- Natural Endocrine Solutions Dr. Eric Osansky, DC, IFMCP - https://www.naturalendocrinesolutions.com -

How The People You Interact With Can Affect Your Thyroid Health

There are many different reasons why people develop thyroid conditions. Finding out these reasons is important not only to prevent your thyroid condition from becoming worse, but it’s also important for anyone who is thinking about following a natural thyroid treatment protocol. While many different factors can affect thyroid health, most people with thyroid conditions don’t consider that the people they interact with on a frequent basis can not only have initially led to the development of their thyroid condition, but this can also prevent them from restoring their health when following a natural thyroid treatment protocol.

How is this possible? Well, one of the most common factors that can lead to the development of a thyroid condition is weakened adrenal glands. I’ve gone into detail about how this happens in past articles, so I’m not going to do so again here. But in many cases, a person who has compromised adrenal glands will eventually develop a thyroid condition. And because weak adrenals also affect the immune system, this can also lead to the development of an autoimmune thyroid condition, such as Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

Why is this important to know? Well, most conventional medical treatment methods target the actual thyroid gland, and don’t do anything to address the weakened adrenal glands. For example, most people with hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis are told to take synthetic or natural thyroid hormone for the rest of their life, without looking into the actual cause of their disorder. Similarly, people with hyperthyroidism or Graves’ Disease are told to take anti-thyroid drugs or receive radioactive iodine therapy. Most endocrinologists and other types of medical doctors don’t even mention the adrenal glands as being a potential cause of the thyroid condition.

3 Common Factors That Can Lead To Weakened Adrenal Glands

While there are numerous factors that can lead to weakened adrenal glands, I’m going to briefly mention three of the more common causes. Then I’ll demonstrate how your friends, family members, and anyone you interact with can have a huge impact on your thyroid health. Anyway, here are three common factors that can lead to weakened adrenal glands:

Factor #1: Eating Refined Foods & Sugars Daily. Eating a lot of refined foods and sugars will affect your blood sugar levels, causing your adrenal glands to frequently secrete the hormone cortisol. Eating refined foods on an occasional basis usually won’t cause any issues. On the other hand, if you eat refined foods and sugars every single day, then over time this will stress out your adrenal glands, potentially leading to numerous health conditions, including thyroid disorders.

Factor #2: Getting Insufficient Sleep Each Night. Most people need to get at least seven to eight hours sleep, and some research shows that even more sleep than this is required each night. Many people try to get by with five or six hours of sleep on a nightly basis. Once again, doing this every now and then is fine, but if you make it a habit of staying up late to watch television or surf the internet, and then wake up early to go to work, or if you do anything else which causes you to sacrifice quality sleep, then this will eventually stress out your adrenal glands.

Factor #3: Doing A Poor Job Of Managing Stress. The body was designed to deal with acute stress situations, but cannot handle prolonged, chronic stress. The bad news is in today’s society, most people do have to deal with chronic stress, which will impact the adrenal glands.

The last factor I just discussed is how the people you interact with can affect your thyroid health. The truth is, many people become stressed out by the people they interact with. And many people mistakenly think that stress doesn’t affect the body as much as the other two factors I mentioned. Most people think that chronic stress is normal, and that it can’t possibly lead to the development of any serious condition, let alone a thyroid disorder.

The truth is that having an occasional argument with your spouse, or a stressful day at work every now and then isn’t a big deal. On the other hand, being constantly stressed out at work, fighting all of the time with your spouse and/or other family members, dealing with other chronic stressful situations such as the illness of a family member, or dealing with any other chronic stressful situations can have a severe impact on your adrenal glands, which ultimately can lead to the development of a thyroid condition.

And for those people who already have a thyroid condition, not modifying the stress response will make it almost impossible to restore your health through natural thyroid treatment methods. Now I realize that it is impossible to completely eliminate the stressful situations from your life. However, in most cases there are changes people can make to lessen the amount of stress in their life. And for those situations where this is not possible, most can do a better job of managing their stress.

Let’s Look At Some Examples:

For example, a parent who has lost a child will obviously not be able to eliminate this stressful situation from their life. However, there are things they can do to better cope with the stress and grief they’re dealing with. While some people will simply say that “time heals all wounds”, it’s not always that simple. In this case a combination of stress modification techniques probably will be necessary, including counseling, meditation, and other techniques to help the parent better manage this stress.

How about someone who is dealing with a stressful job due to an irate boss? Well, the situation is different, but this doesn’t mean the stress is affecting them less than the example of a parent losing their child. This isn’t meant to compare the two scenarios, but only to say while losing a child might be more stressful than any problem one experiences with their job, the fact is that being stressed out every single day when working will have a similar effect on your body. And if changing jobs isn’t an option, then the only other option is to better manage the stress you’re dealing with.

Another example involves a person who argues with their spouse on a frequent basis. Once again, doing this occasionally usually won’t cause any problems, but if this happens routinely then it very well can affect your adrenal glands, and lead to the development to a thyroid condition over a prolonged period of time. And if you already have a thyroid disorder, then continuing to argue with your spouse, or any other family member on a regular basis, can prevent you from restoring your health back to normal due to exacerbating the stress response.

Try To Surround Yourself With Positive People

In addition to doing things to help you better manage the stress in your life, you also want to try your best to surround yourself with positive people. This admittedly can be challenging if you have an irate boss or if you don’t get along with your spouse, as quitting your job and/or getting a divorce are obviously extreme measures to take. And quitting one’s job and/or getting a divorce frequently will increase the stress in one’s life. However, when looking at your long term health, sometimes making such extreme changes are necessary.

Most of us just don’t realize how much impact the people we interact with have on our stress levels. But if you were to write down the names of all of the family members, friends, and co-workers you interact with on a frequent basis, I’m sure there will be at least a few people who stress you out, or at the least bring down your energy levels. For example, if you have a good friend that you almost never argue with, but just about all the time he or she is extremely negative, then this will affect your mood and energy levels. So would I suggest that in such a situation you should get rid of this friend? Not necessarily, although in this situation I would suggest that you try to minimize the time you spend with this friend, and make an effort to form new friendships with positive people. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s necessary for the sake of your overall health.

Similarly, if you are thinking about beginning a natural thyroid treatment protocol but one or more of your friends or family members aren’t supportive of your decision to treat your condition naturally, this can affect your recovery too. If someone tells you this once and then minds their own business thereafter then it’s not a problem. However, if you have a friend or family member who constantly tells you that you’re foolish for following a natural thyroid treatment protocol, then this can affect your recovery, and you’re better off trying to avoid this person as much as you can. If it’s your spouse that’s not supportive of such a protocol then you admittedly might have a bit of a problem, and you will need to either try to do everything you can to educate them as to how safe and effective natural thyroid treatment methods can be, or if you aren’t successful in doing this you will have to try not to talk about your decision as much as possible.

So hopefully you realize that the people you frequently interact with can affect your thyroid health. As a result, you want to do everything you can to surround yourself with people who are positive and have a good attitude. And if you’re thinking about following a natural thyroid treatment protocol, you want to make sure you interact with people who are supportive of your decision, rather than those who will frequently criticize you. While there no doubt are other factors that can affect thyroid health, if you interact with positive people then this will only help you have a good attitude and reduce the likelihood of having adrenal problems.

Other Articles You Might Like To Read:

Stop Treating The Thyroid Gland! [1]

Are You Skeptical About Natural Thyroid Treatment Methods? [2]

5 Must Read Books For People With Thyroid Conditions [3]

Why Finding a Natural Thyroid Specialist Can Be A Challenge [4]