Are your warning lights on?
Think of symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, falling or staying asleep, gaining weight or trouble losing weight, digestive or hormone or skin issues and lack of patience as warning lights on your car's dashboard.
All of these are signs that something to do with your health needs your attention. Ignore them for too long, and just like your car, it will likely cost you time and money to get you "back on the road" again.
Life is busy - I get it. I'm also not suggesting that things should be perfectly balanced every day. While one or two long work days with no breaks, crappy food choices and deadlines after deadline are not ideal, they won't cause long-term health challenges.
“You do, however, want to be aware of your habits”.
In this article, I'll walk you through some ways you could be negatively impacting your health and what you can do to prevent this. I'll start with the systems involved, or the 'why'.
Our Physiology - The fight/flight/freeze response to stress
At the first sign of danger, our body releases stress hormones (such as adrenalin and cortisol) that trigger a catabolic process - the 'breaking-down' of nutrients stored in tissues.
When you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks these down into simple sugars, storing some in your liver and muscles. In a stressful situation, your body can quickly start the catabolic process to release them into the bloodstream as fuel.
This stressor might be real (you're running for your life) or perceived (deadlines, meetings that are getting tense, running late, worrying about bills). Your brain does not discern the difference - this is KEY to understanding.
Your heart rate increases as your breathing and your digestion slow down. All non-essential processes for life hit pause as the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) takes over.
We are not 'designed' to handle sustained stressors
In prehistoric times, our fight/flight/freeze system was in place to keep us safe - short-term.
If you again think of your car, the computer works to stop your car overheating - to bring the temperature back to a set 'balance' so we don't 'cook' the engine. We have a similar system designed to shut down the stress response and bring us back to a relaxed state.
While a stressed state is catabolic (break-down), a relaxed state is anabolic (builds-up or repairs).
The problem with modern-day living is that we can be stressed far more often, meaning we could be in a catabolic state more often. This state is where health issues can start to occur. Let me explain.
If you get up late, skip breakfast (intentionally or not), rush to work heading into back-to-back meetings, worry about meeting deadlines, and throw some high-intensity exercise in, these are all stressors. Add a lack of sleep, and you're adding in another stressor.
Alone no single one is an issue. However, triggering the stress response too often means you will soon run out of readily available stored fuels (the sugars).
You might be breaking down your muscle as fuel.
Our bodies can make sugars by breaking down protein (in our muscles) through a process known as gluconeogenesis ('new glucose'). It is easier to do this than tap into stored body fat.
Lean muscle is valuable. The more we have on our body, the more we can eat and not gain weight. The stronger we will be as we age, and if we want to talk vanity for just a minute - the fitter we will look and the better the clothes will fit.
Sustained stress leads to HPA-Axis Disregulation (aka 'Adrenal Fatigue' or 'burnout')
The brain is responsible for hormone production - the stress response specifically by the HPA Axis (Hypothalamus Pituitary Axis).
Sustained stress over time can cause this system to go haywire, under or overproducing hormones. I'll talk about just two specific hormones here, though stress can 'steal' nutrients we need elsewhere to produce serotonin or reproductive hormones.
Stress can cause this axis to produce too much or too little cortisol (the hormone that wakes you up and gets you going in the morning) and trouble producing enough melatonin (the sleep hormone).
Signs of HPA Axis dysfunction (HPA-D) are (among others) are:
needing several strong cups of coffee in the morning to get going
struggling to fall asleep and stay asleep (tired yet wired at night)
salt cravings
weight gain - even though your eating the same/less than usual
fat gain around the middle
low motivation or energy
brain fog (trouble concentrating)
digestive issues (such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
constantly getting sick
high or low blood pressure (depending on where your Cortisol levels are)
While I've noted the term 'adrenal fatigue' above, this is a bit of an urban myth. The adrenal glands sit over the top of the kidneys and don't become fatigued. It's a commonly used term describing (in medical terms) HPA-D.
Sustained stress leads to Hormone Dysfunction
As I stated above, if the body is constantly ‘stealing’ nutrients to produce stress hormones, it may be at the expense of others (such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone). After all, the brain will not prioritise reproductive hormones when it senses you are in danger - this is not the time to bring children into a situation. To be clear, it doesn’t matter what age you are (as our hormone levels change as we age)- if you are producing hormones, this is a possibility.
For females having issues with their cycles, I’d strongly suggest you consider one of the reasons being your allostatic (total stress) load.
What to do when the warning lights come on
First and foremost, be aware of them. As soon as you become aware, you can make choices.
For most people, it's possible to reverse the imbalance and bring the nervous system back to a calm state. I won't sugar-coat it by saying it will be fast (speaking from personal experience). However, I noticed changes relatively quickly. They built upon each other weekly to bring back my usual energy and drive.
There is a two-pronged strategy you can take - modifying your nutrition and lifestyle. If you're looking for ways to do this, keep an eye out for the next two blog posts:
How to eat when you are feeling burnt out
How to recover from burnout
Are you aware that your warning lights are coming on? Do you need help to change your habits, or specific advice for your situation?
Using research-backed diet, lifestyle and change strategies, I teach my clients how to manage stress, energy and modify their lifestyles to support their goals.
If you want to know how I can help you, book a free consult.
