The holidays can be really stressful. All of the activity, social commitments and family time can really wipe me out. With the holidays just around the corner, I am being inundated with requests for gift ideas. The top of my list each holiday season is vibrant health and that begins with managing stress. Essential Oils for stress can support adrenal fatigue and depression and help you stay on top of your holiday to-do’s.
Adrenal Fatigue and Depression
As you may know, stress can be a reaction to any physical, emotional, psychological or environmental stimulus that triggers the release of adrenal hormones, like cortisol. Our bodies prioritize a stress response over all other bodily systems, including our ability to digest, heal, detoxify, anti-inflame, mount an immune response and many other functions critical to long term health and vitality.
Stress triggers a domino effect in the body to go on high alert “fight or flight” and free up all available energy and resources to escape the perceived threat. The organs involved in this stress response include the hypothalamus, adrenal glands and pineal gland which controls the release of melatonin.
So by taking a little time this holiday season to pamper yourself and support your ability to manage stress, you will be making a significant investment in a healthy future.
Essential Oils to Reduce Stress
Adrenal®: Our adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and help determine and regulate the body’s stress response by secreting key hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline (epinephrine). These hormones regulate energy production and storage, control blood sugar, immune function, heart rate, muscle tone, and other processes that enable you to rapidly respond to stress. Cortisol, in particular, serves as an immune modulator, reducing inflammation in the body, keeping the overactive aspects of the immune system in check, as well as stimulating and encouraging the potentially underactive aspects of the immune system, especially in relation to fighting infections. Prolonged periods of stress can deplete our reserves of cortisol, impacting our health. Much like adaptogenic herbs, Vibrant Blue Oils Adrenal® blend helps increase the body’s ability to adapt to stress and maintain healthy adrenal function.
Hypothalamus™: The hypothalamus is pearl size region of the brain located just above the brainstem that serves as control center for neural and hormonal messages received from/sent to body. For example, it is constantly reading blood the levels of cortisol, and adjusting signals sent to the adrenal glands for optimal homeostasis (internal balance) of the body. Just as with the adrenal glands, chronic and prolonged stress can damage the hypothalamus’s ability to receive clear messages from the body which then impacts 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®: The Pineal Gland regulates circadian rhythm by producing melatonin, a hormone crucial to sleep. Melatonin has an antagonist relationship to cortisol and the two hormones in conjunction help regulate key biological rhythms, known as circadian rhythms. For example, when cortisol is high, melatonin is low. Chronic and prolonged stress can throw off this natural rhythm as it triggers the adrenal glands to release cortisol and throw off the body’s natural cortisol/melatonin rhythm. Cortisol should be high in the mornings when you wake up and gradually taper off throughout the day so you feel tired at bedtime and can fall asleep. High levels of cortisol at night, drive down melatonin and make it difficult to fall asleep. To put the circadian rhythm back in balance, you might consider Vibrant Blue Oils Circadian Rhythm® blend, which triggers the pineal gland to release melatonin.
All of these oils are included in the Vibrant Blue Oils Stress Support Kit.
As you are working on your holiday gift list. Don’t forget to give a little stress support to yourself.
Resources
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