The concept of the Paper Tiger
Adrenal and Thyroid Resilience (Pharma Nord Seminar February 2026)
The Human Body is a marvellously self-regulating creation. In 1939 the term “Homeostasis” was coined. Nowadays we understand that our bodies will always try and return to a state of balance and “ease” rather than be in a state of “dis-ease”.
Back in the day…. When we were occasionally chased by a Sabre Tooth Tiger our bodies natural defences kicked in to save us. Pump blood to the legs, activate the Psoas to run and focus the eyesight on how to get back to the cave sharpish. In the evening after our day outside in the fresh air and sunlight, doing some form of manual work we would congregate around a fire (natural infra-red light therapy) with community and eat local fresh food, drink fresh water and maybe a local brew and talk ,listen and belly laugh – all to down-regulate and prepare ourselves for sleep. We would go to bed when it was dark and get up with the light, so our natural circadian rhythms worked beautifully.
Fast forward and now we have created “Paper Tigers” to replace those actually chasing us. These may seem entirely valid: the 50 emails, social media messages, shopping list, housework, financial or family issues etc and then in addition to that we also create “Imaginary Paper Tigers” things that are not even present in our lives, but we have created them as a future stressful event!!
Our brains can’t really tell the difference, so we are in a constant state of high alert, diverting blood supply from our digestion, our brain power, putting the heart under pressure, breathing short, quick, shallow breaths and feeling “stressed” with high levels of Cortisol and Adrenaline pumping all the time from our Adrenals.
Our bodies were not designed to withstand prolonged stress (our system is like an elastic band it expands to cope with stress but then needs to contract back to recover) and that’s one of the reasons our Immune Systems and our Thyroid and Adrenals fail to function optimally. Then, of course, you have our after-work pastimes of watching the news (!), eating fast food, overdoing the alcohol and staring at a blue light screen which our bodies take as still being daylight. As far removed as possible from what we need to be doing to take us into our natural Parasympathetic state of Rest, Digest, Rejuvenate and Rebalance
If we can eat a good, fresh balanced diet and keep the levels of specific nutrients we need to maintain Homeostasis, exercise and get out in nature daily, then at least we have given our bodies a fighting chance when we are surrounded by “Paper Tigers”.
If not, then the results are not great, and we end up in negative Allostasis load where there is too much adaptation to stress.
Key aspects of Allostasis include:
- Predictive Regulation: The brain predicts future needs (energy, stress, immunity) based on past experiences and context, preparing the body before events occur.
- “Stability Through Change”: Instead of keeping variables like blood pressure at a single, rigid, static level, allostasis adjusts them to meet the demands of the current task (e.g., sleeping vs. running)
- Allostatic Load: The cumulative, long-term cost of chronic stress and constant adaptation, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and neural changes.
Key Drivers: The brain orchestrates this process via the autonomic nervous system, cortisol, cytokines, and metabolic hormones.
Cortisol affects the Thyroid, it causes Calcium to be released from our bones to help clot our blood (Tiger bite), it causes Sodium retention affecting blood pressure and kidney filtration and on and on eventually leading to Chronic Inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome.
Allostasis vs. Homeostasis:
While homeostasis aims to maintain a stable internal state, allostasis manages the costs of changing that state to cope with a changing environment.
It’s all about how we respond to stress.
I have used the analogy before of the Car Boot Sale. I took the kids when they were little to sell some of their “Tat” as I saw it and people were clamouring to get into the back of my car as they thought some of it was treasure.
One person’s stress is another person’s motivation!
Do we or our kids have the resilience they need to be able to self-regulate?
Whilst teaching our 16th year of a Wellbeing Event recently to a group of 17-year-olds, I was shocked to discover they still really seem to know very little about how their bodies function and how to self-regulate in times of stress…..the question is WHY? What ARE we teaching them??
I feel they need to understand how their Nervous system works and how to find ways to down regulate from their stress filled paper tiger centric worlds.
How does your brain perceive stress and how do you self-regulate?
What can you do to give your body a chance to work optimally so it has a little “wiggle room” when something stressful comes along?
Here are some suggestions:
- Slow your breath down to 5 breaths per minute (12 sec breath cycle) proven to tap into the power of your Parasympathetic nervous system – heart rate slows, blood pressure lowers, digestion improves etc
- Eat healthy unprocessed fresh food most of the time (organic where you can) check you have no food intolerances
- Drink plenty of filtered water with a few grains of Himalayan salt to remineralise
- Moderate your alcohol consumption
- Get out in nature, get out in the sun, breathe fresh air.
- Belly laugh with friends; find someone you can really talk to.
- Find exercise you enjoy doing – move your body every day in every way you can and especially turn it upside down!!
- Detox from technology when you can and have no blue light an hour before bed.
- Get outside or look out the open window first thing in the morning rather than instantly at a screen (Circadian rhythms)
- Remember to be the” Sound Police” as what you listen to reverberates through every cell in our body.
- Don’t watch the news!!!
- Don’t create imaginary Paper Tigers!
If you want any advice on how to cope with stress, please do not hesitate to contact me for a chat via email or WhatsApp.
enquiries@carolebaker.co.uk 07770766744
