Project Life - Life Coaching & Personal Training

Adrenal Fatigue - The Hidden Menace

INTRODUCTION

Existing in the 21st century can be an extraordinarily stress-filled experience. Our every waking hour is filled with a bombardment of stressors on our mind, body and spirit. Eventually, inevitably, this bombardment takes its toll on our health and wellbeing.

We tend to accept stress as just a part of modern life, but do we really understand exactly what it is, and what impact it’s having upon us?

Stress is defined as the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. It takes a variety of forms; some obvious, some more subtle.

To fully understand what stress is, how we let it into our lives and the effect it has upon our minds and bodies, we need to take a holistic view.

STRESS CATEGORIES

The human body has 4 main control centres: digestive, immune, hormonal and detoxification. If one of these centres is not functioning efficiently due to the existence of stressors, this can have a knock on effect on the other 3 and ultimately a detrimental effect on our overall health.

Most hormonal problems are brought on by years of poor lifestyle choices combined with digestive or detoxification issues.

The 4 key categories of stressor are as follows:
1. Mental, Emotional and Spiritual
Including:
Anxiety
Depression
Fear
Anger
Guilt
Energy meridians

2. Dietary/Nutritional
Including:
Alcohol
Smoking
Lack of vitamins and minerals
Irregular meals
Trans fats
Sugars
Refined carbohydrates

3. Environmental
Including:
Work
Friends and Family
Noise
Pollution

4. Physical
Including:
Lack of sleep/rest and relaxation
Over exercising/Under exercising
EMF (electro magnetic fields)
Illness/Disease/Infection
Chemicals

STRESS REACTIONS

What exactly happens in the human body when exposed to stress?

The body reacts by mounting a stress response through the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. This is also called the “fight or flight” response as the body arms itself to face what it perceives as danger. When this happens, there are a series of biological and chemical reactions within the body - the most important of which is increased production of the anti-stress hormone cortisol within the adrenal cortex.

Cortisol also promotes the burning of fat, helps regulates emotions, interacts with the sex hormones, counters inflammation and allergies and regulate proper glucose metabolism and blood pressure.

Although stress isn’t the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it’s also secreted in higher levels during the body’s response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body.

Small increases of cortisol have some positive effects:

• A quick burst of energy for survival reasons
• Heightened memory functions
• A burst of increased immunity
• Lower sensitivity to pain
• Helps maintain homeostasis in the body

However, higher or more prolonged levels of cortisol in the system have a negative impact on health.

Adrenal exhaustion eventually occurs when the adrenals are no longer able to keep up the increased demand for cortisol production and levels drop. This is a very common chain reaction in modern society.

SYMPTOMS OF ADRENAL FATIGUE

Symptoms of adrenal fatigue include:
• Constant fatigue/lethargy
• Exhaustion
• Trouble sleeping and getting up in the morning
• Depression and anxiety
• Sugar and salt cravings
• Weight gain and inability to lose weight
• Increased effort in carrying out everyday tasks
• Decreased sex drive
• Decreased ability to manage day to day stress
• Light-headedness on standing up
• Low body temperature
• Prone to colds and flu,
• Heart palpitations,
• Nervousness
• Poor memory
• Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels)
• Allergies
• Low immune response
• Increased menstrual problems for women
• Consistently feeling unwell or difficulty recovering from infections
• Unexplained hair loss
• Nausea
• Alternating constipation and diarrhoea
• Unexplained pain in the upper back or neck
• High frequency of getting the flu and other respiratory diseases and taking longer to recover from them

Pretty much every one of us is going to recognise more than one of these symptoms. Modern life is an incredibly threatening place for the adrenal glands!

DEVELOPING YOUR RECOVERY PROGRAMME

Reducing stress is simply a matter of lifestyle modifications. There are a number of basic, simple steps anyone can start to take right now to reduce stress, adrenal fatigue and minimise the severity of the symptoms listed above - if not eradicate them altogether:

• Sleep for an optimal 9 hours a night
• Drink water with sea salt (preferably Celtic)
• Practice relaxation exercises e.g. breathing, meditation
• ALWAYS eat breakfast
• Include sources of natural vitamin C, E, B6, B3 and B12 in your daily diet, also magnesium and calcium
• Take supplements such as liquorice root, ginseng, ginger root, gingko, Ashwangandha root
• Reduce or eliminate sugars and refined carbohydrates
• Eat at least 5 serves of fruits and vegetables daily
• Exercise regularly, in moderation

For more information, or to arrange a personalised Stress Profile and Recovery Programme contact Project Life today

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