WTF is an adrenal gland and why should i care?
Goooooooooooood Afternoon/morning/evening/night whatever-it-is-wherever-you-are-reading-this! I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve gotten a newsletter out, and I have some new subscribers (YAY!!!) so I wanted to begin with a huge HELLO! Welcome! Please check out my other newsletters, as they all connect with one another in one way or…another.
In my other newsletters, I’ve been bouncing all around the idea of the world being stressful and how/what we do as humans to deal with it. We use our phones (blue light!), we drink caffeine, we try to ground ourselves (not with electricity), and we try to get enough Vitamin D to help our bodies cope with the world. (In case you didn’t realize, those are all the links to a few of my other newsletters to let you know what I’m talking about). However, today, what I would like to discuss is the actual effect stress has on our bodies. Stress and health combined have been buzz words for a while now. We all know since we have entered the digital age that our sedentary lifestyles are opposite to what our innate nature is acclimated to- basically, we live indoors, sit indoors, eat artificial things, use artificial light, sit in a car, sit on the couch, gulp toxic air, drink toxic water, and so much more; when we came from bodies that are used to being outside, hunting pure food, foraging, drinking clean water, and moving to survive.
This leads me into the fight or flight response. This has also been a buzz-phrase as of late, but what does it mean? Here’s the breakdown.
You have 2 adrenal glands that sit on top of both of your kidneys. According to adrenal.com/adrenal-gland/overview, “…adrenal glands are about the size and shape of a fortune cookie. They are triangular and not round.”
What do they do?
The adrenal glands release hormones directly into the bloodstream to help your body maintain homeostasis (if all is well) and to support essential body functions. Because they produce and secrete several types of hormones, they are part of the endocrine system. Your endocrine system is made up of a complex network of glands and organs using hormones to control and coordinate your body’s metabolism, energy level, growth and development, stress, mood, and more. Examples of organs include your thyroid, pancreas, ovary, and testis. There are two main parts to your adrenal glands. There’s the Adrenal Medulla, which is the center of the gland, and the Adrenal Cortex, which is the outer portion of the gland. Each portion produces different hormones.
What hormones are produced?
We will look at the Adrenal Cortex first, or the outer rim of the gland. This portion produces hormones that are vital to life, for example cortisol and aldosterone. More on cortisol in a minute, but aldosterone is necessary for fluid and electrolyte balance in the body. It works directly in conjunction with regulating your kidney functions to help maintain hydration. It can also help control blood pressure. The cortex also produces small amounts of sex hormones, like dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and Androgenic Steroids which are precursor hormones that are converted in the ovaries into estrogen and in the testes into androgens. However, most of those hormones are produced in larger amounts by the ovaries and testes, respectively. Cortisol helps control the body’s use of macronutrients (fats, proteins, carbs), suppresses inflammation, regulates blood pressure, and increases blood sugar. It also helps control the sleep/wake cycle (circadian rhythm anyone?) and is released during times of stress to get an energy boost during emergency situations.
Symptoms of excess cortisol in the body for too long can include weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, muscle weakness, and more. We’ll come back to this.
Now for the Adrenal Medulla, or the center of the adrenal glands. This produces nonessential hormones such as adrenaline, which helps your body react to..wait for it..stress! (nonessential simply means you don’t need these hormones to live). These are released after the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, which occurs when you are stressed. Hormones released include epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). These two hormones work together in responding to stress. Epinephrine increases your heart rate and rushes blood to the muscles and brain. It spikes your blood sugar to give you a surge of energy. Norepinephrine causes vasoconstriction, or the narrowing of blood vessels, causing high blood pressure, but resulting in working with epinephrine causes a spike of energy.
Fight or Flight
Going back to what I mentioned at the beginning, our bodies are accustomed to being outside and fighting for our food. Our ancestors would face danger in their environment that would be deciphered as mentally or physically terrifying and trigger the release of hormones to prepare their body to either stay and deal with the threat or to run away to safety. Thus, the ‘fight-or-flight’ response
Why do I care?
Again, going back to the beginning, our lifestyles have drastically changed from our ancient ancestors. However, our body’s physiological functioning has stayed relatively the same. This means that a stressful situation in today’s environment triggers the same physiological response from our body. Even if it’s a looming work deadline, persistent worry, family difficulties, traffic jams, etc, and not a tiger coming to eat our freshly caught supper on the fire. The problem lies here: everything is now stressful to our bodies. This means we are chronically activating the fight or flight reaction for our bodies and overusing the hormones that were created to let us react quickly to life-threatening situations. It’s a carefully orchestrated yet near-instantaneous sequence of responses that leaves us with our heart pounding, heavy breathing, tense muscles, and sweat pouring.
There are a ton of rabbit holes I could go down in the process of this happening, and how this happens, but essentially, the sympathetic nervous system sends signals to the adrenal glands once our brain recognizes a sense of danger in front of us. Epinephrine gets secreted into the bloodstream, causing the symptoms I mentioned above, plus pulse rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar to all raise.
Chronic activation of this stress response impairs our health in the long-term. Most people find it hard to put the brakes on stress, and this is where calming efforts come into play (i.e. grounding, setting our phones aside, sun bathing…everything I mentioned in previous newsletters, found here). Consistent epinephrine surges can cause damage to blood vessels, cause stagnated & elevated blood pressure, and result in higher risk of heart attacks or strokes.
Ok so what about the adrenal glands?
Adrenal fatigue is the point here. It’s a syndrome that occurs when the glands are overstimulated and overworked, which leaves them not working on the proper level they need to. It’s associated with intense chronic stress (light bulb!). Your body will feel taxed and wiped out, which can result in increased depression, anxiety, weight gain, all the typical symptoms of not-enough-sleep. When the glands responsible for balancing hormones throughout the entire body are burnt out, mental health, libido, leaky gut, digestive orders, and all sorts of ailments can occur.
Jeeze, what I can I do?
Your body needs to be given the chance to recuperate from mental, emotional, and physical stress. Lifestyle choices can make a world of difference. If you are in an occurrence of great emotional trauma in your life, or even if you’re just exhausted from the day-to-day chronic stress, we can take steps to improve our quality of life and help our adrenals recover. You may need to lower your caffeine intake for a brief stint. You will need to clean up your diet and pause/stop the snacking and high-fat foods that aid in high blood pressure. You can supplement with some adrenal support vitamins and minerals, and an exercise program*. Always consult your doctor, an NTP (like myself!) or a holistic health care provider for the best options for you.
I know this was a ton of information, and there are several rabbit holes to go down, but I will save those for other newsletters. For now, thanks for sticking with me on this longer-than-usual read, and hopefully you learned a little something! Always email me at holistic@glisteningnutrition with ANY questions, concerns, issues you may be facing with yourself, a family member, or even an issue with the website! I’d love to hear from you!
Until Next time, Health Nuts!
*Sometimes exercise is not the best when it comes to adrenal fatigue, and can overwork your adrenal glands more. I’ll do another newsletter on that, as this one is full of good information, however there is more to be said about the adrenals. 😊
Helpful Resources:
https://www.adrenal.com/adrenal-gland/overview
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/adrenal-glands
http://denverholisticmedicine.com/blog/adrenal-hormones-and-how-the-affect-us
https://annarborholistichealth.com/adrenal-fatigue/
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fight-or-flight-response-2795194
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
