How do you describe HPA axis dysregulation to patients without going into detail, the problems with the term adrenal fatigue. People seem to know what adrenal fatigue is but glaze over when I start talking about HPA-D. I don’t want to perpetuate the myth of adrenal fatigue, but I need an easy way to explain HPA-D.

Chris Kresser:  I just say the HPA axis is the system that determines our stress tolerance and is affected by our response to stress. And it’s connected to, it plays a really profound role in our health, and it influences our immune system, our brain, our hormones, our gut, every aspect of our physiology. And it’s a really crucial system and it gets thrown out of whack by the modern lifestyle, whether we’re talking about poor diet choices or inflammation or circadian disruption. You could just say not enough sleep or too much exposure to light at night, and generally patients get that pretty well. Most people are aware that they’re stressed and their body’s affected by stress. So I just try to keep it simple in those terms. And I don’t necessarily even go into any detail about the adrenal glands and the role they play because it’s not really necessary and you’re right, it does add complexity. So I just talk about it in terms of stress mostly and how their body has been impacted by stress.