kateandlisaWhat Is Stress Really?
Stress is a physiological – body – response to stressors. Stressors are things that set off the body response – they can be physical, mental or emotional. There is never usually just one reason for your symptoms, especially if you have been experiencing them for a long time. It is a progression over time.
Common Physical Stressors:
- Blood sugar imbalances
- Underlying infections
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Environmental toxins
- Inflammation
- Gut issues
- Stress
- Poor liver health
- Too much alcohol
- Bad sleep
Common Mental/Emotional Stressors
- Difficult life experiences
- Past trauma
- Feeling disconnected
- Overworking
- Productivity – self worth
- Lack of self love
- No boundaries
- Holding onto unhelpful patterns
Cortisol, which is our main stress hormone, governs our stress response. When the stress response is triggered the body responds with the fight, flight or flee response. What happens with this? Your breathing rate increases; your blood pressure increase; blood sugar rises so that you can oxygenate blood and energy; digestion and sex hormones take a back seat – dealing with food or bringing new life into this world has to be put on hold until the body has dealt with the stressor at hand.
This ancestral response worked really well back in the day – like if we had to run away from a tiger! Now our stress response can stay in this constant on mode, but this response was meant f or short-term protection – not a long-term response. Therefore, your body tries to keep producing more cortisol. Over time cortisol can get dysregulated (out of balance). If it progresses, we can stop producing enough cortisol and we can feel super fatigued, low energy and burnt out. Healthy cortisol is the highest in the morning and gradually decreases throughout the day. It aligns with our sleep-wake cycles or circadian rhythm.
Signs Your cortisol could be a little out of whack:
- You are waking up between 1 am and 4 am
- Feeling depleted after a workout
- Can’t focus on simple tasks
- Racing thoughts before bed
- Loss of appetite
- Need coffee to function (or it feels that way)
- Feeling wired and tired
- Food cravings
- Tired all day but can’t f all asleep at night
Here Are Some Getting Started Steps to Begin To Balance Cortisol:
- Identify your stressors – what is filling up your stress cup?
- What can you remove and where can you find support?
- What tools are in your stress toolkit?
- Understand your cortisol pattern
- Balance blood sugar
- Mindful movement – scale back high intensity exercise
So, stress is a huge contributor to hormonal issues. For help and guidance with cortisol and hormone health – reach out.
