We know that stress triggers our adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and adrenaline, which are our primary stress hormones. It is the initial increase of cortisol and adrenaline that triggers our body to burn calories from carbohydrates and proteins, instead of fats. In addition, we need to understand that excess cortisol and adrenaline will also have an impact on our overall health by interfering with your thyroid, liver, digestion, blood sugar, immune system, sleep and reproductive hormones.

Thyroid Function

Let’s first talk about thyroid function, because millions of people, predominately women, suffer from a sluggish thyroid and are taking medications such as Synthroid or Levothroid, to support their thyroid and help with fatigue and weight gain.

The thyroid produces hormones, which regulate our metabolism. Our metabolism is the rate at which our body burns calories to produce energy. Since fatigue and weight gain are a growing problem, we need to look beyond the thyroid, because elevated levels of cortisol will interfere with the production of our thyroid hormones. When this happens we reduce the number of active thyroid hormones, which explains why we get fatigued and gain weight, not to mention cold hands and feet, brittle nails and hair and constipation associated with decreased thyroid function.

Unfortunately, the typical response is to take thyroid medications that increase those hormones, but don’t do anything about the real cause (cortisol), which decreases the production of our thyroid hormones, thereby interfering with normal thyroid function.

The real cause of poor thyroid function can often be attributed to stress, which overworks your adrenal glands, causing them to continually produce more cortisol. This process continues until it reaches a point where it can’t produce enough cortisol -- this is when health problems become more severe and interfere with normal metabolic function.

Liver Function

Our liver is the main detoxifying organ in our body and performs over 500 functions! One of the liver’s primary functions is to remove or package harmful fat-soluble toxins into less harmful water-soluble toxins, which can then be excreted. When liver function is interfered with, or overwhelmed, we become susceptible to fatigue, headaches, allergies, acne, PMS, menopausal symptoms and weight gain.

Elevated cortisol will interfere with normal liver function by disturbing the detoxifying process. It does this by literally unwrapping the toxins that have been packaged for elimination and throws them back into our bloodstream. Just like thyroid function – liver function is disturbed by cortisol.

The negative effects you feel from your liver not functioning properly is a result of the additional poisons that are circulating in your bloodstream. These additional toxins will cause “auto-intoxication”, meaning your body is continually self-poisoning. How can you become healthier if your body is constantly in a state of pollution? It all originates from stress and the effect cortisol has on the liver and its ability to disrupt the detoxification process?

Digestive Function

Millions of people suffer from bloating, gas, indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux and other irritable bowel problems. All of these can be linked to stress and cortisol.

The reason for this is simple… when you’re under stress, you produce more cortisol and adrenaline. Constant surges in cortisol erodes the intestinal lining of your digestive tract. It begins to irritate and inflame your intestinal lining, which can ultimately lead to ulcerations in your digestive tract. These ulcerations make it easier for undigested food particles to pass or leak across your intestinal lining, into your blood stream. When this happens, it makes your body more susceptible to food allergies and other harmful pathogens such as; yeast overgrowth, candida, and parasites. These things are commonly, associated with bloating, gas, indigestion, heartburn and irritable bowel problems.

Reproductive Function

Many women face decreased levels of progesterone, which is associated with hot flashes, bone loss, PMS, fertility, fatigue, weight gain, insomnia, decreased libido, etc. The problem is pregnenolone and progesterone are being ‘stolen’, to make cortisol. If your adrenals are always stealing your progesterone to make cortisol - you don’t make enough of the hormones your body needs, including DHEA, progesterone, estrogen and testosterone.

DHEA is called the anti-aging hormone because it is known to increase lean muscle tissue, burn stored body fat, balance blood sugar, improve memory and support immune function.

Ladies, keep in mind that as you approach menopause your ovaries stop functioning. Now, it is up to your adrenals to produce all your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA. However, if your adrenals are exhausted, how are they supposed to pick up the slack and keep up the same pace as the ovaries? It doesn’t happen… which is why so many people struggle with menopausal difficulties.

Yes, men and women both make estrogen and testosterone, the only difference is that men make more testosterone and women more estrogen. Don’t forget our libido is determined by our testosterone levels! If you’re always making cortisol, you may not be making enough testosterone, which could also explain your drop in libido…it could be stress related.

Immune/Allergy Function

It is well known that the more stress we place on ourselves, the weaker our immune system becomes. How many times have we seen someone working long hours, not getting enough sleep, eating the wrong foods, etc., and then come down with some infection (cold, flu, bacterial or viral)? The root of the problem is stress and cortisol! When cortisol is elevated, it begins to reduce the number of antibodies fighting to protect us from foreign invaders and as the number of antibodies go down our immune system becomes more susceptible.

Blood Sugar Imbalances

Cortisol affects our ability to regulate our blood sugar for two simple reasons.

