Stress and Unhappy Hormones
We are all familiar with stress — it’s a constant element in your busy life. But what we aren’t so familiar with is how your body responds to stress,
A situation you may face today goes far beyond the kind of stress faced as we evolved .Today’s stress can and will deplete your energy and health. When faced with a stressful situation, your body will rely on the adrenal glands sitting atop our kidneys to monitor your “fight or flight” response. Stress is a huge underlying factor for hormonal imbalances for one simple reason.
The Hormone Response
The adrenals can NOT make cortisol without progesterone. So the more cortisol the adrenals have to make in order to keep us up and at it…the less progesterone will be available for the many functions that are needed by progesterone. This starts that imbalance.
Why does stress upset my hormonal imbalance? Cortisol and adrenaline, as well as, insulin are primary hormones. The body can NOT survive without them. Which is why the body will do all it can to make adequate levels of each hormone.
Estrogens, progesterone and testosterone are secondary hormones. We can survive with little or none of these hormones. We might not be the happiest person, but we won’t die without them. We need Progesterone!
High cortisol production occurs with stress of any kind. Trauma, inflammation or inflammatory diseases, emotional and even chemical stress, can induce high levels of cortisol and this leads to significant reduction of progesterone, resulting in estrogen dominance.
The cortico-steroid hormones are made from progesterone. Therefore, stress forces progesterone to be used in the body in a different way, taking the hormone down another steroid pathway thus depriving the body of its usual supply of progesterone and cascading benefits.
Stress from all sources ( trauma, inflammation,emotional, and chemical) will induce elevated cortisol levels.which in turn will reduce progesterone,and in turn create estrogen dominance.
Higher Levels Of PMT, worsening symptoms of Peri Menopause and Menopause.
A situation you may face today goes far beyond the kind of stress faced as we evolved .Today’s stress can and will deplete your energy and health. When faced with a stressful situation, your body will rely on the adrenal glands sitting atop our kidneys to monitor your “fight or flight” response. Stress is a huge underlying factor for hormonal imbalances for one simple reason.
The Hormone Response
The adrenals can NOT make cortisol without progesterone. So the more cortisol the adrenals have to make in order to keep us up and at it…the less progesterone will be available for the many functions that are needed by progesterone. This starts that imbalance.
Why does stress upset my hormonal imbalance? Cortisol and adrenaline, as well as, insulin are primary hormones. The body can NOT survive without them. Which is why the body will do all it can to make adequate levels of each hormone.
Estrogens, progesterone and testosterone are secondary hormones. We can survive with little or none of these hormones. We might not be the happiest person, but we won’t die without them. We need Progesterone!
High cortisol production occurs with stress of any kind. Trauma, inflammation or inflammatory diseases, emotional and even chemical stress, can induce high levels of cortisol and this leads to significant reduction of progesterone, resulting in estrogen dominance.
The cortico-steroid hormones are made from progesterone. Therefore, stress forces progesterone to be used in the body in a different way, taking the hormone down another steroid pathway thus depriving the body of its usual supply of progesterone and cascading benefits.
Stress from all sources ( trauma, inflammation,emotional, and chemical) will induce elevated cortisol levels.which in turn will reduce progesterone,and in turn create estrogen dominance.
Higher Levels Of PMT, worsening symptoms of Peri Menopause and Menopause.
On Your Body
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On Your Behavior
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On Your Mood
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Common effects of stress (Source: American Psychological Association's "Stress in America" )