The Stress Less Protocol: Lifestyle & Supplements

I know it seems weird that lifestyle affects hormone imbalance, but lifestyle truly plays on of the biggest roles in hormone regulation. Below you’ll learn three of my top lifestyle recommendations to start incorporating ASAP to increase resilience to stress and balance cortisol levels.

The Number 1 Thing Your Stressed Brain Needs

No, the answer isn’t a nap (although we’ll talk about sleep very soon), it’s exercise!

Here’s why: it’s ability to increase blood flow to your stressed-out brain is unlike anything else. By getting your blood pumping through your body, energizing nutrients and oxygen are able to get to the areas of the brain (and other important body systems) where you need them most.

Exercise also releases endorphins, happy brain chemicals that help you to cope with stress better.

That’s not all, exercise also protects the hippocampus from the negative effects of cortisol—even just a leisurely walk in the park has been shown to have this protective effect.

In fact, spending time in nature is also a great way to improve resilience to stress. It helps you feel grounded and gain a fresh perspective on things, which is extremely helpful when we get that stressed-AF-tunnel-vision.

Another important preventative measure for reducing stress and keeping cortisol-levels balanced is getting enough good-quality sleep.

Cultivating good sleep hygiene is important—making sure your bedroom is as close to pitch black as possible, a little cooler than the rest of your house, without electronics that shine lights or go “beep-bloop” in the night. Keeping a pretty strict sleep schedule is also very helpful for improving sleep quality.

Too Blessed to be Stressed

Gratitude may seem like something that really has nothing to do with your stress levels, but it easily gives you the most bang for your buck as far as stress relief and lowering cortisol.

Why is that? Because cultivating gratitude for all things in your life leads to an entire mindset shift. Where something may have been able to shake you easily in the past, with an “attitude of gratitude” (don’t hate me) you’re better able to see the blessing in everything—even the crappy stuff.

Another wonderful way to increase resilience to stress is meditation.

There are dozens and dozens of studies that show the amazing effects of meditation on everything from reducing anxiety to improving memory and sleep-quality. To learn more, I recommend reading Emily Fletcher’s book “Stress Less, Accomplish More”. It says it all right there in the title; does it get any better than that?

Click here to download the fillable self-reflection and key takeaways PDF before moving on!

Supplements

Although diet and lifestyle changes are both extremely important to balancing cortisol, sometimes our bodies need a little extra help filling in any gaps in nutrition. That’s where supplements come in. Below you’ll find a few of my favourite supplements to help rebalance cortisol.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

If there ever was a miracle cure-all supplement, it would be fish oil.

Fish oil works to reduce cortisol levels by improving our omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids ratio. The standard American diet is incredibly high in foods that contain a lot of omega-6, and when out of balance with omega-3, we get a ton of inflammation, which is at the root of many health issues and diseases.

There are many studies showing the benefit of omega-3 fish oils on everything from improving cystic acne, to allergies, to lowering cortisol and increasing lean body mass. So, this is a really awesome one to add to your routine.

B Vitamins

B vitamins are amazing for providing a natural boost of energy in the body because their primary function is as coenzymes in energy metabolism.

There are two specific B vitamins, B5 and B6, which are especially important for stress reduction and hormonal imbalance in general, specifically in women. And due to their water-soluble nature, B vitamins are a very low-risk supplement, so introducing a B complex is safe if you’re on medication.

Note: B vitamins have such a significant effect on boosting energy in people who deal with fatigue and brain fog, that I actually recommend taking them with breakfast and lunch only, since they can keep you up at night if taken too late. Like most other supplements, you need to take them consistently for at least 6 weeks before they begin to take effect. But I promise it’s worth the wait!

Multivitamin

Remember that vicious circle of stress I mentioned earlier? And how stress can really reduce our absorption of the nutrients in our foods? Well, it’s sad but true.

So for those of us who struggle with imbalanced cortisol and increased stress levels a multi-vitamin and mineral may be crucial for filling in those gaps, especially after we’ve made the lifestyle changes to reduce our overall fight-or-flight response.

You may also want to look for an adrenal-specific multivitamin formulation, which will have specific adrenal-supporting vitamins and minerals in the right ratios to best support your adrenal glands. Some formulations even contain desiccated adrenal glands from an animal source, which some people find extremely helpful.

Note: speak with a professional (like a naturopathic doctor or nutritionist) before starting on a glandular supplement.