Adrenal Health
There is quite the buzz going around about “adrenal fatigue” or “adrenal cocktails”. Though aesthetically pleasing and fitting the TikToc trend - what are either of these things?
Adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and produce hormones that work to regulate our immune system, metabolism, and stress response among essential functions. A more familiar term associated with adrenal glands would be “cortisol response”. I’m sure you’ve heard the term “my cortisol is high” or “running on adrenaline”. Let’s quick break down what this means for your stressed out body. Enter the HPA axis. The HPA axis includes the hypothalamus (hormone control center of the brain), pituitary gland and adrenals. They work as a feedback system to respond to stress situations in a way that ignites our body. When we exhaust this system: think toxins, medications, stress, poor diet, sleep deprivation, inflammation or mitochondrial dysfunction, we call that “HPA dysfunction” or others more commonly - adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue is not recognized by the medical system as an official diagnosis. Though neither is stress which most would admit is the root of many chronic and preventable diseases. Symptoms we often associate with adrenal fatigue include brain fog, fatigue, body aches, lightheadedness, salt or sugar cravings and more.
We live in a society that accepts stress as the norm. We have normalized feelings of exhaustion, anxiety, depression and fatigue when in fact, they are not normal. To recognize them and treat them is normal, but it is still far off base from homeostasis (baseline). When we allow our bodies to tolerate a high demand of stress, toxic lifestyles, poor food, uncontrolled diseases, negative relationships, it builds up and weighs on our bodies. When we perceive stress (whether our emotional mind, or our body) it signals to the brain to release stress hormones. In simple terms, our fight or flight response has been activated.
The body uses cortisol or the stress hormone to do the following: blood sugar regulation, metabolism, suppress immune system, inflammation and blood pressure regulation. Imagine the long term effects of exhausting this system. Weight gain, fatigue, chronic sickness, little energy, anxiety, high blood pressure. Still following?
Coming full circle, we need to support our adrenal glands and minimize the stressors we can control. I like to think of it as supporting and strengthening our bodies to make them more resilient to stress.
How can we do that?
Minimize stress. Eliminate stressors you can control. For example, are you offering to help every friend, family member or co worker when in fact, the relationship is not mutual? Do you have unrealistic expectations? Or smaller stressors: minimizing blue light, processed sugar, too much social media. Take out the stressors that do not fill your emotional cup.
Regulate your sleep. Research shows we need about 6-8 hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep. If you’re a mom, I know. But don’t discount this yet. Focus on going to bed at the same time each night and aiming to wake up at the same time in the morning. Sleep with breathable sheets (hellooo @cozyearth) and the temperature around 68 degrees. Avoid blue light/screens within an hour of sleeping. I find blue light blocking glasses do the trick (@amazon). If needing a bedtime snack, choose something more protein heavy - avoid processed sugars/carbs.
Let food be medicine. Choose a diet made up of whole foods. Minimize consumption of processed foods, sugars and inflammatory ingredients help our body to stay clean, regular and energized.
Add in an adrenal cocktail (mocktail) 1-2 times a day. The adrenal cocktail is a blend of vitamin C, sodium and potassium that are key nutrients for replenishing our bodies. I recommend replacing an afternoon coffee with an adrenal cocktail. A simple recipe is 4oz organic or fresh squeezed orange juice, ¼ tsp Redmond’s real salt and ¼ tsp of cream of tartar (high in potassium). Other interchangeable ingredients include aloe, coconut water, celtic sea salt or citrus juices.
Balance your exercise. Constant HIIT, cardio and weights without appropriate rest or rebuilding days can be a significant stressor for the body. Learning to be intuitive to movement and energy is vital for allowing our bodies to rest/digest or to continue to build and store. Add in days for simple, low impact but intentional movement such as yoga, walking, stretching and barre.
Links:
Cozy Earth Sheets:
https://cozyearth.com/collections/bedding?wickedsource=google&wickedid=CjwKCAjwpqCZBhAbEiwAa7pXefQXfUgRNWf6etB8Srn5ZU10d3VztwGHac-4wl6ZfSWDDV9Ox290BoC03MQAvD_BwE&wickedid=599242160865&wcid=17064266580&wv=4&gclid=CjwKCAjwpqCZBhAbEiwAa7pXefQXfUgRNWf6etB8Srn5ZU10d3VztwGHac-4wl6-ZfSWDDV9Ox290BoC03MQAvD_BwE
