Tired But Wired Top 5 Tips To Heal The Adrenal Glands Naturally
Exhausted despite a full night of sleep? Feeling stressed, overwhelmed and forgetful? Relying on coffee for energy? Constantly hungry and craving salty, crunchy foods? Bloated and gaining weight, especially around your midsection? Feeling lightheaded or dizzy upon standing? If so, your adrenal glands may be to blame.
Highlights:
- The adrenals are two small glands approximately the size of a walnut that sit atop each of your kidneys. Their primary function is to process all incoming stress, but they also play a role in hormone production, digestion, the metabolism and fluid balance.
- When stress is high, the adrenals get overworked and extreme exhaustion, impaired memory, bloating, insatiable cravings and dizziness upon standing may ensue. Healing the adrenals is a critical piece to weight loss, energy, immune health and a well-functioning brain.
- Top tips include: eat a protein-rich breakfast, swap coffee for matcha, avoid intense workouts, upgrade the quality of your salt and experiment with adaptogens.
- To learn more, join us for the Thyroid-Adrenal Reset Lunch & Learn where we provide a deeper understanding of the adrenal glands and additional tips to re-balance naturally.
The good news: the body is a miraculous, self-healing mechanism. With the right support, you can heal your adrenals and regain energy, mental clarity, strength and hormone balance. Here are our top tips:
Understanding Your Stress Response System
The stress response system includes three important system:
All three systems must be rebalanced to restore adrenals. But healing Adrenal Fatigue effectively all starts with repairing the damage thats taken place at the brain level.
A Closer Look At Adrenal Glands
The adrenal glands are these triangle-shaped caps resting on our kidneys. These small glands secrete the hormone called adrenaline, which increases the heart and respiration rate of the body when we feel threatened or frightened, like an internal alarm, it also helps us flee a comprising situation. Crazily enough, adrenaline also makes us stand our ground, and preps us to fight if we have to. However, people suffering from adrenal fatigue have abnormal amounts of this hormone. This can be exacerbated by emotional problems, lack of sleep, inflammation, vitamin deficiencies and immune problems. Keep on reading and learn how to cure adrenal fatigue fast.
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Signs And Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue:
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An inclination to gain weight and inability to lose it. Particularly around the waist.
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High recurrence of getting the flu virus and other respiratory diseases with symptoms that tends to last longer than common.
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The tendency to tremble when underweight.
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Lessened sex drive.
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Lack of energy in the evening.
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Dependence on coffee to get through the day.
None of these signs or symptoms by themselves can definitively point to Adrenal Fatigue. However, as a group of symptoms, in the context of a generally healthy person, they do form a specific Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome or picture, that is, of a person under pressure and the body is failing physiological response to manage such a burden. Adrenal Fatigue, as a debilitating condition, is not recognized by conventional medicine and is hence missed by most conventionally trained physicians.
What Do The Adrenals Do
The adrenal glands are the bodys emergency system. When the body is under chronic stress, the adrenals will send out cortisol into the bloodstream. Over time, chronic cortisol output can weaken the endocrine system, immune system, liver, digestive system, and brain. It can also cause the thyroid to slow down and in some rare cases, it will speed up . So, if you are wanting to reduce your thyroid symptoms, start with healthy adrenal glands.
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Recovery From Adrenal Fatigue: Treatments
As mentioned, we use a variety of tools and techniques to treat the whole body and help support your bodys natural recovery process. Some of the following methods are used on a consistent basis, but each patient is unique and treatment is only prescribed once we have gathered the correct data for diagnosis.
Adrenal Fatigue Is More Than Adrenal Fatigue
If youve been suffering from the debilitating effects of Adrenal Fatigue for 6 months or more, you know by now that its not just a passing illness or a condition that will just run its course. Its stubborn and seems here to stay. Many Adrenal Fatigue patients try several western and alternative treatments, desperate to reverse Adrenal Fatigue and their whirlwind of mysterious symptoms. And yet, any relief they do find is short-lived.
