The Link Between Stress, Cortisol and Allergies
The crazy rush of December is over, as is the excess of food and drinks that many of us have consumed over the holiday period. Some of you may still be feeling sluggish, tired, unmotivated and your allergy symptoms are really causing you grief. Over indulgence in food and alcohol may be playing a part, but you could also be experiencing burn out, the more technical term being adrenal fatigue. Modern life leaves us little down time and so we spend a lot of life rushing around and can feel quite stressed out.
The immune system is intricately interwoven within our stress response. The short term effects of stress are normal but if prolonged, overall health can become compromised and extreme stress carries the risk of losing your body’s metabolic reserve as cortisol levels remain consistently elevated. Increased cortisol suppresses the immune system, gut and reproductive hormones and the effects can be present in a multitude of symptoms throughout your body, including an increase in the occurrence and symptoms of allergies, intolerances and sensitivities.
What is cortisol?
Adrenal function plays an important role in allergic reactions as most allergies involve the release of histamine and other substances that produce inflammation. Cortisol is a strong anti-inflammatory, and the more histamine released, the harder the adrenals have to work to produce enough cortisol to manage the inflammation, the more fatigued you become.
People with environmental allergies are more likely to experience adrenal fatigue as they can become stuck in a cycle of reduced cortisol which allows the histamine to inflame the tissues more, leading to an increase in adrenal fatigue symptoms as well as bigger allergic reactions.
Cortisol is our body’s most important adaptive stress hormone which controls many functions that affect energy production. It maintains blood sugar, fights inflammation and helps us survive stressful challenges. Unfortunately the chronic low level of ongoing stress we face today can cause the adrenal response to become dysfunctional leading to adrenal fatigue and other symptoms.
When the body is under any type of stress, cortisol increases as a compensatory mechanism. This is a normal occurrence, when the stressors go away, cortisol levels fall back to normal. Modern busy lifestyles mean the body can be in a constant state of stress with the adrenals pumping out more and more cortisol. When cortisol and adrenaline levels in the blood increase, they inhibit the infection fighting immune cells.
Periods of prolonged stress may also cause the body to become hyper responsive to cortisol, and the brain can ‘turn off’ the stress response to protect the body from the effects of excess cortisol. This can result in an abnormally low cortisol state which can be neurodegenerative and leave the immune system unregulated, causing issues with the thyroid, pancreases, autoimmune disorders and allergies.
Can Adrenal Fatigue trigger Allergies?
Adrenal function plays an important role in allergic reactions as most allergies involve the release of histamine and other substances that produce inflammation. Cortisol is a strong anti-inflammatory, and the more histamine released, the harder the adrenals have to work to produce enough cortisol to manage the inflammation, the more fatigued you become.
People with environmental allergies are more likely to experience adrenal fatigue as they can become stuck in a cycle of reduced cortisol which allows the histamine to inflame the tissues more, leading to an increase in adrenal fatigue symptoms as well as bigger allergic reactions.
When your brain is overloaded with demanding work or emotional stressors your body can also become deprived of glycogen, the same fuel source that feeds your muscles and brain and prevents inflammation.
Chronic stress can create cortisol prompted inflammation – your body will have a physiological inflammatory response to the emotional stress. Fight or flight becomes a normal state during times of persistent stress and chronic inflammation occurs when your immune system and adrenals are on overdrive. This is thought to be why adults who have previously never had allergies start getting them in later life. Adrenal fatigue is implicated in most inflammatory disorders, recent studies have now shown the correlation between cortisol suppression and an increase of allergy severity.
Signs of Adrenal Fatigue
Fatigue is actually one of the most common reasons people go to the Dr, but adrenal fatigue is often undiagnosed, as it is not always recognised as a medical condition. People with adrenal fatigue feel very tired upon waking and fatigued throughout the day making it difficult to perform daily tasks. They also find it harder to deal with stress which can create the feeling of anxiety, panic attacks, depression and brain fog.
Other signs and symptoms include: food intolerances, allergies, asthma, bronchitis, dizziness, dry and thin skin, increased thirst and urination, cravings for salty, fatty high protein foods like meat or cheese, headaches, hyper pigmentation, hypoglycemia, IBS, low body temperature, muscle weakness and back pain, heart palpitations, recurring infections, insomnia, swelling, weight gain or loss.
Overcoming Adrenal Fatigue
It’s worth working with a health professional to give you tailored nutritional and supplement advice, as it’s essential to get your gut health back on track, and there’s some amazing herbal medicines that can be really helpful, like the popular Ashwaganda. But in order to recover from adrenal fatigue long-term, you need to try and remove or reduce as many stressors in your life as you can.
- Identify your stressors – look at what may be triggering you. Physical and emotional stressors, as well as a history of trauma can affect adrenal function and your stress response. Look at your life and work on ways to work through the stressors or find ways to manage them. Ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed, people are generally more than willing to help, it is more that we feel like we can’t ask for help that stops it happening.
- Exercise regularly – adrenaline produced by stress usually stays in the body for approximately 4 weeks until it is fully expelled. One way to release it faster is through exercise, children crying is one of the ways they release it. Find an exercise routine that works for you and stick with it.
- Reduce or remove caffeine from your diet – the stimulating effects of caffeine are similar to the body’s own response under stress – coffee/caffeine signals the body to release adrenaline. Caffeine also pulls out the body’s mineral stores such as calcium which are required for maintaining and repairing cells and keeping the immune system in balance.
- Reduce your alcohol intake – alcohol and stress are connected in several ways, people often will drink as a way of dealing with stress, and in small amounts, in the short term it can cause a decrease of cortisol levels, which creates a calming effect on the body and helps people to relax. Unfortunately in the long term consistent alcohol consumption can cause cortisol levels to increase, and can also interfere with the body’s ability to regulate cortisol levels over time.
- Manage your allergy symptoms with Positive Association Technique (PAT) – to help reduce the histamine and overall inflammatory load on your body and the cortisol/histamine cycle.
Natural Allergy Treatment
At Health & Wellness Australia & Auckland (HWA), we use a technique called muscle testing (or kinesiology) to help pinpoint your reactions to various foods, airborne and chemical substances.
Following testing, you can work with your qualified Naturopath to address the reactions to these substances using a natural allergy treatment called Positive Association Technique (PAT).
We have clinics located all over Australia and in Auckland, New Zealand, and help thousands of people manage their symptoms each year.
To find out more about how we can help you, get in touch!
- Call us on 1300 853 023 / 09 479 5997 (NZ) to chat to our friendly staff
- Send us your question HERE
- Request a Free PAT Information E-PACK HERE
Written by our expert PAT Naturopath – Jenny Bates
Jenny (Adv Dip Naturopathy, Dip Nutrition) has been a Naturopath performing PAT since 2004. Over that time, she has worked with countless clients in both our Sydney and Auckland clinics, and now trains and mentors PAT practitioners all over Australia and New Zealand.
Please note that this blog post contains general information only. Always consult your health care professional before changing your diet, starting new supplements or regarding any medical condition.
