Adrenal Fatigue: What Is It? And What Can You Do About It?
I’m always over here all “mind, body and spirit” so I like to do my best to ensure that I give all of those areas equal love. Today I want to touch on the body (no pun intended). Our bodies are how we are able to carry out the thoughts of the mind and feelings of the spirit. It’s the vessel. And that vessel is our only one so it is important to take good care of it so that we can be sure to be loving ourselves all the way to the golden years. Adrenal fatigue is one of those things that might go unnoticed as an actual thing and therefore I want to demystify it a bit.
Let’s take a little trip through a typical day in your life. The alarm clock goes off, you hit snooze a couple of times before dragging yourself out of bed and to the coffee maker. From here you start the process of getting ready before oh shit- you’ve gotta hurry because somehow you’ve spent a lot of time doing what seems like nothing and now you have to hustle to make it to work on time. You get there, you’re sipping your coffee, things are fine. Lunch time hits and when you make it back to your desk you’re feeling a little groggy. Time for a cafecito (for my Miamians) or some other energy boosting drink. It does the trick. You finish up your work and lazily leave and go home to sit on the couch for a bit because your day has left you exhausted. Maybe you take some pre-workout and manage to squeeze out a workout before having dinner and making your way to bed.
All that zombie-like hustle and bustle sound familiar? Makes sense. It is estimated that 80% of the world population has adrenal fatigue (Firehouse). This is mostly vasty under-recognized and under diagnosed disease considering such a large chunk of the world has it. That means that there are a ton of us that are affected by it without even knowing it! So what exactly is this? How did we get it? And what can we do about it?
I’m not a doctor- nor do I want to be. So to help me explain some of the science behind this thing I paid a visit to Lincoln Road Wellness and spoke with Joseph Hudson, DC.
Dr. Hudson is an experienced chiropractor with a successful practice whom is board-eligible for a DABCI (which is a Diplomat of the American Board of Chiropractic Internists). Dr. Hudson has recently completed a 2 year course AND has began to study functional nutrition so he knows his ish and it’s current.
So read on my friends to better understand what’s going on!
What Is Adrenal Fatigue?
“Adrenal fatigue is a term applied to a collection of nonspecific symptoms, such as body aches, fatigue, nervousness, sleep disturbances and digestive problems. The term often shows up in popular health books and on alternative medicine websites, but it isn’t an accepted medical diagnosis.” (Mayo Clinic) Your adrenal glands can’t produce significant amounts of the hormones that they usually would. Adrenal fatigue is basically when our adrenal glands are stressed out beyond their capacity. It can often times result from chronic and/or prolonged exposure to stress which can include lack of sleep, job/family/personal stress factors, unhappiness or even anxiety.
Often times we mistake this condition as just being tired and we go for a quick fix like chugging more coffee or some other energy drink. Society loves productivity, right? So we order another double espresso and forward we march. An espresso here, cutting sleep a few hours short there- what’s the harm, right?
Actually all these little energy boosters can end up doing some pretty serious damage. Cue adrenal fatigue. Prolonged subjection of your body to stress can result in some pretty nasty side effects.
Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue:
- Fatigue
- Body aches
- Unexplained weight loss
- Low blood pressure
- Lightheadedness
- Loss of body hair
- Skin discoloration (hyper-pigmentation)
Yikes. If you experience any or multiple of the above then this is probably the point when you are asking, “How do I know if I have it!?” Simple. You can determine this by having a simple blood work test that checks for the appropriate levels or the hormones produced by the adrenals.
What causes adrenal fatigue?
This is the part where you want to get to the root of the problem and not just take some pill or apply more energy boosting crap. You always want to solve the issues instead of covering them up. Dr. Hudson noted that while adrenal fatigue can come from lack of sleep and other physical demands the #1 reason is stress that has most likely been caused by some sort of emotional burden.
So what does that mean? I means that either your relationships or your job or your home life is bringing you down. Relationships can mean ones with your friends, your family, boss, co-workers, romantic partner- any interaction you have with someone else. And home or job concerns don’t necessarily have to mean that something is “wrong.” A stress stemming from either of these could simply mean that you’re not loving it like you should be.
Dr. Hudson likens this stress to a bear attack. If that happens then it’s f’ing traumatic. But it goes away, your wounds will heal (hopefully) and life will go on. Chances of that actually happening aren’t likely. However the stress of a break-up, losing money and having to deal with traffic or any of the other little annoyances we are faced with in our modern lives won’t. Those stressors are here for awhile. And it’s these things that over time increase our toxic load (combined with alllll the chemicals but I’ll save that for later) and end up decreasing the production of those happy hormones that keep us smiling and energized.
Other possible reasons could be things such as poor diet, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise or a hormonal imbalance.
How do I recover from Adrenal Fatigue?
This is kind of straight forward: Get rid of that stress!
Like most things that is easier said that done. First we have to figure out what the problem is. Think about the following. Heck maybe even grab a pen and some paper and write this down if you’re serious. Rate your views/feelings on the following on a scale from 1-10 (1 being negative and 10 being perfect). I’ve divided them into 2 categories but feel free to add anything else you feel is appropriate and make it your own. If you feel like adding any specific notes or words that you feel when thinking about one of the areas below then do it:
- Personal
- Health
- General well-being (are you sick a lot?)
- Energy levels
- Physical fitness
- Satisfaction with the sleep you’re getting
- Food you’re eating
- Relationships – Who are the people closest to you? How is your relationship with them?
- Friends
- Family
- Romantic Situation
- Anyone else that may come to mind (neighbors, the deliver guy from the pizza place, whatever)
- View of yourself – What do you think about you? Do you like who you are?
- Confidence?
- Desire to change
- Goals – Do you have any and if so what are they?
- Personally
- Health
- Professional
- Health
- Professional
- Money
- Environment
- Co-workers
Ok so now that we got that out of the way what stands out? Where do you see the most numbers at 5 or below? Those are the areas to look at more closely and figure out how to make them better.
Dr. Hudson suggests trying to improve your diet (YES! That means cut out the ice cream, fried foods, sodas and all the other bad stuff that you eat and lie to yourself saying “I’ll just have a bite.” Stop!) Cleaning up your diet should play a big part in feeling better- improved moods and energy levels.
Another thing you can do is try meditation and or yoga to help train your mind to stay calm and deal with stress.
And what if I just feel run down and blah?
Okay well good news- we haven’t gotten to the point of stressing out your hormones. Bad news you feel like crap. In this case I suggest trying to same drill and suggestions made above. Look at the different areas of your life and see what is bringing you down. Then decide how you’re going to fix it and move forward.
This isn’t a revolutionary idea- these are simple ways to help you take a closer look at the core of what is really bringing you down. And even if things are awesome it’s a good way to see where you can make things even more awesome-er. Why not offer a quick fix? We went over that. It may remedy your problem right now but it doesn’t actually solve anything. I want to teach you how-to fish instead of just giving you a fish. The reason doctors are so quite to give you a prescription now adays (or in other words, “give you a fish”) is because that will ensure that you keep coming back to them for another one. And another one. And another one…
So focus on the root if it all. What brings you down or lifts you up. Maybe it’s just that you need more sleep. Maybe it’s that you’re deficient in a vitamin like B12. Or maybe it’s that you need some real changes. You have to do what is best for You. If you need professional advice just ask your health care provider. Until next time stay healthy!
*This message is not intended to act as medical advice but rather wellness insight.
