Chronic stress doesn’t just weigh on your mind — it can show up on your face. Excess cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, can break down collagen and elastin, contributing to wrinkles, fine lines, acne, puffiness and that perpetually “tired” look many of us know all too well.

The good news? “Cortisol face” doesn’t have to be permanent. With the right daily habits and targeted nutritional support, you can bring cortisol back into balance and restore your skin’s natural glow.

6 ways to restore cortisol balance and reverse premature signs of aging

1. Mind your diet

While diet alone won’t regulate cortisol, it can buffer the damage stress causes to your skin. 

Foods to add: Omega-3s (salmon, walnuts, chia seeds), antioxidants (berries, green tea) and plenty of colorful vegetables. 

Foods to avoid: Cut back on sugar and refined carbs, which spike both blood sugar and cortisol. 

2. Supplement with nutrients that soak up cortisol  

Are you dealing with insomnia or constantly feeling “wired” and anxious? These common stress-related symptoms are signs that your body’s stress response needs more direct support.

That’s where targeted nutrients can make a difference. Natural compounds like magnesium, L-theanine and passion flower have been studied for their ability to lower excess cortisol, promote relaxation and support more restful sleep. You’ll find this powerful trio in our exclusive anti-stress formula, Serinisol, designed to calm the mind, ease sleep disruptions and help bring cortisol patterns back to normal.

3. Lower cortisol with breathwork

The next time you’re stressed, try this cortisol-lowering breathing pattern:

• Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4, expanding your belly and ribs.
• Hold your breath for a count of 7.
• Slowly exhale your breath through your mouth for a count of 8.

Even two minutes of conscious breathing can turn on your parasympathetic nervous system, helping to reduce stress signals and lower cortisol output. 

4. Prioritize sleep

A single restless night can throw off your cortisol rhythm. Aim for 7–9 hours of quality sleep by keeping a regular bedtime, dimming lights an hour before bed and avoiding late-night screen time. Your skin — and mood — will thank you.

5. Move your body mindfully

Exercise can reduce cortisol over time, but intensity matters. Gentle, mindful movement like yoga, walking or tai chi lowers stress hormones while improving circulation and supporting collagen health, leaving both your skin and spirit refreshed.

6. Support your skin’s collagen as you recover from stress

High cortisol can accelerate collagen breakdown, leading to sagging, fine lines and dullness. Taking a high-quality collagen supplement gives your skin immediate support while you work behind the scenes to lower stress and help your body restore its own collagen production. You don’t need to wait (or stress) to start improving skin elasticity, firmness and overall radiance.

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Bonus tip! Sip away stress

Try a “cortisol cocktail” — a simple, non-alcoholic drink made with ingredients that support your adrenals and keep cortisol in check. It’s a refreshing way to unwind when stress strikes. Try our recipe!

“Cortisol face” isn’t just cosmetic — it’s your body signaling that stress is taking a toll

By adopting even a few daily habits to balance cortisol, you can smooth and brighten your skin while boosting energy, mood and resilience. Start small, build gradually and watch the difference — inside and out.

The post Cortisol face: How chronic stress shows up in your skin — and what you can do about it appeared first on Women's Health Network.

By Jacqueline Tourville, Managing Editor

You have probably seen it all over social media: the Cortisol Cocktail, a fizzy, citrusy drink that promises to lower stress, restore energy, ease tension and support balanced cortisol levels. It sounds almost too good to be true — so, is it?

Let’s start with the science.

Why is high cortisol a problem?

Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands in response to stress. It plays an essential role in metabolism, inflammation control, blood sugar regulation and even your sleep-wake cycle. In short, cortisol is crucial for survival.

The trouble starts when cortisol levels stay elevated for too long. Chronic stress, poor sleep and nutrient-depleted diets can keep your body “on alert” 24/7, keeping cortisol production high. Over time, elevated cortisol levels can affect energy, mood and changes in fat storage and body composition, including increased belly fat.

Our approach to restoring balance to cortisol is to give the body what it needs to naturally reset its stress response. This starts with lifestyle adjustments and nourishing the adrenal glands — the source of cortisol production. As a first line of support, we recommend our Serinisol supplement, which helps calm the nervous system and promote healthy cortisol balance.

And we also say: give the Cortisol Cocktail a try! This social media trend gets our seal of approval from its combination of hydrating fluids, electrolytes and essential minerals that give your body the raw materials it needs to more efficiently recover from stress.

The Cortisol Cocktail Recipe

First, round up these ingredients:

• Coconut water — contains potassium and electrolytes for hydration.
• Lemon and orange juice — provide Vitamin C to support adrenal health.
• Magnesium powder — helps relax muscles, steady mood, and support deep rest.
• Salt — replenishes sodium lost through stress-related fluid shifts.
• Sparkling mineral water (optional) — makes the drink fun and refreshing and adds more calming minerals.

Measurements

• ¾ cup coconut water
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon magnesium powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt
• Sparkling mineral water to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. Add coconut water, lemon juice, orange juice, magnesium powder and salt to a glass.
2. Stir well until the magnesium powder dissolves.
3. Top with sparkling water for fizz.
4. Serve over ice and sip slowly.

Tip for a low-sugar version:
Swap the coconut water for mineral water, add only a splash of orange juice for flavor, and stir in ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar for a potassium boost. You’ll still get the adrenal-supporting minerals with fewer grams of sugar.

Bottom line? The Cortisol Cocktail contains nutrients that help replenish what chronic stress can deplete, while encouraging your body to shift out of “fight or flight.” The drink isn’t a cure for stress, but it absolutely can be a refreshing way to help your body bounce back when life gets overwhelming.