1. Elevated levels of cortisol will make your cells more resistant to insulin. This means your body will have to produce more insulin to stabilize your blood sugar. This is a huge reason for the increase of reactive hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, Syndrome X and diabetes. When our cells become resistant to insulin, our pancreas now has to make more insulin…the result is all that extra insulin will disrupt normal metabolic function.

After a meal, Insulin takes the sugar (carbs) out of the bloodstream and moves it into the cells, to be used for energy. This is a good thing! The problem occurs when our body produces too much insulin as a result of eating too many carbohydrates, which causes your blood sugar levels to drop too fast. This leads to cravings, lightheadedness, headaches, mid-morning and mid-afternoon slumps, difficulty concentrating, moodiness, irritability if your meals are missed or delayed, and worst of all -- it makes you gain weight.

The reason excess insulin makes you gain weight is that it is a ‘fat storage hormone’. But remember, Insulin, like cortisol, is not a bad hormone – it simply does what it is supposed to do, but it needs to be balanced.

2. Cortisol also functions to raise our blood sugar when it is dropping. But, if our adrenals are overworked and exhausted they can reach a point in time where they can’t make enough cortisol to help stabilize our blood sugar and that’s when the cravings, lightheadedness, irritability, etc. begin.

It’s all about balance…too much, or too little cortisol is not good. Healthy adrenal function will help keep cortisol in balance.

Sleep Difficulties

Sleep is so important to our health, yet it is so often disregarded. During sleep, we release many different hormones, which repair and regenerate our body.

The two classic problems associated with sleep, both are stress-related:

1. The inability to fall asleep. This is a sign that your body is in the ‘fight or flight’ mode. Your adrenaline and cortisol levels are elevated – your body is still running in high gear! The increased amount of adrenaline, a stimulatory neurotransmitter, overrides the production of your 'inhibitory' neurotransmitters such as GABA, glycine, taurine and serotonin, which need to be produced in order to calm, relax and slow the body down...especially late in the day.

2. You fall asleep quickly, but wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep. This is a sign that your cortisol levels are probably low, due to depleted or exhausted adrenal function. The reason you awaken in the middle of the night is you don’t have enough cortisol to stabilize your blood sugar. Now your body will have to produce adrenaline, a ‘stimulatory hormones’, to raise your blood sugar which then stimulates your brain and causes you to wake up and NOT fall back asleep because your mind is now racing.

The reason sleep is so important is because that is when your body releases hormones (growth hormones, IGF-1, melatonin and testosterone) that repair and regenerate your body. Elevated levels of cortisol will interfere with the production of these hormones.

Depression, Anxiety, Mood Swing, Irritability

The constant production of cortisol and adrenaline because of stress will create imbalances with serotonin and dopamine. Two primary neurotransmitters that are manipulated by drug manufacturers to help with depression and anxiety. Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, like the popular SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are designed to manipulate serotonin and or dopamine.

These two neurotransmitters have a profound affect on our mental outlook because they effect mood and pleasure. Decreased levels of serotonin are found because of excess stress and adrenaline. Serotonin is produced in the gut and is a precurssor to the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps us sleep.

Exercise and Over-training

The more intense your workout is – the more cortisol is produced. Cortisol can interfere with the release of our growth hormones (GH), testosterone and insulin growth factor (IGF-1) which our major building blocks involved in the growth and maintenance of our musculoskeletal system. Elevated cortisol will effect your recovery and results by interfering with the release of various hormones, which can lead to over-training. Balancing cortisol levels can mean substantial improvement in your recovery time and overall results!

Decreased levels of cortisol and adrenaline are a common result when stress remains constant for weeks, and months. The inability for your body to produce adequate levels of both cortisol and adrenaline will impact your workouts and results, and are just as damaging to your workout as the over-production of these two hormones.

In Summary

Don’t assume that everyone’s cortisol is too high, and it needs to be lowered. In fact, people who have been under stress for long periods of time may not be producing enough cortisol or adrenaline. This can be worse than over-production, due to the fact that stress has been prolonged and the adrenals are depleted and exhausted.

The symptoms are similar, which is why we like to measure cortisol, DHEA adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin etc with the Adrenal Stress Profile, and Neurotransmitter Profile to determine if they are producing the right amounts. Either way, Adrenal Fuel is a two phase Stress Recovery Formula, designed to re-nourish and re-balance your adrenals and thyroid by using ‘adaptogenic herbs’ to help stabilize your hormones.

Stress, cortisol and adrenaline have a profound effect on our health, not just our ability to lose weight. It could be at the root of so many of the health complaints that are affecting our nation. If you suspect stress might be a problem and a cause to your health complaint, let me invite you to take our Stress Test.

Secondly, you need to identify what types of stress are affecting your body. Stress is more than just mental and emotional. If you want to learn more about the other types of stress, we encourage you to read “To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question”.

Dr. Len Lopez