Adrenal fatigue is a term that is used to describe our adrenal glands when they are struggling to cope with both stress, physical and mental, and an overly busy schedule. In this state of adrenal fatigue, you’ll likely be feeling pretty burned out, overworked, and dull all over.
While ‘adrenal fatigue’ isn’t a diagnosis,
experiencing these signals below should be considered as warning signals from your body that something needs to change and your routine has got to ‘give.’
If you surpass the 4 stages of adrenal fatigue, you may enter an adrenal insufficiency, which is now something that your medical doctor can diagnose. Listen to your body, and it’s many signals now, tackle stress and get out of the tired rut before it potentially turns into something more serious!
Many of us have taxed our adrenals; when stress doesn’t go away we are left with elevated cortisol levels, and other systems in the body become weakened – because your adrenals can only handle so much, just like you!
So, how do you know if you’ve got adrenal fatigue?
And what can you do about it?
Here are some signs of adrenal fatigue and some tips .
1. You’re Feeling Overwhelmed By Life
So many of us put self-care at the bottom of our to-do list – until it is too late! I agree that it can be so much easier to say ‘yes,’ than ‘no’ in many situations – but all work and play and no rest can lead you right to a burnout! Being a go-getter and an over-achiever is okay. But the key to your success also resides in self-care practices
But the key to your success also resides in self-care and self – work practices .
How can you BE your best if you don’t feel your best:
You can SEE stress on people, and it does not look nice on anyone! Take a step back from some commitments that do not serve you, add some self-care into your daily routine, and remember that you need time for YOU.
Give yourself permission to take a step back, your body and adrenals will thank you. Bear in mind that if you’re feeling more of the signals listed below – what you are currently doing is NOT working for your body.
2. You Can’t Sleep
Ideally, we should all be getting 8-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Your body needs this time to recover, reset, and recharge for a new day. You should wake up every morning feeling refreshed and energized. Stiffness and hardness of voluntary musculature are the primary culprits for sleep deprivation.
However, many of us are instead giving up sleep to continue with more work as we rush from one thing to the next. This throws off your balance and makes it harder for you to fall/stay asleep. It’s time to introduce a healthy new habit to improve your rhythm.
Try and be in bed by 10:30 pm, even if you can’t fall asleep quite yet – being in the dark helps your body to produce melatonin – aka your sleep hormone. If your mind is racing before bed
Do some restorative postures.
3. You Feel Exhausted After Working Out
Exercise should make you feel more energized, and it shouldn’t make you exhausted and fatigued afterwards. Physical stress is a known stressor for the adrenal glands – and too much exercise can do the opposite of what you want.
If you’re working out constantly, are not reaching your goals, are struggling with belly fat, and feel fatigued after working out,
Then people change to take part in a more gentle form of exercise; like stretching, walking and yoga – which will make you feel better – but again it’s not ideal and does not work for long way.
If weight loss is your goal and your reason for working out, you should know that again, you are overloading adernal glands, temporarily feeling good factor.
4. Your Hormones Are Feeling Wacky
adrenal fatigue, the thyroid may be affected, which may create unfavourable symptoms of a hypothyroid (fatigue, weight gain, dry hair and skin, poor circulation). When your adrenals can not keep up with stress levels, hormone precursor material will be redirected for use in cortisol production, which can lead to a hormone imbalance.
While under long-term periods of stress, your menstrual cycle may be off, and PMS symptoms may increase. Experiencing symptoms associated with a hormone imbalance is not pleasant
5. You’re Feeling Overly Anxious or Depressed
When you’ve got too much going on, anxiety kicks in. The pressure of deadlines and a busy schedule can have you running on an adrenaline rush. Adrenal hormones are involved in cognitive function, mood, and mental states in very complex ways.
Anxiety and depression can be directly related to stress because when we are less ‘tolerant’ than we normally are, we are more easily frustrated!
6. You’ve got cravings for Salt
You’re not you when you’re stressed. When adrenal fatigue begins to affect hormone balance, it is common to crave salty snacks. The reason is that your body is looking for sodium and other minerals. When the production of aldosterone (the salt-retaining hormone) is decreased, this can lead to low blood pressure, heart palpitations, cravings for salt, and dizziness/lightheadedness upon standing.
7. You Feel Stiff and Sore
Your body reacts to stressful events, feeling stiff and sore, and it can be a sign that your body isn’t getting a full recharge. You may feel the stress in your neck, back, or jaw or chest, or legs. It is better to work to remove your muscular stiffness because any stress mantal and physical both trigger more contraction and more stiffness. Contraction is passive force, and muscle relaxation and expansion is active force. Though to bring muscles in their natural state of elasticity, its property of expansion is necessary but not easy like contraction . One has to follow its ancient memory, which has natural sequntial order and a specific flow of direction to prepare your body to cope up physical as well as mental stress.
8. You’re Relying on Caffeine to Get You Through the Afternoon
Hello, coffee lovers. It’s time to find out the truth on why caffeine can be good for some and not for others. What you need to remember is that coffee does not give you energy – you are borrowing that energy. Caffeine may benefit your brain by helping you get through the day with added stimulation, but it also further weakens your adrenal glands. Caffeine keeps your body in stress mode and signals the production of stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine.
Mornings can be tough when you have adrenal fatigue, but regular caffeine drinkers will know that the initial surge of energy wears off and that innocent cup of coffee can leave you feeling even more tired and crabby than you did when you woke up.
9. Your Digestion is Off
When you’re under stress, the parasympathetic nervous system does not work efficiently, and your body is not focusing on optimally digesting and absorbing the nutrition in your big, healthy salad. Functions like digestion and your metabolism are downregulated in adrenal fatigue mode, which increases the likelihood of you being bloated after eating – you may also experience weight gain, indigestion or constipation/diarrhea!
You may be eating super healthy, but if your body is under stress, you may not even be absorbing the full nutrition from meals.
Even if you are following some tips for improving digestion, a nourishing diet and Recharge supplementation or drinking lemon water, taking the time to savor your meals, drinking enough water, getting enough minerals and taking a probiotic daily etc.
But all these things are treating the symptoms and not root cause.
We must learn and work within our own bodies. Body mechanisms are most important to improve organ systems functionally well. Nature has given the most strongest system that is musculoskeletal system in under our own conscious will , we must use this systems consciously with their natural behaviour pattern to enhance its mechanism,function to enhance all other organ systems. What I have observing that we are damaging ourselves with our own will and convincing as well as conditioning ourselves that is because of food we eat, or of weather change, is very common in today’s lifestyle or it is because of traveling or hectic days etc.But we must understand and realise that all these are signs and symptoms that something is getting wrong in our own body and should not blame things outside our body. We should make efforts ourselves to adapt healthy and not unhealthy.
Swati Joshi
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