What is the Current State of your Stress Response System? And What Kind of Support Will Help?
Spring has arrived and with it, an implicit invitation: to move again, to emerge, to begin. In East Asian medicine, we're transitioning out of the season that corresponds with the Water element — the conservation, depth, and stillness of winter — into the energy of springtime and its corresponding Wood element. The qi in nature this time of year pushes up on our bodies, just like seedlings pressing through cold ground. There’s more light, more warmth, and for some, what feels like . . . more pressure.
But what happens when the body is asked to respond to the challenge of rising to the occasion without having had enough of an opportunity to fully replenish itself?
For many people, spring arrives with the sensation of wanting to feel more energized, more motivated, more ready . . . but coming up feeling a little empty. If you’re feeling a gap between what the season is asking of you and what your body has to offer, you may benefit from nurturing your stress response system (or the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, HPA axis, or your adrenals).
So, where are you in the stress cycle right now? There are layers of support that can meet each phase of the stress response system to help protect and nurture your stress resiliency. Just the process of identifying the phases of response to accumulated stress can help you better manage your health and make sense of your body’s signs and signals. Here's a guide:
The Three Phases of Accumulated Stress
The body doesn't experience chronic stress as a single, uniform state. It moves through recognizable phases, each with its own physiology, its own texture of experience, and its own most aligned support.
Phase One: The Alarm Stage
The body is rising to meet the demand.
In the early phases of increased stress, the nervous system is mobilized. The adrenal glands secrete excess catecholamines: adrenaline and noradrenaline. The body is doing exactly what it evolved to do: respond. Physical stamina is often surprisingly intact here. This is the phase of stress mobilization we need to respond to an immediate crisis or urgent deadline. Some people find that they can thrive here for certain periods of time.
What begins to suffer are subtler things: baseline mood levels, patience, sleep quality, the ability to relax. Over prolonged time, the quickness of sympathetic tone begins to erode as catecholamines are depleted. Eventually, you may see further impacts on the ability to make decisions without friction, the tendency to feel easily irritated or quietly anxious even when nothing specific is wrong.
This is the phase of ‘too much’: too much activation, too much frequent reactivity, too much incoming signal. If you’ve ever had a short period of stress where there’s simply too much to constantly respond to without sufficient down time, without being able to return to a normalized baseline, this is the Alarm Phase. (Honestly most people are here often.)
What the body needs here is less about supplementation and more about creating genuine moments of physiological rest throughout the day. Examples might include: breathwork, cold exposure (ice baths to the face in the morning or ending a hot shower on cold) if appropriate, movement that discharges rather than further stimulates, and honest attention to sleep architecture. The nervous system doesn't need to be pushed harder — it needs off-ramps. Herbal supports, if any, should be introduced as reminders that another option exists besides leaping into action and chronic activation. Turning towards a cup of calming tea or a specific tincture as nudges for the nervous system, would be some examples.
The underlying teaching of the Alarm Phase: Learning to practice self-care even during crises or emergencies. Setting minimum boundaries for self-regulation, even in highly stressful times. Healing from over-doing.
Botanical support for Phase One:
Tinctures: like vervain, passionflower, linden, jujube, lavender, scutellaria lateriflora, chamomile as drop-doses . . . herbal reminders to calm the adrenergic excess “flight” response
Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri): Where the resistance phase erodes cognitive sharpness — focus, memory, the ability to sustain attention without effort — bacopa is a restorative neuroprotective ally. It has a quality of centering the mind that can be welcome for those whose stress impacts their concentration and focus. It is best taken consistently over 6-8 weeks to appreciate its full effects.
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera): The species name means "sleep-inducing" — a useful hint at its primary character. Ashwagandha is half-relaxing, half-restorative. It's particularly well-suited to the alarm and resistance phases because it supports both sleep quality and sustainable daytime energy simultaneously, without overstimulating. It has positive effects across the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. Two notes of caution: ashwagandha is a nightshade, which may be relevant for people with nightshade sensitivity or significant inflammatory conditions. Its use in autoimmune thyroid conditions (Hashimoto's, Graves') has become a subject of clinical debate due to potential immune stimulation — if this applies to you, please discuss with a practitioner before using.
