Hans Selye described how a body under sustained stress moves through stages — an alarm phase, a long resistance phase, and eventually exhaustion. What makes hair tissue mineral analysis interesting is that these stages leave a mineral signature. The person who says “I used to run on adrenaline and now I can barely get off the couch” is usually describing a chart that has moved from one recognisable pattern to another.
At a glance: two ratios define the oxidation picture — calcium/potassium and sodium/magnesium · fast oxidation tracks Selye's alarm stage · slow oxidation tracks the exhaustion stage · the shift between them is gradual and shows up on successive tests, which is why trend beats snapshot.
In this model the oxidation type is defined by just two ratios. Trace Elements puts the ideal calcium/potassium ratio at 4.2 and sodium/magnesium at 4; Analytical Research Labs uses 4 and 4.17. In practice Eileen reads the range between the two labs rather than a single number.
| Pattern | Ca/K (thyroid ratio) | Na/Mg (adrenal ratio) | Selye stage it tracks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast oxidation | below the ideal range | above the ideal range | Alarm — fight-or-flight chemistry |
| Slow oxidation | above the ideal range | below the ideal range | Exhaustion — reserves spent |
| Mixed | one high, one low | Transition — an unstable in-between | |
In the alarm stage the stress glands are loud. Tissue sodium and potassium run high, while calcium and magnesium — the minerals Selye found sympathetic activation depletes — run low. People in this pattern tend to describe high energy, quick reflexes, a busy mind, warm skin and easy sweating. It feels productive. It is also expensive, because it is being paid for out of reserves.
Stay in the alarm stage long enough and the chemistry inverts. Glandular output falls, tissue calcium climbs as it comes out of solution, and sodium and potassium sink. The chart that once showed low calcium over high sodium now shows the mirror image. This is the “wired to tired” arc in mineral form: the same stress, met with a body that no longer has the reserves to mount the alarm response. On paper it is a move from fast oxidation into slow oxidation; in life it is the year the espresso stopped working.
The two ends of the arc call for opposite support, which is why guessing is costly. Feeding stimulation to an exhaustion-stage chart deepens the hole; sedating an alarm-stage chart wastes the window. A hair test does not diagnose anything — it is a screening snapshot of mineral trends — but it distinguishes these two patterns clearly, and successive tests show which direction a body is moving. If you have not tested before, the HTMA test kit is where the numbers come from; if you want the basic fast/slow distinction first, start with oxidation type: fast or slow.
Practitioner Eileen Durfee, NBS (Nutritional Balancing Science), NASM-CPT — wellness educator, inventor with 10 U.S. and 6 international patents, author, and Nationally Certified Spinal Fitness Specialist
I came to hair analysis in 2010, under ARNP Julie Walker in Kennewick, Washington, worked directly with Analytical Research Labs, and took the Nutritional Balancing training with Dr. Larry Wilson in August 2011. I have practised independently since autumn 2017.
The wired-to-tired arc is the single most common story that walks through my practice. People apologise for it — they think they lost their discipline. Then we put two or three of their charts side by side and they can see the arc as chemistry: the alarm-stage numbers they were living on, and the exhaustion-stage numbers they are living in now. Nobody needs convincing after that. The chart did the explaining.
If you have a report you are unsure how to read, send it over — walking people through their own numbers is what the text support is for, and our Facebook group is free to join.
Neither. They are adaptations, not grades. The healthy state is flexibility — the ability to shift rate as circumstances require — and either extreme held for years carries its own costs.
Not reliably. The middle of the arc is genuinely ambiguous from the inside — tired-but-wired can belong to either side. That ambiguity is exactly what the two ratios resolve.
A hair sample averages roughly the last two to three months of growth, and retests are typically run every three to five months. Movement between stages is visible across tests, not days.
Rarely. The pattern reflects sustained chemistry. A hard month nudges numbers; years of alarm-stage living move the type.
Published 2026-08-23 · Last updated 2026-08-23
By Eileen Durfee — hair analysis practitioner since 2010
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening tool for nutritional and toxic element status, and describes trends rather than diagnoses. Your healthcare provider can help you fit any programme into a plan that suits you.
Feel like this pattern is describing you?
The lived version of this arc — the wired years, the crash, and what recovery looked like — is told in first person on EileenDurfee.com. This page stays with the numbers.
