Ask almost anyone if they feel more stressed in recent times, and the answer is likely to be yes. The impact of stress, whether real or perceived, brings about many changes in your body, including hormonal shifts. Optimizing your body’s nutritional status with good self-care helps support your metabolic resiliency in a stress-filled world.

Your Response to Stress

Stress is a normal part of life. High stress states affect your body’s production of adrenal and thyroid hormones, as well as many other compounds. Even your perception of stress, when something is viewed as a threat, provokes changes your body’s stress physiology.

Stress can cause sleepless nights or difficulty waking up in the morning. You may feel jittery and anxious or grumpy and exhausted. Metabolism and memory may become sluggish and foggy. You may feel like the hormones in your body no longer function properly and that your metabolism is falling apart.

Acute Stress Ramps Up Hormone Activity

In acute stress, metabolic activity increases. Brain and endocrine relay systems, such as the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis, ramp up their activity to secrete hormones. Cortisol levels increase. Heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure increase. Blood sugar and insulin levels change in response to acute stress.

When the immediate threat or event has passed, your physiology reverts to its normal state of function.

Chronic Stress Affects Hormone Activity

Chronic stress, however, leads to constant signals bombarding the HPA and HPT axis, causing dysregulation in your brain and autonomic nervous system. These and other neuro-endocrine mechanisms shift into a state of lower function.

When HPA and/or HPT axis activity decreases, hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, T3, T4 and TSH thyroid hormones, along with BDNF, dopamine levels, and other compounds become out of balance or decline in production. Insulin and leptin resistance occurs, affecting blood sugar metabolism and weight management.

Prolonged stress and burnout essentially slow down the brain-thyroid connection or HPT axis. This puts the brakes on metabolic activity and results in lower levels of TSH, as well as lower T3 and T4 thyroid hormone levels, which may lead to weight gain around the hips and thighs.

The adrenal hormones, cortisol and DHEA, become imbalanced with chronic stress induced by brain-adrenal or HPA axis dysregulation. You may feel exhausted and out-of-sync from irregular cortisol patterns. Weight gain around the belly may occur from cortisol resistance. Issues with leptin and insulin resistance develop or may become more difficult to manage.

BDNF

Another change in physiology from stress occurs with BDNF. BDNF is a protein produced in nerve cells. It significantly contributes to nerve maintenance, repair, plasticity, survival and regulation of neurotransmitters.

Overwork or stress may make you feel scattered, anxious or depressed, poorly motivated, and have trouble remembering routine things. Years of research shows that stress decreases BDNF functionality in the limbic system and prefrontal cortex of your brain, which are crucial for memory, mood, motivation, and focus.

Perception of Stress

Your perception of stress also affects your health. A recent study evaluated the impact of actual stress and perceived stress impact on the health of 30,000 adults for 8 years. It revealed that “high amounts of actual or perceived stress impacts health are each associated with poor health and mental health. Individuals who perceived that stress affects their health, and reported a large amount of stress had an increased risk of premature death”.

Stress can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, or related to toxins, nutrient imbalances, or medication side effects. The goal is to address stress and help your body naturally rebalance and restore resiliency. Taking hormones when it is not medically necessary does not address the stress equation.

Nutrition and HPA-HPT Stress Tolerance

During times of high or chronic stress, your neuro-immuno-endocrine nutritional demands increase. Omega-3 DHA/EPA, B vitamins, magnesium, and antioxidants are critical to aid stress management.

Herbal adaptogens, such as holy basil, rhodiola rosea, eleutherococcus or Siberian ginseng, and cordyceps, provide powerful stress management support. These herbs have been used for thousands of years to support stress tolerance and vitality. They help your brain and stress hormone management systems (HPA and HPT) adapt to stress, especially during chronic stress and burnout. Ashwagandha, another adaptogenic herb, aids in stress tolerance for thyroid gland and hormone function.

More information on the HPA and use of adaptogenic herbs may be found at

Stress and Adrenals: Restoring the HPA Axis

Adaptogens, Stress, and the HPA Axis

Adaptogen Rhodiola Helps Stress Resilience, Cognitive Function, and Mood

Ashwagandha: Champion of Stress Adaptation, Thyroid, and Vitality

BDNF and Nutrition

Stress management is also important for BDNF production, which can be naturally enhanced by exercise, meal timing and intermittent fasting. Several nutrients, including green tea extract (EGCG), quercetin, eleutherococcus, omega-3 EPA/DHA, olive oil, lycopene, fisetin, turmeric, and many others, are especially helpful to increase BDNF production.

Tools for Developing Stress Resiliency

Stress happens everyday. How you perceive, respond to, and manage its effects greatly affects your health resiliency. The best stress management techniques and tools are the ones you implement. Laughter, stretching, enjoyable exercise without overexertion, prayer, meditation, journaling, crafts and hobbies, music, gardening, nature walks and forest bathing, etc. all provide valuable support for stress management. Working with a trusted therapist or psychologist can also help you manage stress events and responses.

Nutritional optimization through a healthy diet and supplementation provides fundamental support for stress and hormone physiology management. Customer favorites include Adrenal Helper, Thyroid Helper, Daily DHA or Leptinal, Stress Helper, Super B Complex, RelaxaMag and/or Brain Protector. Use enough support every day to notice consistent, stable energy, mood, and improvements in stress tolerance. The more proactive you are about stress resiliency, the easier it is to manage life’s challenges.

More resources may be found at:

Grumpy and Exhausted? Support Yoru Mitochondria, Brain, Adrenals

Top 7 Supplements for Stress Resiliency, Sleep, and Mood

GMOs, Roundup, and Sunscreen Linked with Diminished Brain Resiliency

Feed Your Busy Brain

Ten Things that Interfere with Thyroid Function

Fear & Stress Affect Your Wellbeing – More Than You May Realize

Intermittent Fasting and Meal Timing for Weight Management