Cheers!

The post Sip away stress with the Cortisol Cocktail appeared first on Women's Health Network.

There’s a connection between how well your body copes with adrenal stress and the foods you eat. So if you’ve been exhausted lately, making small changes to what and when you eat can help you feel energetic, rested and way less stressed. Check out my favorite foods for adrenal stress — and also learn which energy-zapping “stress foods” to avoid.

5 foods for adrenal health

Healthy proteins

Protein in all of your meals and snacks will have a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar. In turn, this helps to reduce adrenal-draining cortisol spikes and cravings for caffeine and sugars. My favorite source of healthy protein is wild caught salmon. It’s low in calories and easily digested. Nuts, seeds, beans and other plant proteins can be good choices. Women typically need between 60-70 total grams of protein per day and it is especially important to eat it in the morning.

Dark leafy greens

Kale, Swiss chard, mustard and beet greens, and other dark leafy greens are amazing sources for magnesium. The mineral provides necessary energy for your adrenals — and every cell in your body — to function properly. At the same time, magnesium has a soothing, relaxing effect. But try to eat organic greens when you can. They don’t have the toxic pesticides that add more stress to the body. Other sources of magnesium include fish, nuts, seeds and whole grains.

Foods that are rich in vitamins for adrenal health 

Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) are intimately involved with production of adrenal stress hormones. If you’re under chronic stress and you’re not getting enough of these micronutrients, it’s a recipe for tapped out adrenals and the fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms that go along with adrenal dysfunction.

For foods rich in Vitamin C, think red and orange colorful fruits and veggies, including red and orange peppers, carrots, apples, and so many different choices of colorful squashes. Foods rich in Vitamin E include avocados, hazelnuts, almonds and asparagus. For Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), egg yolks are a great source and you can also try adding more lentils and split peas to your diet.

Brazil nuts

Selenium is an antioxidant that helps protect your cells from free-radical damage and is essential for thyroid and adrenal function; deficiency in selenium can be a contributing factor for adrenal fatigue. Brazil nuts are a great source for selenium — try eating two Brazil nuts a day to get the selenium you need. Other sources include tuna, organ meats, mushrooms, halibut and beef.

Oysters 

Zinc is important for balancing the body’s stress hormones. But stress itself is a natural foe of the mineral and, as studies show, prolonged stress may deplete zinc concentrations in the blood. So when you’re stressed, eat zinc-rich foods. For instance, fresh oysters, sardines, beef, lamb, turkey, split peas, whole grains and sunflower seeds are all rich in zinc. All organic, please!

Foods to avoid for adrenal health

Caffeine can over-stimulate the adrenals and disrupt sleep patterns. But if you find yourself craving caffeine, your cortisol or blood sugar could be low or your serotonin imbalanced. In any case, you may not have much energy and your body probably needs a rest. Instead of cranking it up with another cup and having a caffeine crash later, take a mini-break and try deep breathing or a ten-minute walk.

Sugary foods create spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels which affects stress hormone balance. However, you can still eat something sweet. If you’re having a craving, try some naturally sweet berries. Berries have a low glycemic index (meaning they probably won’t spike your blood sugars) and provide helpful antioxidants for oxidative stress protection.  In general, you want to spread out your meals and snacks throughout the day to maintain healthy blood sugar balance.

For more about supporting your adrenal health, read our article on keeping chronic stress levels to a minimum through food choice and meal timing.

The post 5 foods that support adrenal health — and reduce stress! appeared first on Women's Health Network.

When people are under chronic stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response becomes constantly engaged, sending cortisol levels higher and triggering the body’s sympathetic nervous system. That part of the nervous system responds to stress with rapid and shallow breathing, constricted blood vessels and increased heart rate.

If you often find yourself in an antsy, agitated mood, with that heart-racing-jumping-out-of-your-skin feeling, there’s a good chance that excess stress has you “stuck” in your sympathetic nervous system. To get unstuck, you need to give your body support to activate its parasympathetic nervous system — the part of the nervous system that boosts emotional resilience by helping the body recover and heal from stress.

One of the most powerful ways to switch off your stress response and switch on your parasympathetic nervous system is to stimulate the body’s Vagus nerve. Extending from the brain through the face and neck to the abdomen and GI tract, the body’s Vagus nerve is considered a miraculous nexus that maintains a kind of balancing act between your stress response (the sympathetic nervous system) and your healing response (the parasympathetic).

When the Vagus nerve is activated, it shifts the balance to the parasympathetic, putting the brakes on the body’s stress reflex. As a result, blood vessels relax and widen, creating a greater sense of calm.

Best of all, you can activate your Vagus nerve in a number of simple ways.

1. Belly breathing to activate the Vagus nerve

One of the easiest ways to activate the Vagus nerve is deep “belly” breathing. The rhythmic action of deep breathing stimulates the nerve endings in the abdomen.

Get started with slow abdominal breathing with just a few steps:

1. Sit upright in a chair or lie on your back on a yoga mat or in bed, with your knees bent and your head supported with a low pillow.
2. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly, just below your rib cage.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose, drawing the air in deeply towards your lower belly. The hand on your chest should remain still at first, while the one on your belly should rise.
4. Exhale slowly through pursed lips. The hand on your belly should move down to its original position.
5. The inhale and exhale should both be relaxed, but make sure the exhale is longer than the inhale.

