Stress is a fact of life. Short-term stress is normal and helps us deal with immediate challenges. Our stress response is managed by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system, which release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol when faced with stress. This response is vital for survival and maintaining balance in the body - however, chronic stress, lasting for a long time, can harm our health, affecting mental health, the heart, immune system, digestion, cognitive function, and energy levels.

As discussed in my previous blog, chronic elevation of the stress hormone cortisol is one of the most significant root causes of health issues in many of my clients. It can have long-term effects on many aspects of health and well-being, including metabolism, sleep, brain, and mood.

Have you ever thought about what’s actually creating stress in your body? It might not be what you think.

If you want to train your body to be more resilient to stress (so it doesn’t have so much control over your life), it helps to understand stress hormones. There are 2 stress hormones I want you to know about: Cortisol & Adrenaline (also called Epinephrine).

In my 20+ years of practicing medicine, I have often found stress levels in my patients to be higher in May - especially for those with school-aged children. The problem with letting all that stress get to you is that higher levels of stress hormones can really MESS with your other hormones! The Stress-Hormone connection is REAL - and it’s a vicious cycle. As I often discuss with my patients, hormones “dance” with one another. When one set of hormones becomes imbalanced - this is likely to wreak havoc on other hormones.

Insulin resistance means that the cells in the body have become less responsive to insulin, which leads to elevated insulin and blood sugar levels. This leads to more belly fat, hunger/cravings, and fatigue - and if left unchecked, can lead to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even many cancers. That’s why it’s critical to take insulin resistance seriously.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we’re focusing on one of the most common hormone imbalances I see in practice - ESTROGEN DOMINANCE.

There is no pill anybody can take to magically correct estrogen dominance.

More than ⅓ of adults in the US don’t get enough sleep, and it could be bad for the waistline. New research from Mayo Clinic shows that a lack of sleep combined with free access to food leads to higher calorie consumption and increased belly fat.

Every cell in your body contains magnesium and needs it to function. Magnesium often serves as a cofactor — a helper molecule — and is involved in more than 600 biochemical reactions in your body happening at any given moment.

As I have mentioned in prior blogs, your hormones dance with one another. This is why, when evaluating hormone balance, you have to take into account the various hormones interacting in your body. When one hormone becomes imbalanced this can lead to other hormonal imbalances. Stress hormones and thyroid hormones are good examples of this.