Treat this symptom with the respect it deserves, and you’ll greatly reduce your risk of cancer. But let it run amuck, and you could be in a heap of trouble.

So proclaimed Eli Jones, a medical doctor, in a book published 105 years ago. While it’s impossible to attach one single trigger to cancer, recent studies seem to bear out what Eli Jones was saying about this one in 1911.

And don’t worry. We’ll offer some practical tips to help you control this major cause of cancer.

Continued below…

Many of us live in a crazy merry-go-round world of constant stress, with many more things to do than there are hours in the day.

Dr. Jones called that what it probably is… a deadly hazard to your health – and a leading cancer trigger. Not the only one on earth, but serious enough to be dangerous.

There are plenty of stressors to go around – finances, relationships, travel, time pressure, job pressures, chronic health problems, and, well, you name it. But there are ways around the negative health ramifications.

What can we do about all the stress? We might get a clue if we ask why some people seem to handle it so much better than others.

Not all stress is alike

Stress can be one of two types – acute or chronic.

Acute stress goes away fairly quickly. You feel your adrenaline pumping before getting on stage to give a speech. That can be a good thing because it pumps you up to do your best. Once your talk is done, you calm down.

But chronic stress – the other kind -- goes on and on. It befalls people who are in a bad situation with no end in sight – such as losing a job, dealing with a failing marriage or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s. Those situations and others like them are stressors – triggering events that are challenging or overwhelming.

Stress is how you actually respond to that stressor. No two people respond exactly alike. Those who see primarily in black and white tend to feel the effects of stress much more than people who are more flexible.

Stress builds new cancer freeways with
a higher speed limit

If you’re inclined to discount a medical opinion that’s 100 years old, you may be surprised at modern medicine’s confirmation of Dr. Jones’s position.

As recently as March of 2016 a new study came out confirming that when mice were subjected to chronic stress, their lymphatic systems went through changes that made cancer spread more quickly and easily.¹

In this study, the researchers restrained the mice to create a high stress situation equivalent to an inability to cope with life. The stressed-out mice developed more aggressive cancer than did their relaxed peers.

The researchers concluded that this was due to the stress hormone adrenaline activating the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to boost lymph formation.

Cancer cells spread from their starting point to other areas of your body via either blood vessels or your lymphatic system.

Both are affected by stress hormones. And once the (stress) cat is out of the bag, bad things can follow.

What’s more, scientists have known for a while that stress hormones can boost blood vessel formation.

Now they think it’s akin to building a new super freeway and raising the speed limit to 100 mph, letting tumor cells escape from their original site and spread to other parts of your body faster.

Stress hormone speeds cancer growth

Research at Ohio State University also suggests that stress hormones increase cancer cell growth.

The study showed that a stress hormone called norepinephrine fuels cancer cells to create two compounds. Both break down the tissue around the tumor cells and push them out into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, cancer cells easily travel to new destinations to form other tumors.

Norepinephrine can also trigger the growth of new blood vessels feeding cancer cells, helping them grow and multiply.²

Another stress hormone, epinephrine, makes cellular changes, especially in prostate and breast cancer cells, that render them resistant to apoptosis (natural cell death).

Earlier research shows that these compounds are active in ovarian cancer. Now it’s been discovered it’s also true for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a serious head and neck cancer.³

Scientists also know emotional stress drags down your immune system and contributes to heart disease and high blood pressure.

So, for the controversial question… Does stress cause cancer, or doesn’t it?

Some researchers say yes, others say not likely. Among alternative practitioners, the weight of opinion is that stress is an important cancer cause. Much of this is based on clinical observation, a fancy way of saying they deal with real-life patients and find out what’s going on in their lives. And, overwhelmingly, alternative cancer doctors say they find a high level of chronic stress is often present years before these patients are diagnosed with cancer.

An extreme branch of the stress theory, associated with Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, is called German New Medicine. His theory holds that cancer ALWAYS follows a profound emotional trauma such as the death of a close family member or a divorce.

I think Dr. Hamer goes too far. Cancer is a complicated disease. But it’s easy to see how deep emotional distress could add fuel to the fire of a poor diet, inadequate sleep, sedentary lifestyle, and other factors.

There seems to be evidence that stress profoundly affects your cellular biology. Hijacks your immune system. Makes cancer cells grow faster. Gives you worse outcomes.

Use “reframing” to dampen your
overreaction to stressors

How can you calm down a high-stress response that might otherwise knock years off your time on earth?