Practice this breathing pattern for at least 10 minutes a day. If it’s been a high stress day, take a few extra deep breathing breaks to help you maintain calm. The relaxed state of mind you feel after deep breathing makes it that much easier to deal with everyday stressors.

2. Take a “cold plunge”

Research shows that cold-water immersion may help with stress by slowing your heart rate and directing blood flow to your brain where it provides stimulation to the Vagus nerve.

For beginners, an easy way to experiment with cold therapy is to turn the water colder for the final 30 seconds of your morning shower, then gradually work up to taking a completely cold shower for a few minutes. Cold-plunging also supports healthy immune function, improved mood, better circulation and reduced inflammation. If you need a baby step to help you ease into cold-plunging, try dipping your face in a large bowl of cold water for a few seconds at a time.

3. Chanting and meditation

Other ways to stimulate the Vagus nerve include chanting and meditation that uses a spoken mantra — both of these practices are so good for stress relief, partly because they stimulate the Vagus nerve endings in the back of the throat that help you to enter a deep state of relaxation. Try working a 10- or 20-minute meditation time into your morning routine. Gargling can also stimulate Vagus nerve endings in the throat.

4. Ear massage to stimulate the Vagus nerve

The Vagus nerve also touches the ear. You can stimulate this nerve ending by placing your finger in the hollow of the “cymba conchae” (that deep curve of the outer ear) and gently rubbing the skin in a circular pattern whenever you feel stressed.

5. Reflexology massage

Researchers have found that reflexology foot massage assists in stimulating the Vagus nerve and can even lower blood pressure, likely through signaling to the brain, which in turn activates the nerve. For an easy reflexology technique, rub the sole of each foot with alternating gentle and firm touches while stretching your toes.

More reasons to care about your Vagus nerve

Turning on your Vagus nerve is a powerful tool for fighting stress, but that’s not all this “wandering nerve” can do for your health! We’re constantly learning more about other benefits of regular stimulation of the Vagus nerve. These include boosting mood, reducing inflammation, lowering heart rate and even providing relief for migraine headaches. Exciting research is ongoing in all these areas and we look forward to sharing more about this miraculous nerve. In the meantime, take a few minutes to breathe, hum and splash a little cold water on your face to feel your stress melt away.

The post 5 ways to stimulate your Vagus nerve appeared first on Women's Health Network.

If you could use some help restoring your emotional resilience, here are some surprisingly easy techniques for bouncing back.

How to boost your emotional resilience

When people are under chronic stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response becomes constantly engaged, sending cortisol levels higher and triggering the body’s sympathetic nervous system — that part of the nervous system that responds to stress with rapid and shallow breathing, constricted blood vessels and increased heart rate.

For instance, if you often find yourself in an antsy, agitated mood with that heart-racing-jumping-out-your-skin feeling, there’s a good chance that excess stress has you “stuck” in your sympathetic nervous system.

To get unstuck, you need to give your body support to activate its parasympathetic nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system that boosts emotional resilience by helping the body recover and heal from stress.

1. Switch off stress by stimulating your Vagus nerve

A powerful and fast way to switch off your stress response and switch on your parasympathetic nervous system is to stimulate the body’s Vagus nerve. This nerve extends from the brain through the face and neck to the abdomen and GI tract, and is considered a miraculous nexus that maintains a kind of balancing act between your stress response (the sympathetic nervous system) and your healing response (the parasympathetic). When the Vagus nerve is activated, it shifts the balance to the parasympathetic, putting the brakes on the body’s stress reflex. As a result, blood vessels relax and widen, creating a greater sense of calm.

Try deep belly breathing

One simple way to activate the Vagus nerve is deep “belly” breathing. The rhythmic action of deep breathing stimulates the nerve endings in the abdomen.

Practice this breathing pattern for at least 10 minutes a day. But if it’s been a high stress day, take a few extra deep breathing breaks to help you maintain calm. The relaxed state of mind you feel after deep breathing makes it that much easier to deal with everyday stressors.

2. Reset emotional resilience by taking a cold plunge

Itching to tell the irritating people in your life to “go jump in a lake?” Turns out that taking a dip is actually a great technique for lowering stress — as long as that lake you’re jumping into is cold! Researchers have found that cold exposure on a regular basis stimulates the Vagus nerve, which helps to lower sympathetic response and increase parasympathetic nervous system activity.

But you don’t really need to jump in a cold lake to get the benefits. For beginners, an easy way to experiment with cold therapy is to turn the water colder for the final 30 seconds of your morning shower, then gradually work up to taking a completely cold shower. If you live in a colder climate, try spending short periods of time outdoors wearing fewer layers of clothing so you actually feel the chill before coming back inside. (Weather permitting, of course! If it’s frostbite season where you live, bundle up.)

Cold-plunging also supports healthy immune function, improved mood, better circulation and reduced inflammation. If you need a baby step to help you ease into cold-plunging, try dipping your face in a large bowl of cold water for a few seconds at a time.

3. Chanting and ear massage

Other ways to stimulate the Vagus nerve include chanting and mediation that uses a spoken mantra — both of these practices are so good for stress relief, partly because they stimulate the Vagus nerve endings in the back of the throat that help you to enter a deep state of relaxation. Try working a 10- or 20-minute meditation time into your morning routine.

The Vagus nerve also touches the ear. You can stimulate this nerve ending placing your finger in the hollow of the “cymba conchae” (that deep curve of the outer ear) and gently rubbing the skin in a circular pattern whenever you feel stressed.

