How Rhodiola Shelters Us From Stress and Cortisol
Our stress response system—the HPA axis—is calibrated for intermittent, severe threats such as lions. Not for the incessant, trivial threats of modern life, such as difficult phone calls. We don’t want our hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis to charge up and release cortisol every time we drive in heavy traffic, but it will do so.
If you’re like me, you’re trying to ease up on the HPA throttle. I practice yoga. I take magnesium. I switch off my computer in the evening like a good naturopath. I sternly instruct my HPA axis to power down, but I must say that it does not always listen. If I could only be more Buddha-like, then I would not need to coax my HPA axis with a herbal medicine like Rhodiola. The Myth of the 8 Hour Sleep
Eight hours of continuous sleep is a modern and artificial rest pattern. Some people are fortunate to have adapted to it fairly well, but for many of us, our bodies remember a different time.
Night used to be longer. Before electric light and Facebook, people went to bed earlier. Our ancestors didn’t need to condense sleep into an efficient eight hour bundle, so they enjoyed segmented sleep, or divided sleep.
Queen Estrogen. No Hormone More Powerful for Sleep, Mood, and Libido
We must not fear estrogen—our own queen of hormones. With all the current talk of estrogen dominance, plus the 2002 HRT scare, estrogen has acquired a bad reputation it does not deserve.
Why Thyroid Tests Are Unreliable
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was supposed to be a simple way to detect thyroid disease. Before its invention in the 1970s, doctors diagnosed thyroid disease by symptoms.
The Pill, Thyroid, and 4 Other Types of Hormonal Hair Loss
Hair loss used to be something that women suffered occasionally after childbirth or illness. It is now so common that doctors see it every day.
Hormonal birth control is largely to blame. It damages the hair follicle in a way that can take years to repair. Other conditions such as PCOS and thyroid disease also play a role.
Gentle Carbs for GABA, Cortisol, and HPA (Adrenal) Dysfunction
Those of us who treat young women know that some women need to eat carbs or what I call gentle carbs.
A keto diet is great in theory and great for many people. But it does not work for everyone.