Stress: The Real Reason You're "Not in the Mood"

Ok, so last week I talked all about sleep, one of the 4 biological needs of a human.  The others being food, water and mating (aka- sex).

This week, we’re talking about stress, which also means we’re talking about sex, because when you are too stressed out, guess what commonly happens...you lose your sex drive.

I hear it ALL THE TIME from athletes. “I’m too tired."

Yes, maybe. But you’re probably also releasing so much cortisol from training, working, balancing family needs, financial obligations and just life in general that your body can’t actually produce enough of the hormones that actually create a sex drive.

​This is a problem because it’s one of the biological requirements for human survival! Not having a sex drive should be a big fat sign that something isn’t right. So let’s talk about it…

​The Steroid Hormones

The steroid hormones are one classification of hormones that are secreted by the steroid glands: the adrenals, the testes, the ovaries, and the placenta during pregnancy.

Steroid hormones can be grouped into two classes: corticosteroids (typically made in the adrenal cortex) and sex steroids (typically made in the gonads or placenta). Within those two categories, there are five main steroid hormones secreted by these glands:

• Androgens including testosterone and androstenedione
• Estrogens including estrone, estradiol and estriol
• Progestogens including progesterone
• Mineralocorticoids including aldosterone
• Glucocorticoids including cortisol

Steroid hormones are classified as fat-soluble and can pass through cell membranes, where they bind to their receptor site inside the cell wall (as opposed to water soluble hormones which bind to receptors on the cell wall). Being fat-soluble, it is no surprise that the building block required to create all steroid hormones is also a fat, which is cholesterol.

Approximately 75% of all cholesterol in the body is made within the body (mainly in the liver). The other 25% comes from diet.

When there is a growing demand for higher amounts of the steroid hormones, our liver can respond by producing more cholesterol. If the liver cannot keep up with the demand of cholesterol required to meet the need of all the steroid hormones, the body will be forced to choose which steroid hormones are more important than others.

Typically, this results in a phenomenon known as the “pregnenolone steal”.​

Pregnenolone is considered the “master hormone,” and is used as a precursor for the creation of most of the steroid hormones. Cholesterol is used to create pregnenolone.

If enough pregnenolone is produced to meet all the demands of the steroid hormones, that pregnenolone will be used to create cortisol in the liver, estrogen and testosterone in the gonads, and aldosterone in the adrenals to act upon the kidneys.

In this case, hormones are balanced and you feel great! However, all too often, there is dysfunction in the steroid hormone production pathway. Oftentimes this imbalance is created from not enough of the hormones precursor (cholesterol) and/or too high of a demand for hormones (usually chronic cortisol aka high level of stress).

Our body was built to successfully manage acute bouts with stress. However, with the busy pace of our modern world, the stress response is often activated for extended periods.

With chronic stress that is often unmanaged, the cortisol pathway is prioritized and your body pushes all available pregnenolone to be used for cortisol production, since this is considered life or death.

This results in less pregnenolone being available for conversion to the sex hormones and aldosterone for electrolyte balance. The end result? High cholesterol, low/no sex drive and salt cravings!

​Cortisol & Adrenaline

In psychological terms, stress is the reaction to something that threatens our physical or mental equilibrium. This means that it can come from a ferocious tiger threatening to eat us, an overdue credit card bill that we don’t have the funds available to pay, or exercise.

Genetically, our body is hard wired to deal with stressors in a way that is meant to protect us from things like predators and angry enemies. Historically, these types of threats were typically quick to come and quick to go.

Between threats, our body could unwind and had time to recover before another threat revealed itself. Today, most of us no longer have to worry about dangerous animals threatening to eat us, or our neighbors busting into our hut with a spear. Today’s threats are much different. 

In the book The Adrenal Reset Diet author Alan Christianson says: 

“within the last few decades our world has gotten more toxic, a lot noisier, and much faster pace. Our food has more sugar, less fiber, and many more chemicals. We spend less time in sunlight and we sleep less. We take more medications, feel less certain of our financial futures, and have fewer friends.”

