Understanding Adrenal Fatigue and HPA Axis Dysfunction

This chapter explores adrenal fatigue and HPA axis dysfunction, focusing on how chronic stress disrupts the body's stress response and hormonal balance. It highlights the physiological effects of cortisol, including the repercussions of prolonged cortisol release on health, and the symptoms of adrenal burnout. The discussion contrasts traditional medical practices with functional medicine approaches, emphasizing the significance of lifestyle changes in managing stress and enhancing adrenal health.

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Wired and Tired: Fixing Adrenal Burnout | This episode is brought to you by Starseed and Joovv

You have likely heard the term “adrenal fatigue.” We commonly associate this term with the feelings of extreme fatigue, hormonal dysregulation, and other physical symptoms that can occur from chronic stress. More accurately, we can look to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis for the cause of these discomforts. If you have chronic stress, your adrenals get beat up, and your energy plummets and it becomes difficult to manage your life. You could feel tired and wired, all at the same time. All these are clues that you could have an imbalance of your HPA axis.

In this episode, Dr. Hyman sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Boham to discuss the signs of HPA axis dysfunction and how to support your HPA axis to reverse burnout. They also share patient cases that they have treated.

Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices functional medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Boham has contributed to many articles and wrote the latest chapter on Obesity for the Rankel Textbook of Family Medicine. She is part of the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been featured on the Dr. Oz show and in a variety of publications and media including Huffington Post, The Chalkboard Magazine, and Experience Life. Her DVD Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer explores the functional medicine approach to keeping your breasts and whole body well.

This episode is sponsored by Starseed and Joovv.

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In this conversation, Dr. Hyman and Dr. Boham discuss: