Life is Stressful: Is Your Body Paying the Price for It?

Life is Stressful: Is Your Body Paying the Price for It? by Dr. Bahl Life is stressful. We all know this. When stressors are too severe and/or too frequent they adversely impact our health by affecting the function of our adrenal glands. The root cause of 75% of all chronic diseases is stress! What many people don’t know is that there is a reciprocal relationship between health and stress. Just as (too much) stress affects our health, our health (more specifically the health of our adrenal glands) affects our ability to respond to stress! Stress stimulates the adrenal glands to produce cortisol (which helps meet the physiological requirements of stress). As stress increases, initially the adrenal glands augment the production of cortisol (hypercortisolemia). As the adrenal glands become overtaxed the increased production cannot be maintained, and the adrenal glands become fatigued (erratic production of cortisol). Eventually, the adrenal glands become exhausted and there is insufficient production of cortisol (hypocortisolemia). The health consequences of poorly functioning adrenal glands vary in severity as well as symptoms: hormone irregularities, sleep disturbances, lack of energy, weight gain around the middle, immune suppression, anxiety, depression. • Are you overwhelmed by everyday tasks that once were a breeze? • Do you get angry over things that never used to bother you? • Are you gaining weight around the middle? • Is it difficult for you to concentrate? • Do you feel like you have no energy by the middle of the day? • Do aches and pains linger longer than they once did? If you identify with some of these statements your adrenal glands are not responding to stress optimally. Adrenal health can be evaluated by a simple saliva test. The good news is that adrenal health can be restored by natural therapies in many cases in as little as 12 weeks. Ignoring stress won’t make it go away. You can take control and begin your road to reduced stress and improved health today! Back to Medical Articles>