Reframing 101. Let’s say you lose your job. You might respond by telling yourself how worthless you are and that you’ll never be successful. But you could reframe it as a great opportunity to pursue a longtime dream you’ve never had time for.

Try to turn your threat into a challenge and look for the hidden opportunities in it.

Ask yourself what the worst outcome will be one month, year, or decade from now. Will you even remember it?

Regain control over the things you can control. Controlling everything in life is impossible. Even billionaires and presidents can’t do that.

But you CAN increase your sense of control if you (1) focus on the parts of the problem that you do have control over, (2) make a list of creative solutions, and (3) list people or resources who can help you if need be.

My stress navigation aids

Years ago I received a useful piece of advice for those times when I’m confronted with a disaster (or what feels like one): Ask yourself two questions: What’s funny about it? And what you can learn from it?

Another tip is probably a tricky one for some people, but I find it useful: Ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen. And what will your life be like if it does? If I visualize the thing I fear most, I usually realize I can deal with it, as bad as it might be. I confront it instead of cringing before that unknown thing behind the curtain.

Maybe the most useful piece of advice is a bit of ancient Chinese wisdom: "Most people wear themselves out in mistaken resistance to things that can’t be helped." If there’s no way you can affect the problem, whatever it is, why waste one minute on it?

One timely example of this might be the spiraling political, military, social and economic decline of the United States. A great many people are depressed or angry about it. It is distressing, to be sure, but it’s 99.999% beyond my control. After a point, I can’t be bothered with it.

8 stress-busters defuse a sea of chaos

Okay, so you’ve reframed it. What else can you do?

As it turns out, plenty!

1. Sleep. Get eight hours per night. Sleep deprivation destroys your ability to handle stress.
2. Regular exercise. Good news from the Mayo Clinic: If you’re “too busy” to exercise, well, it’s time to re-frame this too. Exercise is a great stress-buster. It pumps up your endorphins, your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters. It helps you shed daily tensions and gives energy and optimism, helping you remain calm. It boosts self-confidence and relaxes you.Tip: Find something you love to do. It’ll be more fun, lift your spirits, and ensure compliance. One other thing about compliance: Write it on your calendar as part of your schedule.
3. Prayer, meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, and Qi Gong. There’s abundant evidence that all of these relieve stress and enhance feelings of wellbeing.
4. Regular walks. Any walking is good. But take it up a notch by getting into the woods. Research from Japan shows that walking in the woods may also help fight cancer. Plants emit a chemical called phytoncides, which protect them from insects and rotting. When people breathe the chemical, it bumps up their NK cell level and lowers pulse and blood pressure.⁴
5. Time outs from electronic devices. Screens have become ubiquitous in our lives. Turn them off for an hour or two each day. They make you even more stressed and hyperactive. You don’t have to check your email or Facebook every five minutes.
6. Laughter and fun. The book of Proverbs in the Bible speaks about a cheerful heart being good medicine. Kids seem much more resilient to stress than adults… probably because they see humor in everything – the silliness in cartoons and all sorts of everyday stuff. There are anecdotes of people on their deathbeds who decided to cure themselves with funny stories and movies. How’d that work? Most likely by reducing stress.
7. Aromatherapy. Certain essential oils are known for calming effects.
8. Social life. From the American Psychological Association: Living a socially active life is linked to higher-than-average late-life satisfaction, and slower decline from health issues. This effect was independent of other variables such as gender, education, age at death, and other key health indicators.⁵ If you are socially isolated, make an effort to join something – a church, a book club, a bowling league – whatever it takes to reconnect.
9. Eat right. Last but not least, eat a diet of nutritious whole organic foods. Otherwise you’ll stress your body from the inside out by not giving it the fuel it needs to run well.

In short, don’t drown in a sea of stress when you have so many tools that can rescue you from it.

Of course, some people’s favorite stress-reducer is smoking marijuana. Rather surprisingly, it may help them beat cancer. BUT if you prefer, you can reap the benefit without the mind-altering effects. We covered all this in the last issue, reprinted below if you missed it.

Marijuana is a Legitimate Cancer Treatment
But is It a Good Idea?

In the late 1980s, scientists made an important discovery about how brain chemistry works.

They discovered a whole network of neural receptors that are directly responsible for controlling most of the body’s major functions, from glucose metabolism to immune function.

