Who doesn’t have stress these days? Stress can really affect your health including leading to anxiety issues, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, obesity, dysglycemia, and a host of other clinical conditions. The Adrenocortex Stress Profile is a salivary test that can be sent to you and easily administered in your own home — you simply spit in a tube and send it back. The test evaluates bioactive levels of the body’s important stress hormones, cortisol and DHEA.
This hormone test examines 4 saliva samples over a 24-hour period for levels of cortisol and DHEA.
The adrenal hormones cortisol and DHEA function to influence:
- Metabolism
- Anti-inflammatory response
- Thyroid function
- Resistance to stress
Diseases and conditions associated with “adrenocortex stress”:
- Anxiety
- Back pain
- Cardiovascular disease
- Celiac disease
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Depression
- Hypoglycemia
- High blood pressure
- Insomnia
- Migraine headaches
- Obesity
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Ulcers
- Weak immune system
Changing the amounts of cortisol and DHEA can profoundly affect:
- Energy levels
- Emotional states
- Resistance to disease
- General sense of well-being
Although both DHEA and cortisol are hormones produced by the adrenal cortex, they exhibit many opposing actions.
Glucocorticoids are part of the feedback mechanism in the immune system which reduces certain aspects of immune function, such as inflammation. Cortisol is the most important human glucocorticoid. The body releases cortisol in large amounts in response to physical, physiological, and/or psychological stress. When stressors persist and too much cortisol is released, the adrenal cortex cannot function properly.
Excess cortisol can adversely affect:
- Bone and muscle tissue
- Cardiovascular function
- Sleep
- Thyroid function
- Weight control
- Glucose regulation
- Immune defense
- Aging
Over time, cortisol secretion can become impaired, resulting in the inability to respond to stress as demonstrated in conditions as:
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Allergies
- Menstrual problems
- Arthritis
- DHEA, in contrast to cortisol, exerts mostly anabolic actions and balances the body’s stress response.
DHEA functions to:
- Provide substrate for the synthesis of sex hormones
- Guard against degenerative conditions associated with aging
- Influence immune function and energy production
- Affect insulin sensitivity, thyroid function, protein synthesis and others
Imbalances of DHEA have been associated with:
- Impaired immunity
- Depression
- Insulin resistance
- Cancer
- Panic disorder
- Obesity
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cardiovascular disease
Let us help you balance your stress hormones so your body can function more optimally. Email or call us to get started with Adrenocortex Stress Profile Testing.
info@core-wellnessgroup.com or call 510-922-1579.
