Stress Test Case Study

This is Elizabeth. She's a working mom with two children under the age of six. With everything Elizabeth has to do each day, it's no wonder she often feels stressed. And what Elizabeth wanted to know is whether some of the health and wellbeing issues she is struggling with are stress-related. That's why Elizabeth ordered a Thorne Stress Test.

"With two young kids, I can expect to feel tired most of the time. But recently I'm not feeling my best, I've gotten sick twice in the past year, and at work I find it harder to focus. I think it's a fair question to ask if some of these things are related to stress."

"Instead of just asking myself if stress is becoming a problem, I decided to do something about it. So an at-home stress test seemed like a good first step, not to mention stress-free, which is why I purchased a stress test from Thorne."

"My test kit arrived in two days. I went on thorne.com, where I activated my test and completed a personal health profile. I was relieved to see the profile had check boxes for the symptoms I was experiencing."

"It's easy to collect the saliva samples and send them back, and Thorne sent me an email as soon as my test results were ready to look at."

"I'm not a medical expert, but Thorne presented my results so clearly that I could see right away that I wasn't just imagining things. There were some real issues causing my symptoms."

"The color-coded dashboard made it clear that my cortisol levels were lower than they should be throughout the day. Lower than optimal - how easy is that to understand? And my DHEA level was also below the optimal range."

"Thorne explained that these results indicate my adrenal glands are stressed and not functioning properly. When my cortisol levels are too low, my adrenal glands can't meet the demands my body puts on them. And I probably got to this place because of long-term stress. Because my adrenal glands are called on to constantly release cortisol to cope with my stress levels, their ability to function normally became impaired."

"My obvious first question when I saw my results was, What can I do about it? How awesome was it that my Thorne results came with algorithm-driven wellness recommendations individualized to my test results, my wellness profile, and the latest medical information? So I knew the recommendations were the right ones for me personally."

"Thorne recommended clinically validated dietary suggestions, like drinking grapefruit juice or eating herbal licorice in the morning. Under the “What does the science say”, I was able to learn about the scientific rationale and clinical evidence behind their recommendations."

"Thorne also made recommendations for physical activities. In my case, one recommendation is to change my workouts from evening to morning, since studies show that early morning workouts facilitate higher cortisol levels throughout the day. Another was that I should focus more on strength training because resistance exercise can increase DHEA levels."

"And finally Thorne recommended a nutritional supplement specifically formulated to support healthy adrenal glands, which I learned is important for maintaining normal blood sugar levels and healthy immune function."

"Now that I have all of this new information, Thorne recommends my next step is sharing my results with my health professional. It feels good to have a head start on feeling great again."