It is possible to reverse Adrenal Fatigue successfully and recapture your zest and energy for life. It just takes focused guidance and dedication.
They first key is understand: Adrenal Fatigue is not really Adrenal Fatigue. Its actually a dysfunction of the crucial Stress Response System. Thats why it affects the whole body, in so many mysterious ways.
Thus, treating Adrenal Fatigue effectively requires healing the entire stress response system, not just the sluggish adrenal glands. The first step is a careful, individualized assessment of what parts of your Stress Response system are particularly out-of-balance.
Any attempt to treat Adrenal Fatigue without addressing whats occurring in the rest of the Stress Response System, including the brain , is ultimately designed to fail.
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Treatment Of Adrenal Fatigue
“Optimal adrenal health is one of the major keys to the enjoyment of life,” according to Dr. Wilson. If you have adrenal fatigue, you can fully live life again by making the necessary lifestyle and dietary changes to treat your disorder.
Treating adrenal fatigue is as easy as:
- Adopting a natural whole-foods diet
- Avoiding junk food
- Drinking high quality water, not from the tap. Distilled or spring waters are best
- Eating five to six servings of vegetables each day through juicing or adding them to meals
- Avoiding white flour and other processed grains
- Adding sea salt to your diet, replacing your table salt
- Taking 2,000 to 5,000 milligrams of vitamin C each day
- Taking a high strength B-complex supplement
- Taking high quality fish oils
- Adding licorice root extract and kelp to your diet
- Doing a detox and using an infra red sauna
- Replacing toxic chemical products used around the house with non-toxic alternatives
- Spending some time in the sun each day
- Doing something fun each day
- Getting lots of rest
What Causes Adrenal Fatigue
Ultimately, adrenal fatigue comes from long-term stress.
When youre stressed, your adrenals release cortisol. If youre constantly stressed for a long time, youre constantly producing cortisol, your adrenals become less sensitive to how much cortisol they make, and your stress response and daily cortisol rhythm become irregular. Thats when you start to see swings in your mood and energy.
Here are some common causes of adrenal fatigue:
All of these things stress you out and tax your adrenals.
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Shield Your Adrenals From The Stress Of Exercise
In the state of adrenal fatigue, the body does not have the supply of hormones expected to maintain energy, performance, and to just adjust to the request of rigorous exercise. Running, Spinning, and every single other form of endurance activity will only compound adrenal fatigue. Choose activities that will not pressure your body and that will refill liveliness holds rather than continue to drain them.
Supplements For Adrenal Fatigue
Supplements feed the body with nutrients and antioxidants that help support your various body systems so you can find balance. When healthy, the body is naturally strong enough to heal without supplements. But with Adrenal Fatigue, most nutrients and antioxidants become significantly depleted. Supplements offer extra support the body needs and assist in speeding the process.
- Multivitamins: Opt for the high-quality, easily-absorbed ones. A certain supply of nutrients is needed when a poor diet may impact our nutrition. Be mindful of the brand of vitamins you choose. Different companies have different quality control standards that may lessen the effect of the multivitamins you take. Inadequate vitamin quality is useless when it comes to healing Adrenal Fatigue.
- Antioxidants: These are important because they help control the increase of free radicals, also called oxidative stress. The physiology of stress, aka Adrenal Fatigue, creates excess free radicals and oxidative stress. An increase in free radicals places more demand on your antioxidant reserves. These must be replenished to prevent further wear and tear from chronic stress and Adrenal Fatigue.
- Essential Fatty Acids : These make up the majority of your cell membranes, and they help with brain cell communication.
The best EFAs to take when healing Adrenal Fatigue are:
- Omega 3 from fish
- Organic fish or krill oils
- Organic flaxseed oil
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What To Do If You Have Symptoms
Symptoms of adrenal fatigue can replicate other health issues, and your first step toward recovery from adrenal fatigue should be to seek the help of a medical professional. For example, these symptoms can also be found in those suffering from medical conditions like anemia, sleep apnea, autoimmune diseases, and mental health conditions. A functional medicine doctor can listen to your symptoms and run diagnostics to confirm whether you have adrenal fatigue or another condition.
