Adrenal fatigue is totally in vogue these days. You may have heard how adrenal fatigue is the reason for your sugar cravings, constant fatigue, difficulty with sleep or inability to lose weight despite diet and exercise. What is this mysterious adrenal fatigue anyways?

Your adrenals, two glands the size of a walnut that sit atop the kidneys are essentially your body’s built-in system of stress management. In other words, the state of your adrenals determines how well, or not-so-well your body can deal with stress.

Your adrenals secrete the hormone cortisol aka “the stress hormone” through a feedback loop known as the HPA axis (Hypothalamus- Pituitary- Adrenal). Overtime chronic stress or lifestyle stressors place more demands on these endocrine glands than they are able to bear. This strain on the adrenals causes them to secrete either too much or too little cortisol. Since cortisol plays many roles in the body, abnormal levels may result in a multitude of symptoms and may even give rise to additional health issues.

Do you have adrenal fatigue?



Saliva testing is the most reliable diagnostic test available for adrenal fatigue. In addition, having one or more of the following symptoms may indicate that you have adrenal fatigue.

  • feeling tired for no reason, or tired and wired
  • feeling rundown or overwhelmed
  • craving sweets, carbohydrates, or salty foods
  • trouble falling or staying asleep
  • irritability, feeling like you have a short fuse
  • feeling anxious or depressed
  • not feeling rested in the morning, even after a good nights sleep
  • low blood pressure or low blood sugar
  • weight gain especially around the middle, and difficulty losing weight
  • low immune system, frequent colds or flu

Restoring Your Adrenals

Restoring your adrenals is about bringing balance in your life. Think of a streetlight. A green light means go, a yellow light means slow down and a red light means stop. Most of us live on either green or red. In the morning we wake up and go green until we collapse at the end of the day and try to go red in order to fall asleep. And then we wonder why we can’t calm our minds or why we wake up multiple times in the night. What happened to slowing down? In order to treat adrenal fatigue, you must use the tools that give your body the message to slow down.

Just say no. This is probably the most important, simplest, yet hardest thing to do. Adrenal fatigue is your body’s way of saying no—no I cannot do everything I’ve been doing at the pace I’ve been doing it. So listen. Prioritize your life and say no more often.

Get 8 Hugs a Day (and lots of Oxytocin)

Oxytocin is your hormone of love and bonding. It is secreted when we feel a real connection with others or when we are touched in a meaningful way. Interestingly enough, increasing oxytocin levels will balance cortisol levels. 8 hugs a day is the magic number. Men need to be hugged 3 times as longer to get the same boost in oxytocin as women.

Skip the coffee and alcohol

I hate to be the one to inform you that both coffee and alcohol raise cortisol levels. This is a tough one, I know. Many of us who love coffee to get us up and alcohol to bring us down are indeed masking our adrenal fatigue. Not only that, we’re making it worse. The good news is that once you start treating it, you will find that you need to rely less on these vices.

Eat protein with every meal

Blood sugar spikes are wearing on the adrenals. Protect against this by eating high protein meals at regular times throughout the day. Start your day with a high protein breakfast within an hour of waking. Eat small snacks/meals containing protein every 2-3 hours. Do not eat carbohydrates (grains) or other high sugar containing foods (fruit, sweets) without a source of protein to balance it.

Exercise

Exercise Gentle to moderate regular exercise is crucial support for the adrenals. Note the words gentle to moderate. Excessive or frequent intense exercise will actually have the opposite effect and be depleting for the adrenals. For brownie points, exercise outdoors where you are exposed to natural light. This benefits the pineal gland and helps reset your body’s stress response.

Go to sleep by 10 pm and get enough sleep

The most restorative hours of sleep for your endocrine system are those before 12 am. Try to get to bed as close to 10 pm as possible. Sleep at least 8 hours, and as more if you need. Take naps.

Vitamins and Herbs

Take 500 to 1000 mg of C, 30 mg of zinc and B complex vitamins daily. Specific herbs such as Siberian ginseng, rhodiola, cordyceps, ashwangandha, magnolia, theanine (from green tea) and phosphatidylserine will support adrenal repair. However, herbs used depend on your type of adrenal fatigue. Work with a health care practitioner to determine what’s best for you.

Acupuncture

Science has finally proved what chinese medicine has long known as fact. Acupuncture helps regulate stress pathways in the body. A recent Georgetown University study reported in the Journal of Endocrinology proved that acupuncture regulates the HPA axis. Get acupuncture regularly to regulate yours.