As I have shared in past posts for many years I have been crippled by debilitating fatigue. It began over 16 years ago and reached a crisis point for me about a year and half ago. Read my health journey.
“The adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys, support us through stressful events. They secrete hormones that make us resilient in times of difficulty, like a sleepless night, illness, surgery, stress at work, stress at home, loss of a loved one, meltdowns at the store with toddlers, financial pressure, etc. The challenges – whether they’re short-term, long-term, severe or relatively mild – can sometimes overwhelm the adrenals. Because the effects of stress on the adrenals are cumulative, multiple sources of stress tend to compound the problem.
Unfortunately, some types of stress are hard to spot. In his book Dr. James Wilson mentions a study which measured the stress hormones of a group of nurses working in a pediatric unit. They weren’t aware of any particular stress in their lives, but their lab tests told a different story. According to Dr. Wilson, they “were totally unaware of being under stress, but their cortisol levels were elevated by 200-300%.”
When we go through stressful times – perceived or not – our bodies need a recovery phase afterwards. Just like weight lifters need to take a break between workouts so their muscles can rebuild, internally we need to reset to stay strong.
And now we all see the problem, right? Modern life is incredibly stressful, and most of us don’t get a lot of downtime. Over the course of years, this can weaken us, making us less able to adapt to stressful events, less productive and more easily irritated.
So back to my personal story. I had tried so many things for my chronic illness over the years–they might help for awhile and then I would relapse. I began wondering if maybe the Lord was wanting me to be content to remain debilitated. Then a friend told me about Plexus and I skeptically tried it. You can read of my amazing surprise and joy as I started to recover.
What a blessing the return of healing has been and I am so thankful to the Lord for each and every day of this journey.
So, how does balancing blood sugar help with the body’s ability to handle stress? I am glad you asked! 🙂
Judith Poole share this wonderful info of the link between blood sugar stabilization and stress.
“I have been researching the benefits of blood sugar regulation in relation to our ability to handle stress. Interesting stuff!! We need to decrease the stress in our body to bring it back to a healing state and the #1 stress on our bodies is blood sugar imbalance. Our body cannot handle the continual highs and lows of imbalanced blood sugar and this causes our adrenals to become “stressed out”. When stressed our adrenals send out a hormone called cortisol. The stress hormone, cortisol, is public health enemy number one. Scientists have known for years that elevated cortisol levels, interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, increase weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease… The list goes on and on. Insulin and cortisol are like a teeter totter that needs to be balanced. When unbalanced our body faces the stress of that continual teeter tottering of our insulin and cortisol. Continual spiking of blood sugar calls for our adrenals to send out cortisol and and our adrenals become increasingly taxed. If we work to regulate our insulin, thus regulating our stress hormone and allowing our stress fighting mechanism to heal. that cannot heal if our insulin is not balanced!! Regulating blood sugar is HUGE in healing the stress in our bodies. Other stresses on the body are diets high in refined sugar & poor sleep. Elevated cholesterol, blood pressure, lipids are all indicators of stress in the body. Experiencing trauma in our lives can set off an insulin response. It is fascinating, the impact Insulin has in our body!
Is your body having trouble bouncing back from stress? Here are just a few markers:
Difficulty getting up each morning, even after a long sleep
High levels of fatigue each day
Inability to handle stress
Cravings for salty foods
Higher energy levels in the evenings
A weakened immune system
Whatever you want to call it. The deep disabling fatigue that more and more people are feeling is something very real in our society. Our flight or fight responses are being pummeled with daily stressors including the way we eat, our environment, our lifestyles and busyness.
If you feel that you can relate to any of these symptoms, don’t wait until they get worse to address these important issues in your body. I would love to help you work at the core issues of blood sugar regulation, inflammation and gut health. I think you will be blessed. I was and still am!