Hormones and stress briefing
Stress and adrenal function
Your body is built to handle short bursts of stress. The trouble starts when the pressure never lets up: ongoing strain keeps your stress hormones switched on, slowly draining the nutrient and energy reserves your body relies on to function.
What is stress?
Stress is an individual response to challenging physical, emotional or intellectual demands. The way long-term challenges and sustained pressure affect the body shows up differently from person to person. What one person finds stressful, the next may not notice at all.
It is your own internal reaction that triggers the response. Nervous tension begins in the brain and spreads throughout the body, ultimately affecting the adrenal glands, the thyroid, the chemical messengers of the body, the digestive system and the heart.
Your body is equipped to deal with brief episodes of stress. Stress on a regular basis is the problem: it can exhaust your natural defences and leave the body open to health problems.
What contributes to stress
A wide variety of things can produce stress, including emotional, physical and intellectual triggers, nutritional deficiencies and infections. Common stressors group into two kinds.
Direct stressors
Lifestyle, traumatic events, economic security, employment status, injuries, illness, drug use, social interaction and emotional disposition.
Indirect consequences that pile on more strain
Overeating, skipping breakfast, snacking on high-sugar foods, inadequate sleep, too little daily physical activity, not resting, smoking, and consuming excessive alcohol, caffeine or drugs.
Symptoms of stress
The symptoms of stress can be many and varied. You may notice some of these:
Energy and mind
Fatigue or apathy, irritability, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, poor memory, anxiety and depression.
Digestion and appetite
Changes in appetite, indigestion, bloating, weight gain, and diarrhoea or constipation.
Body and hormones
High blood pressure, headaches, aches and pains, low libido, menstrual difficulties, skin problems, and more frequent infections and inflammation.
How your body responds to stress
Your body’s initial reaction to an immediate threat is to prepare itself. This is the fight-or-flight response, and it is a perfectly healthy and natural reaction.
The immediate surge
A hormone signals the adrenal glands, the two small glands on top of each kidney, to release adrenaline and cortisol. Your heart rate climbs, blood pressure rises, breathing quickens, appetite is suppressed and digestion shuts down. The liver releases emergency stores of glucose for instant energy and strength.
Why modern life overdoes it
This response is not well suited to hectic lifestyles and ongoing worries that over-stimulate the fight-or-flight mechanism. Left unchecked, it puts incredible strain on the body, in particular the adrenal glands.
Cortisol keeps the pressure on
Cortisol maintains the fight-or-flight state by raising blood sugar to keep energy up and retaining sodium to keep blood pressure up. It also helps convert proteins, fats and carbohydrates into energy for the ongoing battle.
When the threat does not pass
Once a threat is over, adrenaline drops quickly and cortisol falls more slowly. If stress continues, cortisol can stay high for a very long time. The body adapts to this constant level, keeps a fat store ready for fuel, and creates cravings and increased appetite to keep that fuel topped up.
Fight-or-flight is essential for short-term stress but unsustainable long term. If stress continues, chronically high stress hormones deplete both nutrient and energy reserves, creating an overall state of exhaustion that can lead to what is often called burnout or adrenal fatigue. At this point cortisol levels drop as the adrenal glands finally give up the fight, low blood sugar follows, and energy levels become low.
Supporting your body and your adrenal glands
There are many ways of dealing with stress. These steps take the load off your adrenal glands and help your body recover.
Protect your sleep
Get good quality sleep. Be in bed before 10pm and avoid stimulation for one hour before bed.
Ease your schedule
Maintain a reasonable work and personal schedule, and cut out the aspects of your life that drain your energy.
Build in regular relaxation
Reading, bathing, massage and listening to music all help. Activities such as tai chi, pilates, walking and yoga are very good at reducing stress. Learn to breathe deeply and meditate often.
Eat well and eat often
Choose a variety of good quality, whole natural foods. Eat plenty of coloured vegetables (green, red, orange, yellow or purple), ideally organic and fresh, or frozen if not. Eat regularly, never skip meals, take time over your food and chew well to support digestion and nutrient absorption.
Include protein with every meal and snack
Choose vegetable or animal protein, or oily fish, with each meal and snack. Note how different food combinations work for you. Often it is the foods we crave most that have the worst effect on us, so eat the foods your body needs and avoid those that make you feel bad.
Stay hydrated, with a salt twist
Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day, ideally spring water, plus herbal teas. Try a glass of water in the morning with 1 to 2 teaspoons of unrefined salt (ideally sea salt) stirred in until dissolved.
What to avoid putting strain on your adrenals
Just as some habits help, others keep your adrenal glands under pressure. Where you can, ease off these.
Overtiring yourself
Getting overtired and staying up late, past 11pm. Pushing yourself too hard. Being harsh or negative with yourself.
Stimulants and alcohol
Caffeine, even decaffeinated, found in coffee, black tea and fizzy drinks. Avoid or reduce alcohol.
Sugar and refined carbohydrates
Eliminate all sugar and refined carbohydrates such as white flour, white rice and white pasta. Do not eat starchy carbohydrates like breads and pastas on their own. Avoid tinned and processed foods.
Trigger foods and skipped meals
Avoid foods you are addicted to, or that you suspect you may be sensitive to or that make you feel worse. Never skip meals, especially breakfast.
Go lightly on fruit, especially tropical fruit, and especially in the morning. Fruit contains a significant amount of fructose and potassium, a combination that is detrimental for those with adrenal fatigue. Papaya, berries, apples and pears are better choices because they are less sweet.
References
Glenville, M (2006), Mastering Cortisol: Stop Your Body’s Stress Hormone Making You Fat Around The Middle, Ulysses Press.
Wilson, J (2011), Adrenal Fatigue: the 21st Century Stress Syndrome, Smart Publications.
Dr S Myhill website, drmyhill.co.uk: Adrenal gland and DHEA / cortisol.
Stress Management Society, stress.org.uk.
Frequently asked questions
What is adrenal fatigue and how does chronic stress cause it?
Short bursts of stress are healthy, but the fight-or-flight response is meant to fire briefly. Modern life can keep it switched on, so cortisol stays chronically high and gradually depletes the body's nutrient and energy reserves, a state often described as adrenal fatigue or burnout. Stress comes both directly, from lifestyle, trauma, work or illness, and indirectly through its consequences like poor sleep, skipped meals, high sugar intake and excess caffeine or alcohol.
What are the symptoms of high cortisol or adrenal strain?
Symptoms tend to span several areas. Energy and mind effects can include fatigue, irritability, trouble sleeping, poor memory, anxiety and low mood. Digestive effects include appetite changes, bloating, weight gain and altered bowel habits. Body and hormone effects can include raised blood pressure, headaches, aches, low libido, menstrual changes, skin issues and frequent infections. Because these overlap with many conditions, they are best interpreted in context rather than self-diagnosed.
How can I support my adrenals and recover from burnout?
Recovery centres on taking the load off. Helpful steps include protecting sleep by getting to bed before about 10pm and avoiding stimulation beforehand, easing your schedule, building in regular relaxation such as a bath, massage, yoga or breathing, eating whole foods and regular meals with protein at each meal and snack, and staying well hydrated. It also helps to go easy on caffeine, alcohol, sugar and refined carbohydrates, and to avoid skipping meals.
Reviewed by Rohan Smith, BHSc Nutritional Medicine · Elemental Health & Nutrition, Adelaide. Last reviewed 13 June 2026.
Important: This summary is general information, not personalised medical advice, diagnosis, or a treatment protocol. Speak with a qualified practitioner about your individual situation. Book a consultation →