Did you know that the stress you feel in your life can have a direct influence on your sex hormones?
Often I meet people who feel that they should be able only to treat sex hormones and proceed with getting back to balance in their lives. This type of treatment doesn’t account for the many ways our body systems work together and influence each other. It is particularly true of the adrenals and their influence on the sex hormones.
Stress is our perception of what is happening to us. This is obvious when we observe that the same incident can be stressful for one person and not for another. It has to do with our life experience, our upbringing, our lifestyle practices, our physical state, and other factors.
When the stress response is activated a whole cascade of hormones is triggered, often causing anxiety, overwhelm, fatigue, carb cravings, insomnia, depressed immune responses. We can engage in practices that help us manage the stress better like eating low carb, getting regular exercise, creating space in our schedules and don’t over commit, doing meditation and body practices, deep breathing and a host of mind/body techniques that can relieve the stress.
If we continue to be stressed and don’t get breaks from it, the adrenal glands get worn down and become unable to continue their natural production of cortisol, our stress management hormone, which is essential for life. As production goes down, they start stealing various sex hormones to convert easily into the precious life-sustaining cortisol.
Progesterone is first to be depleted, followed by others, causing a cascade of further imbalance in the hormonal system complicating the return to balance.
Many times when I look at adrenal test results, I find that patients are overstressed and depleted. It seems to be the normal state of most of us in this society today. Though it is not a healthy state for it drags down so many of our body systems and our overall health and well-being.
For me, taking regular breaks from the stresses of life are welcome, needed, rejuvenating, and essential to my ongoing health and well-being. The research shows us that time in nature, deep breathing, yoga, meditation, exercise, time with positive friends and family all can add to our lowering stress levels. Then not overbooking ourselves and being so proud that we have to get everything done on an overly ambitious list – those affect us too!
There are many simple things we can easily incorporate into our lives that can help us better respond to potential stressors and be less negatively affected.
This month I am offering a free talk on Spirituality and Health at the Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa that will specifically address some of these issues and solutions for them. Please come and bring a friend for a fun experiential evening July 26th at 7PM!
And, to help you reduce stress around your visits, see the new service available to bill your insurance for your reimbursement for my appointments (when eligible with your insurance plan).
Join me in taking time this month to live with more ease and give the adrenals a break!
Jane
Related:
Adrenal Saliva Testing
