Chronic emotional stress is only a part of what can disrupt our HPA axis. Even if people don't feel stressed, biochemical stressors could still be causing stress hormone imbalances.
What kind of hormone imbalance is caused by stress?
Stress can lead to changes in the serum level of many hormones including glucocorticoids, catecholamines, growth hormone and prolactin. Some of these changes are necessary for the fight or flight response to protect oneself.
Excess cortisol alone can contribute to high blood pressure, mood changes, low libido, weight gain, and irregular periods. But a prolonged stress response can also interfere with other hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, further exacerbating these problems and adding others.
Stress hormones include, but are not limited to: Cortisol, the main human stress hormone. Catecholamines such as adrenaline and norepinephrine. Vasopressin.
What Causes Hormonal Imbalance? An imbalance in hormones can be caused by unusually high stress, insufficient sleep, an unhealthy diet, diabetes, menopause, pregnancy, thyroid problems, and other conditions.
A cortisol test measures the level of cortisol in your body. Cortisol, known as the stress hormone, is important to several bodily functions. Cortisol testing requires a sample of blood, urine, saliva or a combination, and the test often is repeated.
Imbalances in hormone levels leads to loss of focus, motivation and even constant mood swings. Hormonal anxiety could be extremely exhausting. In women it is essential to get your progesterone and oestrogen levels balanced and in men balanced levels of testosterone is crucial.
What happens to your body when your stress hormones are high?
Cortisol raises blood sugar by releasing stored glucose, while insulin lowers blood sugar. Having chronically high cortisol levels can lead to persistent high blood sugar (hyperglycemia). This can cause Type 2 diabetes.
Being anxious will cause the body to compensate with corresponding hormones. The more stress related anxiety you have, the more the body wants to even things out with hormones.
Some of the physical signs that your stress levels are too high include: Pain or tension in your head, chest, stomach, or muscles. Your muscles tend to tense up when you're stressed, and over time this can cause headaches, migraines, or musculoskeletal problems. Digestive problems.
B vitamins are key players when it comes to fighting stress, especially vitamins B5 and B6. B5 (aka pantothenic acid, aka the “anti-stress vitamin”) helps regulate your production of the stress hormone cortisol when you're under chronic stress.
How Long Does It Take to Balance Hormones? As you can imagine, this varies. However, research shows that by taking a holistic, well-rounded approach, you can balance your hormones in less than four months. In fact, you can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides in your body, in one week.
For most hormones, having too much or too little of them causes symptoms and issues with your health. While many of these imbalances require treatment, some can be temporary and may go away on their own.
