Adrenal fatigue is a term used for a group of non-specific symptoms. It’s mentioned a lot but it is not an accepted medical diagnosis, because there is no strong evidence about it.
Adrenal fatigue links to low production of certain hormones, in particular, cortisol, often due to chronic stress. The theory is that your adrenal glands can’t keep up with the daily stress you are into. As a result, they can’t produce enough to make you feel good. This theory says that existing blood tests can’t notice low hormone production. Yet, your body will and so you might get these symptoms:
- Brain fog
- Body aches
- Unexplained weight loss
- Low blood pressure
- Depression
- Loss of body hair
- Skin discolouration (hyperpigmentation)
But…what are the adrenal glands anyway? Well, they are two small organs that sit on top of your kidneys. Also called supra-renal glands, they make hormones that your body needs to work as it should. Whether adrenal fatigue is a myth or not, we’ll give you two tips to deal with it:
1 – Improve your diet
The idea is to stop taxing your adrenals with ‘heavy’ food, so avoid caffeine, sugar, processed meats. Instead, go for coconut, olives, nuts, avocado. These foods help you recover because they’re full of nutrients, low in sugar and got healthy fat and fiber.
2 – Lower the stress on your adrenals!
This is the most important, you have to create space in your life. We can’t stress this enough. We simply aren’t meant to live in a stressed state all the time. If you don’t create space to relax, your body WILL, at some point, hit you like a mack truck. It’s a long road back once this happens. So…
- Rest as much as possible when tired. Listen to your body. It’s smart.
- Sleep 8 – 9 hours every night, try to sleep early! It gets said a lot, but the research coming out now is incredibly damning on not getting enough sleep. Consider the choices in your life if you’re not getting enough.
- Laughter is the best medicine, laugh more and have fun every day
- Long work hours WILL kill you! Check in with your priorities and if they are serving your long term health.
- Create space. Meditate, take a walk at the park or do some yoga. Start with 2mins a day. Your life is a song. When we don’t create space, we’re unable to hear it playing. And it is beautiful.
- Cut the negative thinking! Bad luck is just an opinion based on our biases. Become an observer of your thoughts and the actions, behaviours or feelings those thoughts provoke. Are they serving you? Is what is stressing you out, out of your control? Only when this is done can negative patterns be broken and real improvements can be made.