Are you stressed out, anxious, and physically exhausted?
Are you moving full speed all day to keep up with demanding work and family responsibilities? Then, when nighttime rolls around, you can’t unwind and turn your mind off?
Are you trapped in a cycle of stressful days and sleepless nights?
Maybe you’ve already tried natural remedies to relieve stress and improve sleep, like magnesium, meditation, valerian root, and acupuncture, but nothing takes the edge off your anxiety. Maybe you even tried drugs like Xanax, but it made you feel spacey, irritable, and just downright weird.
Well, you’re not alone. It seems like everyone’s stressed and anxious nowadays, especially after being bombarded by bad news every day. It’s sad, but we’re all just searching for a way to cope with the demands of our day-to-day lives.
When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands start pumping cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol can be helpful in life-or-death situations because it increases your blood sugar, giving you the energy you need to either fight the threat you face or flee from it.
But to give you that extra energy boost, cortisol stops other bodily functions that aren’t essential in an emergency, like immune response, digestion, and reproduction. This is no big deal if the stress is temporary. But if you have high levels of stress daily, it becomes a severe problem that impacts your hormones and health.
Cortisol blocks the body from making the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, throwing your hormonal balance out of whack. Beyond your hormones, high cortisol levels weaken your immune system, put you at risk for diabetes, and contribute to obesity. High cortisol — and low estrogen and progesterone levels — are also tied to mood problems and, of course, anxiety.
So, in other words, stress messes with your hormonal balance, and unbalanced hormones make you feel more stressed. It’s a vicious cycle.
How Do You Break The Cycle?
DHEA to the rescue.
What is DHEA?
DHEA, a steroidal hormone, is one of the most abundant hormones in the human body. Produced in the adrenal glands just above the kidneys, it metabolizes into male and female sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen).
What Lowers DHEA?
Various factors that can diminish DHEA levels are sugar, nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, nutritional imbalance, a vegetarian diet low in cholesterol, and healthy fats. Other factors that lower DHEA are elevated insulin levels, certain pharmaceuticals (e.g., birth control pills, corticosteroids, opiates), menopause, andropause (“manopause”), adrenal insufficiency, high blood pressure, heart disease, serious illness (e.g., cancer), smoking, and excess drinking.
DHEA also declines with age. With age, DHEA production declines, usually peaking between the ages of 25-30 and gradually falling to a decline of 90% by age 60.
Stress plays a huge role in low DHEA, too. First, the two have an inverse relationship: DHEA production is reduced as cortisol (the primary stress hormone) increases. Second, the increase in cortisol also increases the body’s consumption of DHEA. According to some studies, restoring DHEA levels will decrease the production of cortisol and another stress hormone, corticosterone. Managing stress can help reduce cortisol and thus improve DHEA levels.
How DHEA Works
DHEA supports IGF-1 levels (insulin growth factor) and supports decreased levels of cortisol. IGF-1 is the hormone or growth-stimulating metabolite produced by the metabolism of HGH and is responsible for the beneficial effects of elevated human growth hormone. Cortisol is a stress hormone (HGH). With aging, there is a decline in DHEA and an elevation of cortisol. High and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream (like those associated with chronic stress) have been shown to have adverse effects, such as impaired cognitive performance and suppressed thyroid function. Elevating DHEA levels is a way to help manage high cortisol levels and improve IGF-1 production.
Why Take DHEA?
Because DHEA is a precursor to testosterone and estrogen, increasing DHEA can also stimulate the production of these hormones. Enhancing the sex hormones can help mitigate several markers of the aging process. Patients going through andropause or menopause may need to supplement with DHEA, which will be determined by lab testing. DHEA may be most helpful in women in perimenopause and men with early testosterone decline.
The following is a list of some of the potential benefits of DHEA:
- It lowers cholesterol. DHEA can lower cholesterol levels modestly, and one study suggests that DHEA replacement may reduce “bad” cholesterol (LDL).
- It may also lower insulin levels. DHEA can help stabilize blood sugar by reducing insulin levels modestly.
- It may boost the immune system. DHEA enhances the immune system response by stimulating the thymus gland, which produces T cells (white blood cell powerhouses for your immune system). It also favorably affects specific white blood cells, potentially decreasing the risk of infections and malignant tumors.
- It boosts moods and lowers stress, too. One study suggests that DHEA treatment can relieve mild to moderate depression symptoms; the hormone binds to specific receptors, with the potential result of opening up calcium channels. This can have a positive impact on depression, memory, and cognition.
- It improves symptoms for several conditions and diseases. DHEA can alleviate symptoms associated with obesity and autoimmune diseases, lupus, adrenal insufficiency, and Epstein-Barr.
- It may provide a modest decrease in cardiac risk for men. Also, DHEA treatment has reported better outcomes in the aftermath of cardiac stent insertion.
- It may reduce menopause symptoms for women. DHEA can mitigate psychological symptoms of menopause by boosting beta-endorphin levels; it can also help improve vaginal dryness.
- It may also help with weight loss and inflammation. DHEA has been shown to possibly play a role in the conversion of fat to lean muscle and in decreasing the proteins responsible for inflammation.
While DHEA has several benefits, it may not be optimal for everyone. Like every supplement, it is not risk-free. Check with your doctor to determine whether your health, medications, or treatment plans suit taking DHEA.
If you would like to have your DHEA tested or have questions about which DHEA may be best for you, get a FREE Consultation with one of our doctors (D.C) here
