Stress Hormones Are Ruining Your Sleep—Here’s Proof - AI Podcast

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Story at-a-glance

Adrenal fatigue isn’t recognized as a real medical condition, but the symptoms people report — chronic exhaustion, salt cravings, brain fog — are very real and deserve closer investigation
The adrenal glands don’t “burn out” from stress, but persistent overload disrupts your brain’s communication with them, leading to hormone imbalances and daily exhaustion
Studies show no evidence that fatigue is caused by adrenal impairment; however, chronic stress does impact your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, affecting energy, sleep, and mood
Caffeine doesn’t directly damage your adrenal glands, but overuse combined with stress and poor recovery can mimic the symptoms often blamed on adrenal fatigue
Low energy might not be from your adrenals at all — thyroid issues, iron deficiency, poor sleep, or emotional stress could be the real reasons you’re always tired

Transcript

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0:00.0	You wake up drained, stumble toward the coffee maker, and still feel wired yet exhausted hours later.
0:06.2	Could something deeper than so-called adrenal fatigue be sapping your energy?
0:11.5	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:14.4	Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go.
0:19.8	No reading required. Subscribe for free atmer Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:24.6	Hello, and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:28.6	I'm Ethan Foster, and today we're unpacking the real story behind chronic exhaustion.
0:33.6	Why blaming your adrenal glands misses the mark?
0:36.6	And what you can do right now to
0:39.2	reclaim steady energy. I'm a Lara Sky. It's a timely topic. Many people feel stuck in a loop
0:46.2	of salt cravings, foggy thinking, and relentless tiredness. The phrase adrenal fatigue sounds
0:52.8	convincing, but evidence shows your adrenal glands rarely fail.
0:57.0	The miscommunication lies higher up in the stress response chain.
1:02.0	First, let's locate the players.
1:04.0	Two small triangular glands sit above your kidneys, pumping more than 50 hormones, including
1:10.0	cortisol, adrenaline, and aldosterone,
1:13.1	that regulate blood pressure, metabolism, and your immediate stress reaction.
1:18.0	When you face a deadline or a near miss on the highway, those hormones surge and prepare
1:22.7	you to act.
1:24.2	The theory says chronic stress overstimulates the glands until they slow down, producing the crash many call adrenal fatigue.
1:30.3	Yet in 2016, a systematic review of 58 studies found no link between tiredness and impaired adrenal output,
1:39.3	prompting researchers to call adrenal fatigue a myth. Blood cortisol tests also mislead because they capture
	...

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