Stress and Hashimoto’s. Is there a connection?
Yes, there definitely is.
Today we’re kicking off a series about the root causes of Hashimoto’s and what you can do about them. There are at least eight root causes: stress, low vitamin D levels, hormone changes, food reactions, environmental chemicals, blood sugar, iodine, and infections.
We’re starting with the biggest one, in my opinion. Stress.
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Health with Hashimoto’s is your free weekly podcast that sorts this autoimmune condition into thyroid or immune. Each episode is for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss any questions or concerns with your trusted healthcare professional. Some links may be affiliate links, marked as such, at no extra cost to you.
Stress is a root cause of Hashimoto’s
Before we get into stress specifically, it helps to understand the bigger picture.
To develop an autoimmune disease, three things need to be present: a genetic predisposition, a gut problem, and a trigger. Stress is one of the most common triggers for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
If you don’t address things at the root, symptoms will keep happening. That’s true even if you’re taking medication to manage them. That’s why a root cause approach matters.
Why stress is the biggest Hashimoto’s trigger
Stress and your thyroid health are closely linked at the foundational level.
What is stress? It’s the feeling you get when you’re faced with a challenge. It can be good or bad. Short-term, infrequent stress actually increases focus, energy, and motivation. That’s why some people (myself included, I’m a chronic procrastinator) work best under a deadline.
But here’s the problem: stress isn’t always short-term. For most of us, it’s chronic.
We are under more stress now than at any other time in history. Financial stress. Environmental stress. Emotional stress. Stress we can see and stress we can’t. That chronic, ongoing stress is what really impacts your thyroid and your immune system.
How to lower stress when you have Hashimoto’s
There’s a lot you can do to lower the impact of stress on your body. Here are three places to start.
Stop “shoulding” on yourself
The first thing I want you to do is stop “shoulding” on yourself.
When your list of “shoulds” grows, your stress grows with it. You feel guilty for the things you’re not doing. That guilt raises your stress level. And when you have Hashimoto’s, that matters.
Here’s a common example. A doctor tells someone newly diagnosed with Hashimoto’s: “You need to cut out gluten, dairy, and soy.” It sounds simple to the doctor. But for the person hearing it, it changes every single meal. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Snacks. Everything. And when you sit down to eat your next meal, that “I should be eating differently” thought activates your stress response right at the table.
Make a simple, sustainable plan before making changes
Before you implement any big change, especially dietary changes, make a plan first.
When I was told to cut out gluten, dairy, and soy, I did it without a plan. I figured out what I could eat for a couple of days and thought I’d be fine. I wasn’t. By day five or six, I was struggling. Every meal felt stressful. I felt lost, angry, and sad. I was grieving the foods I loved. I felt lonely sitting at the table eating something different from my family. And I was hungry because I hadn’t planned enough options.
The dietary change may have been good for my body. But it was not good for my stress level because I didn’t plan well.
So before you change anything, write out a simple, sustainable plan. If you’re making dietary changes, plan every single meal for two weeks. Have your recipes, your ingredients, your shopping list ready. That preparation lowers the stress load significantly as you make the change.
Understand what stress does to digestion
If you don’t have a plan and you’re stressed at every meal, it’s not just emotionally hard. It’s physically damaging.
Your nervous system has two modes. One is fight or flight. The other is rest and digest. These are opposites. When you’re stressed, you’re in fight or flight. That means your digestion is not working the way it should. You cannot digest food well in a stressed state.
How diaphragmatic breathing supports thyroid health
One of the most powerful tools I give all of my clients is diaphragmatic breathing, also called belly breathing, before meals.
Here’s why it works. When you breathe with your chest and shoulders, it signals to every cell in your body that you’re stressed. When you breathe with your belly (your diaphragm), it massages a large nerve that runs through the diaphragm and sends a signal to your entire body that it’s okay to shift into rest and digest mode.
Try this right now if you’re not driving. Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. Take a deep breath in. Which hand moved? If it was your chest and shoulders, your body thinks it’s stressed. If it was your belly, you’re already shifting into rest and digest.
Do this before meals. Do it before bed. Any time you feel stressed, a few belly breaths can begin to shift your nervous system. It works anywhere, anytime, with no equipment. That’s why it’s my number one tip.
If you want a full tutorial, go back and listen to Episode 2 of the Health with Hashimoto’s podcast.
How to activate your body’s natural antioxidants
Chronic stress creates something called oxidative stress. Think of it like the rusting or browning of your cells. It impacts your overall health and puts more demand on your body.
One thing that helps is activating your Nrf2 pathway. When this pathway is activated, your body produces antioxidants that are more powerful than anything you can get through diet alone. It helps your body work the way it was designed to work. Check out “Natural Remedies for Hashimoto’s” for this and other things. I take the “Dual Synergizer” every single day and it includes something for the Nrf2 pathway. (Affiliate link.)
What your body needs more of when you’re under stress
Stress increases your body’s demand for specific nutrients. When you’re under chronic stress, you need more of these:
- B vitamins
- Vitamin C
- Healthy fats
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Calcium
- Iron
Make sure you’re getting these through food or supplements. Your body needs the right tools to manage stress. If you’re running low on any of these, the stress response hits harder.
Using data to track your stress response
The third tool I use every single day is my Oura ring. (Affiliate link)
I’m a calm person. I don’t suffer from anxiety. You often can’t tell when I’m stressed. I carry it well. But I own two businesses. I wear a lot of hats. Stress is there whether I feel it or not.
The Oura ring gives me cold, hard data. No emotions attached. It tells me when my heart rate was elevated, when my heart rate variability is off, when something in my body says a stressor is present. It once asked me to look back at the past couple of days and think about what might have been on my mind. And when I did, I realized it was right.
If you have a different fitness wearable, that can work too. The reason I prefer the Oura ring is that it has no EMFs when on airplane mode, which matters to me at night. I don’t want EMFs near my brain while it’s doing its overnight restoration work. We don’t fully know the long-term impact of EMF exposure, but what we do know isn’t encouraging. Turning off your Wi-Fi router at night, keeping your wearables on airplane mode, and not charging your phone in your bedroom are simple ways to reduce one more stressor on your body.
