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Thyroid
Function
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Liver
Function
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Digestion
-
Immunity/Allergies
-
Blood Sugar
Imbalances
-
Reproductive
Function
-
Sleep
Difficulties
-
Exercise
Stress has long
been considered a major health problem.
Doctor’s are always telling us to reduce
stress. Unfortunately, most people only think
of stress as worry, fear and anxiety. They are
thinking of mental stresses, but there are many
different types of stress that are commonly
overlooked. Plus stress has a cumulative affect
on our body.
We have been
hearing a lot about cortisol and its association
with weight gain. But the impact of stress has
a far-reaching impact on our health, affecting
much more than just our ability to lose weight.
We know that
stress triggers our adrenal glands to produce
more cortisol and adrenaline, which are our
primary stress hormone. It is the initial
increase of cortisol and adrenaline that
triggers our body to burn calories from
carbohydrates and proteins, instead of fats. In
addition, we need to understand that excess
production of our stress hormones begins to
deplete and exhaust our adrenal glands, which
have a direct impact on thyroid, liver,
digestion, blood sugar, immune system, sleep and
reproductive hormones.
Thyroid Function
Let’s first talk
about thyroid function, because millions of
people, predominately women, suffer from a
sluggish thyroid and are taking medications such
as Synthroid or Levothroid, to support their
thyroid and help with fatigue and weight gain.
The
thyroid produces hormones, which regulate our
metabolism. Our metabolism is the rate at
which our body burns calories to produce
energy. During periods of rest our metabolism
is controlled by our thyroid hormones, but
during times of stress. When you are constantly
on the go from the moment you wake up to the
time you fall asleep your metabolism is being
controlled by the hormones produced by your
adrenal glands.
Since fatigue and
weight gain are a growing problem, we need to
look beyond the thyroid, because elevated levels
of cortisol will interfere with the production
of our thyroid hormones. When this happens we
reduce the number of active thyroid hormones,
which explains why we get fatigued and gain
weight, not to mention cold hands and feet,
brittle nails and hair and constipation
associated with decreased thyroid function.
Unfortunately,
the typical response is to take thyroid
medications that increase those hormones, but
don’t do anything about the real cause
(cortisol), which decreases the production of
our thyroid hormones, thereby interfering with
normal thyroid function.
The real cause of poor thyroid
function can often be attributed to stress,
which overworks your adrenal glands, causing
them to continually produce more cortisol. This
process continues until it reaches a point where
it can’t produce enough cortisol -- this is when
health problems become more severe and
interfere with normal metabolic function.
Liver Function
Our liver is the
main detoxifying organ in our body and performs
over 500 functions! One of the liver’s primary
functions is to remove or package harmful
fat-soluble toxins into less harmful
water-soluble toxins, which can then be
excreted. When liver function is interfered
with, or overwhelmed, we become susceptible to
fatigue, headaches, allergies, acne, PMS,
menopausal symptoms and weight gain.
Elevated
cortisol will interfere with normal liver
function by disturbing the detoxifying process.
It does this by literally unwrapping the toxins
that have been packaged for elimination and
throws them back into our bloodstream. Just
like thyroid function – liver function is
disturbed by cortisol.
The negative
effects you feel from your liver not functioning
properly is a result of the additional poisons
that are circulating in your bloodstream. These
additional toxins will cause
“auto-intoxication”, meaning your body is
continually self-poisoning. How can you become
healthier if your body is constantly in a state
of pollution? It all originates from stress
and the effect cortisol has on the liver and its
ability to disrupt the detoxification process?
Digestive
Function
Millions of
people suffer from bloating, gas, indigestion,
heartburn, acid reflux and other irritable bowel
problems. All of these can be linked to stress
and cortisol.
The reason for
this is simple… when you’re under stress, you
produce more cortisol. Constant surges in
cortisol erodes the intestinal lining of your
digestive tract. It begins to irritate and
inflame your intestinal lining, which can
ultimately lead to ulcerations in your digestive
tract. These ulcerations make it easier for
undigested food particles to pass or leak across
your intestinal lining, into your blood stream.
When this happens, it makes your body more
susceptible to food allergies and other harmful
pathogens such as; yeast overgrowth, candida,
and parasites. These things are commonly,
associated with bloating, gas, indigestion,
heartburn and irritable bowel problems.
The constant
surge in stress, the so called “fight or flight”
mode actually inhibits your stomach from
digesting whatever food you recently ate. Think
about it, when you are running from the
“proverbial saber tooth tiger” is your body
thinking about digesting its food? No, your
stress hormones are signaling your body to run!
