There are three main sources of stress that negatively affect your health:

  1. Emotional Stress

  2. Poor Lifestyle Choices

  3. Chronic Pain and Inflammation (Known and Unknown)

If continued unchecked, emotional stress, poor lifestyle choices, and chronic pain have a cumulative effect, making you more susceptible to allergies, infections, inflammation, and toxicity. Chronic stress causes your adrenal glands, which are charged with producing hormones to help you adapt to stress, to “burn out,” leading to fatigue, depression, weight gain, sugar cravings, and hormone imbalance.

Below is a list of the top ten emotional stressors that contribute to adrenal exhaustion. How many have you experienced in the past year? Throughout your life?

  • Death of a loved one

  • Divorce or end of relationship

  • Relationship difficulties, frequent arguments

  • Change in residence

  • Overwork, or termination of employment

  • Pregnancy

  • Addition to family

  • Outstanding personal achievement (graduation, promotion)

  • Financial stress (mortgage, loans)

  • Personal injury or illness

Poor lifestyle choices also take a toll on your health. Do you engage in any of the below habits?

  • Frequent skipped meals

  • Regular consumption of refined sugar (processed foods, sweets, candy, sodas)

  • Need caffeine (coffee, colas) to get going

  • Too much or too little exercise

  • Poor sleep habits

Pain is the most obvious response from the body that something is out of balance. But you may also be experiencing chronic inflammation as a result of poor diet or undetected infection. When your adrenal glands have been functioning in overdrive for a period of time due to poor lifestyle habits or unchecked stress, other body systems begin to suffer as a result of the imbalance. Do you experience any the following symptoms?

  • Frequent colds, infections

  • Joint or muscle pain

  • Allergies

  • Digestive difficulties: constipation, diarrhea, bloating, indigestion

  • Chemical sensitivity