This discovery ushered in the 1990s as the "decade of the brain…"

What they didn’t know at the time is that this specific neural system is more like a battle sergeant, rallying your body’s cells and natural processes to shut down invading cancer cells…

Fighting cancer naturally…from within…

Rather than poisoning the whole body, as is the case with conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Now it’s been discovered that, when combined with extracts from marijuana, the well-known recreational drug, this neural “highway” provides a powerful way to defeat cancer.

Continued below…

The use of marijuana -- Cannabis sativa -- as a cancer therapy is gaining acceptance, but remains controversial – for good reason, in my opinion.

But there’s an ever-growing body of research that shows this ancient plant can’t be written off as "dope." There are specific hemp compounds that are proving to be potent allies against all types of aggressive cancers—and have no mind-altering effects.

It all starts with extracting cannabinoids, plant phenolic compounds found in the cannabis plant that include tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).

THC is what gives cannabis its characteristic psychotropic or mind-altering effect.

CBD, on the other hand, is a safe, non-toxic, completely non-psychotropic compound that acts as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammation agent. It’s been shown to affect cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed, and without the unwanted mind-altering side effects of THC.

To understand how it works, you need to first know about the endocannabinoid system…the neural network I mentioned above…and how it interacts with CBD.

The ECS: why marijuana-derived treatments work

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is comprised of a group of cannabinoid receptors — the part of the neuron that accepts information sent across synapses — located in the brains and throughout the bodies of all animals except insects.

The ECS is known as the "master modulator," responsible for balancing most of your body’s major functions, including immune function, glucose metabolism, and neuronal activity.¹

The ECS is extensive and extremely important.

It’s quite literally everywhere in your body—and its integrity is critical to your quality of life…much like a fish and the water it swims in.

Researchers have identified two primary receptors in the ECS:

• Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), found mostly in the brain, hippocampus, and cerebral cortex, as well as the central nervous system.

They’re particularly concentrated in the hippocampus (controls memory), cerebral cortex (higher cognition), hypothalamus (appetite) and the amygdala (emotions).

CB1 receptors, when bound with THC, one of the compounds in marijuana, are responsible for the mind-altering effect.

• Cannabinoid receptors type 2 (CB2) are located primarily in immune system cells, the gastrointestinal tract and the peripheral nervous system.

CB2 receptors are mostly absent from the brain and CNS under normal conditions.

These receptors are only stimulated by cannabinoids, whether they’re produced in the body, organically received from ingesting or inhaling the marijuana plant or from synthetically derived cannabinoids.

Researchers have been experimenting with the most effective way to administer CBD extracts.

When CBD is isolated from the cannabis plant it can be taken orally, at high dosages and for an extended period of time without toxic side effects.

Numerous studies have found CBD to be pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative in different kinds of tumors, which means in plain English that CBD is a likely inhibitor of both cancer growth and spreading.²

Here are just a few examples…

Cannabidiol for treating colon cancer

Because the cannabinoid receptors in your body’s ECS or endocannabinoid system modulate both inflammation in the body and gastrointestinal movement, CBD has been shown to reduce inflammation in the gut and reduce colon cancer cells.

The Journal of Molecular Medicine published a study in 2012 in which researchers discovered CBD protects DNA from oxidative damage by stimulating the CB receptors and increasing endocannabinoid levels.

This in turn reduced colon cancer cell proliferation, prompting researchers to conclude that CBD is both chemopreventive as well as a possible treatment for colon cancer.³

An in vivo study published in Phytomedicine in 2014 found that a standardized Cannabis sativa extract with a high CBD content reduced tumor cell proliferation without affecting healthy cells.

By activating CB1 and CB2 receptors, the cannabidiol not only slowed the spread of colon cancer, but also reduced pre-cancerous lesions and polyps in the colon, discouraging cancer growth before it even started.⁴

Cannabidiol and breast cancer

A 2006 study in Italy surveyed five different cannabinoids for their efficacy in treating breast cancer cells.

They found that non-psychoactive CBD was by far the most potent inhibitor of cancer cell growth without harming healthy cells.⁵

This study speculated the CBD activated CB2 receptors, which then fought the cancer cells.

But a later study, published in 2011, found that CBD itself went to work directly on breast cancer cells, triggering apoptosis and autophagy (programmed cell death and waste management).⁶

And most recently, CBD has been found to work even on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a particularly aggressive subtype that has limited options for treatment, and is associated with poor prognosis and low survival rates.