It’s causing your heart to beat faster, your
blood pressure to go up – all in an attempt to
push more blood out to your muscles so you can
either run of fight.
How many people
are woofing down their foods? Eating on the run
or in the car? The fact that your digestive
system literally shuts down during this state is
one of the main reasons we have so many people
struggling with bloating, gas, indigestion,
heartburn, etc
FYI….all those
digestive problems are NOT a result of too much
acid. Remember your body doesn’t make acid when
you are on the go. It’s more of the fact that
acid is VITAL and very much needed to breakdown
protein.
Reproductive
Function
Many women face
decreased levels of progesterone, which
is associated with hot flashes, bone loss, PMS,
fertility, fatigue, weight gain, insomnia,
decreased libido, etc. The problem is
pregnenolone and progesterone are being
‘stolen’, to make cortisol. This is very
important because in order to make cortisol….the
adrenal glands need progesterone. It is one of
the raw materials needed to make cortisol. So,
if your adrenals are always stealing
pregnenolone and progesterone to make cortisol –
you may not have enough of those hormones which
are needed to make DHEA, estrogen and
testosterone.
DHEA is called
the anti-aging hormone because it is known to
increase lean muscle tissue, burn stored body
fat, balance blood sugar, improve memory and
support immune function.
Ladies, keep in
mind that as you approach menopause your ovaries
stop functioning. Now, it is up to your adrenals
to produce all your estrogen, progesterone,
testosterone and DHEA. However, if your adrenals
are exhausted, how are they supposed to pick up
the slack and keep up the same pace as the
ovaries? It doesn’t happen… which is why so many
people struggle with menopausal difficulties.
Yes, men and
women both make estrogen and testosterone, the
only difference is that men make more
testosterone and women more estrogen. Don’t
forget our libido is determined by our
testosterone levels! If you’re always making
cortisol, you may not be making enough
testosterone, which could also explain your drop
in libido…it could be stress related.
FYI...infertility
and miscarriages are closely associated with low
progesterone. Progesterone is needed for
gestation, growth of the embryo, but how can the
body support an embryo if all the progesterone
is being used to make cortisol?
Immune/Allergy
Function
It is well known
that the more stress we place on ourselves, the
weaker our immune system becomes. How many
times have we seen someone working long hours,
not getting enough sleep, eating the wrong
foods, etc., and then come down with some
infection (cold, flu, bacterial or viral)? The
root of the problem is stress.! When cortisol is
elevated, it begins to reduce the number of
antibodies fighting to protect us from foreign
invaders and as the number of antibodies go down
our immune system becomes more susceptible.
Allergies and
sinus problems are a result of a weakened immune
system. They both are a result of some type of
foreign invader entering our body, which
triggers an immune response. The adrenal glands
activate our immune response, so if the adrenals
are exhausted and depleted due to all the stress
how good of an immune response can you have?
FYI...over 50
percent of the immune system is found in the
digestive system. The constant irritation and
inflammation in your digestive system weakens
the immune system. This is a major reason we
have to address the digestive system at the
beginning of any therapy.
Blood Sugar
Imbalances
Cortisol and
adrenaline affects our ability to regulate our
blood sugar for two simple reasons.
-
Elevated
levels of cortisol will make your cells
more resistant to insulin. This means
your body will have to produce more insulin
to stabilize your blood sugar. This is a
huge reason for the increase of reactive
hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, Syndrome X
and diabetes. When our cells become
resistant to insulin, our pancreas now has
to make more insulin…the result is all that
extra insulin will cause your blood sugar to
drop faster, plus insulin triggers your body
to store fat. Not something we want to see
happen when we are trying to lose weight.
After a meal, Insulin takes the sugar
(carbs) out of the bloodstream and moves it
into the cells, to be used for energy. This
is a good thing! The problem occurs when
our body produces too much insulin as a
result of eating too many carbohydrates,
which causes your blood sugar levels to drop
too fast. This leads to cravings,
lightheadedness, headaches, mid-morning and
mid-afternoon slumps, difficulty
concentrating, moodiness, irritability if
your meals are missed or delayed, and worst
of all -- it makes you gain weight.
The reason excess insulin
makes you gain weight is that it is a ‘fat
storage hormone’.
But
remember,
Insulin,
like cortisol, is not a bad hormone – it
simply does what it is supposed to do, but
it needs to be balanced.
-
Cortisol and adrenaline also
function to raise our blood sugar when it is
dropping. But, if our adrenals are
overworked and exhausted they can reach a
point in time where they can’t make enough
cortisol or adrenaline to help stabilize our
blood sugar and that’s when the cravings,
lightheadedness, irritability, etc. begin.
