What is Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal Fatigue
Take a minute and think about how you’ve been feeling lately. Is it hard to get up and get out of bed in the morning? Are you tired all day and then unable to get a really good sleep at night? Maybe you’ve just lost the ability to jump up and get started… you used to do 20 things in a day, and now even just 5 things qualifies as a full day. Now think back to when those 20 appointment days wouldn’t even phase you, they were just a normal routine!
Just the fact that you even had 20-things-per-day days, weeks, months, even years…. Means you’re probably burnt out now.
Culturally, we idealize the “busy”. When someone asks you, “how have you been?”, have you answered “busy”? We covet it. We use the idea of being busy as sort of a status symbol. Its good to be busy, its productive, its useful, it means money, its means being important. A huge part of society likes this idea of being busy, it has a positive connotation to it. But over time, after running on fumes, caffeine and not taking care of ourselves, this mindset can really have a negative effect on the body. Chronic fatigue has become even more popular and although its a multi-faceted issue, long term chronic fatigue can contribute to actual adrenal fatigue.
What the heck are adrenal glands
Adrenals are little important glands that sit on top of your kidneys and release stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol. They are connected to the rest of your endocrine system in what we call the HPA-axis: Hypothalamus - Pituitary - Adrenal axis, also connected to the HPO axis in women which includes the Ovaries. The entirety of the hormonal system is very interconnected. The inverse relationships between these organ systems causes one to overcompensate for another when it isn’t functioning properly. Its so interconnected that adrenal issues can appear as thyroid deficiencies and vice versa. Issues with the reproductive organs can be triggered by deficiencies with other organs. This is why experiencing chronic fatigue and hormonal imbalances can be so frustrating and difficult to diagnose and treat properly.
Chronic long term stress can exhaust the adrenal glands. This doesn’t have to mean you had to have a stressful 6am - 8pm job, it can mean you’ve experienced intense physical, mental and/or emotional exhaustion that gets your sympathetic nervous system going. That's the division of your autonomic nervous system that reacts when your response to a stimuli is to fight or flight. First, your adrenals pump out epinephrine (adrenaline), and this causes our heart rate to pick up, our blood pressure to increase, our air passages in our lungs expand, pupils dilate, our blood sugar is maximized, taking our stored sugar (glycogen) into our blood so we can use it for energy, and our blood is sent to our extremities all in preparation for us to fight something or run away from it. If the danger (or what we are perceiving as danger- coming from an anxious human I can tell you right now that my response to receiving a text message from a coworker can exhibit almost the same response as coming across a bear on a hike would - wack I know, thats why I am nourishing my adrenals as well as writing about this!) continues, then our hypothalamus elicits our adrenals to now produce cortisol, which keeps this stress response going long term, further allowing us to keep fighting the danger.
This happens a lot, then the adrenal glands are so tired of pumping out these stress hormones they get burned out. Those little guys are so tired and confused, that they can no longer produce healthy levels of cortisol at the right times. Normally, we produce our highest level of cortisol in the morning, this is what wakes us up. Then it slowly decreases throughout the day, getting to the lowest at night which puts us back to sleep. Which brings me to the weird symptoms of adrenal fatigue:
Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue
Feeling Wired and Tired
You’re tired during the day but don’t get good sleeps at night. You can’t wait to get home to go to bed, but then you can’t sleep through the night. How freakin frustrating. A classic symptom of adrenal fatigue, it won’t last forever once you start nourishing them I promise!
Craving Salty Foods
I swear, when I saw my boyfriend eat straight salt out of his hand for the first time, I tried to wipe the look of concern off my face and told him lovingly that his job as a long-haul pilot had taken a toll on his body. Now eating straight salt is pretty extreme, but even craving salty foods a lot is a real indication that your glands are suffering, as they regular blood pressure and need salt to create aldosterone, another hormone.
