A Holistic Approach to Emotional Wellness
Aug 31, 2020 04:42PM ● By Ann Charlotte Valentin
123rf.com/ Olena Kachmar
Feeling emotionally unwell can stem from many different sources,
such as hormones, the endocrine system, trauma and gut health, and can cause a variety
of symptoms, many of which can be interrelated, including tiredness, stress, anxiety,
heart palpitations, insomnia, weight gain and indigestion.
Your hormones, including cortisol, and thyroid communicate with
each other, and there is a delicate balance between them. If you are feeling
anxious or stressed, you may be experiencing an increase in cortisol, which, in
turn, affects your thyroid and other hormones. As a result of having too much
cortisol, you may have too little progesterone. On the other hand, too much progesterone
can contribute to an increase in blood sugar, while too much estrogen can cause
a decrease in blood sugar.
Think of it as having several scales in your body that are trying
to balance between each other. If you put too much weight on one scale, the
other scale may go up, creating an imbalance in your endocrine system. Estrogen
alone controls more than 400 functions in your body, and when you experience a
hormonal imbalance, you may feel weepy, anxious or angry, along with many other
symptoms. However, hormones and your endocrine system are not the only factors
that affect your emotional well-being.
Trauma that occurs in your own life or that is inherited through
DNA can cause emotional upset. In an article published in the Biological Psychiatry journal, titled “Holocaust Exposure Induced Intergenerational
Effects on FKBP5 Methylation,” researchers
concluded that trauma can be passed down from earlier generations via
DNA. It is important to understand where your stress and/or trauma is coming
from. The endocrine system, emotional inheritance and predisposition to mental
health concerns, and the microbiota in your gut all contribute to your emotional
health.
We know that many of our neurotransmitters, such as GABA, serotonin
and dopamine, are also created in the gut by gut bacteria; therefore, emotional
well-being starts with making sure the gut flora and diet are optimal. By
eating a healthy diet consisting of vegetables, preferably organic, as well as
wild-caught fish and organic foul, you nourish your body. Stay away from empty
carbs and prepackaged foods, as they are often not nutritious and end up
spiking your blood sugar and causing a blood sugar crash. It is important to
keep your blood sugar on an even keel to optimize your emotional health. Also,
by drinking a lot of caffeinated products, you are only creating a roller
coaster of emotions where you are typically on either end of the spectrum—highly
caffeinated and jittery or experiencing a caffeine crash, causing you to feel tired
and wanting more caffeine to keep going.
In addition to these factors, we also have to consider that we live
in a fairly toxic world where many toxins can creep into our body unknowingly and
cause a multitude of symptoms and wreak havoc with our gut flora, killing the
good bacteria and keeping the bad bacteria. There are easy tests to check for
your hormones, gut health, heavy metals and environmental toxins by using a
home collection kit for saliva, urine or stool.
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