HEALTH NEWS : Adrenal fatigue and the role of the hormone cortisol.... Try to eliminate alcohol to reduce high cortisol levels.....Low salt intake is necessary to reduce high cortisol levels.

Sunday, June 07, 2015 

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprises him most about humanity, he said, "Man. He sacrifices himself to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate health. And then he is so anxious about the future, he does not enjoy the present."

The adrenal glands sitting atop the kidneys.

That describes the rat race in which we live. Like the Energiser Bunny, we keep going and going and going.

Maybe I should speak for myself, but I know I am not alone. Sacrificing ourselves - and the poor adrenal gland feels the brunt of that sacrifice.

The adrenal gland is that little gland at the top of the kidney, little but very important as the storehouse of many of the hormones we need to fight, or to have flight, to endure stressful times.

At high levels it acts as an anti-inflammatory and increases blood sugar. These are good things, at first.

Our immune system is on high alert, and we have elevated blood glucose levels to do what we need to do, even if we do not eat. In an effort to create a balance, it then also begins to suppress the thyroid gland and this helps to slow us back down. Nature will always create balance with an inherent feedback mechanism. The aim of this is to prevent more cortisol release.

Try to eliminate alcohol to reduce
 high cortisol levels.

But what happens when the stress is chronic? The feedback mechanisms do not work as they were not designed for that. Your blood sugar levels continue to be high. If you don't exercise, and curb eating, then insulin is secreted in excess. What happens next? Diabetes. The great anti-inflammatory effects we had at first, from cortisol, now become dysfunctional.

Low salt intake is necessary to
reduce high cortisol levels.

Food intolerances, weird allergies, chronic infections, pain issues now become more common. The pain is everywhere. This we are now beginning to understand are the roots of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. The interplay with other hormones also become dysfunctional. Osteoporosis is accelerated, cortisol is a steroid, after all. Fat begins to accumulate in the waist and protein breaks down more, because of insulin excess. Salt and water retention increase, hunger increases, insomnia is worse. These are effects of the steroid. more