Are You Always Tired? It Could Be Adrenal Fatigue…
What You Need To Know
All right, if you’re like me you’ve never really heard of this. To be honest when I first started looking at this I had no idea what adrenal fatigue was. I kind of thought it was just some sort of gimmick or a cop-out. However, the more digging I did, the more I felt like I should probably share this with y’all. There are some experts that claim about 80% of the western world will be affected by adrenal fatigue at some point in their life. I don’t know about you, but that’s kind of scary. Plus, I have been kind of “fatigued” and that is what led me to research this is over the past couple days. I’ve had kind of poor workouts and I just feel kind of tired. So maybe this is what could it be, who knows.?
With the help of Wikipedia the adrenal glands are located near the kidneys and what they do is secrete more than 50 kinds of hormones into your body. Just to name a few, it secretes testosterone, cortisol, and adrenaline, and like I said, many more. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or an MD to figure out that these are important hormones and it’s vital that they function optimally for you to sustain a healthy energetic life, as well as regulate how much fat you’re storing.
Plus, these glands also help you deal with stress. When you are under duress, when you’re stressed, your adrenal glands help produce hormones that help you handle and deal with stress.
But here’s the kicker. Under prolonged periods of stress or chronic illness, your adrenal glands start to perform poorly. Essentially they become overworked and overused and they start to not function as well. In short, they become tired just like you. As such they get more and more run down and the result is adrenal fatigue.
What Are The Symptoms?
According to the Mayo Clinic and Todd B. Nippoldt, M. D. here are some of the symptoms of those who suffer adrenal fatigue.
- Fatigue (Shocker…I know)
- Body aches
- Unexplained weight loss… (yes please, okay bad joke.)
- Low blood pressure
- Loss of body hair
- Skin discoloration
- Morning fatigue
- Mid-afternoon sleepiness
- Weight gain, especially around the waist
And as any great infomercial would say, “If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you could be suffering from adrenal fatigue.” The fact is many, if not most Americans can at least say, “Yes” to one of the above.
How to Treat It.
To treat adrenal fatigue you need to focus on making changes to your diet and lifestyle. If you just have minor adrenal fatigue you can likely fix the problem merely by focusing on your diet and lifestyle. You can expect to feel better in about six to nine months. However, if you suffer from moderate to severe adrenal fatigue it can take anywhere from 12 to 24 months, sometimes longer.
A great resource can be found at drjockers.com, on this link it list 25 ways you can combat adrenal fatigue. I suggest you check it out. I’m just going to list my top five.
The first is exercise of course. As an “unbiased” personal trainer of course I would recommend exercise. The reason exercise works is because it helps regulate your hormones. And remember, your adrenal gland is responsible for over 50 kinds of hormones and exercise help regulate your cortisol levels, it also relieves depression which means it’s going to help you with the stress, which is kind of at the root of this, plus exercise will help you lose weight. All of those benefits will help you to recover faster. If you’re new to exercise try to just get at least 20 to 30 minutes a day. You can just start with walking, or walking stairs (I just wrote an article on that the other day if you are interested).
The second thing you need to concentrate on his stress. You need to try to reduce the amount of stress in your life. Some ways to do this could be looking at your schedule and trying to get rid of stuff that is not absolutely necessary. This may require you to rework some of your relationships, as well as develop new time management skills. In order for your adrenal glands to recover you need to lighten the load that they’re currently under. For most people that means they need to lighten up their schedule.
Now, I’m not a huge supplement guy, but supplements have been shown to assist with adrenal fatigue. Most of the supplements that you need can be obtained in a simple multivitamin you can get at your local drug store. No prescription needed. Just make sure it has Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin C, E, and B Complex. Also, this is going to hurt a little bit, but please try to avoid all junk food as much as possible. Fatty, salty, and sugary, foods act as an just slow you down and create more stress to your body. So instead of junk food, try adding fresh fruits and vegetables, you’ll be amazed.
And lastly, sleep. Sleep is probably the most important thing on here. I strongly believe that 10 to 20 years from now there’s going to be tons of research that’s going to state that sleep is basically the magic pill to lose weight, feel better, and be less stressed. Mark my words. In the meantime though, just take my word for it and get some more sleep. Your adrenal glands essentially go to the repair shop every night between roughly 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. This means if you are a Night Owl and elect to stay up at night, it is not good for you okay. You need to try to train your body to go to bed earlier. This probably means reducing the amount or even eliminating caffeine from your diet so that you can sleep better.
The Takeaway
If you think that you are suffering from adrenal fatigue, don’t get depressed. You can start the recovery process by simply following the steps above and by making changes to your diet and lifestyle. If need help with either of these let me know. You can do this!
Now go be awesome!
KELLEN LAKE – If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, apply for a free session. It is only a click away : ).
PS – My Busy Mom’s Plug & Play 12 Week Fat-Loss Program may just be the perfect option for you : )