It’s all about
balance…too much, or too little cortisol is not
good. Healthy adrenal function will help keep
cortisol and adrenaline in balance.
Sleep
Difficulties
Sleep is so
important to our health, yet it is so often
disregarded. Sleep us when the body releases
most of its growth hormones (GH) and
testosterone that work to repair and regenerate
the body
The two classic
problems associated with sleep, both are
stress-related:
-
The inability
to fall asleep. This is a sign that your
body is in the ‘fight or flight’ mode. Your
adrenaline and cortisol levels are elevated
– your body is still running in high gear.
Adrenaline is a brain stimulant! How can
your body fall asleep when you have all
these stimulatory brain messengers running
through the body?
-
You fall
asleep quickly, but wake up in the middle of
the night and can’t go back to sleep. This
is a sign that your cortisol levels are
probably low, due to depleted or exhausted
adrenal function. The reason you awaken in
the middle of the night is because instead
of releasing cortisol to raise your blood
sugar, which is not stimulating. The
adrenals will have to release adrenaline,
which also works as a brain stimulant. This
is why so many people say I wake up and my
mind is racing with so many thoughts. Of
course it is…you just released some
adrenaline in the middle of the night.
FYI…Sleep is so
important because that is when your body
releases hormones (growth hormones, IGF-1,
melatonin and testosterone) that repair and
regenerate your body. Elevated levels of
cortisol will interfere with the production and
release of these hormones.
Chemical
Imbalances…Depression, anxiety and mood swings
The constant
demand to produce additional cortisol and
adrenaline causes a decreased production of
another brain messenger called serotonin.
Drug companies
know that a drop in serotonin, a
neurotransmitter (brain messenger) that helps
you relax, calm down and feel pleasure is
associated with depression, anxiety, mood
swings, even PMS and cravings. This is why they
have heavily marketed antidepressant and
anti-anxiety medications, also know as Selective
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI).
The only problem
is that these drugs only manipulate how your
body deals with what little serotonin your body
is producing instead of addressing the cause.
FYI…a majority of
your serotonin is made in the intestines. If
you are struggling with digestive issues…it
could be interfering with the production of your
feel good brain messenger. Also, serotonin is
needed to make melatonin, a powerful antioxidant
that is released while we sleep. Melatonin is
needed to activate your natural killer cells
(NK), which are your best defense against
cancer.
Exercise and
Over-training
The benefits of
exercise come when we sleep and rest. The
training is when we literally tear down the
muscle. The repair process is critical if you
are trying to add lean muscle tissue to the
body.
One of the
classis problems from people struggling with too
much stress and adrenal fatigue is that they
can’t add or develop new muscle even though they
are working out diligently. This is because the
more intense the workout is – the more cortisol
and adrenaline is produced. Cortisol can
interfere with the release of our growth
hormones (GH), testosterone and insulin growth
factor (IGF-1) which our major building blocks
involved in the growth and maintenance of our
musculoskeletal system. Elevated cortisol and
adrenaline will affect your recovery and results
by interfering with the release of various
hormones. If your body is not able to repair and
you continue to exercise and tear down the
muscle. You can easily reach a point of
over-training. When that happens all muscle
growth diminish.
In Summary
Don’t assume that
everyone’s cortisol is too high, and it needs to
be lowered. In fact, people who have been under
stress for long periods of time may not be
producing enough cortisol and adrenaline. This
can be worse than over-production, due to the
fact that stress has been prolonged and the
adrenals are depleted and exhausted.
The symptoms are similar,
which is why often times we like to measure
cortisol and
DHEA to
determine if they are producing the right
amounts. Either way,
Adrenal Fuel is a
two phase Stress Recovery Formula, designed to
re-nourish and re-balance your adrenals and
thyroid by using ‘adaptogenic herbs’ to help
stabilize your hormones.
Stress does have a
profound effect on our health, not just our
ability to lose weight. It could be at the root
of so many of the health complaints that are
affecting our nation. If you suspect stress
might be a problem and a cause to your health
complaint, let me invite you to take our
Stress Test.
Secondly, you need to
identify what types of stress are affecting your
body. Stress is more than just mental and
emotional. If you want to learn more about the
other types of stress, we encourage you to read
“To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question”.
Dr.
Len Lopez began his career with a goal to treat patients with natural
methods. He holds a number of certifications, including Certified
Clinical Nutritionist (C.C.N.), Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician
(C.C.S.P.), Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (C.S.C.S.),
with additional training in Applied Kinesiology and Homeopathy. Dr.
Lopez has appeared on numerous TV and radio programs and is the author
of the book To Burn or Not to Burn - Fat is the Question. His approach
to healing is very simple - treat the cause, not the symptom!
