Your adrenal glands, located on top of your kidneys, secrete hormones including cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, which effectively help you manage stress. Pregnenolone is the precursor hormone from which stress hormones are made, making its presence in your body significant. Supplementing with pregnenolone may be a good idea, but reducing your stress level is critical since adrenal dysfunction may lead to adrenal insufficiency, or Addison's disease, which is a serious and debilitating condition.
Types of Stress
Pioneer endocrinologist Hans Selye noted that all forms of stress are handled the same way -- and stress is cumulative in its effects. Environmental stress includes heat, cold and noise. Chemical stress includes pollution and drugs. Physical stress can occur from overexercising, trauma or an infection. Psychological stress includes worry and fear. Biochemical stress, such as nutritional deficiencies and excessive refined sugar consumption, as well as imaginary stress, are additional types of stress.
How Stress Hormones Work
Timothy J. Smith, MD, refers to pregnenolone as the grandmother hormone, which spawns dozens of granddaughter hormones. If cortisol production is excessive due to chronic stress, it can damage body tissues and exhaust the adrenals. Both high and low cortisol states can be dangerous. Normally, DHEA buffers the effects of high cortisol levels, bringing your hormones back into balance after a stressful event. Cortisol and DHEA maintain a delicate balance in your body.
Pregnenolone, DHEA and Anti-Aging
Health professionals are divided over the anti-aging effects of pregnenolone, but studies have confirmed that production of this hormone in your body declines with age. According to Mercola.com, pregnenolone has been reported to reduce high stress-induced fatigue. A study published in the November 2001 issue of "Brain Research Reviews", indicates that pregnenolone and DHEA can improve the effects of aging; however, this was seen only in animal trials. More research is needed to determine improvements in humans.
Testing Your Stress Hormones
If you are tired for no apparent reason, or have other symptoms that you feel may be due to adrenal fatigue, you should ask your have your adrenal hormones tested . Doctors can test cortisol levels in your urine and blood, but salivary testing may provide a better picture of your stress hormones. In one study published in the September 2003 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism," noninvasive salivary testing of cortisol worked better than urine, and as well as blood tests.
Pregnenolone Supplementation
Pregnenolone supplementation is recommended by health professionals because people have reported an enhanced sense of health and well-being taking it, according to Mercola.com. Until further studies are conducted there is no definitive answer to the question. What many health professionals seem to agree that diet, exercise and reduction of stress are some of the best actions you can take for fatigue and the prevention of most chronic disease.
References
- "The Story of the Adaptation Syndrome"' Hans Selye; 1952
- "Renewal: The Anti-Aging Revolution"; Timothy J. Smith, MD; 1998
- Mercola.com; Understanding Adrenal Function; Dr. Mercola; Aug. 2000
- "Brain Research Reviews"; Monique Vallée et al.; November 2001
- "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism"; Nighttime Salivary Cortisol: A Useful Test for the Diagnosis of Cushing's Syndrome; Papanicolaou et al.; October 2002
