We all have stress. Be it at work, home, finances, etc. We have all had the gut visceral reaction to a stressful situation. Knot in the belly, sweat, maybe slightly dizzy. But more often stress is a bit milder: tight shoulders, sugar cravings, poor sleep. These are all signs of hormones being released from the adrenal system.
Of the dozens of hormones produced by the adrenal glands, the one many of us know, at least from the symptoms, is cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol’s function is to control blood sugar and manage the immune response, and those two functions coalesce to control body fat. But stress isn’t just emotional. The nervous system interprets stress as anything physical, chemical or emotional that the body must react to. Sitting at your desk at work, mouse in hand, for eight hours is a physical stress. Eating a donut and a 16-ounce coffee is a chemical stress. These events, as minor as they may sound, cause dramatic reactions and changes in the body that over time may not be sustainable.
All of our stresses add up to cause breakdown in the body. The adrenal glands control many other functions other than those of cortisol, including blood pressure, sleep, cravings, reproductive hormones (estrogen and testosterone), youth hormones (DHEA), cholesterol levels, among others. All these hormones are actually interconvertible between each other. For example, if your cortisol system is overtaxed it will start to steal hormones and hormone precursors from the other adrenal functions as mentioned above, now causing systemic issues of high blood pressure, insomnia, sugar cravings, poor libido and infertility, aging, high cholesterol levels, and many more.
While we may not be able to rid our lives of stress, we can repair and nourish the systems responsible for managing stress.
The Creating Wellness Center of Commack is located at 66 Commack Rd., Commack. For additional information or to schedule an appointment, call Dr. David L. Pollack at 631-462-0801
