How to Overcome Adrenal Fatigue: 8 Tips & Remedies

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How to Overcome Adrenal Fatigue | What is adrenal fatigue? What are the causes and signs of adrenal fatigue? Is recovery possible? Click for answers to these questions, plus our best tips, remedies, and treatment ideas to help you feel better ASAP. Adrenal fatigue isn't a medical diagnosis per se, but it causes nonspecific symptoms like chronic fatigue, brain for, hair loss, and body aches that impact the quality of your life. Learn which habits to add and subtract from your routine to help!

Is adrenal fatigue real, or is it a wellness trend? While it isn’t an accepted medical diagnosis, it is a theory that connects stress exposure and adrenal exhaustion to explain why you may feel low energy and fatigue. Yet while the scientific jury is still out towards this condition, it’s important to know how to overcome adrenal fatigue or the symptoms that point to something wrong.

What Is Adrenal Fatigue?

Your adrenals are two glands located on top of your kidneys responsible for the production of several hormones, including cortisol. Cortisol plays several important roles, like reducing inflammation, regulating blood pressure, and, of course, responding to stress. And according to the theory, if our bodies are consistently under high stress, our adrenal glands which secrete cortisol to protect ourselves, work into overdrive, causing four stages of cortisol imbalance.

  • Stage one occurs as a response to stress by increasing the cortisol and adrenaline. If your stress doesn’t decrease, your adrenal glands become overwhelmed, leading to anxiety, fatigue/insomnia, and disrupted thinking 
  • During stage two, your cortisol levels will peak in the morning and then flatten out in the afternoon, causing irritability, an energy crash, increased anxiety, and fatigue 
  • In the third stage, you will feel worse because your adrenal glands can no longer produce cortisol, creating other hormonal imbalances and causing chronic fatigue and a severe dip in energy. Even simple daily activities will feel impossible
  • With the last stage, your body enters a dangerous period where it becomes more vulnerable to severe problems such as cardiovascular diseases

What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?

As the theory suggests, repeated exposure to physical, emotional, and mental stress causes your adrenal glands to go out of whack. For example, when we’re stressed, our adrenal glands secrete cortisol to activate our fight-flight-or-freeze response to prepare our bodies to survive a dangerous situation. But unfortunately, in our fast-paced world, we’re inundated with several stressful encounters that can disrupt our adrenal glands, making them unable to respond adequately. 

15 Signs and Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

If your adrenal glands aren’t producing a balanced production of cortisol, you may experience the following signs and symptoms:

  1. Compromised immunity
  2. Chronic fatigue
  3. Hair loss
  4. Emotional reactivity
  5. Difficulties managing stress
  6. Brain fog
  7. Problems concentrating
  8. Skin discoloration
  9. Low blood pressure
  10. Problems concentrating
  11. Unexplained weight loss
  12. Body aches
  13. Palpitations
  14. Decreased sex drive
  15. Feeling lightheaded or dizzy

How to Overcome Adrenal Fatigue: 8 Tips & Remedies

1. Take your B vitamins

It seems like B vitamins are the magical cure for everything. They increase your energy, improve brain function, make your skin and hair glowy, and even balance your hormones. The latter means taking a powerhouse vitamin B supplement will maintain proper adrenal function and aid in reducing your stress levels. Yes, please!

2. Load up on magnesium

Magnesium is one of the best vitamins to regulate your cortisol levels, create a balanced hormone production, and make your adrenal glands calm and collected. Undoubtedly, eating magnesium-rich foods like avocados and fish will help you receive your zest for life again and reverse the effects of adrenal fatigue.

3. Get plenty of vitamin C

As mentioned earlier, adrenal fatigue has three stages. In the beginning stages, cortisol levels skyrocket, compromising your immunity and making you more vulnerable to colds, infections, and other icky bacteria. Yet in the last stage, cortisol levels drop, causing inflammation and impacting your thyroid levels. So, to help cool the inflammation and strengthen your immune system, eat foods high in vitamin C and consider taking supplements.

4. Prioritize consistent sleep

Getting enough sleep is a tip for anyone, but this rule applies even more to those battling adrenal fatigue. Indeed, putting yourself at risk of sleep deprivation increases your cortisol levels and causes your poor adrenal glands to work even harder. To give them a break, follow sleep hygiene tips that help you sleep faster and give yourself the loving rest you need. 

5. Hydrate as much as possible

Often when learning how to overcome adrenal fatigue, you might hear you need to drink half your body weight in water. While this is excessive, there is some truth to the advice. Your adrenals produce a hormone called aldosterone that assists in regulating your hydration. Yet when your body is under significant stress and your adrenal fatigue sinks, this required hormone also plummets, causing dehydration. And a helpful tip to reverse it is to drink water and load up on electrolytes.

6. Avoid processed foods

Despite its delicious taste, overconsumption of processed food can cause more havoc on our bodies. Because they’re high in fat, sodium, and sugar, our systems use more energy and resources to digest them, leading to more stress. But by reducing your intake and prioritizing a cleaner diet, you’re allowing your adrenal glands the required time to balance and restore.

7. Engage in low-impact exercise

Did you know high-intensity exercise causes your body to release cortisol? This fact means that we must listen to our bodies and prioritize exercises in alignment with how we feel. For example, learning how to cycle-sync your workouts or following low-impact exercises when battling adrenal fatigue is preferable. Exercises like Pilates, yoga, or swimming instead of CrossFit, which causes an increased adrenal response, will allow you to receive the benefits of exercise while providing time for your adrenals to repair.

8. Relaxation is your best friend

While it’s really frustrating to hear you need to address your stress when you’re stressed, it’s worth repeating because stress is the biggest perpetrator of adrenal fatigue. And discovering how to cope with yours will provide the best long-term solution to feeling healthier and happier. For example, if you notice you’re reacting to every little stressor, take a few moments to connect to your body, breathe, and count to ten. Playing around with a few grounding techniques for anxiety and panic attacks will deactivate the cortisol, anchor you in the here and now, and provide a respite from the overwhelm.

Despite the controversy, it’s exceedingly important to pay attention to your body. What is it saying? What does it need? Listening to it and adopting habits that could help you learn how to overcome adrenal fatigue, real or not, will help you lead a healthier, more balanced life.

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