4. Put new tools in your stress relief toolbox

If your idea of stress relief involves filling a wine glass at the end of another draining day, look for different techniques that help you “get out of your head” without the need to get inebriated. Here are some ideas to try to boost your emotional resilience:

• The Japanese call the practice of walking in nature to de-stress “shinrin yoku,” or forest bathing. To forest bathe, find a local nature trail and let your head empty as you walk so that you are only focused on your five senses. What do you see, smell, touch, taste and hear? Research shows that even a short 15-minute walk in nature can ease depression and stress.

• Talk to a therapist. If you just can’t stop yourself from overreacting to stress — i.e., every mole hill has become a mountain in your life — talking to a therapist can give you more coping tools and needed perspective. Mental health care is in high demand these days. If finding a local therapist with openings is difficult, telehealth/online therapy options may offer you greater availability and flexibility.

• Volunteer. Read to children at your local library, or volunteer at a local school. Get involved at the senior center or animal shelter or volunteer at a non-profit thrift shop. With the pandemic finally over, volunteering is a great way to feel connected to your community again. As an added bonus, when you help others problem solve, you boost your ability to see solutions for stress that shows up in your own life.

5. Reframe your perspective

Catastrophic thinking is a learned cognitive bias in which our brains start to select and highlight facts that confirm a certain fear, and ignore those that contradict it. Most of us have done a lot of catastrophic thinking over the past few years and all this anxiety, worry and “doom scrolling” hasn’t helped anyone’s emotional resilience. 

The next time you notice yourself dwelling on catastrophic thinking, consciously challenge these negative thoughts. When you’re  “catastrophizing,” you might start out with a thought such as, “I feel bad today.” This thought may then expand to, “It’s only going to get worse,” or “I’ll never get better.” 

As you notice these thoughts, step in and literally say out loud, “Stop!” or “No more!” Next, use deep breathing, positive affirmations, meditation, journaling and other stress relief techniques to help you let go of irrational fears and refocus your thoughts. I also find it effective to ask myself, will whatever is bothering me in the moment matter in 5 minutes, days, months or years? Over time these types of techniques will make it easier and easier to restore perspective. 

Stop catastrophic thinking

In her book The Work, author and healer Byron Katie wrote powerfully about how this process of remaining alert to and questioning stressful thoughts changed her entire outlook on life: “I discovered that when I believed my thoughts I suffered, but when I didn’t believe them I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always.”

All of this isn’t to diminish the very real suffering that’s happened for many. The practice of reframing your perspective is meant to help you make sure you’re not carrying an even heavier burden.

6. Support your stress response 

When you are under chronic stress, the constant tripping off of the body’s fight-or-flight response can create adrenal hormone imbalances and lowered thyroid function, leading to problems with mood and stress regulation.

When thyroid function slows during stress, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) hormone levels fall. As a result, if they fall low enough, you can enter into a state of hypothyroidism (low thyroid). Then you can experience symptoms of low thyroid including fatigue and depression. 

When your body is struggling so much from these physiological effects of stress it’s difficult to have emotional resilience. You want to make sure that you are supporting your adrenal glands and thyroid to rebalance hormones and protect against stress symptoms. But are your adrenals and thyroid at risk? You can take our free Hormonal Imbalance Quiz to learn more about stress-related hormonal symptoms you may be experiencing. 

7. Healing the trauma wound

We have collectively experienced trauma over the past few years. This wound is at the root of so much of the fear, anxiety and stress we’re experiencing. Will you join me in healing this wound? The following meditation, adapted from a Metta Institute meditation focuses on loving kindness as the ultimate healing balm — for yourself and everyone around you.

Inner peace makes everything easier to deal with — even that crowded supermarket with only one register open! Get in touch with me on social media and let me know how these tips worked for you.

Be well.

The post How to heal from Chronic Stress: 7 ways to tap into your body’s relaxation response appeared first on Women's Health Network.

Most conventional doctors are trained to spot diseases of the adrenal glands, but not necessarily the steps that lead up to them. This is why adrenal fatigue is often missed or written off as being “all in your head.”

Are you suffering from unexplained symptoms such as extreme tiredness, weight gain around the midsection (aka belly fat), brain fog, depression, insomnia and cravings for salty foods?

As Dr. Sharon Stills explains, these symptoms are real. So is the adrenal fatigue at the root of what’s driving them.

Watch her video, “Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?” or read the excerpt transcript below. You’ll learn why conventional doctors have such a hard time acknowledging adrenal fatigue. And what you can do to finally get the help you need.

[The following transcript excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.]

Is adrenal fatigue all in your head? Absolutely not!

When I talk to new patients and I suspect they have some kind of adrenal imbalance, often they don’t really know much about their adrenal glands. In the conventional medical care they’ve received up to that point, their adrenal glands were pretty much ignored.

So, let me just give you some quick basics about the adrenal glands. The adrenals are these two glands that sit on top of your kidneys. They’re small — like the size of rolling dice — but they’re responsible for producing over 50 hormones! This includes the major stress hormone cortisol and adrenal corticoids like aldosterone, epinephrine, norepinephrine and other stress response-related hormones.

Conventional doctors may ignore problems developing in the adrenals because they’ve only been trained to detect two extreme issues. Those are Addison’s disease, a pathology in which cortisol/adrenal hormone production almost shuts down. And Cushing syndrome, a pathology in which the adrenals pump out extremely high levels of cortisol over an extended time. They know how to test for and diagnose these two recognized conditions.

But conventional doctors lack training in recognizing where their patients might be on the spectrum between these two pathologies. If your adrenal/cortisol test results fall between high and low cut-off points on available tests — even if you’re very close — your doctor will probably say that your adrenal function is normal. This can happen no matter how many telltale adrenal dysfunction-related symptoms you may have.

