Elevated stress and poor adrenal function can have a detrimental effect on body composition or make the task of improving body composition much more difficult.

When our stress hormone cortisol is elevated for prolonged periods of time this can lead to impaired digestion, poor immunity, decreased testosterone, infrequent menstrual cycles, increased susceptibility to infections cravings for sugary and fatty food plus weight gain particularly around the abdomen.

There are many different types of lifestyle factors that can elevate stress and cortisol such as over-training, lack of sleep, working long hours, emotional stress, poor digestion and poor food choices. Some factors you may not be able to control such as work and family commitments. Others we can improve on such as sleep quality, length of sleep, adequate recovery from training and training load, diet,digestive function and energy levels.

Typically clients who have elevated stress also tend to have poor sleep habits. Cortisol should be high in the morning in order to wake us up and lower at the end of the day to allow us to fall asleep. If we constantly stress our body this cycle can become deregulated leading to us being awake at night and sleepy in the morning.

Studies have shown having less than six hours sleep can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, inflammation and decreased carb tolerance. Lack of sleep has also been shown to reduce our immune system.

Elevated stress can also lead to visceral fat deposits next to internal organs and high fat distribution around the stomach. Deep abdominal fat has four times the cortisol receptors compared to fat under the skin and greater blood flow.

If during the initial consultation if it appears the clients energy levels are lacking and the client has been under considerable stress for a period of time an appropriate adrenal protocol will be implemented.

The clients sleep quality will be addressed along with energy level support during during the day. Once the clients energy and stress levels have improved the client can be moved onto the next appropriate metabolic or hormonal protocol.

To book a Metabolic Analytics consultation complete the contact form below.