Adrenal Fatigue and Stress

Causes

Stress can help you perform under pressure and it can motivate you to do your best. But when you are constantly stressed, your body and mind pay the price. Learn how to recognize the symptoms of chronic stress and adrenal fatigue and bring your nervous system back into balance.

While stress protects you and helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert, it can save your life by giving you extra strength to defend yourself or kick you into overdrive to slam on the brakes and avoid a crash.

As a result and beyond a certain point, though, stress can cause major damage to your health, mood, productivity, relationships, and quality of life.

Stress is stress

Your body does not distinguish between good stress and bad stress. But you may find yourself in chronic stress—always stressed out. Chronic stress can suppress your immune system, upset your digestive and reproductive systems, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, and speed up the aging process. All the while, it rewires your brain, leaving you vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.

Causes of stress

In a word, life causes stress. The most stressful life events range from the death of a spouse to retirement, or from marriage to divorce.

Signs and Symptoms of Stress

Adrenal fatigue can be hard to pin down, but if you have any of these symptoms, adrenal fatigue may be the cause:

Dealing with adrenal fatigue

Cortisol, a steroid hormone made in the adrenal gland, helps your body deal with stress. It helps to increase blood sugar and suppress the immune system. It also helps your body metabolize fat, protein, and carbohydrates, but it decreases bone formation.

Adrenal insufficiency or adrenal fatigue occurs when the adrenal glands produce inadequate amounts of cortisol. When the glands produce inadequate aldosterone, which regulates sodium conservation, you may have a craving for salty foods. There is little evidence, however, that chronic stress causes adrenal fatigue, or induces the adrenal gland to produce too little cortisol.

Treatment of stress

So always accompany your lifestyle changes to reduce stress with a doctor’s treatment. Dr. Nangrani will test you for adrenal insufficiency, production of cortisol, insulin tolerance. After tests, she will design a program with you to reduce the effects of stress on your life.

You are our top priority. Our North Houston office in The Woodlands, Texas, is only minutes from I-45 (Houston’s North Freeway). We offer you a free consultation for personalized information on adrenal fatigue. Come get acquainted with Dr. Nangrani, our board-certified Medical Director. She has practiced for over 15 years. Please call our office to schedule your consultation at (281) 298-5476. We look forward to seeing you soon!

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