Been through a stressful period lately? Whether it was years or even just for a few months, stress can cause your thyroid to stop functioning properly. And when this happens it can be difficult to lose weight and make us feel sluggish and moody.

So why does stress affect our thyroid?

When we’re stressed our body releases cortisol which is our stress hormone. Cortisol causes our nonessential bodily functions to slow down as we prepare to fight or run away. 

Obviously, in this day and age, we don’t need to run away every time we’re stressed but our bodies don’t know that.

So when we have too much cortisol it affects our thyroid function in four ways:

👉 It disrupts the signal from our brain that tells our thyroid to produce more thyroid hormone.

👉 It blocks the liver from converting the inactive T4 to the active version T3. And T3 is the thyroid hormone that gives us energy, elevates our mood, helps with detoxification and so much more.

👉 Cortisol will stop our cells from actually receiving the T3.

👉 Cortisol also breaks down the gut causing leaky gut (when our gut lining becomes permeable triggering inflammation) throwing off the thyroid and our thyroid hormones. This is the biggest cause of autoimmune thyroid conditions like Hashimoto's.

So you can see how bad stress can be for our thyroid and overall health, but what can we do about it?

Well, the good news is even if your lifestyle is stressful and busy, there is so much you can do to reduce the stress response and improve thyroid function.

In my latest Peak Revival podcast episode , I’m going to share the five ways to improve your thyroid function, and only one of them is about reducing stress.

Having a functioning and healthy thyroid will make a huge difference in how you feel. You’ll have stable moods, sustained energy and concentration, and be able to lose weight more easily.