Stress and Cortisol Management
“I used to be able to sleep. Now I rarely sleep through the night because I wake up at 3AM and can’t fall back to sleep. My mind races but I’m so exhausted all the time. How can I get back to sleeping again?”
It's time to learn how to manage stress and balance cortisol
What is Stress?
We live very stressful lives. The rates of anxiety and depression are at an all time high. Stress comes in many forms that we may not even be aware of. Stress can be emotional stress in the form of family, work, or relationship stress. It can be from drugs and other toxins that we knowingly or unknowingly ingest. It can be from indoor and outdoor air pollution or from chemicals and plastics in our food, water, and even in our cosmetics and daily care products. It also comes in the form of foods you commonly consume. The Standard American Diet promotes inflammatory foods that are processed with added preservatives and sugar. Consuming alcohol and more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages a day can cause a rise in cortisol secretion. If you spray your yard or garden with pesticides or eat non-organic food that has pesticides grown into the food, you are breathing in or eating pesticides, which is a known stressor. In addition, not exercising is as detrimental as too much exercise, like running a marathon. Also, when we don’t get enough sleep we secrete more cortisol. These are all stressors in our lives whether we recognize them as such or not. All of these can lead to a cortisol imbalance. So how do you know if you have a cortisol imbalance?
Cortisol Imbalance
- Do you wake up in the middle of the night between 2am - 4am wired and tired? You are so tired but you aren’t able to fall back asleep for hours?
- When the alarm goes off do you push snooze a few times and then drag yourself out of bed? Do you fantasize about taking a nap?
- In the evening, do you get your second wind and this is when you feel your best?
- After dinner, do you fall asleep on the couch unable to keep your eyes open?
- Do you hit a wall in the late afternoon and reach for caffeine or sugar to get you through the rest of your day?
- Have you gained belly fat and no matter what, you just can’t lose it?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you may have an imbalance of the hormone cortisol.
Symptoms of a Cortisol Imbalance:
- Abdominal weight gain
- Insomnia
- Waking in the middle of the night, “wired and tired”
- Irritability/moodiness/decrease mood regulation
- Thinning hair/hair falling out
- Brain fog/memory loss
- Racing heart
- Sugar and/or salt cravings
- Digestive problem
- Alcohol/Drug/Food addiction
- Binge eating
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Chronic fatigue and exhaustion
- Loss of Libido
- Increased PMS/Peri/Menopause symptoms
- Lack of stamina
- Loss of motivation or initiative
- Lose of your sense of humor, ability to laugh
- Unresponsive hypothyroidism
Here are some possible long-term conditions associated with having a cortisol imbalance:
- Breast cancer
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Coronary Artery Disease
- Diabetes/Insulin Resistance
- Sleep disorder
- Impotence
- Infertility
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Depression
- Exacerbation of autoimmune diseases
Our approach to balanced cortisol
You can see how important it is to keep all of your hormones in balance. Your hormonal system works as a hormonal symphony, when one hormone is off it impacts others as well. Keeping your cortisol and stress levels in check is extremely important to your overall health and happiness.
We test your cortisol levels throughout one day with saliva, the gold standard of testing. This test gives us information about your cortisol levels throughout the day. In addition, we get information on your sleep hormone Melatonin as well as various neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are your “feel good” chemicals that regulate mood, appetite, sleep, weight, memory and so much more. We get a thorough picture of what your stress level is throughout a typical day and tailor a plan to fit your life, manage your stress, and balance your cortisol. We address the root cause of your stress, work on getting you back to sleeping the entire night, and heal your adrenal glands. When we focus on the root cause of your cortisol imbalance and take a multifocal approach to healing, we are able to truly balance your hormones leading to overall health and wellness.
General Questions
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