How many times do we hear we shouldn’t be stressed? Easier said than done. We live in a fast-paced world where everything we do seems to stress us out. Even the morning alarm puts us in a stressful state.
What does all this stress do to our bodies? Where should I start? Let’s start with the hormone cortisol. In our primitive ancestor’s time, if we were face to face with a saber tooth tiger, the adrenal glands fire adrenaline to give us a burst of energy to our muscles to run, with noradrenaline to activate the brain and body to act and cortisol to increase blood sugar for all that energy. When the threat has passed, the adrenals stop firing, and cortisol returns to normal.
Why would chronically elevated cortisol levels disrupt the endocrine system balance? When you’re constantly stressed, elevated cortisol can lead to adrenal exhaustion, which can lead to even more dysregulation, such as insulin resistance, low DHEA, low T3, depression, increased cancer risk, obesity, intestinal dysbiosis, and the list continues.
In addition to the abovementioned issues, your liver takes a huge hit. The liver is responsible for removing hormones that are in excess or no longer needed. The hormones need to be broken down and removed from the body. Elevated cortisol levels decrease the effectiveness of the liver pathways that perform the removal. The pancreas also takes a hit from high cortisol levels. The insulin receptors on the cells do not respond adequately to insulin. This significantly strains the pancreas to secrete more insulin to move glucose into the cells. And guess what…chronic high insulin levels can result in diabetes and can lead to obesity.
And what about sleep? Chronic lack of sleep has been associated with several possible health consequences. These include lowered immunity, increased infection vulnerability, decreased glucose tolerance, low morning cortisol levels, and increased carbohydrate cravings. Lack of sleep can also elevate the circulation of estrogen levels, upset hormonal balance, slow healing, and prolong the recovery period. Our physiology is delicate, and a cascade of dysfunction in any of our systems will lead to additional dysfunction. When we’re not sleeping well, so many people experience decreased alertness and concentration. Brain fog is real!
Do you find yourself waking between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.? If so, low nighttime blood sugar can also result from inadequate glycogen reserves in the liver. Cortisol causes these reserves to be broken down into glucose, which is then available to the cells. When low cortisol and low glycogen reserves coincide, blood glucose will most likely drop, disrupting sleep. This is returning to possible adrenal dysfunction; your practitioner should seek further evaluation.
When the body goes into fight-or-flight mode, adrenal function is favored over reproduction, metabolic function, and other endocrine functions. The adrenal glands can “steal” nutrients and hormonal precursors from the rest of the endocrine system, creating imbalances in other systems in the body. I admit it’s not easy to create balance within all our body’s systems, but eliminating stress is a good start.
Pat Garner is a Certified Notional Practitioner (CNP)
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