In the modern world, many people are living without the energy they need to live the life they want or do the things they love. In fact, many of us feel overwhelmed, tired, or run down weekly, if not daily.
“Many people are living are living without the energy they need to live the life they want or do the things they love.”
This is because nowadays, we experience the hormonal, physical and physiological changes that accompany stress, a lot more regularly and for longer periods of time, than our traditional ancestors. Our ancestors were under threat from predators or food famine several times a year. Whereas, we experience the demands of the modern world coming at us on a daily basis.
Part of the problem is the expectation we set for ourselves, that to be successful or important, our lives must be stressful. However, coping with stressors in the modern world is imperative to our energy and ultimately our overall health and vitality.
Let’s have a closer look at how stress is stealing your energy and how this impacts your body:
Stress and your Weight
1. Cravings
When the body is under stress, it tends to use sugars and proteins as a fuel source, rather than fats. This is because it requires quick energy to fuel the body’s ‘flight or fight’ stress response. Sugar and proteins essentially act as an emergency fuel. This may explain why you crave sugary and salty things when you’re busy and stressed. The body will even stimulate gluconeogenesis in the liver, which is a process that turns protein into sugar.
"Sugar and proteins essentially act as an emergency fuel. This may explain why you crave sugary and salty things when you’re busy and stressed."
2. Metabolism
When people experience prolonged stress, they tend to lose muscle mass because their body is using protein for fuel instead of fat. Our base metabolic rate also tends to drop when muscle mass is lost. This means your metabolism isn’t as high as before the stressor and if you eat the same amount, it may result in you holding onto or storing more body fat.
When it comes to your weight, it’s important to remember the number on the scale doesn’t matter much. What matters more is the ratio of body fat and muscle mass.
"When it comes to your weight, it’s important to remember the number on the scale doesn’t matter much."
Stress and your Hormonal Balance
Long-term chronic stress affects both men and women’s hormone balance in different ways. Men’s hormonal systems can tend to cope with higher and more prolonged levels of stress. Having said that, chronic stress can start pushing testosterone to be converted into oestrogen, resulting in oestrogen dominance in men.
For women, the long-term effect of chronic stress is often hormone imbalance. This is because our sex and stress hormones share the same precursors.
Low Progesterone
When under stress, the body produces less progesterone - our all-important, calming hormone, because it's priority is making stress hormones for survival rather than hormones for reproduction.
Our body steals the pregnenolone, which is the precursor to progesterone, to make more cortisol. This is known as the ‘pregnenolone steal’. This leads to a common hormone imbalance where we see high oestrogen levels and low progesterone.
One of the reasons for high oestrogen is because increased stress levels make it harder for the liver to clear oestrogen. We need progesterone for staying calm, stable and happy.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many people who experience prolonged stress will also run into adrenal fatigue at some point. Adrenal fatigue is when your adrenal glands struggle to keep up with the production of your stress hormones such as cortisol. High cortisol leads to a vicious cycle where the brain becomes hard-wired to be in a constant state of flight or fight, which leads to exhaustion.
Note: While this might make cortisol sounds like the bad guy, it is also one of the primary hormones that we need to get up in the morning. We need it, but only in just the right amount.
Thyroid Dysfunction
Stress can also overload your thyroid. The thyroid gland produces important hormones that control your metabolism, water retention and temperature. When under stress the thyroid works overtime to try and manage the increased demand for energy production.
"Having the energy to do the things you love is essential to living a happy, healthy life."
Having the energy to do the things you love is essential to living a happy, healthy life. Understanding the stressors in your life and how to cope is vital to your prolonged energy status and overall health and wellbeing.
To understand your body and unlock the energy you need, a good place to start is by taking the BePure Energy and Stress Questionnaire. This questionnaire is designed to give you a personal snapshot of your current energy and stress status.
Ultimately having the energy to do what excites you is the most important gift you can give to yourself.
