Adrenal Fatigue

Below is some great information from Robb Wolf's website on adrenal fatigue:


Symptoms of an Altered Adrenal Profile

• fatigue
• inability to recover appropriately from exercise (you should feel tired post-workout for MAYBE 20-30 minutes, then you should feel just fine – if you are dragging for hours or the rest of the day, you overdid it!)
• headaches with physical or mental stress
• weak immune system & allergies
• slow to start in the morning
• gastric ulcers
• afternoon headaches
• feeling full or bloated
• craving sweets, caffeine or cigarettes
• blurred vision
• unstable behavior
• becoming shaky or light-headed if meals are missed or delayed
• cannot stay asleep or cannot fall asleep
• dizziness when moving from sitting to standing or lying to standing
• transient spells of dizziness
• asthma
• hemorrhoids, varicose veins (source: Kharrazian)

What can you do about it?

Lifestyle:

• SLEEP!
• Avoid draining people or situations. Learn to say NO to things!
• Do not over-train: (training vs draining, working out vs working IN, READ: Paul Chek’s book “How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy” for more on this)
• Do restorative exercises: see Paul Chek’s book – listed above – Qigong, meditation, restorative breathing, walking, very light/restorative yoga. Depending on your status, if you are going to lift weights, keep it moderate weight and low reps- not high intensity over long periods of time.
• Whenever you are not enjoying your life, assess whether you can:

1. change the situation

2. change yourself to fit the situation

3. leave the situation

• Keep a gratitude list.
• Play! With family, friends, pets.
• Read: “Are you driving your life or is your life driving you?”

Diet:

• A well-balanced (for you!) Paleo diet – focus on quality proteins and fats, add starch pre and/or post workout as-needed for energy and recovery
• A variety of organic vegetables and fruit
• EFAs (omega 3 fatty acids) to manage inflammation and quiet the loop that feeds into higher cortisol production
• Add mineral sea salt to food / water
• Balanced meals – judge your “success” by how you feel entering your next meal (starving, shaky, low blood sugar?!)
• Supplements & Nutrients in your food on which to focus:
• Vitamin C – Citrus, strawberries, kiwi, cruciferous vegetables and green leafy vegetables are good food sources. This potent antioxidant has been shown to induce an anti-inflammatory response to prolonged exercise and stress and mitigates the rise of cortisol and subjective response to physiological stress in human studies. Generally a high-dose supplementation is recommended short-term and to bowel-tolerance. (Life Extension, 17)
• Vitamin B5 (or only a complex as noted below) – Helps to activate the adrenal glands and deficiency results in adrenal inefficiencies characterized by “fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances, nausea and abdominal discomfort.” (Life Extension, 17)
• Vitamin B Complex– Liver, meat, seafood (wild/pasture raised, grass-fed sources), seeds, mushrooms are good food sources. All B vitamins are critical for the entire adrenal cascade – lower your dosage with recovery and focus only on foods. (Bauman, 2010) (Wilson, 199)
• Magnesium Glycinate or Malate - Green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds (also tahihi) salmon and halibut are good food sources. Magnesium is “essential to the production of the enzymes and the energy necessary for the adrenal cascades
• Omega 3 – Fatty cold water fish: salmon, mackeral, herring, some tunas, etc. are good food sources. In supplemental form, fermented cod liver oil from GreenPasture.org is the one that I recommend.