(Part 1 of a 5 part series on Stress and the Adrenals)

I get asked daily in my office, “how long will it take for me to feel like myself again?” This is not an easy question to answer because the question you should be asking is, “how long did it take me to get this far out of balance?” However, there are some life style changes you can make that will speed up the process, but first ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you easily overwhelmed by everyday tasks that once were a breeze?
• Do you get angry over things that never used to bother you?
• Have you gained weight around the middle?
• Is your sleep not as regular or as restful as it once was?
• Is it difficult for you to concentrate on important tasks?
• Do you crave foods that you know are unhealthy for you?
• Are you catching more colds than before?
• Is your libido what it once was?
• Are you easily irritated by family members and co-workers?
• Do you feel like you have no energy by the middle of the afternoon?
• Are you using coffee or chocolate to make it through the day?
• Are you drinking more alcohol to relieve stress?
• Do aches and pains linger longer than they once did?

If you identify with several of these statements, your body’s system for adapting to stress is not responding optimally. If you identify with more than three or four of these statements, your body is sending signals that life’s stresses are overwhelming its ability to keep up. Life is stressful. We are all affected by stress, yet it is how we perceive and respond to the stressors in our lives that can have a big impact on our health. The consequences of stress are different for each individual.

What causes stress?

You likely could give a good description of circumstances or people who leave you at the end of your rope. Perhaps you have been feeling burned out and exhausted for years. Maybe you can’t understand why it is hard to scrape up enough energy for the simple tasks of life. Whether you are in a demanding job with constant pressure, a challenging graduate program in a competitive academic environment, or living frugally as a retiree trying to make ends meet, your stressful circumstances may be overwhelming your ability to cope, straining your stress response mechanisms to the limit.

Researchers have learned that most things that are different from the normal expectations of life trigger a stress response. Whether these events are real (actual emergency or trauma) or perceived (anxiety about a potential event), the stress response is surprisingly similar. When you constantly trigger your stress response mechanisms with events that are not resolved, your response mechanisms begin to become disjointed, improperly regulated and exhausted. Sometimes they fail altogether.

Most people think of stress as mental and emotional stress, however, imbalance in blood sugar and chronic inflammation anywhere in the body are also common chronic stressors. Ironically, each of these events is a potent stimulator of cortisol, the adrenal hormone produced to help us recover from stress. These imbalances must be addressed by your medical provider.

Scientists who study stress say that the events that cause the most mental and emotional stress usually have four similarities. First, we are stressed by things that are new to us. First-time experiences cause us to anticipate how we will feel during the event (pleasure or pain), triggering a stress response. Combine this with unpredictability, the second feature of mental and emotional stress, and you heighten the stress response. First time driving lessons on a busy city freeway is a good example-for both driver and instructor.

The third component is a sense of threat to your physical well-being or psyche. While it is not always thought of as stress, the nervous anticipation of someone else’s opinion of you is a threat to your psyche, and therefore a source of stress.

Stressful events typically cause you to feel as though you have experienced loss of control over your situation. Families with teenagers are often in this situation as teens become more independent and parents have to start to let go.

A perfect, yet subtle, example is the person in middle management. They feel the responsibility of performing new tasks (novelty) that typically have unpredictable outcomes and threaten their job approval while feeling like they don’t have control over the outcome. Consequently, middle managers are often considered to have the highest stress in most companies, leading to high turnover, burnout and poor job satisfaction.

It is important to remember that your perception of an event is really what creates most of the stress-often more than the event itself. After all, what builds stress in you might be another person’s adventure…sky diving, cocktail parties, public speaking.

Take the Stress Inventory Test

Use the Life Stress Inventory to calculate your current stress level. You will be surprised how quickly our lives fill with stress contributing events. Add up all the points you have to find your score. A score of 150 points or less suggests a low amount of life change and a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown. Scores between 150 and 300 points imply about a 50 percent chance of a major health breakdown in the next two years. A score of 300 points or more raises the odds to about 80 percent.

Life Event	Point Value	Your Score
Death of a spouse	100
Divorce	73
Marital Separation	65
Detention in jail or other institution	63
Death of a close family member	63
Major personal injury or illness	53
Marriage	50
Being fired from work	47
Marital reconciliation	45
Retirement from work	45
Major change in the health or behavior of a family member	44
Pregnancy	40
Sexual difficulties	39
Gaining a new family member (birth, adoption, older adult moving in, etc)	39
Major business readjustment	39
Major change in financial state (worse than usual)	38
Death of a close friend	37
Changing to a different line of work	36
Major change in # of arguments with spouse on core issues	35
Taking on a mortgage	31
Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan	30
Major change in responsibilities at work	29
Son or daughter leaving home (marriage, college, military)	29
Conflict or tension with parents/inlaws	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Spouse beginning or ceasing work outside the home	26
Beginning or completing formal schooling	26
Major change in living condition (new home, remodeling, deterioration of home)	25
Change of personal habits (dress, manners, associations, quitting smoking)	24
Conflict at work with employer or manager	23
Major changes in working hours or conditions	20
Changes in residence	20
Changing to a new school	20
Major change in usual type and or amount of recreation	19
Major change in church activity (a lot more or less than usual)	19
Major change in social activities (clubs, movies, visiting, etc.)	18
Taking on a loan (car, tv, freezer, etc.)	17
Major change in sleeping habits (a lot more or less than usual)	16
Major change in number of family get togethers	15
Major change in eating habits (food amount, meal hours or surroundings)	15
Vacation	13
Major holidays	12
Minor violations of the law (traffic tickets, jaywalking, disturbing the peace, etc.)	11
	Your Total

(Adapted from Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe. “Homes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Vol II, 1967.)

Now that you have found where you rate on the stress scale, think of ways you can change those aspects of your life you have control of. Next week I will write and talk about common, everyday stressors we all face (your health, your sleep, your exercise, your diet, your work, your relationships, your finances, your rest and relaxation). Understand that some things are out of your control, and some are within your control. Which ones are potentially contributing to your adrenal fatigue or exhaustion?