This 2015 study, published in Molecular Oncology, shows that CBD significantly affects the microenvironment inside the tumor cells, inhibiting the growth and metastasis (spreading) of TNBC, as well as reducing the cancer’s ability to spread into the lungs.⁷

This is incredible and very exciting for the future of treating such stubborn cancers…

But TNBC isn’t the only aggressive cancer cannabidiol can impact.

CBD for treating brain cancers

Due to the proliferation and invasive nature of gliomas (cancer in glial cells in the brain), the prognosis for this kind of cancer is often bleak. But research into the use of CBD for treating gliomas has been encouraging.

For example, in 2007 researchers in Spain treated glioma stem-like cells, a possible origin of these cancers, with CBD.

They found that the cannabidiol activated both CB1 and CB2 receptors in the ECS, which inhibited the stem-like cells from forming full-on gliomas by actually altering the signaling expression inside the cancer cells.⁸

In further news, a study published in Oncology Reports found that CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties reduce inflammation-dependent brain tumors by activating the CB receptors that suppress the pathway to cancer-cell growth.⁹

Should you climb on board the
medical marijuana bandwagon?

Considering that the whole "medical marijuana" cause started largely as a front to get marijuana legalized, the results that have emerged are absolutely incredible. It’s exciting how just one compound from just one plant can have such an array of positive, cancer-fighting effects.

There’s no need to self-medicate by smoking pot. And there is no "high" associated with cannabidiol.

From what I can gather (see Issue #596, for example) most people who are self-treating with medical marijuana are using the whole plant including the mind-altering THC compound, and many are still smoking it the old-fashioned way, which I think is dubious from a health standpoint.

I don’t get the impression that many cancer patients are using the non-intoxicating CBD extract – the compound that appears to be the most effective for actually treating cancer.

But when it comes to cancer, the future most likely lies with CBD and not with whole cannabis. I find it hard to believe that being constantly high on a drug is a healthy alternative, even if the drug does help induce sleep, reduce nausea and increase appetite (important for cancer patients who often suffer from life-threatening loss of weight.)

There are multiple ways to get extracted cannabidiol or CBD from hemp. It’s available as an oil, a tincture, a lozenge, in chocolate bars, and even as topical lotion.

It also appears to be useful for anxiety, seizures, insomnia, and pain — though these other benefits are beyond the scope of this article.

A word of caution — as with all natural supplements and herbs. If you’re interested in taking this route, be sure to do extensive homework about the provider and dosage.

The research is clear:

There is tremendous promise in this new plant-derived treatment for cancer that may have fewer side effects than the current conventional therapy options.

Best regards,

Lee Euler,
Publisher

References Article #1:

¹  http://www.sciencealert.com/study-finds-that-chronic-stress-really-does-spread-cancer-in-the-body² Ohio State University. “Stress Hormones May Play New Role in Speeding Up Cancer Growth.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDao;u. 3 November 2006. ³ http://www.jbc.org/content/282/19/14094.abstract?HITS=10&maxtoshow=&resourcetype=HWCIT&RESULTFORMAT=&FIRSTINDEX=0&searchid=1&hits=10&fulltext=Kulik⁴ Loyola University Health System. “Boost your immune system, shake off stress by walking in the woods.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 October 2013⁵ American Psychological Association. “Active social life associated with well-being in life: Social participation, social goals even in the face of health decrements may ease well-being decline late in life, study says.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 March 2016.

References Article #2:

¹ The discovery of the endocannabinoid system.² Cannabidiol and cancer — an overview of the preclinical data.³ Chemopreventive effect of the non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol on experimental colon cancer.⁴Inhibition of colon carcinogenesis by a standardized Cannabis sativa extract with high content of cannabidiol.⁵ Antitumor activity of plant cannabinoids with emphasis on the effect of cannabidiol on human breast carcinoma.⁶ Cannabidiol induces programmed cell death in breast cancer cells by coordinating the cross-talk between apoptosis and autophagy.⁷ Modulation of the tumor microenvironment and inhibition of EGF/EGFR pathway: Novel anti-tumor mechanisms of cannabidiol in breast cancer.⁸ Cannabinoids induce glioma stem-like cell differentiation and inhibit gliomagenesis.⁹ Cannabinoids inhibit peptidoglycan-induced phosphorylation of NF-κB and cell growth in U87MG human malignant glioma cells.