Consume Adequate Salts And Trace Minerals:
Minerals are essential to the production and utilization of stress hormones. Using the highest quality pink salts on your foods throughout the day is a great strategy to boost mineral content. My favorite salt brands include the pink salts you can get with Himalayan Sea Salt and Redmonds Real Salt. Celtic sea salt is another great brand.
In addition to salts, consuming celery, cucumbers, fermented vegetables like pickles and sauerkraut and sea vegetables on a regular basis can improve mineral levels and stress hormone production and utilization.
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Get To The Root Cause Of Digestive Issues
If youre experiencing gastrointestinal distress, it is possible that additional functional medicine testing is needed to determine the next steps. Any symptoms you have may be connected to the HPA axis dysfunction, so communicating with your functional medicine dietitian is extremely important. Chronic stress is linked to digestive issues such as microbiome imbalances , small intestine bacterial overgrowth , constipation, diarrhea, and much more.
When one system in the body goes awry, many others may follow. Catching adrenal dysfunction before it gets to stage 3 is ideal. However, there are treatment options if you do find yourself in stage 3.
Following the guidance your functional medicine dietitian sets out for you can improve so much more than just the adrenal fatigue alone.
Improving your quality of life starts with simply knowing where to begin!
Have you been feeling burned out? Do you want to get to the bottom of what is causing your symptoms? Schedule your appointment today to get started on your journey to adrenal fatigue recovery!
Sign up for the Adrenal Reboot program for individualized support for your adrenal fatigue recovery
Treatment For Adrenal Fatigue
How long does it take to recover from adrenal fatigue?
Full recovery from HPA Dysfunction or adrenal fatigue can take anywhere from three months to two years, depending on the severity and how long the condition has existed. Your adrenals are stressed the most by emotional stress, followed by diet, and, finally, by the hidden stressors I listed earlier. Treatment is targeted at removing or decreasing the stressorsemotional, physical, nutritional or hiddenand then correcting the hormonal imbalance and nutritional deficiencies.
What to address first?
From a lifestyle standpoint, one needs to address the emotional stressors first in order to really flip the switch and start the healing process. Life stressors need to be evaluated and a strategic plan developed to mitigate them. What is causing the most stress in your life and how can you get support here? For some, that may mean a job change, a leave of absence, or a separation from a destructive relationship. Emotional support through counseling or therapy may be helpful as well as techniques to decrease stress, such as mindfulness meditation, yoga, Heart Math, acupuncture, massage and/or exercise appropriate for your stage of adrenal fatigue.
Getting more and better sleep
Nutrition- blood sugar balance is key
Look for hidden stressors
Herbal, hormonal and supplemental support
Common Adaptogenic herbs include: ashwaghanda, rhodiola, licorice root extract, maca, ginseng, eleuthero, reishi mushroom and astragalus.
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Move Your Body Gently
When it comes to adrenal fatigue, its often helpful to stick to moderate exercise in place of strenuous activity. Sometimes its best to just take a breather, and give your body the rest it needs!
Try focusing on mild movements that get the blood and lymph nodes moving gently. This could range from walking, hiking, yoga, dancing, or simply stretching. Pay attention to how you feel and make sure not to overdo it when your muscles feel weak and tired.
When Stress Becomes Distress
The dark side of chronic hypervigilance is anxiety! Your brain and body get stuck in survival mode, and you end up with:
- Afternoon fatigue, caffeine, or sugar cravings
- Allergies, food reactions, hives
- Perfectionism, feeling that youre never doing enough
- Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up still tired
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What Are The Four Stressful Situations
Scientists who study stress say that the things that cause the most mental and emotional stress usually have four similarities:
First, people are stressed by things which are new to them. First-time experiences cause you to worry about how you will feel during that event. This causes a stress response.
