How Does Stress Change Hormone Levels?
Occasional unplanned events can cause sudden spikes in our stress levels, while ongoing chronic stress can wreak havoc on our hormonal system.
Adverse health conditions can target all areas of the body, yet often get written off as something else. For this reason, we offer comprehensive as well as simple "touchless, at-home" tests to help you on the path to getting your hormones back into balance.
Stress may be the underlying cause if you have any of these symptoms: depression, high blood pressure, insomnia, disrupted sleep, anxiety, libido loss, weight control issues, muscle and joint pain, or hair loss.
ZRT Canary Club Sleep Balance Profile
Selecting the ZRT Sleep Balance test is for individuals with one or more of these symptoms:
- "unable to fall asleep quickly" while also "unable to wake up in the morning"
- daytime sleepiness so severe it interferes with work, decision-making, and social functioning,
- recurring sleep issues during all phases of menopause (compounding the severity of menopause).
ZRT Sleep Balance assesses the balance of your sleep hormones, cortisol, and melatonin.
Cortisol helps you wake up in the morning and helps you not "feel sleepy" in the first few hours after waking.
Melatonin helps you to fall asleep at night and to remain asleep until you need to wake up in the morning.
Imbalances between cortisol and melatonin can create sleeping problems.
ZRT Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR)
Selecting the ZRT Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) test is for individuals who have had a full night's sleep but lack the expected "suddenly awake" response first thing in the morning.
Most people (approximately 75%) have a normal CAR, and the remaining 25% do not.
You may have had the "wake-up" response when you were in your twenties, but notice it missing now. Maybe you are just wondering why you are having frequent difficulty waking up in the morning although you have had a restful full night's sleep.
Collecting 6 samples of saliva in precise time intervals in 24 hours is often useful for:
- PTSD, major depression,
- chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, systemic hypertension
- upper respiratory illnesses, atopic and allergic conditions,
- insomnia (excluding isolated night waking),
- and other severe stress conditions.
As an advocate for your own health and well-being, you will gain insight into the hormones that are directly linked to sex drive or to stress-related health conditions. This information can help your healthcare provider recommend behavioral changes and nutritional and supplement protocols.
Your Hormone Management Testing Plan
When you know you have done your best to manage your stress—yet you continue to have adverse health conditions due to the impact stress is having on your hormones—it is time to consider hormone testing.
- Step 1: Start by choosing the appropriate hormone stress panel as described above.
- Step 2: Take the test panel to establish the starting hormone baseline at the onset of your plan. Consider developing your plan alongside:
- a licensed health care provider for medical conditions, especially for severe "out of normal range" results
- or a healthcare consultant for nutrition and supplements that will support your results
- Step 3: Develop a plan based on your lab test results, establishing a one-year or longer outlook.
- Be diligent to address the factors you can, such as work or home stress, poor diet, and lack of exercise.
- Keep logs of your intakes and daily routines related to your hormone test results.
- Step 4: After 6-12 months of actively working on your plan, take the same test again, or take a smaller panel that assays specific areas of concern to determine your progress.
Canary Club has a wide variety of at-home hormone and neurotransmitter tests from which to choose. These can indicate imbalances that cause or exacerbate chronic anxiety. This information is a great first step on the path to long-term well-being. Here is a short list of recommended tests:Canary Club is the place where you can come to better understand your condition, whether it is mild, moderate, or severe. Our goal is to help you find the information you need in order to effectively manage stress and live a more vibrant and vital life.
ZRT Advanced Saliva Profile
See our ZRT Advanced Saliva Profile to check your adrenal and reproductive hormone levels.
Advanced Saliva Test Kit Includes:
- Estradiol (E2), Progesterone (Pg), and Testosterone (T)—known as the three major sex steroid hormones,
- Adrenal Hormones:
- DHEA-S (DS), and,
- Diurnal cortisol (sampled 4x), showing your full daily cortisol cycle.
The Canary Club Advanced Saliva Hormone Profile is also known as the ZRT Saliva Profile III.
Additional Stress-Related Tests
Additional Resources:
References
(1) Stress in America™ Press Room, "Gender Stress", https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2010/gender-stress.pdf Published online (PDF) 2021-MAR
(2) By Elizabeth Scott, MS, "How Stress Can Cause a Low Libido", https://www.verywellmind.com/how-stress-can-lead-to-low-libido-3145029 Published online 2020-FEB-29
Lisa Dawn Hamilton, PhD, Cindy M. Meston, PhD; "Chronic stress and sexual function in women", https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4199300/ Published online 2013-JUL-10
Cleveland Clinic, "Stress Relief for Overwhelmed Women", https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stress-relief-for-overwhelmed-women/ Published online 2021-MAY-3
