Motherhood creates a chronically elevated stress baseline due to sleep disruption, constant multitasking, emotional labor, and the mental load that never ends. All of this pushes the adrenals to produce more cortisol, which is intensified by caffeine, and can contribute to symptoms commonly labeled as adrenal fatigue.

Many people approach food with control-based thinking: What do I need to fix to feel better? But your body responds more to connection than control.

If levels fall too quickly, your adrenals release cortisol and adrenaline to bring them back up — the same hormones behind anxiety, racing thoughts, and that “wired” feeling. Research from the Journal of Affective Disorders (Musselman, 2003) links these hormonal surges to anxious mood states and hypervigilance.

Higher vagal tone is associated with resilience to stress and better emotional regulation.

The fight or flight response is your nervous system’s built-in emergency switch.

These survival responses are God-given, ancient wisdom and deeply wired.