- Chronic exhaustion is a sign of adrenal dysfunction.
- Adrenal dysfunction impacts your entire body.
- Fatigue can present in several ways – and all are signs of adrenal dysfunction.
- Adrenal glands respond to stress by producing cortisol; chronic stress calls for constant cortisol production, which leads to adrenal dysfunction.
- Four easy changes to your daily routine can help you restore adrenal function naturally.
“When people ask me how I am, all I can say is tired. I’m exhausted all the time – and I’m even more tired of talking about it. What is wrong with me?”
That’s what Jenny said during our consultation call. She wanted to do something about her perpetual exhaustion – but what? She was so fatigued all the time that she couldn’t even think about where to begin.
Luckily, she didn’t have to. I knew right away what was probably going on for Jenny: adrenal dysfunction. So what she needed to do is restore her adrenal health. And lucky for her, I know just how to help her do that.
So many women I know are in Jenny’s situation. They’re far too busy, trying to cram way too much into every day. Women are busy from the time they get up until the time they go to bed with little, if any, time built in for self-care.
No wonder so many women feel tired! Often, like Jenny, by the time they seek help all they want is to feel better. They’re looking for a quick fix and don’t even care what the real problem is – or about learning how to restore adrenal health.
Lucky for them, I care. I reassure them that although there’s no “magic potion” that will make them feel good overnight, there is hope. And I help them understand why seeing the whole picture is important. Let’s take a look at how your adrenals impact your health, and then we’ll talk about some natural ways to restore adrenal health.
Adrenal issues impact the whole body
Our adrenals produce bio-chemicals that our body needs to function on a daily basis. Women with adrenal issues can experience a wide range of symptoms, including:
- Irregular blood-sugar
- Thyroid and sex hormone imbalance
- Digestive problems
- Cardiovascular difficulties
- Immune and autoimmune disorders
- Anxiety and depression
- Poor memory
- Fogginess
- Inability to concentrate and think clearly.
With such a wide range of symptoms, they often overlap with many other health conditions This can make it difficult to identify adrenal dysfunction. But if you know what you’re looking for, it can be done. And you’ll be one step closer to knowing how to restore adrenal health.
Why it’s important to restore adrenal health
Understanding some of the health issues that can result from problems with the adrenal glands makes it easier to recognize why it’s important to address the root cause and restore adrenal health. But first, you have to know a little more about what happens when adrenal functioning goes awry.
Jenny’s main complaint, fatigue, is what usually signals me to look at adrenal health in my patients. This fatigue can look really different from patient to patient, though. Some wake up exhausted, and have no increase in energy throughout the day. Some wake up ready to take on the world (sometimes even before the sun rises) but experience a crash after 3 pm, barely able to stay awake. And then there are those who wake up sluggish, but can’t fall asleep until well into the wee hours of morning. It’s a wide spectrum of adrenal function or, more accurately, adrenal dysfunction, that I’ve seen show up in women for decades. So what does that really mean?
Adrenal dysfunction means that the adrenal glands are either under producing or over producing stress hormones. The effects can be baffling and concerning for women, and include a feeling of weakness, overwhelming fatigue, immune system weakness, moodiness or depression, insulin resistance, muscle and bone loss, hormone imbalance, hair loss, autoimmune disorders, and many other health concerns.
When patients come to me with these symptoms, I recommend a series of simple tests. These tests evaluate cortisol and DHEA levels as well as stress markers. What I’ve found is that the results are astonishingly consistent – less than 25% have cortisol levels which indicate healthy adrenal function, while more than 75% show impaired adrenal function.
All of my patients breathe a sigh of relief when I assure them that as long as other major health issues are ruled out, we can absolutely get them feeling vibrant again. When we restore adrenal health, these women can regain their energy and thrive.
How adrenal dysfunction develops
With so many women impacted by adrenal dysfunction, a natural question is how does this happen in so many women?
First, you need to understand what your adrenals do. The adrenals are walnut-sized glands located on top of each kidney that serve as important manufacturing centers for many of the body’s hormones. The innermost section of each gland produces adrenaline (which you may know as epinephrine), and noradrenaline (also called norepinephrine). The layers outside the center, known as the adrenal cortex, produce several other hormones, including cortisol, DHEA, and the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
While the adrenal glands have many key responsibilities, their primary purpose is to help you survive in the face of a threat, rallying all your body’s resources into “fight or flight” mode by increasing production of adrenaline and cortisol. Healthy adrenals instantaneously increase your heart rate and blood pressure, release your energy stores for immediate use, shut down digestion and other secondary functions, and sharpen your senses.
We need all of these systems supported during times of intense, immediate stress. And these amazing glands respond to every kind of stress – emotional, psychological, physical, environmental, even infectious! When we have chronic, unrelenting stress, our adrenals don’t give up on us! They keep producing what we need – and that’s where the trouble begins. When we have a constant flood of stress hormones, it creates a domino effect in our bodies. Fatigue, weight gain, moodiness, hormone imbalance, thyroid imbalance and irritability may follow.
Effects of High Levels of Cortisol
This healthy response to stress takes priority over all other metabolic functions, but it wasn’t designed to last very long. It is important to remember that the hormone cortisol converts fats and proteins into energy – just what we need during those stressful times! But prolonged high levels of cortisol are actually damaging to your body. Here are a few examples of how chronically high cortisol impacts your body:
- Digestion, metabolism and mental clarity are impaired.
- Normal cell regeneration and healing slow down.
- Healthy muscle and tissue are compromised.
