I’m really enjoying the stretch in the evenings and the promise of summer in the air! This time of year should be about awaking from the gloom of winter and enjoying the energy that spring brings.
Unfortunately this is not a reality for many as the pressure of our lifestyles leaves us depleted. We see lots of people in Organico looking for help for a number of seemingly unremarkable symptoms. They are more tired than they feel they ought to be, they spend a long time recovering from simple illnesses and they are irritable and feel ‘down’ and unable to cope with daily stress. They are often suffering with poor sleep patterns and feel exhausted during the day even when they manage to get a full 8 hours sleep. They rely on stimulants to get through the day and often get sick when they take a holiday. They suffer PMS, mood swings, and crave certain foods (often not healthy foods unfortunately!!). They feel depressed and are often cold. Taken singly these symptoms may be unremarkable but all together they can be very debilitating.
If you feel like this describes you, it might be worth reading up on what your adrenal glands do and how to better support them. Adrenal Imbalance is very common and is primarily caused by our lifestyle, and it can be reversed, given the right conditions.
The adrenal glands sit over the kidneys, where they play a significant role in the body, secreting more than 50 hormones which are responsible for many of the bodily functions that keep us alive. Some hormones specifically help us to respond to stress, including epinephrine (adrenaline), cortisol, and DHEA which help us to respond to danger, increasing oxygen levels, generating mental and physical energy, and generally preparing us to fight or run for our lives. In a genuinely life-threatening situation these reactions are all extremely necessary but the problem is that our modern lifestyles trigger these reactions on a daily if not hourly basis which over time runs down our supplies of hormones and exhausts our adrenal glands.
According to Dr James Wilson who wrote Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue or imbalance if:
1. You feel tired for no reason
2. You have trouble getting up in the morning, even when you have had a good nights rest
3. You feel run down or overwhelmed
4. You have difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness
5. You crave salty or sweet snacks
6. You feel more alert, energetic and awake after 6pm than you do all day.
What aspects of our modern lifestyles are most responsible for causing adrenal imbalance? Patrick Holford blames poor diet and too much stress – taking on too many tasks, not getting enough sleep, and living off stimulants such as coffee and sugar, cigarettes and alcohol. Not giving our bodies the optimum food and relaxation. Taking certain medications can also make the situation worse – for example corticosteroids.
The problem is that when we feel tired, depressed, or that things are out of control, we often reach for exactly the wrong thing to remedy the situation – caffeine, sugar, cigarettes or alcohol. In their own way these crutches all give us a burst of energy or a feeling of being in control, quickly followed by a slump, which then means we reach for more. Unfortunately these stimulants just deplete our bodies further. We slowly slip into a situation where we need coffee to wake up (even after 8 hours sleep), we need high carb snacks, caffeine and sugar to get through the day, we suffer energy slumps during the day but then find it hard to unwind and get to sleep at night.
Treatment of adrenal fatigue
The good news is that adrenal fatigue can be tackled by making the necessary lifestyle and dietary changes. However, like weight loss some of us will need some support and I would strongly recommend buying either Dr Wilson’s book (details below) or else consulting one of Patrick Holford’s many books that deal with Optimum Nutrition and health. In the meantime, here are a few tips:
• Lying down during your work breaks (preferably at 10 a.m. and again anytime from 3 to 5 p.m.)
• Sleeping until 9 a.m. as often as possible – and going to be before midnight
• Laughing
• Exercising
• Minimizing stress
• Taking negative people out of your life
• Eating regular meals (and do eat breakfast even if you don’t feel like it)
• Chewing well
• Doing something fun each day
• Combining unrefined carbohydrates with protein and oils
• Avoiding junk food
• Eating five to six servings of vegetables each day
• Adding sea salt to your diet (unless you also have high blood pressure)
• Cutting out stimulants such as Coffee, tea, alcohol, cigarettes and sugar
Supplements that may help:
• Calcium and magnesium supplements
• Rhodiola tablet if your mood is low
• vitamin C
• B-complex supplements that are high in B6 and pantothenic acid
• Licorice root extract
• Omega Oils
We have 2 adrenal supplements in Organico that might be of interest – one is called AD206 and contains a mixture of vitamins and minerals and herbals including pantothenic acid, liquorice root, vitamin C, ginseng root and other B vitamins. The second is called Balance Rhodiola by Solgar, and is of particular interest if you have the kind of exhaustion described above as well as low mood and poor resistance to illness. Balance Rhodiola contains many of the same ingredients as AD206 with the extra benefits of the herb Rhodiola.
Depending on how severely you feel you are suffering I would strongly recommend you seek professional help. Your GP can advise you if there are any tests you might need to have and a nutritionist or naturopath can help you change your diet. A stress management therapist could also be very valuable. If you don’t know of anyone near you we can make some suggestions – just call into Organico!
