Stress and Holiday Hypothyroidism | How Stress Lowers T3 and Raises rT3 | Dr. Eric Balcavage – Thyroid Shorts Ep. 19

The holidays are supposed to be joyful — but for many with hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's, they trigger fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, and anxiety.

In this episode, Dr. Eric Balcavage, creator of the Adaptive Thyroid Model™, explains how stress physiology, poor sleep, and inflammation can turn down your thyroid hormone activity — even when your blood tests look "normal."

Learn why holiday stress, late nights, sugar spikes, alcohol, and over-training push your body into a reverse T3 (rT3) dominant state — what Dr. Balcavage calls Holiday Hypothyroidism — and how to fix it naturally.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✅ What reverse T3 is — and how it shuts down active T3 inside your cells
✅ How cortisol, IL-6, and TNF-α change deiodinase enzyme activity (DIO1/2 ↓, DIO3 ↑)
✅ Why your thyroid "slows down" under stress — it's protection, not failure
✅ The 5-Day rT3 Reset — a practical plan for restoring thyroid balance
✅ How to lower inflammation, improve sleep, and support bile flow during the holidays