"It is clear that perpetual stress and its effects on the body, mind and behavior creates a vicious cycle of perpetual stress. By destroying the neurological hardware for visionary and psychic foresight and illumination, stress neuters our potential for an inspired life and right livelihood. This brain damage produced by stress chemistry is one of the primary reasons for the poverty trap as well. In this way we are then likely to be caught in a trap of perpetual stress because we then have to survive in a servile, subsistence or flatland-conformist way...which is "stressful," thus locking us into an endless recurring feedback loop of stress, impotency and poverty."
The hormones produced while we are under stress have been linked to a host of addictions, namely alcholism, (which is a form of sugar addiction, which is an issue of blood sugar levels).
www.fi.edu/learn/brain/stress.html
The demons of yester year appear to be the chemical reactions with in our own body, the hormones we have evolved (?) to produce to help keep us alive, our glands could be seen as Gods ruling over us!
It is in our best interest IMO to learn all we can about what is going on with in our body. I personally have found in the past few years the study of my own biology most insightful into the mysteries of occultism. I have been blown away by what is going on with in me, motivating me, unfolding with in me, and my two little children!
One of the best sources I have found for information is Dr. Andrew Weil. His resource Guide to Optimal Health is a fantastic start, and an awsome source for reinforcement. I realize he is seen as a "product" by many but his teachings are extremely important.