How stress and diet impact your hormones (and what you can do about it)
You probably know that your adrenal glands produce stress hormones (including cortisol and epinephrine, also called adrenaline). These hormones help your body to respond to stress by pumping blood to muscles and reducing blood flow to internal organs. The stress that we originally evolved to escape from was a short term threat, such as a predator, so we would (hopefully) run to safety and then calm down and recover. Unfortunately, the kinds of stresses that we face these days aren’t wolves or lions, but are more likely to be traffic jams and work deadlines. These are harder to escape from, and they can be more or less continuous, so unless we make time to relax, our adrenal glands may be constantly pumping out stress hormones.
As well as responding to stress, the adrenal glands help regulate blood sugar levels. The importance of the pancreas in keeping blood sugar levels stable is well known. When blood sugar rises after a meal, the pancreas produces insulin to move glucose into cells, where it is used to generate energy. When your blood sugar levels fall, your liver and adrenal glands get involved to stabilize it. The liver converts glycogen to glucose for use by cells. However, there is only a limited supply of glycogen; if blood sugar levels still do not rise sufficiently, the adrenals perceive this as a stress and they secrete cortisol and epinephrine (yes – stress hormones!). Cortisol and epinephrine further stimulate the liver to produce more glucose, by breaking down proteins and fats.
But what causes your blood sugar too drop? When you eat a carb-heavy diet (especially refined carbs) glucose enters your bloodstream very rapidly. At this point the pancreas needs to secrete insulin to keep blood sugar at a safe level, because too much glucose in the blood is very damaging to body tissues. However, it can over compensate, producing too much insulin and causing blood sugar to drop too low. As a result, you end up with swings of blood glucose levels, from too high (hyperglycemia) to too low (hypoglycemia). This is very stressful to your body and the effort of supporting the liver to balance blood glucose is very demanding for the adrenal glands.
Last but not least, the adrenal glands produce sex hormones in both men and women. During a woman’s reproductive years, the ovaries are the major producer of female sex hormones but after menopause your ovaries’ role decreases, and your adrenals pick up the slack. This is fine as long as your adrenals aren’t overworked by other demands. If all their energy is taken up by dealing with chronic stress and working to stabilize blood sugar, there is little capacity left over for hormone production and women can start to experience hot flashes, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms.
It may sound weird, but the natural approach to reducing hot flashes is not to take hormones, but to adjust your diet to balance your blood sugar (I can show you how) and manage your stress levels (I can work with you on this too). For a free 15-minute mini-consultation to see if I can help you, call me at 650 557 2160 or email me.
As well as responding to stress, the adrenal glands help regulate blood sugar levels. The importance of the pancreas in keeping blood sugar levels stable is well known. When blood sugar rises after a meal, the pancreas produces insulin to move glucose into cells, where it is used to generate energy. When your blood sugar levels fall, your liver and adrenal glands get involved to stabilize it. The liver converts glycogen to glucose for use by cells. However, there is only a limited supply of glycogen; if blood sugar levels still do not rise sufficiently, the adrenals perceive this as a stress and they secrete cortisol and epinephrine (yes – stress hormones!). Cortisol and epinephrine further stimulate the liver to produce more glucose, by breaking down proteins and fats.
But what causes your blood sugar too drop? When you eat a carb-heavy diet (especially refined carbs) glucose enters your bloodstream very rapidly. At this point the pancreas needs to secrete insulin to keep blood sugar at a safe level, because too much glucose in the blood is very damaging to body tissues. However, it can over compensate, producing too much insulin and causing blood sugar to drop too low. As a result, you end up with swings of blood glucose levels, from too high (hyperglycemia) to too low (hypoglycemia). This is very stressful to your body and the effort of supporting the liver to balance blood glucose is very demanding for the adrenal glands.
Last but not least, the adrenal glands produce sex hormones in both men and women. During a woman’s reproductive years, the ovaries are the major producer of female sex hormones but after menopause your ovaries’ role decreases, and your adrenals pick up the slack. This is fine as long as your adrenals aren’t overworked by other demands. If all their energy is taken up by dealing with chronic stress and working to stabilize blood sugar, there is little capacity left over for hormone production and women can start to experience hot flashes, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms.
It may sound weird, but the natural approach to reducing hot flashes is not to take hormones, but to adjust your diet to balance your blood sugar (I can show you how) and manage your stress levels (I can work with you on this too). For a free 15-minute mini-consultation to see if I can help you, call me at 650 557 2160 or email me.