Stress and sugar harms fascia functions

The food we eat, and other things we stuff into our bodies, such as alcohol, tobacco, sugar etc., also affects the feeling of ourselves and thus the fascia! Some food is more inflammatory, which also is individual how we can tolerate different things.

What we do know for sure is that the abundance of sugar (if we don’t burn it directly) has a negative effect on the fascia and makes it less elastic. High blood sugar levels damage the fascia and make it stiff.

Stress also affects the fascia in a disadvantageous way. Stress causes, among other things, high levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body and cortisol in turn extracts sugar from the sugar repositories and thus increasing blood sugar levels.

A healthy body has a healthy fascia! For the fascia to be healthy, the viscoelastic gel has to flow without restriction, in all directions and the network of collagen fibers moves freely and does not impede the flow.

Then the body is in balance, homeostasis. The flow of nutrition and waste to and from cells, lymph and blood circulation work, communication between cells, the nervous system and all tissues in the body work. An obstruction in the flow gives an increased pressure where the “fluid is stationary”, which prevents tissue communication.

The composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is relatively stable in a healthy tissue. In the event of an injury and healing process, the composition of the ECM immediately changes. Specific components of ECM interact with cells to create the condition for healing, create inflammation, allowing new cells to easily move and heal the tissue. Sometimes the healing process does not stop but the inflammation becomes prolonged, it gets chronic. Why this sometimes happens is not quite clear yet.