If you are experiencing chronic stress, insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, or having trouble losing weight, your adrenal glands—and the hormones they impact—may be the root of the problem.
Your adrenal glands produce hormones that regulate the immune system, blood pressure, metabolism, and stress response. In addition, they also help:
- Support a healthy response to stress
- Promote energy and alleviate fatigue
- Alleviate anxiety and depression
- Reduce irritability or mood swings
- Dispel insomnia, sleep disturbances, or difficulty waking
- Promote weight loss and loss of stored fat in your body
- Improve memory and enhance your ability to retain information
- Reduce muscle and joint pain and increase strength
- Lessen bruising and stretch marks
- Promote healthy cardiovascular function
- Enhance healthy digestive function
What are Adrenal Hormones?
Your adrenal glands—the small, triangular-shaped glands on top of your kidneys—produce and release certain hormones directly into the bloodstream that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, response to stress, and body weight.
Two parts of your adrenal glands—the adrenal cortex and the adrenal medulla—perform distinct and separate functions. The adrenal medulla, located in the center of an adrenal gland, produces “stress hormones,” including adrenaline.
The key hormones produced by the adrenal cortex include:
Cortisol is released during stress to help the body get an energy boost and better handle an emergency situation.
Many of your cells have cortisol receptors, allowing the hormone to influence numerous functions, including supporting healthy blood sugar levels, regulating blood pressure and metabolism, reducing inflammation, and assisting with memory formulation. Cortisol also plays a role in the sleep/wake cycle.
Aldosterone regulates blood pressure and balances electrolytes like sodium and potassium. More specifically, aldosterone helps regulate the blood pH and control the levels of electrolytes by sending signals to the kidneys. This prompts the kidneys to absorb more sodium into the bloodstream (to increase blood volume) and release potassium into the urine. This helps maintain healthy pH and electrolyte levels in your blood.
DHEA and Androgenic Steroids are precursor hormones converted in the ovaries into female hormones (estrogens) and male hormones (androgens) in the testes. DHEA is also believed to increase energy and muscle strength, boost immunity, and decrease body weight.
Epinephrine (Adrenaline) triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response. To ensure survival, air passages dilate, providing your muscles with oxygen to fight danger or flee. Adrenaline also triggers your blood vessels to contract to re-direct blood toward major muscle groups, including the heart and lungs. The body’s ability to feel pain also decreases due to adrenaline, so you can continue running from or fighting danger even when injured. Adrenaline can cause an increase in strength and performance, as well as heightened awareness, during times of stress or danger.
Excess adrenaline can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and vision changes. Adrenaline also causes a release of glucose, which impacts blood sugar levels and mood, as it can leave you feeling restless and irritable.
Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline) helps initiate the flight or fight response. In addition to helping ensure survival, Norepinephrine plays a role in your mood, emotions, and ability to concentrate. It also plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle, helping you wake up, increase attention and memory storage, and focus on performing tasks.
Low levels of norepinephrine have been associated with depression, anxiety, lethargy (lack of energy), lack of concentration, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse.
Some antidepressant medications affect norepinephrine levels in the brain. In stressful situations, norepinephrine increases as part of the fight-or-flight response to mobilize the brain and body for action. Bursts of norepinephrine can lead to euphoria, panic attacks, elevated blood pressure, and hyperactivity.
Essential Oils to Support Adrenal Hormones
Essential Oils, with their unique ability to balance different organ systems, can help restore your adrenal glands to balance and support the healthy production of adrenal hormones.
Adrenal®: Our adrenal glands help determine and regulate the body’s stress response by secreting key hormones that regulate energy production and storage. Prolonged periods of stress can deplete our reserves of these hormones. Like adaptogenic herbs, the Vibrant Blue Oils Adrenal® blend helps increase the body’s ability to adapt to stress and maintain healthy adrenal function.
Adrenal® Proprietary formulations include precise ratios of the following organic and/or wild-crafted therapeutic oils in a base of fractionated coconut oil:
Cinnamon is known to strengthen the endocrine and nervous systems (our adrenals are part of this system) and help balance blood sugar levels. It is an immunostimulant and may promote physical energy and enhance the action and activity of other oils. Emotionally and spiritually, cinnamon is said to increase self-love, improve body image and acceptance, and allow us to feel free to be ourselves.
Galbanum helps combat stress and nervous tension, as well as anti-inflame and reprogram emotions. Galbanum reduces inflammation and supports the strength of the body as a whole. It aids in centering and grounding the mind, which helps balance the adrenals, which, in turn, strengthens and supports the whole body.
Manuka, which is from New Zealand, is said to have a relaxing and sleep-enhancing effect. It helps the body repair itself from chronic stress, nervous exhaustion, and anxiety. It is also known to reduce systemic inflammation. It is beneficial for people with oversensitive nervous systems and those who suffer from stress and anxiety.
Rosemary is known to support adrenal function. Rosemary essential oil naturally relieves stress and nervous exhaustion and stimulates the immune system. A 2007 study found that smelling Rosemary oil rapidly reduced cortisol levels in saliva in minutes. This is one of the best ways to help alleviate and control stress in the body.
Thyme balances hormones that help support adrenal glands, which helps you overcome physical and emotional fatigue and mental exhaustion. It helps strengthen your nerves and helps you feel a sense of calm and relaxation.
You can topically apply 1-2 drops of Adrenal® on the adrenal glands (on the lower mid-back, one fist above the 12th rib on each side). Dilute to start or if any redness occurs.
Additional Essential Oils to Support Adrenal Health
Hypothalamus™: The hypothalamus is a pearl-size region of the brain that serves as the control center for neural and hormonal messages received from/sent to the body. It constantly reads cortisol levels in the blood and adjusts signals sent to the adrenal glands for optimal internal balance (homeostasis) of the body. Chronic and prolonged stress can damage the hypothalamus’s ability to receive clear messages from the body, impacting all outgoing endocrine and neural signals. Just as you might reboot a computer, you can reset the hypothalamus with Vibrant Blue Hypothalamus™ blend to encourage the natural ability of the hypothalamus to receive clear messages from the body.
Circadian Rhythm®: A critical component to supporting adrenal health is the quality of your sleep. Ideally, you should fall asleep quickly and stay asleep through the night. The hormone that helps you fall asleep is melatonin, secreted by the Pineal Gland. Chronic and prolonged stress and the resulting cortisol release can undermine the body’s ability to release melatonin because melatonin has an antagonist relationship to the stress hormone cortisol. More specifically, when cortisol levels are high, melatonin levels stay low. In theory, this makes total sense because it would not serve to fall asleep if you need to escape a dangerous situation. But in practice, it throws our body’s natural sleep/wake cycle, known as the Circadian Rhythms, out of balance. To return the circadian rhythm to balance, apply the Vibrant Blue Oils Circadian Rhythm® blend, which triggers the natural release of melatonin before bed.
All these oils are included in the Vibrant Blue Oils Stress Support Kit™.
Featured Oils:
Ready to get started? Click the links below to order today:
- Adrenal® available here
- Circadian Rhythm® available here
- Hypothalamus™ available here
- Stress Support Kit™ available here