As a naturopathic medical doctor who has personally overcome adrenal fatigue and helped thousands of patients recover from it, I know this to be true: Just because something isn’t pathologically diagnosed in mainstream medicine doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

Taking a different approach to adrenal issues

In integrative and naturopathic medicine, practitioners take a totally different approach. We look at the whole spectrum of your health. Then we pinpoint whether you are headed toward disease and how we can turn that around. There are numerous signs of adrenal fatigue that we can catch and correct.

You may be stressed out, gaining weight, feel very tired, have anxiety or insomnia, or feel totally burnt out. These are all signs that your adrenals are in need of some TLC. Integrative doctors train to recognize the level of exhaustion in your adrenals, whether other endocrine disorders coexist and how to best support your body so it can recover.

Finding out you have adrenal fatigue — and what to do next

To diagnose adrenal fatigue, some steps that an integrative practitioner might take include a four-point saliva test to look at the diurnal rhythm of your adrenal glands. This can tell us things like whether your adrenal glands may be really struggling with cortisol production in the morning, but not at night (or vice versa) and we can tailor solutions to what you need and when.

For example, you can start to shift your meal times and some of your food choices to offer support for normalized cortisol production. Another step may be to use adaptogenic herbs (typically in the form of an adaptogenic adrenal support formula) to soothe the adrenals and re-balance cortisol production.

Many conventional doctors don’t believe in adrenal fatigue. They say to their patients, “Well, what you really are is depressed.” The doctor will often prescribe some psychotropic drugs with all the side effects that go along with them. However, if your body is suffering from adrenal fatigue these anti-depressant drugs may be a temporary bandaid, but they won’t fix what’s actually wrong.

When you know in your gut that it’s something more, it’s worth the time and effort to explore whether adrenal fatigue is in play. When you recover from adrenal fatigue and your energy levels start soaring again, you will know it was worth the effort.

Our Women’s Health Network site has so many helpful articles with other tips you can try! I recommend reading Burned out? Here’s how to cope and Best tips on how to boost your energy naturally.

The post Is adrenal fatigue real? A doctor clears up the confusion appeared first on Women's Health Network.

Is chronic stress making your hair fall out? Here’s how to tell — and how to get your hair growing again.

How stress disrupts hair growth

Hair normally grows in a healthy cyclical pattern with hair follicles cycling through four distinct phases:

1. Active growth — or anagen
2. Transition — or catagen
3. Resting — or telogen
4. Returning growth — or mesanagen

When you’re under a great deal of stress, this normal pattern of hair growth may become disrupted. Stress can block active growth and force more follicles to remain in the resting phase. Hair becomes weak and thin, eventually breaking off. An imbalance in the hair growth cycle isn’t hard to miss: you see much more hair on your hairbrush and thinning hair on the scalp. When a large group of follicles all turn off in one place, bald spots may appear. Most of the time this occurs slowly, but in some cases it can happen all at once, causing a clump of hair to fall out.

The negative effects of stress on hair growth have long been known. The process by which stress influences hair loss, however, has remained a mystery — until now.

What’s at the root of stress-related hair loss?

The culprit is cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone. When too much cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands, as it can be when the body is in a state of chronic stress, the dysregulated hormone is powerful enough to disrupt cell signaling in hair follicles.

This happens, some researchers say, because high cortisol levels trigger an excess of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and it’s these cytokine molecules that prevent the hair growth cycle from moving from the telogen/resting phase to the anagen/growth phase. Cytokines may also disrupt follicular melanocytes, the part of the follicle that produces hair pigment, helping to explain why stress seems to hasten the appearance of gray hair.

In one recent study on mice, researchers pinpointed signaling receptors on hair-follicle stem cells that are influenced by cortisol. Researchers observed that when mice had low levels of corticosterone, the animal version of the stress hormone cortisol, hair/coat growth was abundant. In mice with high levels of corticosterone, hair growth stopped and shedding increased.

Returning to a healthy hair cycle

The good news about stress and hair loss? The effects can be temporary and healthy hair growth can be restored.

However, you need to know that protecting hair from the ravages of stress has very little to do with what shampoo you use or expensive hair treatments. The secret to your hair looking thick and lustrous again starts with reducing stress and returning cortisol production to its natural balance.

These steps can help…

Breathe

Deep breathing is a simple technique for stress reduction that can be used anywhere. Similar to other mindfulness-based practices, controlled breathing helps to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, known as the “rest and digest” system, which helps to lower cortisol levels.

Eat well and often

Since hunger naturally signals your adrenal glands to release more cortisol, don’t skip meals or let yourself go too long without eating. Following an adrenal fatigue diet — eating certain foods at specific times of the day — can help your body recover its natural cortisol rhythm. Avoid the “crash and burn” that follows eating sugar, white flour and caffeine. This spikes cortisol, only making problems worse.

Supplements for cortisol balance and adrenal function

Adrenals need a steady supply of B complex vitamins and Vitamin C for optimal function, including cortisol regulation. These vitamins are also great for your hair! Look for a quality multivitamin supplement to fill nutritional gaps. For deep adrenal repair and support, feed your adrenals adaptogenic herbs such as rhodiola and astragulus.

Modify your exercise routine if you feel drained by it

Exercise can help hair grow because it increases blood flow and circulation throughout the body. For many women, exercise is a stress reliever. If this is you, stick with it. However, others can feel exhausted by exercise when they are under stress. Listen to your body. If aerobic exercise leaves you feeling keyed up or extremely tired, try relaxing walks, yoga or any kind of exercise that recharges you rather than drains you.