Second is unpredictability which heightens the stress response. The unknown causes anxiety and stress.
Third is a threat to you physically or emotionally. You may feel threatened by being judged by someone else.
Fourth is not having control over your situation. A perfect example of this is the person in middle management. They have the responsibility of performing new tasks. The results are often unpredictable. A bad result threatens their job approval. Most of the time, they dont have control over the results. Not surprisingly, middle managers are often considered to have the highest stress in most corporations, leading to high turn-over, burnout, and poor job satisfaction.
How To Treat Adrenal Fatigue Naturally
There are lots of changes you can make yourself to combat the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Consider your diet, activity, sleep and thoughtsand follow some of the advice above.
We can all benefit from help, especially when it comes to our health. For further guidance, book in for a 1-to-1 consultation or, if you want to take a deeper dive into your stress levels, take a look at our Adrenal stress test.
Book in for a 1-to-1 Consultation or learn more about our Adrenal Cortisol/DHEA Profile.
Fiona Lawson BA DipCNM mBANT is a Registered Nutritional Therapist and health writer. She is a member of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council and the Institute for Functional Medicine . As Content Director of Healthpath, Fiona is on a mission to help people take charge of their own health. Read more about Fiona on her practitioner page.
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Adrenal Insufficiency: What It Is And The Most Common Causes
It is important to note, Adrenal Fatigue is not adrenal insufficiency. But, its good to understand some of the causes of primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency so you can distinguish between this and AFS.
Primary adrenal insufficiency occurs when the adrenal cortex is damaged, and that usually happens due to an autoimmune attack. Also, primary adrenal insufficiency can be caused by cancer of the adrenal glands, severe infection in the adrenal glands, tuberculosis, or bleeding into the adrenal glands.
Secondary adrenal insufficiency occurs when the pituitary gland doesnt produce enough ACTH to stimulate the adrenals into producing enough adrenal hormones. This usually happens when something affects the pituitary gland itself, such as a tumor, surgery, or inflammation, rather than the adrenal glands. Taking corticosteroids to help with another condition can also lead to secondary adrenal insufficiency.
This, as noted above, is distinct from what happens when chronic stress causes the body to produce too much or too little adrenal hormones due to overwork as in Adrenal Fatigue.
How To Heal Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal Fatigue has been steeped in mystery and doubt for too long, making effective healing elusive for so many patients. But we do have the knowledge about how to heal Adrenal Fatigue effectively. Its important to take these steps as soon as you can. Adrenal Fatigue symptoms typically worsen with time, making it increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple things in life.
Although its possible to treat symptoms temporarily, those quick fixes cant bring lasting healing. Adrenal Fatigue affects the whole body, and it must be treated with a whole-body approach. The first step is knowing recovery truly is possible. It requires dedication and care, but with proper guidance you can learn how to heal Adrenal Fatigue and enjoy life with full energy and vigor.
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Use Natural Herbs Called Adaptogens
Adaptogenic herbs are known to help the body adapt to situations of stress, balancing your hormones and calming an overactive adrenal system. Be sure to speak with your healthcare provider about possible interactions between adaptogens and medications before consuming these foods. Some helpful options include:
Ashwagandha
Typically used in Ayurvedic medicine, this herb can help stabilize thyroid hormones, reduce anxiety, and fight inflammation. It may also support immune cells that help the body fight off infection.
Licorice root
Licorice root is known for its restorative qualities that can help calm you down in stressful situations. It does this by blocking the conversion of cortisol into cortisone, a process that leads to higher amounts of circulating cortisol . It also contains glycyrrhizic acid, an active compound that can repair the stomach lining and soothe gastrointestinal issues.
Rhodiola
This herb can help reduce anxiety, irritability, and improve concentration. It works by stabilizing the secretion of cortisol in high-stress situations.
