How to Deal with Holiday Stress

Overstressed? Overloaded? Overwhelmed? Here's what to do about it

Stress, as we all know, is an unavoidable part of life. But today, women are bearing far more stress than ever before. The past decade, compared to the 15 years prior, has ramped everyone’s stress levels to the max. How we internalize, handle or allow stress to impact our immune systems can be disturbing.

Chronic stress is a type of stress we’ve become accustomed to, and therefore can be the first type of stress to take you down. I love High Octane Woman: How Super Achievers Can Avoid Burnout by Sherrie Bourg Carter, PsyD. This book points out ways to gauge stress, its warning signs and how to recognize burnout. Women adjust to ongoing chronic stress with superb efficiency, as our brains are wired to multi-task like nobody’s business. We “do” because we can and we “sign-up” as well as “put up” with more than humanly possible.

Stress affects our adrenal glands. These two precious powerhouses, perched on top of our kidneys, produce the major portions of important hormones: immune, fight or flight, unhappy or happy, sleep-inducing, fat storing or fat burning. The adrenal cortex produces primarily cortisone, cortisol, DHEA and testosterone, while the medulla (the center of the adrenals) produces adrenaline and norepinephrine, which functions as both a hormone and a much-needed neurotransmitter.

Incessant high stress levels release spikes of adrenaline, which kicks the entire sympathetic, parasympathetic nervous and immune system into endless overdrive, sliding our psyche and cortisol levels to the burnout stage. When converted, cortisol is released over and over again, and we lose our ability to balance over 500 hormones that play the symphony called our life.

We end up with a messy cacophony of hormones instead. These discordant energies (based on hormonal cascades) can increase inflammation and pain, monthly cycle variances, depression and anxiety, allergies, insulin resistance, body fat composition and food cravings as well as dizziness and headaches.

To find out if you have reduced adrenal gland function, do this at home blood pressure test: Lie down for five minutes, then take your blood pressure. Stand up immediately after taking your blood pressure and take it again while standing upright. If your blood pressure is lower after you stand up, you’re in the throes of ongoing adrenal fatigue. The variance tends be proportionate to the degree of hypo-adrenalism.

If you’re having trouble lowering stress levels, I suggest using Serenagen, a compilation of Chinese botanicals created by Metagenics, one of the foremost research leaders in high-end nutraceuticals. It essentially quiets the heart.

Shirodhara massage, an ancient healing form from India that incorporates the flow of oils on the “third eye” at the center of the forehead, can be likened to a massage for the brain. It balances, calms and regulates brain function, activating the frontal cortex, which increases your intuition and “knowing.” This, in turn, calms and helps to regulate the billions of cells in your body.

An 11-panel saliva hormone test denotes a number of hormone imbalances, the first being adrenal action. Your adrenal output should be optimal (50 percent) in the morning and at 2-3 percent by 10pm. This test also shows levels of DHEA, testosterone, melatonin, estriol (the anti-cancer estrogen), estradiol (the renegade estrogen generally bumped up by “faux” estrogens found in meats, plastics and pesticides) and progesterone. All hormones create a symphony. If off, your symphony is discordant, which leads to more stress and eventually the onset of disease.

Tagged as: health and wellness