is for other cells in general.

These biological processes are vital for our survival and long-term health. Hormetic stress can activate these processes and related pathways.

I introduced neurogenesis in an article titled. Here’s How I Activated Neurogenesis and Transformed My Depressive Mind into a Joyful One.

I also touched on mitogenesis in an article titled Why Mitochondrial Uncoupling Is Important for Longevity and How We Can Achieve It via 6 Lifestyle Choices.

Autophagy and mitophagy refer to clearing toxins and pathogens from the cells. As I have written articles about these topics before, I don’t repeat the details. Interested readers might check the following two articles.

The first one is titled Here Is What Happened When I Experimentally Initiated Autophagy Decades Ago. The second is Here’s How I Initiate Mitophagy and Make My Mitochondria Denser in 7 Steps.

What I Mean by Hormesis and Hormetic Stress

Hormetic stress refers to generating biological activities such as initiating healing systems or re-generating cells through minor stressors from various sources that I will explain in the subsequent sections.

Hormesis refers to the adaptative response of the body to stress to survive.

There is significant evidence in the literature about the benefits of hormetic stress on health and longevity. Moreover, the literature on this subject is growing rapidly.

For example, this paper states that: “The beneficial effects of mild stress on aging and longevity have been studied for many years. In experimental animals, mild dietary stress without malnutrition delays most age-related physiological changes and extends maximum and average lifespan.”

The strength of hormesis comes from its evolutionary basis. We evolved through hormetic stress. Our bodies create various mechanisms to deal with hormetic stress at the cellular, genetic and hormonal levels.

In subsequent sections, I briefly introduce why low doses of six uncomfortable habits can improve our health and how we can practice them comfortably.

1 — Fasting and Caloric Restriction

Calorie restriction has been intensely researched in various disciplines of science. Preliminary findings indicate that caloric restriction in animals can extend their lifespans.

For example, this paper informs that:

“Animal studies have demonstrated that dietary restrictions (DR) can prevent or lessen the severity of cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease, autoimmune disease, allergy, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. The effects of DR are considered to result from hormetic mechanisms.”

Millions of people use caloric restrictions to lose weight (especially visceral fat), make the body more insulin sensitive, and reduce the harmful effects of metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Caloric restriction is used as an intervention approach by qualified healthcare professionals for treating and preventing some metabolic diseases.

However, we can’t restrict calories all the time. The body needs adequate calories to maintain homeostasis. Nevertheless, occasional caloric restriction especially using time-restricted eating, can create hormetic stress and bring health benefits.

For example, when the body senses calorie deficiency, it activates the autophagy system to consume microorganisms in the cells to create energy. I explained this and provided three steps to initiate autophagy. One of them is relatively longer intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating.

For me, fasting has been the most beneficial hormetic stress for many years. Therefore, I made it a lifestyle habit, as I documented in a story titled Here’s What Happened on One-Meal-a-Day After 15 Years.

2 — Regular yet Short-Burst Workouts

Regular movement is essential for the body to function and perform. However, workouts also induce oxidative stress. Various exercises have different effects on the body.

For example, long exercises such as hours of cardio create more stress. Short and intense exercising (e.g., HIIT) creates instant stress, but it disappears quickly due to hormonal effects such as a spike in growth hormone.

While long cardio sessions might cause muscle loss, HIIT workouts contribute to muscle building. This is evident from the observations of long-distance runners versus sprinters.

I shared my experience about this matter in an article titled Here’s Why I Love Running, Yet I Practice It Differently for Health and Fitness Reasons.

3 — Cold and Heat Exposure

From my experience, cold and heat exposure can provide effective hormetic stress for the body. Since the body regulates temperature very tightly, slight variations can cause the body to react.

The body reacts to cold and heat differently. Cold and heat produce different biochemical reactions. Thermogenesis also has different genetic effects. It means that different genes are turned on or off based on temperature.

Cold and heat exposure can significantly affect our hormones and neurotransmitters. Therefore, when they are correctly used, they can contribute to the healing process for several disorders.