I know we’ve been told forever “salt is bad for the heart, eat a diet low in sodium etc etc”. And that, to an extent, is true. BUT there is a major difference between foods high in processed sodium, and table salt, and legitimate sea salt. A diet low in sodium is good (reading the back of containers on processed foods is still a good idea, But we really don’t need to be limiting our intake of our use of sea salt in our cooking. Sea salt contains tons of trace minerals such as calcium, potassium, and iodine that your body needs to function properly.
Table salt: table salt is highly processed with few trace minerals left
Sea salt: is the whole food version of salt, lots of trace minerals and nutritional qualities. I personally like Himalayan its pretty and pink but any type of sea salt is good. Sprinkle away on all foods.
How to measure your need for salt
This little test comes out of James Wilson’s “Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Syndrome.” - great book, would recommend.
He recommends: putting ¼ tsp of salt in an 8 oz glass of water. If the water tastes fine to you, not salty, but more satisfying, it’s a signal that your body needs the salt. If it tastes good, further add ¼ tsp until the water tastes salty. Then use this as a homemade electrolyte drink 2x/day. Notice how you feel when you drink this, do you have more energy?
On a side note → putting sea salt and squeezed lemon in a glass of water is also a great electrolyte drink for long workouts, hangovers, and muscle aches.
Lightheadedness
Seeing stars after you stand up is also an adrenal fatigue symptom as it correlates with low blood pressure. This one usually comes later after the salt cravings.
Easily Startled
This symptom is actually a big one for me personally. I started realizing that almost anything made me jump out of my skin. That feeling that your nerves are fried.
I would even get this thing where something would startle me, and then even after I would realize consciously that it was just my friend coming into the room, nothing to be startled about, I would wait 3..2..1… and then my adrenaline would kick in. Even after I knew there wasn’t any real danger.
BIG energy crash in the afternoon
The need for a nap, or intense hangryness that shifts your mood… another big red flag.
Ways to help adrenal fatigue
B rich foods.. and no sugar
Adrenals NEED B’s in order to function properly. Foods high in the B Vitamins are: leafy greens such as spinach, romaine, collard greens, any green! Salmon and other seafood such as oysters and mussels, free range organic eggs, organic poultry, legumes such as chickpeas, kidney beans, edemame, black beans, nutritional yeast, and sunflower seeds.
Alcohol, sugar, and nicotine temporarily mask the symptoms of adrenal fatigue but overall contribute to further deterioration.
STRESS. LESS.
Nowhere is the relationship between mind and body more evident than with the adrenals. Certain emotional states affect the production of adrenal hormones. Anxiety, fear, and anger stimulate the hormone secretion. Epinephrine, norepinephrine and glucocorticods are all attached to emotions such as defeatish, feelings of being overpowered, not caring for or approving of oneself. MEDITATION and YOGA increase mindfulness, helping you sort out and overcome these emotional issues that are causing you to stress out so much.
Avoid Caffeine
Try to cut back on your caffeine intake. As a coffee lover myself, I know it can be hard. But its important to retrain your body and its ability to release your stress hormones at times when this is actually necessary… not because of your morning espresso. If you NEED your coffee in the morning to get you out of bed… see next tip.
Implement Sleep hygiene
KEY SLEEP HYGIENE TIPS FOR BETTER REST:
Implement a nightly routine that consists of shutting your phone/electronics off 1 hour before sleep
Meditate before sleep. Download ‘calm’, ‘headspace’, and white noise apps that help you relax before bed.
Studies show that we get deep sleeps for longer amounts of time when the temperature in the room is between 60-67 degrees F (15.5 - 19.5 C).
Do an epsom foot soak before bed.
Sleep in an almost completely blacked out room, and open your blinds/drapes first thing when you wake up. Start to retrain your brain to release melatonin and cortisol at the correct times.
Do high intensity workouts and training in the morning, encouraging the body to release cortisol at this time. And then do calming restorative exercises such as yoga or stretching at night.
ADRENAL FATIGUE CAN BE HELPED. Stress management and making sure you are getting enough supportive nutrients: B’s, C, potassium, E, and choline. There are lots of natural ways to solve bad adrenal fatigue. Start with the couple tips above and go from there.