Stressed Out & Tired?


You May Have Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal Fatigue is a result of prolonged stress. When you have high stress levels for a long time, your body can no longer sustain itself and you may feel tired, depressed, apathetic, and overwhelmed.  Stress can come from your job, lifestyle, food allergies, or from environmental toxins.

What Are The Adrenal Glands?
The adrenal glands, a component ofthe sympathetic nervous system, are involved in a three-part interaction between the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands.  These three centers directly communicate in order to modulate the neuro-endocrine response to stress. The adrenal glands are small, triangular glands that sit above each kidney.  They are composed of the cortex and the medulla.

What Do the Adrenal Glands Do?
They regulate many of your body’s processes like digestion, the immune system, psychological factors such as mood and emotion, sexuality, and homeostatic functions such as weight control, blood pressure, and temperature.

The outer layer, the cortex, produces steroid hormones collectively called the corticosteroid hormones.  Aldosterone and cortisol are just two examples of over 24 hormones produced in the outer cortex alone.  Aldosterone regulates blood pressure by regulating blood levels of potassium and sodium.

Cortisol is the major stress hormone.  It regulates blood sugar levels by initiating the transformation of fat and protein to glucose.  It also regulates intracellular water and blocks inflammation.

Cortisol levels change throughout the day, with higher levels in the morning and lower levels at night.  This pattern helps establish your circadian rhythms and your sleep cycle.  The inner layer of the adrenal glands, the medulla, produces hormones related to the “fight or flight” response.

These catecholamines are called adrenaline and noradrenaline.  Excess levels of these hormones increase metabolic rate, increase heartbeat, raise blood pressure and blood sugars, and can lead to sweating, insomnia, and nervousness.

If you are stressed for a prolonged time, eventually the adrenal glands will shrink in size as they lose their ability to function and release these regulatory hormones.

What Happens When They Stop Working?
Eventually, your body cannot compensate for stress and the adrenal glands and other related organs may be unable to produce the hormones needed to successfully deal with the stressors: you fall out of balance, becoming fatigued, irritable, and often experience insomnia, poor digestion, and a weakened immune system.

Some people mask their symptoms by grabbing a coffee or another “pick me up” to help them ignore their fatigue and mental haziness during the day.  What most people do not realize is that drinking lots of coffee and taking pain relievers every day is not healthy and is actually worsening the problem.

Unfortunately, adrenal fatigue is a health condition often overlooked by conventional MD’s and millions of people suffer from that negligence.

What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?

  • Poor diet
  • Nutrient deficiencies
  • Food allergies
  • Lack of exercise
  • Lack of sleep
  • Chronic illness
  • Excessive stimulant consumption
  • Chronic physical or emotional stress

Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue Include:

  • Lack of energy
  • Feelings of depression
  • Low sex drive
  • Weight gain/loss
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Sleeping disorders

What Can You Do To Heal?

Lab Tests
Lab tests can provide really valuable insight into your adrenal function.  One test to consider is the cortisol saliva test.  Over a 24-hour period, saliva is taken four different times to measure the levels throughout the day.  In this way, you can have an overall picture of the your stress response at multiple times in the day.

Lifestyle
It is important to address the psychological and emotional aspects of stress.  Meditation, relaxation, massages, and acupuncture are all beneficial methods of promoting a sense of calmness and overall well-being. Adrenal fatigue is a result of a stressful lifestyle.  You need to be responsible for that and respond appropriately by reducing or eliminating those stressors in your life as well as developing ways of handling current and future stressors.  Only from this holistic approach can your adrenal fatigue truly be addressed and eliminated.

Diet

  • Eat to stabilize your blood sugar. This will help you have consistent energy throughout the day, improve metabolic function, aid weight-loss and help transition into a healthier body composition with more muscle and less fat.
  • Eating plenty of vegetables and some fruits will help reduce systemic inflammation in your body.
  • The diet should exclude potential food allergens, be low in grains and high in quality proteins.
  • A whole foods plant-based diet with some additional supplements will provide an abundance of antioxidants to support detoxification of the excess hormones and environmental toxins, to enhance liver health, and to help you deal with oxidative stressors, both physiologically and psychologically.

For more information about how to address adrenal fatigue, please contact me. You deserve to feel energized and healthy!

 

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