Tag: Chronic stress

Chronic stress significantly depletes the body's B vitamins, including B12, accelerating their use faster than normal body demands. This depletion affects the nervous system and can have knock-on effects on hormonal balance, including the body's primary stress hormone, cortisol.

According to Healthline, B vitamins are water-soluble, meaning they are not stored in the body and any excess is typically excreted in urine daily. This often leads people to wonder about the safety and necessity of taking a stress B complex supplement every day, especially for long-term use.

Chronic stress is associated with health problems including digestive issues, headaches, and heart disease. This prolonged state of high alert, where your body’s fight-or-flight response is constantly activated, is what happens if you take too much stress, leading to detrimental effects on both your mind and body.

An estimated 50-60% of patients in intensive care units (ICU) have low blood magnesium levels, or hypomagnesemia. Beyond acute illness, a combination of modern lifestyle factors and a changing environment are the root cause for why we are so depleted in magnesium today, affecting a large percentage of the general population.

The sodium-to-potassium ratio is a valuable biomarker that reflects the balance between two essential electrolytes in the body, which play a crucial role in regulating nerve signaling, fluid balance, and blood pressure. Recent research suggests this ratio may be a more significant indicator of cardiovascular disease risk than either electrolyte level alone.

Chronic stress, an enduring and damaging state, significantly impacts physical health, affecting hormone levels and physiological functions. This prolonged state of alert can lead to substantial micronutrient depletion, raising the question: Can chronic stress cause vitamin deficiency?.

According to a 2020 review in *Nutrients*, there is a documented link between stress and magnesium depletion. The answer is a resounding yes: stress can significantly and detrimentally impact your body's essential mineral levels.

Scientific research suggests that chronic psychological stress can lead to the depletion of several key micronutrients, including magnesium and zinc. While claims suggest stress depletes molybdenum, the specific link is not well-established in clinical literature and is an area that requires careful examination.

Research from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) published in 2025 found that a higher Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) score is associated with a greater risk of high allostatic load. This evidence clearly suggests that diet plays a significant role in determining the physiological wear-and-tear caused by chronic stress, known as allostatic load.

According to practitioners using hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA), the four low mineral pattern represents a state of severe metabolic burnout and exhaustion. This unique pattern indicates depleted levels of four key macrominerals: calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium.