Men’s Health Week: Stress and Its Impact on Your Metabolism and Vitality
In this week’s Metabolic Minutetm we are focusing on men’s health and the surprising things that could be affecting your hormones, waist line, and vitality.
How do you know if stress is draining you or your resiliency? Do you feel more anxious and over committed during the course of your day? Are you craving comfort foods you know, chips, cookies, chocolate covered pretzels with caramel on them, especially at night? Do you have sleep disturbances, either you can’t fall asleep or stay asleep or both? Do you feel like you’re more exhausted and you get to that midday crash between 2 and 4:00 PM and you absolutely have to have a cup of coffee or an energy drink.
Chronic stress levels elevate the stress hormone cortisol and it has far reaching effects on your metabolic capacity. Cortisol blocks the production of Gonadotropin releasing hormone which in turn turns down sex hormone production. It reduces growth hormone releasing hormone which reduces how much growth hormone you’re going to release. It reduces insulin sensitivity and therefore it increases your blood sugar. You make more bad-actor lipids which can affect your future heart disease risk. Blood pressure goes up leading to hypertension. You can lose bone leading to osteopenia and osteoporosis even more importantly you can lose muscle mass because cortisol is catabolic to your muscle over time and in terms of your immune system, it lowers your defense against flus colds and yes, even COVID-19. It promotes gut permeability changes known as leaky gut which can lead to food intolerances and sensitivities.
So what can you do about it?
1. One of the favorite things I tell people to do is to take a botanical extract to help them figure out if it will calm them down. They can get that by doing our mini assessment for stress.
2. They can also start the Metabolic Code® Diet as it will help you to really get those craving patterns under control.
3. If you’re having trouble sleeping and you’re feeling over committed:
- Try doing deep breathing. Follow what your watch tells you to do. Taking a deep breath, 2 to 3 minutes, 3 times a day can really help you, and if that’s not helping you to calm down then turn the technology off a little bit earlier in the night.
- Try taking a bath with Epsom salt and take some melatonin, it can help your brain remember how to sleep. Now I know I talked about this for Men’s Health, but men, you can share this with your spouse or your significant others because you know what, stress affects everyone.
Metabolic TRIADS® to Pay Attention to:
TRIAD 1: Energy (Adrenal – Thyroid – Pancreas) encompasses the relationship between three important hormones: cortisol, insulin, and thyroid, which reflect the state of stress, glucose balance, and metabolism. When TRIAD 1 is balanced, a person feels vital and healthy, but when unbalanced, a person feels fatigued and has a higher propensity for being overweight or obese.
TRIAD 2: Resiliency (Gut – Immune – Brain) is comprised of the digestive tract, immune system, and the central nervous system. Together, these intelligent body systems make moment-to-moment decisions with regard to absorption and assimilation, and set key boundaries physically, immunologically, and mentally. When TRIAD 2 is normal, the person feels organized and secure within themselves and their environment, and when out of balance, this physiologic network becomes disordered and unpredictable.
Find out how your 5 Metabolic TRIADS really stack up by getting a Metabolic Code® assessment and report done with one of our practitioners. This will give you honest insight into where your health is today, and where you’re headed in the years to come. Click here to get a sample report.
Diet & Lifestyle Recommendations:
If you change your diet, you can change your life. Our Metabolic Code® Diet programs have been crafted by our in-house dietitians to help you reset your metabolic systems and get your looking good and feeling better in as little as two weeks. Curious? Get some free resources to help you get started.
Try Our New Supplement Line:
TheAva
Combination of theanine and kava for stress and sleep.
Practitioners: Look for these new products in your patient reports and the supplement store. Perfect for your male patients that exhibit the symptoms discussed above. Learn more about each supplement with our detailed product monographs, log into your practitioner portal to access these through the resource library!
Consumers: Think you could benefit from these products? Talk to your Metabolic Code® practitioner today or reach out to us to connect with one.
