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Endocrine Triage

Meaning

Endocrine Triage is a proposed physiological principle describing the body’s adaptive, hierarchical redistribution of shared hormonal precursors and vital energy resources toward essential, immediate survival functions during periods of chronic, sustained stress or severe nutritional scarcity. In this critical survival model, the synthesis of hormones deemed most critical for immediate stress response, primarily cortisol, is strongly prioritized over those important for long-term health, reproduction, and vitality, such as the sex steroids (testosterone and estrogen). This mechanism helps to explain clinically observed phenomena where chronic stressors can lead to measurable deficiencies in hormones associated with vitality and longevity.