For example, saunas might improve cardiovascular health. Cold showers can lower brain fog and depressive thoughts and enhance mood.

4 — Hormetic Stress from Food and Supplements

Some toxic materials in a shallow dose from food are believed to create hormetic stress. This is observed in plant molecules which are toxic in large amounts but beneficial in meager amounts.

Some practitioners use supplements such as resveratrol, flavonoids, polyphenols, polyamines, and curcumin to create hormetic effects in the body. They seem to work for some people.

Hormetic stress from food and supplements concerns me as any molecule we ingest in our body might cause highly complex interactions and reactions. We don’t know much about the impact and implications of those processes yet.

Therefore, I am careful about not ingesting so-called hormetic stressors. Since plant molecules caused me autoimmune issues in my younger years, I stopped taking them.

However, some people do it well and share their subjective experiences. So it can be an option for some of us.

5 — Meditation and Other Mindfulness Practices

Meditation is usually seen as a relaxation method for the brain. However, in reality, meditation is a mild stressor for the brain. Therefore, some anxious people cannot meditate as they feel too agitated due to amplified stress in the neocortex.

Since I had an overreactive and anxious mind, my stress levels reached a chronic level in my younger years. I needed to find practical solutions. The most suitable solution was mindfulness practices. Living in the moment with acceptance and positive curiosity, I reduce my anxiety, fear, and stress.

I firmly believe that hormetic stress via mindfulness practices such as meditation, yoga, visualization, and self-talk can enhance brain chemistry and hence improve neurological and mental health.

I meditate three times a day in 20-minute sessions. It allows me to balance my hormones and neurotransmitters effortlessly. I also practice other mindfulness methods such as self-talk, therapeutic writing, listening to music, dancing, working in a flow state, and performing yoga and pilates to reduce my anxiety and stress.

My focus is on cognitive flexibility and emotional regulation to gain a better mental and emotional profile for health and well-being. I will touch on emotional regulation in the next section.

6 — Emotional Regulation

Feeling unpleasant emotions can be painful and does not give us immediate pleasure. However, like physical activities, experiencing emotional pain can bring joy later.

Rather than numbing and suppressing our unpleasant emotions, we must express them timely. Unexpressed emotions accumulate and create chronic stress for the body and mind.

Our attempt to feel unpleasant emotions might have a hormetic effect. For example, our stress levels can temporarily increase when we experience unpleasant emotions. However, resolved emotions can bring us joy and happiness after a while.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Hormetic stress can contribute to the manifestation of neurogenesis, mitogenesis, autophagy, and mitophagy. These biological reactions might improve our healthspan and lifespan.

Therefore, hormetic stress attracted the attention of scientists and practitioners. This type of stress can be induced by lifestyle choices and medication which I excluded in this article.

From my reviews and observations, creating hormetic stress for healthy adults via lifestyle habits seems to be a viable option to improve health and longevity. Biohackers and fitness enthusiasts deliberately use hormetic stress to improve their physical and mental capabilities.

However, hormetic stress might be risky for those with underlying health conditions. Some disorders cannot tolerate this type of stress and might get worse. Therefore, introducing any hormetic stress requires support and supervision from qualified healthcare professionals.

Hormetic stress can be created by physical, biological, mental, and environmental activities. Each person might have a different threshold for these types of stress. Therefore, we need to customize our hormetic stress practice based on our needs, body types, goals, and lifestyle choices.

Fasting, exercise, cold/heat exposure, and meditation can be used to create hormetic stress and might improve hormonal and neurotransmitter balance. In addition, fasting, exercise, thermogenesis, and meditation can change brain chemistry positively.

One of the well-documented benefits of some stressors is creating brain-derived neurotrophic factors, which I explained in an article titled Here’s How to Increase BDNF with Five Lifestyle Habits.

I also believe that ketosis is hormetic stress in the body. Creating hormetic stress is one of the reasons why Fast, Move, and Meditate Daily for Decades.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers

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