By Brendan Brazier • May 24th, 2010

Unexpectedly hearing a loud noise when the room is quiet, you might feel a sudden rush of energy. This is the most basic form of stimulation, left over from your primal survival mechanism. Your body assumes the loud noise is a threat and prepares you for action by engaging the adrenal glands to draw more energy.

In reaction to the first onset of stimulation — a form of stress — we gain energy. We become more alert, our strength can increase and we have the ability to process information more quickly and react faster. Summoning its hormonal resources to momentarily improve strength and reaction time, the body would have likely improved its odds of getting out of a prehistoric bind. Early man would certainly have benefited from greater strength and quicker reaction time if confronted by a predatory animal.

Of course, we aren’t confronted with those types of threats today. But we face a host of modern-day ones that evoke the same hormonal response. Stress of any kind — be it too much work, family-related concerns, poor diet, breathing impure air, constantly having to be “on”, and not enough down time — put strain on the adrenal glands.

What is actually happening when the body is confronted with stress? To varying degrees, based on the body’s perceived severity of the stress, it releases cortisol, which is designed to stimulate us. The downside is what follows regular stimulation: fatigue. Since our adrenal glands were not designed to be used as often as they are today, it’s common for them to become overworked, resulting in exhaustion. Adrenal burn out, as it is commonly referred to as, has become a widespread modern-day problem. If stress (and therefore cortisol) remain elevated, several problems arise. One being, the body shifts fuel sources. Switching from burning fat as fuel, a stressed person’s system will have replaced its use with carbohydrate in the form of sugar. Now burning more sugar and less fat, the body will begin to store body fat instead of use it for energy.

Stress-free people are fat burning machines. Not the case for stressed ones; they burn and therefore crave carbohydrates. This leads to overworked adrenal glands, adrenal fatigue and then eventually to a host of stress-related impairments. A reduction in sleep quality is also a common trait of elevated cortisol levels.

Biological Debt

I use the term biological debt to refer to a state that the...

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Location:  Vancouver, CA

Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete and a two-time Canadian 50 km UltraMarathon Champion.  He is the bestselling author of Thrive Fitness and The Thrive Diet and the creator of an award-winning line of whole...