Not only are all of these things causing increased stress, but the type of stress has turned from acute to chronic. This type of chronic stress has a completely different effect on our adrenal glands than acute stressors.

The adrenal glands are responsible for the production and output of our main stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline. Neither of these hormones were intended to be in the system for the long term. These hormones help you survive immediate threats by raising your blood pressure and shunting blood to your working muscles and brain, so you can fight or flee.

In today’s world, where threats are not solved in a single afternoon, these hormones are working overtime to try to protect you. Meanwhile, your blood pressure remains high, your immune system is weakened, your digestive system slows down and does not work properly, your sleep is affected because you are wired (and exhausted), and your ability to learn decreases.

There is plenty of scientific evidence that shows how chronic stress plays a sizable role in mental illness and pathological physical states such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, obesity and immunosuppression. This is mostly due to the inflammatory nature of these two stress hormones.

​Endurance Athletes & Stress

Endurance athletes are ESPECIALLY prone to this chronic stress state because many of us have the usual life stressors (financial obligations, family needs, work schedules to follow, etc) and then we tack on 10-15 hours (or sometimes more) per week of exercise.

Exercise is a stressor even though many of us use it as a “stress reliever” from regular life.

Our body doesn’t know if we’re running for fun, or running from a threat. We’re running... and that means we’re releasing hormones to help us do that...cortisol being one of them.

One of cortisol's main jobs is to release stored sugar from our liver into our blood so the muscles have the energy they need to fight or flee. It’s not a bad thing that this happens, it can just create a problem when it happens all the time.

For many athletes, the solution is a really hard pill to swallow. It’s called rest. The body needs down time to “restock” the cortisol reserves so next time you run, it can do its job!

​So What Can You Do About It?

Currently, treatment for anxiety and depression involves mostly psychological and pharmacological interventions; however, mind-body interventions are becoming increasingly popular as a means to reduce stress.

A great place to start before jumping to supplements and/or medications is by actually managing your life's stressors. It has been suggested by many anthropologists that most ancient cultures spent equal or more time in the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”) than the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”).

If you find yourself with a schedule packed with things to do from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed, racing thoughts of finances, to-do lists, life commitments constantly moving through your brain, lots of training days or you don’t have many moments to just sit down and do nothing…you are likely not balanced!

Taking a look at your schedule/life to find things that can be eliminated and/or places to make time for yourself to decompress from the GO!GO!GO! might be exactly what you need to reduce and or eliminate symptoms of imbalanced hormones.


Meditation is one of those activities that should be considered as part of your daily routine. Meditation is known to drive your autonomic nervous system from the sympathetic into the parasympathetic where body healing and repair can happen. 

It is well known that the habit of meditation is best when done daily, rather than in large amounts a few times per week or month. In other words, 5 minutes every day is much better than 35 minutes one time per week. There are many books, blogs, podcasts and apps that you can access to help you get started. 

Anything in your life that creates a chronic stress response can create an imbalance in the steroid hormone pathway. Many of these stressors are things that have become part of our normal day-to-day and therefore we don’t look at them as a stress anymore. But how does your autonomic nervous system feel about that?

Some of the areas to really explore when trying to reduce the stress load are:

• lack of sleep, lack of sleep, lack of sleep!
• exposure to toxins (chemicals, molds, etc)
• nutrient poor diet (aka- too much processed food)
• poor digestion, which creates a lack of nutrient absorption
• Not enough physical activity 
• TOO MUCH physical activity 
• lack of social face-to-face interaction (hello COVID!)
• guilt, grief, depression, anxiety, lack of self-esteem
• increased financial obligations
• illness
• lack of sleep (did I already mention that?!?)

And the list goes on and on. If you lack a sex drive; crave sweets and salt; get dizzy when you stand up quickly; have achy joints or other body aches; have low blood pressure; suffer from mild depression; require stimulants to get moving in the morning or stay awake in the afternoon; or have been told that your cholesterol is high, these areas need to be explored.

