Beat adrenal fatigue

Stress-related conditions are becoming increasingly common. Stress can impact your health, and chronic stress in particular can lead to hormonal depletion, exhaustion and fertility issues.

Adrenal fatigue happens when your glands cannot meet the demands of stress whether it’s physical, emotional or psychological.  Common symptoms include:

• You feel tired for no reason.
• You have trouble getting up in the morning, even when you go to bed on time.
• You are feeling rundown or overwhelmed.
• You have difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness.
• You depend on coffee or other stimulants to increase your energy.
• You frequently get headaches, sore neck and shoulders.
• Your short term memory is poor and fuzzy.
• You crave salty and sugary snacks.
• You feel more awake, alert and energetic after 6PM than you do all day.

If you feel depleted of energies we would strongly suggest that you start being kind to your body. What is paramount in beating adrenal fatigue is good diet, sleep and exercise regime. To calm the body and mind Restorative Yoga works wonders.   We have an array of upcoming workshops to suit all abilities, budgets and time constraints.

There are four stages of adrenal fatigue and the good news is you can beat it. We can devise a stress programme tailored just for you, whatever phase your in!

1. Beginning the ‘Alarm’ phase

Starts with the body’s immediate reaction to a stressor, ie  a job interview, exam, hospital stay, relationship or financial worries can all trigger it.  During this phase, the body is capable of making significant amounts of the hormones that you need to mount a response.

2. Continuing the ‘Alarm’ phase

As the stress response continues, so does your body’s reaction to it. During this second stage, your endocrine system is still fairly well equipped to produce the hormones that you need, but your levels of DHEA and other sex hormones may start to drop.

3. The ‘Resistance’ phase

During this stage, your endocrine system continues to focus on producing stress hormones at the expense of sex hormones. This means that you will start to see substantial drops in hormones like DHEA and testosterone, as hormone precursor material is diverted towards the cortisol production pathway. (This plays havoc with your reproductive system)

4: The ‘Burnout’ phase

After some time the body simply runs out of ways to manufacture stress hormones, and cortisol levels finally begin to drop. Now, the levels of both the sex hormones and the stress hormones are low. Levels of neurotransmitters are often also low. This is what is sometimes called ‘burnout’ it is what happens when we finally crash after a long period of coping with stress.

During this final stage of Adrenal Fatigue, an individual can suffer from extreme tiredness, lack of sex drive, irritability, depression, anxiety, weight loss, apathy and disinterest in the world around him. In fact, this general hormonal insufficiency has important implications for almost every part of the body. To recover from Stage Four Adrenal Fatigue requires significant time, patience and often and complete change in lifestyle.

We recommend you:

• Stay Hydrated
• Avoid Sugar, Caffeine, Alcohol (After quitting coffee, most Adrenal Fatigue sufferers report a more even, consistent energy level throughout the day)
• Add calcium, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and magnesium rich foods to your diet. These foods help calm the nerves during stress. Calcium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C rich foods Include: Carrots, broccoli, kale, parsley, egg yolk, oranges, grapefruit, cantaloupe, cherries, red and green peppers, and tomatoes. Replace sugary snacks with Magnesium Rich foods – sunflower seeds, whole grains, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, oats, brown rice, millet, white and red beans, wild rice, beet greens, lentils, lima beans and peaches.
• Never skip breakfast, eat often and wisely to keep your sugar levels on an even keel.
• Develop a gentle exercise regime to avoid adrenal crashes. The body has an internal repair system in place. A proper adrenal exercise plan can help the body return to its normal state of function.

For information on any of our yoga classes, workshops or clinics please do get in touch. We love to restore a body back to it’s optimum health and will provide you with a tool kit to do just that.