Magnesium: Not an adaptogen, but arguably the most important foundational support for the exhausted nervous system. Magnesium is depleted by chronic stress and is required for hundreds of enzymatic processes including cortisol regulation, sleep, muscle relaxation, and mood stability. Magnesium glycinate is generally the best-tolerated and most bioavailable form for nervous system support.
Methylated B Vitamins: The HPA axis and adrenal function are highly dependent on B vitamins — particularly B5 (pantothenic acid), B6, and B12. If methylation is also a concern for you, the form of B vitamins matters significantly. (For a deeper look at methylation and how it affects your stress response, mood, and hormonal health, see this full article.)
Phase Two: The Resistance Stage
The body is adapting — and paying for it. Chronic hypercortisolism leads to adrenal dysregulation.
The body is able to respond to stress via the Alarm Stage for a certain amount of time, but it’s not meant to persist there. Eventually, if the demands of chronic elevated stress don't lessen, the body may run out of its quick energetic reserves and begin to shift strategies. Rather than continuing to flood the system with adrenaline, it begins relying more heavily on cortisol — the hormone designed for sustained stress management.
Cortisol governs our daily energy rhythm, blood sugar regulation, inflammation, and the sleep-wake cycle. It has wide impacts on our physiology including weight/metabolism as well as concentration, learning, and memory. Being flooded with cortisol impacts our brains and narrows our perspective, decreases creativity, and makes it feel like we have a smaller range of possible options. So, when cortisol is impacted, our lived experience shifts.
This phase of stress has a particular texture: a flattening. Signs to look for in the resistance stage:
Sleep becomes less restorative. You may fall asleep easily but awaken in the early hours, or feel unrefreshed despite adequate hours.
Energy follows an unpredictable arc through the day. There may be exhaustion and an inability to mobilize energy when you need it in the mornings, energy crashes in the afternoon, and bursts of energy when it’s less ideal in the evenings or just before bed.
Mental and emotional bandwidth narrows. You may notice a kind of numbness, a reduced capacity to feel enthusiasm or distress, as if the system is conserving what it has left. Anxiety or depression become more noticeable.
Physical stamina is more noticeably affected here. The body is working hard to maintain equilibrium. You might not notice how deeply tired you are until you finally sit for a moment or rest and then it’s hard to motivate to restart again.
Metabolic changes may start to present themselves. Cravings or changes in appetite are common here. Feeling puffy or bloated may feel like a new baseline. Central weight gain is a prominent feature of the resistance stage. Women may experience estrogen dominance and ovulatory disturbance (low progesterone).
Immune changes may appear, an inability to resolve infections quickly or autoimmune symptoms flare more frequently.
Underlying teaching of the Resistance Phase: Is it genuinely better for everyone if I keep showing up at this level of capacity? Do I have any resistance to taking real rest for myself, asking for help, or letting others take on more responsibility?
What the body needs in this phase is specific support for the cortisol rhythm — consistent sleep and wake times, blood sugar stability through the day with adequate protein and fat at meals, and a genuine reduction in stimulant reliance (by the way, caffeine and screens can further destabilize an already dysregulated cortisol curve). Daily and real stress reduction practices matter even more in this phase. In this phase, botanical and potentially glandular support to nurture the overly taxed adrenals is crucial. I strongly recommend working with a practitioner as this phase can interact with many existing health conditions.
Botanical support for Phase Two:
Tulsi / Holy Basil: A gentle, deeply nourishing nervine adaptogen from Ayurvedic tradition, tulsi is particularly well-suited to support the resistance phase. It lowers excess cortisol and stabilizes blood sugar responses to stress, and helps bolster a sense of calm (without sedation) while still tonifying the system. As a tea, it's one of the most accessible and pleasurable ways to begin building adaptogenic support into a daily rhythm. In supplements, a more targeted and consistent thereapeutic dose can be achieved.
Vitamin C: 1,000 mg of buffered vitamin C, up to four times daily can help nourish the adrenals and protect the rest of the body’s hormones from stress.