​Reducing the load on the adrenals and supporting your system with the proper nutrients can help balance your steroid hormones.

​Testing

Testing is a tool that can be used to measure the health of your adrenal glands, especially if you feel unsure about your state of stress. Like all testing, it requires the financial ability to test and a knowledgeable practitioner to help you interpret and create a treatment plan with the results. 

The gold standard in testing cortisol levels is with a salivary cortisol panel that captures 4 samples per day.

Since a healthy cortisol pattern is highest in the morning (that is what wakes us up) and lowest before bed, seeing cortisol levels throughout the day is important to know how well the adrenals are managing daily stressors.

Typically, you are able to see a cortisol pattern with test results that can result in 1 of 4 diagnosis:

Healthy Adrenal Function

Phase 1: Hyper-Cortisol This is the first sign that the body is not handling the stress load optimally.  On test results, you see high levels of cortisol throughout the day. Symptoms are typically: anxiety, low immunity, restlessness and insomnia.

Phase 2: Resistance Response This phase is often called the “wired and tired” phase. Here, additional hormone irregularities are seen (especially with blood sugar, electrolyte imbalances and low sex hormones) which can lead to mood and sleep issues along with frequent energy crashes.

Phase 3: Hypo-Cortisol Often described as exhausted, at this phase people are typically feeling completely wiped out. Simple tasks become difficult, motivation across the board is lacking, and people are often described as being “tuned out.” Symptoms are typically: depression, chronic pain all over the body, low immunity and additional hormone imbalances.

Supplements
​

Using exogenous supplements and/or herbs to help your adrenals get additional support can be a helpful tool while you are reducing the chronic load on the adrenal glands (did you hear that...just taking a supplement and changing nothing about your life is not the answer to your excess stress).

It can not be emphasized enough that certain supplements can make your stress pattern worse if they are used incorrectly. If adding supplements to your daily routine to help ease mental stress and support healthy adrenal function is important to you, talk to a knowledgeable practitioner about your symptoms before starting a protocol.

With that said, some of the more common supplements used are:

LICORICE ROOT- For people who do not produce enough cortisol. It has been found to improve energy levels and help regulate cortisol levels.

CURCUMIN- a compound with antioxidant qualities found in turmeric. It has been found to enhance mood and reduce inflammation (especially in the brain). Note: Curcumin extracts are the most potent form of turmeric supplements that will give you the most curcumin compound. Concentrated extracts pack up to 95% curcumin, whereas turmeric in powder form usually contains around 3% curcuminoids.

PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE- a phospholipid found in cells that influence immune function and muscle metabolism. It has been found to help rebalance cortisol levels following exercise.  

ASHWAGANDHA- an adaptogenic adrenal supplement. It has been found to improve resistance to stress along with decreasing depression and anxiety.

In Summary

The bottom line is that stressful events are facts of life, and not all stress is a bad thing. Learning ways to help manage the impact that chronic stressful events have on you is a critical piece to finding optimal health, especially if you feel like you cannot change your current situation. 

In an athletes off-season, taking more down time can be critical to recovery. Pay attention to the signals your body is giving you as you take more time doing more relaxing activities (like paddleboarding, yoga, walking, etc) can help you learn where your balance point is.

One athlete may be completely fine doing 3-4 interval sessions per week, where another athlete may become completely exhausted doing that. You can learn to identify what triggers a stress response in you and how to take care of yourself physically and emotionally in the face of these stressful situations and the off-season is a perfect time to do that.

We call it recharging the battery and it’s important! So next time your body is screaming for a nap, listen. It’s okay to skip a few training sessions to allow your body to recover from life's chronic stressors. It doesn’t make you lazy...it makes you smart.

You’ll be surprised how much harder you can hit your next training session (or even your entire next season) when you learn how to find a better balance between your life’s stressors and relaxation!

REFERENCES:
1. Lowman, Amy Ancient Stress Response vs Modern Life October 23, 2016. 
2. 5 Key Strategies and Best Supplements for Adrenal Support.