Don’t overlook your thyroid

Low thyroid is another main culprit in thinning, brittle hair. Your adrenal and thyroid glands are highly interconnected parts of your endocrine system. Stress alone will not cause a thyroid disorder, but a stress imbalance in the adrenals can make any imbalance of the thyroid worse. Your hair loss could be a sign of low thyroid, or a sign that you are battling both adrenal and thyroid issues. Are you struggling with hair loss and other symptoms like brittle fingernails, weight gain and fatigue?

Taking the time to reverse stress-related hair loss comes with another big bonus: not only will your hair look better, but you’ll feel better too.

Learn more: Hormonal causes of your hair loss

The post How to stop stress-related hair loss appeared first on Women's Health Network.

In a recent CNBC survey, 53% of women said they are in a state of burnout. There’s little surprise why. It’s a lot to juggle work, relationships, raising kids and perhaps caring for older parents. And all against the backdrop of economic and global uncertainty and the lingering effects of pandemic-related changes to daily life.

5 tips to rebound from burnout 

When you feel burned out, it’s an almost certain sign that your body has developed some level of adrenal imbalance. Hormones produced by the adrenal glands drive and manage the body’s response to stress. These hormones, including the major stress hormone cortisol, are activated during the body’s “fight or flight response,” that ancient system that’s designed to help us flee in the face of danger.

After this system protects us from whatever threat presented itself — whether real or perceived — the body’s stress response is intended to turn itself off and production of stress hormones drops back to normal. However, when stress is unrelenting — as it has been for many of us — the adrenals can stay on alert indefinitely and stress hormone production remains ramped up. As a result, adrenal hormones, especially cortisol, can be pushed out of balance. This leads to the troubling symptoms we associate with burnout: extreme lack of energy, crushing fatigue, brain fog and weight gain. 

This is why solving burnout can’t truly happen without supporting your adrenals. So, as you start to take on your symptoms, try these steps. 

Weight BioType #4

For women whose primary obstacle to weight loss is stress/excess cortisol

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Repair cortisol balance to end burnout weight gain

Under normal circumstances when you haven’t eaten for a while, your blood sugar (glucose) drops and the brain sends a message to the adrenals to release cortisol to help out.

Cortisol maintains stable glucose levels in the blood by mobilizing stored glucose, amino acids and fat to prevent blood sugar from dropping too low. It also keeps fueling your brain and body with energy in the absence of food. (Essentially, this is a function of that ancient system that if you need to flee from danger, like being chased by a wild animal, cortisol gives you the instant energy to do so.)

When we have long-term adrenal stress imbalances, however, cortisol levels are elevated in the blood and summon too much glucose. When glucose is not used for energy, it ends up stored in the form of fat — primarily abdominal fat cells (aka belly fat). Scientists know that fat cells have special receptors for cortisol. That’s a problem because there seem to be more cortisol receptors on belly fat cells than anywhere else!

So, this may sound contradictory if you are a die-hard dieter, but the way to rebalance your cortisol levels from this place of burnout is to eat regularly and eat well. Send the signal to your brain (and adrenals) that you don’t need any extra cortisol! Plan for and eat three balanced meals and two (also balanced) snacks per day. Spread them out across the day to work with your natural circadian rhythm. Use your meals and snacks as a time to relax and enjoy the foods you’re eating. This can stop further weight gain and help your body gradually let go of extra weight.

Other tips for stress hormones

Some other tips to tame your stress hormones: Cortisol follows a natural cycle that complements your circadian rhythm. Normally, cortisol is highest in the early morning. It declines gradually throughout the day to help you get ready for sleep. Because eating always bumps up cortisol, it’s ideal to eat your largest meal early in the day.

Many women snack on sweets and caffeine. They’re comforting and so easy to access. (Hello, Starbuck’s drive-through!) But this habit just worsens cortisol imbalance. Avoid sweets and caffeine.

Reach for specific micronutrient-rich foods that support your adrenals, like asparagus, avocado, cabbage, garlic, ginger and lean protein.

Love your lymph to decrease brain fog and fatigue 

Another important recovery step from burnout is to help your body detox by getting your lymph moving. Your body’s lymphatic system is responsible for removing cellular waste products and other toxins from your system. When you’re under constant stress, your system may be overwhelmed with waste and toxins to dump. This can contribute to burnout’s horrible feelings of fatigue and brain fog. 

So, give your lymphatic detox system some added support:

• Sweat more. Sweating helps to move and drain lymph, removing toxins along with it. Take a warm bath, go for a brisk walk, try a portable infrared sauna and explore these other simple tips to support your lymphatic system.
• Try dry brushing. Using a bath brush, use long and light strokes to brush your skin in the direction of your heart. This helps move and drain lymph. The body’s main lymph drainage point is near the heart. Dry brushing is a relaxing self-care technique all on its own! 
• Use a rebounder. A quick and easy way to get your lymph moving is to jump for a few minutes on a mini rebounder trampoline. If you’re pressed for time, just a few minutes can jumpstart your circulation giving you a boost of energy and improved lymph flow. 

Sleep more — at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night

It’s overnight as you sleep that so many of your body’s repair processes take place, including repair of burned out adrenals. Be in bed and sleeping by 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. at the latest. If you need to unwind, or it takes you a little bit to fall asleep, then get to bed at 9:00 or 9:30 p.m.

