Are your stress levels higher than they used to be? Do you find it a struggle to get through the day feeling sane?  Stress is a key factor for all health issues, and it may be driving you crazy. It’s easy to say you should work on your stress management, but there isn’t anything easy about it. People who suffer from issues due to chronic stress can present with many symptoms leaving you even more overwhelmed and let’s face it, completely stressed. The problem we face is whether we are suffering from overactive adrenals and high cortisol (our stress hormone) or underactive adrenals and low cortisol. 

If your cortisol levels are not balanced then chances are your other ones like insulin, cholesterol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone and all the other unpopular but important functioning hormones are not either. The adrenals, where cortisol and adrenaline are made have a lot of power and can steal from others to compensate, making it a very complex process. You can’t just focus on one hormone either, that’s why they need to be in harmony. 

Since we can’t just shut off stress in our lives and deal with it that way, the only way is to support our bodies and our stress response by giving it the key nutrients and antioxidants we can only get from whole foods. As well as self-love, a positive outlook on life, healthy stress-busting techniques, rest and restoration and play or fun to combat those stressors. That way you will recover properly after running from the bear, a deadline, an argument, a loss, the news, a favourite intense exercise, or physical injury. Your nervous system can’t determine what kind of stress it is and uses the same process to deal with it. Some of those stressors are physical, mental, emotional, digestive or environmental, so supporting your body to be ready to handle it and recover properly after is the best natural and holistic approach.