Other tailored adaptogenic supports to consider in this phase: Licorice, Astragalus, Schizandra, Ginseng, Eleutrococcus
Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea): Arctic Rose is a mood-stabilizing adaptogen that can be especially helpful when the resistance phase brings oscillating mood, anxiety, or early signs of mental fatigue. It is thought to support serotonin metabolism and stress resilience that specifically impacts mood and mental-emotional changes. Important note: Rhodiola should not be combined with SSRIs or MAOIs due to risk of serotonin-related interactions. If you are taking an antidepressant, please consult your prescriber or a knowledgeable practitioner before using rhodiola.
Phase Three: Exhaustion
The reserves are genuinely depleted.
This is the phase that tends to bring people into my office.
Exhaustion phase isn't simply feeling very tired. It has a different quality — a kind of bone-level flatness, a system that has been running on reserves for so long that the reserves themselves are thin. The window of tolerance narrows: things that would once have been manageable feel deeply overwhelming, and recovery time from ordinary stressors is much longer than it used to be.
Physical signs become more prominent here: frequent illnesses or slow recovery from illness, hormonal disruption, changes in metabolism or weight, new or worsened changes in hair or skin, accumulated muscle tension or pain that doesn't resolve with rest. Sleep may be paradoxically difficult despite profound fatigue — the system too dysregulated to complete the descent into deep, restorative rest.
There is often also a grief quality to this phase, a mourning for a previous version of self that felt more capable and resourced. The emotional landscape of the Exhaustion Phase might be punctuated by bouts of panic, and disbelief at how overwhelming ordinary life now feels.
If this resonates, the most important thing I want you to know is that this is not a character flaw or a failure of discipline. It is a physiological state with physiological causes, and it responds to physiological support — combined, ideally, with taking inventory around the events and processes that brought you here.
What the body needs here is genuinely different in intensity. Rest must be protected and non-negotiable. Nourishment should prioritize mineral density, regular consistent protein, and blood sugar stability. (Digestion may need support to accomplish this.) Meaningful, sustained reductions in daily life demands should be made wherever possible, but rest is also not enough; it must also be coupled with some real boundaries and patience. The exhaustion phase does not resolve in days or weeks. It resolves over months, with consistent, layered support.
Nervous system work matters deeply here. Acupuncture, or any setting that provides 1:1 consistent relational and therapeutic care, can nurture parasympathetic regulation and vagal tone. Bodywork, somatic practices, and genuinely safe relationships should all be part of the plan.
Underlying opportunities: Is this an opportunity for a life re-design? If I’m radically honest, what can I no longer continue and still thrive?
Botanical support for Exhaustion Phase:
Eleuthero / Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus): This is the adaptogen I think of most specifically for the exhaustion phase. A deep tonic herb, eleuthero is traditionally indicated for prolonged depletion, poor stamina, and reduced recovery from illness/immunosuppression. It works slowly and best over time — think of it as a long rebuilding project rather than a quick intervention. It gradually raises the threshold at which the body experiences distress.
Consider glandular support and/or DHEA supplementation.
A Note on Self-Prescribing
Adaptogens are generally considered safe at normal doses for most people — but the key words here are "generally" and "most". Please take a moment to consider the incredibly common complexities of herb-drug interactions, individual constitution, autoimmune considerations, hormone or endocrine imbalances, chronic illness, a past history of complex trauma or PTSD, and HPA axis disruptions. All of these interact with the specific texture of your stress pattern and matter in choosing what will actually help you versus what might simply add noise (or side effects) to an already overwhelmed system.
I’ve described the phases above as a map, but they are not a diagnosis. If you're genuinely in Exhaustion Phase territory, or if you're managing a complex health picture alongside your stress, I'd encourage you to work with someone who can look at the whole of you — not just your symptoms — before building a protocol.
I do that kind of work as a small part of the comprehensive care I offer in naturopathic visits, and I'd be glad to help you find the support that actually fits.
Browse my curated supplement dispensary for practitioner-grade adaptogenic support at each phase: [Adaptogens + Stress Support →]
Related reading: [Methylation, MTHFR, and Why the Form of Your B Vitamins Matters]