If your sleep is in really bad shape from stress, over production of cortisol could be the culprit and you will need to take a few extra steps to get your sleep back on track. To help do this, you can try a really good natural sleep supplement with L-theanine and passion flower for quieting cortisol production and calming your thoughts. Other helpful nutrients for sleep include calcium and magnesium — combined, they have a very relaxing effect, especially if stress creates muscle tension.

Also, stop screen time from messing with your sleep! Put your electronics to bed at least two hours before your own bedtime to avoid sleep-disrupting blue light. And sleep with your room in total darkness. Here are some more doctor-approved sleep secrets to help you get the restorative sleep you need. 

Opt for exercise that calms you down

When your adrenals are already in a state of hyper arousal, it’s helpful to choose forms of physical exercise that calm you down instead of rev you up. Walking, yoga, Tai Chi and other forms of low impact exercise are easy ways to boost your energy levels. They also work wonders for adrenal imbalance by “sopping up” excess cortisol circulating in your system. This helps you feel more relaxed and allows the adrenals to rest. On the other hand, high intensity exercise can trigger cortisol production. Listen to your body. If a certain form of exercise makes your energy levels drop even more, move on and try something else.

Give your body direct nourishment to beat burnout 

When you’re burned out, make sure your adrenals have everything they need for repair and replenishment. Helpful supplements for burnout include high-quality vitamins and minerals that support a healthy metabolism and hormonal balance, contributing to adrenal health. Our Essential Nutrients, with 30 vitamins and minerals, is an easy-to-take formulation that builds a strong nutritional foundation.

Specific herbal supplements, such as astragalus root and eleuthuro (Siberian ginseng), are effective at reducing the negative side effects of stress. Others, such as passionflower, produce calming effects and encourage sleep. Our natural formulations Adaptisol and Serinisol have many of these herbs.

The post Burnout weight gain is real — here’s how to reverse it appeared first on Women's Health Network.

Women’s sleep patterns are closely intertwined with their stress hormones. So — surprise, surprise — when you’re stressed, you often experience sleep disruptions at the same time.

Whether it’s tension from your job, family or marriage problems, the neighbor’s dog barking, a disagreement with someone on Facebook, or even just getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way home from work, stress triggers can cause levels of the “alert” hormone cortisol to surge. Over time, when stress becomes chronic, your body may come to view everything as a threat. Then cortisol remains stubbornly high — keeping your body and brain on red alert and unable to sleep.

Is your mind racing night after night? That’s a prime sign that you could have an underlying hormonal issue feeding this vicious cycle of sleeplessness.

Stress can disrupt your hormones and sleep patterns in other less direct ways too. For example, melatonin is one of your main sleep hormones. It’s triggered as daylight starts to decrease, signaling to your brain that it’s time to start winding down and go to sleep.

If after another stressful day juggling all your responsibilities you wind down by watching a movie on your laptop or scrolling through social media, this exposure to computer and electronic device screens before bed can interfere with melatonin production. The “blue light” emitted by these devices can trick the brain into perceiving the blue light as daylight. You lose sleep as a result.

So, now that we know what might be contributing to your sleep problems,  let’s talk about the solutions. When I help women with their sleep issues, I find that rebalancing cortisol and melatonin is really effective for resetting patterns for healthier sleep.

Here are my three favorite tips to try:

1. Give yourself time to drift off. Going to sleep at 10 pm does not mean lying down at 9:55 and expecting to be asleep in five minutes. When you don’t fall asleep in the short window you give yourself, this can trigger stress. This causes cortisol to lift instead of decrease. This just makes the problem worse!

I like to get in bed at 9 pm with an hour to read, listen to soothing music and just enjoy my bed. It’s freeing to know I have nine hours in bed and only need to spend eight of them asleep.

You can also create little rituals around bedtime to help your body (and cortisol production) into wind-down mode. Reflect on the day by writing in a journal, noting things that inspired you or made you feel grateful. Take a hot bath or drink a cup of non-caffeinated herbal tea — but remember no cookies with that tea. Stop eating three hours before bedtime so you’re not digesting food while trying to fall asleep.

2. Curb your cortisol. If your sleep is in really bad shape from stress, then you’ll need to more directly dial back over production of cortisol. To help do this, you can try a really good natural sleep supplement with L-theanine and passion flower for quieting cortisol production and calming your thoughts. Other helpful nutrients for sleep include calcium and magnesium — combined, they have a very relaxing effect, especially if stress creates muscle tension.

3. Stop screen time from messing with your sleep hormones. Put your electronics to bed at least two hours before your own bedtime to avoid sleep-disrupting blue light and sleep with your room in total darkness. To boost melatonin levels, you can try a melatonin supplement to help your body return to normal circadian and sleep rhythms. You can also snack on cherries in the evening! The juicy red fruit is a food source for melatonin. If you can’t find fresh cherries, try drinking a small amount of tart cherry juice.

When you get enough restful sleep, you have in your hands the key to optimal health and vitality. In all seriousness, sleep needs to become your new super power!

You can find more sleep tips in my related blog: 4 sleep secrets from Dr. Sharon Stills.

The post 3 steps to better sleep when you’re stressed appeared first on Women's Health Network.

If you have chronic high cortisol it’s almost impossible to balance your other hormones. Excess cortisol is not just a matter of discomfort, either. Over time, chronic high cortisol can lead to a variety of diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, we’re not helpless. Let’s talk about what you can do about excess cortisol.

What is cortisol?