- Healthy endocrine function and immune function are compromised.
- Hormone production is impacted.
This chronic exposure to high cortisol can start you on the path to adrenal dysfunction. You can read more about this in my article What Causes Adrenal Fatigue? In a nutshell, in addition to fatigue, weight gain and sleep issues, adrenal imbalance may also be a factor in depression, fibromyalgia, arthritis, hypothyroidism, hair loss and acne. That’s a lot of good reasons to recognize the issues and work hard to restore adrenal health!
4 Steps to Restore Adrenal Health Naturally
I’ve helped thousands of patients restore adrenal health naturally. There are 4 things you can do every day that address the root causes of your adrenal imbalance.
1. Eat Regularly and Choose Your Foods Wisely
Make every bite count. Choose nutrient rich foods that haven’t been processed and don’t have added sugars of any kind (read labels closely; sugar is added to almost everything). Blood sugar spikes and drops create stress for your body. Because so many women have sensitivity to gluten, I encourage my patients to remove it from their diets to see if that makes a difference. Eat five to six times a day and include protein, a complex carb and high quality fat every time you eat. Allowing your body to get too hungry places great strain on your adrenal glands. A healing body needs good nourishment! Check my health library for more tips on eating to restore adrenal health.
2. Schedule Time to Get More Rest
When your adrenals are in crisis, it’s a great time to commit to getting seven to nine hours sleep every night. Insufficient sleep stresses your body. Chronic loss of sleep equals chronic stress, and chronic stress means chronically high levels of cortisol and strain on your adrenals. Sleep is one of the magic remedies to restore your adrenal glands, so go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Before going to sleep try having herbal tea or consider a natural herbal supplement to help you relax and ease into a peaceful sleep. And while napping isn’t always possible, a short nap during the day can boost your energy levels.
Practice good sleep hygiene – create an environment that welcomes a good night’s sleep. Turn off all electronics an hour before bed – allow your mind to slowly unwind and your body will follow!
3. Put Stress Reduction Measures in Place
Reflect on what causes your stress and think about ways to reduce that stress whenever possible. For some, this may mean taking on less. For others it may mean setting aside time each day to problem solve. Still others find that quieting their mind every now and again releases an enormous amount of stress.
One of the most wonderful ways to quiet your mind is through meditation. Meditation offers many health benefits, including improving blood pressure, circulation, and heart health; it also supports mood, self-confidence, and relaxation. Even just five minutes a day of quiet breathing or meditation can do wonders for your adrenals. Create ‘me time’ and be kind to yourself.
Find things that you love that will make you feel relaxed. This will be different for everyone, but might include having a massage, practicing yoga, t’ai chi or qi gong. When was the last time you put your feet up with a cup of tea or had an extended phone call with a friend just to talk? Look at the things that you feel will best relieve tension and stress and follow this path.
Some women find that exercising helps – exercising releases “feel good” hormones that can make you feel happier. Some of my patients report that the focused time during exercise gives them the time and uninterrupted attention to think about potential solutions to their stressors! If, on the other hand, exercise makes you feel even more exhausted and depleted, you might need to ease up until you’ve been able to restore adrenal health.
4. Get Nutritional Support for Your Body
Even when you eat the most healthy foods you can, it’s hard to get the nutrients your body needs from your daily diet. I urge you to consider taking a high quality multi-vitamin to close any gaps in your nutritional needs. A healing body needs support. A multi-vitamin rich in vitamins and minerals combined with an omega-3 fatty acid supplement – also known as fish oil – are great building blocks to start with.
Bonus Tip: Address emotional health, and don’t forget to play!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the emotional piece of the puzzle when it comes to adrenal health. We can take all the above steps, think we are taking great care of ourselves, and still get no results if we refuse to acknowledge stress that comes from emotional turmoil.
If we’re prisoners of our past, responding with amygdala-driven impulsiveness to replay the same panic, anxiety, sorrow, or anger that colored our past, our bodies will find it far more difficult to heal. But if we learn to reprogram our emotional responses our bodies can begin to shake off the burdens of the past. How exciting and empowering is that?
One of the worst emotional burdens is guilt, and so many women I know feel guilty when they don’t feel like they’re living up to other people’s expectations. That’s why so many of us take on things we’d rather not, things that require extensive time and drain your energy. But we need to learn to say no and only take on things that are fulfilling and satisfying.
Step out of your box and have fun – meet up with friends that you haven’t seen for a while, spend time with your family, take your grandchildren to a movie, go to the beach – the list is endless. Instead of feeling guilty about it, embrace your new life and give yourself permission to play during this time of healing.
Don’t neglect to rule out serious medical conditions
Because signs of adrenal dysfunction mirror symptoms of many other conditions, some very serious, it’s important to have a full medical exam to rule out any underlying medical problems. If you don’t feel that your conventional practitioner is really hearing your concerns, I suggest seeking out a functional medicine practitioner who has the time and commitment to listening and exploring all of the possibilities of your unique situation.
Restore adrenal health and feel like yourself again!
When women follow my protocol and support their adrenals, most report feeling better in a few weeks and return to feeling ‘like themselves’ in just a few months. Because we are all so unique, however, some women may need additional support, such as low dose compounded DHEA or other herbs. I urge you to work with a healthcare practitioner if you feel you need more support to restore adrenal health. Some of the more advanced treatments can have adverse interactions if not used properly.
Our bodies have an amazing ability to heal when given the right support! Regaining your energy, your clarity and your vitality is a must!