Cortisol is one of the body’s main stress hormones. When you are under stress and your body’s fight or flight response kicks in, cortisol quickly comes to your rescue by mobilizing carbohydrates and fat for instant energy. But even when you’re not in danger, cortisol hums along in the background assisting your body with key everyday functions.

High cortisol signs and symptoms in women

When cortisol production is balanced, levels of the hormone naturally rise and fall during the day. These patterns are tightly connected to your circadian rhythm sleep/wake cycle.

Cortisol levels are usually lowest between midnight and 4 a.m. Then they gradually increase until around 8 a.m. Eventually, rising cortisol helps you to wake up and start the day. Then, after 8 a.m., cortisol declines incrementally throughout the day to gradually prepare you for sleep.

This daily rhythm is the norm — unless you encounter a stressful event. Then your body temporarily raises levels of cortisol and adrenaline to handle the stressful event. Eventually when the stressors have passed, cortisol and adrenaline levels return to normal.

That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Yet when chronic stress leads to unnaturally high cortisol levels, it creates a state of adrenal imbalance that often triggers a cascade of adrenal-related symptoms:

• Insomnia
• Weight gain
• Fatigue
• Brain fog
• Low sex drive
• Sleeplessness
• Weight gain (especially belly fat)
• Impaired healing and cell regeneration
• Disrupted digestion, mental function (brain fog) and metabolism
• Weakened ability to fight infection
• Imbalances in other important hormones such as DHEA, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone
• Loss of muscle and bone
• Mood swings and depression
• Hair and skin problems
• Thyroid imbalances

High cortisol + adrenal fatigue

Adrenal imbalance in women tends to peak between the ages of 35 and 55 and most often shows up in one of the following ways:

• You’re always active and feel “wired.” Your system is constantly fueled by adrenaline and cortisol so it feels like a continual state of hyper-energy. However, you often feel drained.
• You can’t get up in the morning, but you can’t sleep at night. Your natural 24-hour cycle of energy and relaxation is off-balance. If you’re able to fall asleep, you may wake up in the middle of the night fully alert.
• You have no energy — period. You feel exhausted all the time. So even getting out of bed often feels like a challenge. You may also experience intense cravings and unexplained weight gain.

Adrenal imbalance may be a factor in many other serious conditions. For example, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, arthritis, anxiety at night and more can result.

Lab testing for high cortisol levels

Unfortunately, conventional tests for adrenal function aren’t very helpful. Typical lab cortisol tests only identify the most severe cases of cortisol dysfunction after they have progressed to a full-blown disease state, such as Addison’s Disease or Cushing’s Disease. But you may be able to find a practitioner willing to do salivary cortisol testing, which measures a hormone called DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) throughout the day. But these tests aren’t perfect, either.

Absent a disease state, you can gain useful insight into your cortisol “curve” by watching your own symptoms throughout the day. Pay attention to your body. If your energy level is very low in the morning but seems to increase around the time everyone else is going to bed, your cortisol cycle is dysregulated. This is a good indication that you will reap huge benefits by taking steps to rebalance your adrenal glands.

How to lower cortisol and relieve adrenal fatigue

In our experience, women with mild to moderate adrenal imbalance have several options that can help them feel significantly better while keeping symptoms from becoming more severe.

The key is taking the right steps to normalize cortisol levels and restore healthy adrenal function. You can take immediate action by asking yourself these simple questions:

Are you eating in tune with your natural cortisol curve?

• When you eat your meals is just as important as what you eat to rebalance your adrenal glands. The goal is to achieve more stable energy levels throughout the day, which you can accomplish by eating three balanced meals with two snacks.
• What you eat does make a difference too! Try to reduce refined carbohydrates — such as sugar, flour, potatoes and white rice — which cause stressful ups and downs in your blood sugar that can lead to adrenal imbalance. We know this can be difficult, so just do the best you can. The goal is progress, rather than perfection!

How can nutritional supplements support your adrenal glands?

• High-quality vitamins and minerals help support a healthy metabolism and hormonal balance, which contribute to adrenal health. Our Essential Nutrients, with 30 vitamins and minerals, is an easy-to-take formulation that builds a strong nutritional foundation.
• Specific herbal supplements, such as astragalus root and eleuthuro (Siberian ginseng), are effective at reducing the negative side effects of stress. Others, such as passionflower, produce calming effects and encourage sleep. Many of these herbs are found in our natural formulations Adaptisol and Serinisol.

Which lifestyle changes are best to restore adrenal balance?

• We can’t always reduce stress, but we can take steps to reduce its effects on our lives. Take time to understand where your stress is coming from, and then think about how you’ll make changes that are right for you and your lifestyle. It’s helpful to make a list of stressors that interfere with your well being, especially those that are ongoing or self-imposed.
• Get more rest. Your body needs down time to heal! Aim for at least 7-8 hours a night. So be in bed and sleeping by 10 or 10:30 p.m. at the latest. If you need to unwind, or it takes you a little bit to fall asleep, then get to bed at 9 or 9:30 p.m.
• Get more gentle. Choose forms of physical exercise that calm you down instead of rev you up. For example, walking, yoga, Tai Chi and other forms of low impact exercise can do wonders for the adrenals. On the other hand, high intensity exercise can trigger cortisol production. So listen to your body. If a certain form of exercise makes you feel worse instead of better, move on and try something else.

Remember, it took a lot of time for high cortisol levels to develop so it’s going to take time to bring your adrenals back to balance. Above all, as you work towards this goal, be kind to yourself, be proactive about all the many changes you can make and steps you can take — and know that you will be well again!

The post How high cortisol hurts your body appeared first on Women's Health Network.