The Adrenal Fatigue Cure
by John Meadows, CSCS – 3/31/2011
The Test
Answer yes or no to the following:
You spend every morning in a "fog" and just can't seem to wake up without excess caffeine.
You frequently feel overwhelmed.
You have trouble falling or staying asleep at night.
You feel unusually cranky, emotional, or frustrated.
You're lethargic most of the day.
When you get sick it takes a long time to recover.
Did you answer yes to any of these? These are the most common symptoms of adrenal fatigue, a controversial subject practically ignored by the medical community, but a very real condition that requires your attention... especially if your answers were mostly yes.
As we get busier, eat more crap, rest less, and live in constant states of stress, it's no surprise that this condition is so common. But if you can optimize your adrenal glands and fix this condition (or prevent it), you'll have one less roadblock to deal with in your quest for physical perfection.
Defining Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue is a collection of symptoms that occur when your level of stress – be it physical, emotional, mental, or a combination – overwhelms your body's ability to compensate for that stress.
The adrenal glands are two endocrine glands that sit on top of the kidneys. When you encounter stress, the adrenals produce adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and cortisol. This hormonal release is often called "fight or flight" and is designed to prepare you for immediate physical challenges.
Your body is made to handle stress quite well when it's acute and short lived, as there are strong homeostatic mechanisms in place with our sympathetic (jack you up) nervous system, and parasympathetic (calm you down) nervous system.
The whole system is beautifully designed and worked well for our ancestors, who typically faced intense but brief stressful situations like warding off a hungry predator.
Now think of what stress is today: A strange number on your wife's caller ID, Junior coming home smelling like Keith Richards' tour bus, your boss warning you about irregularities in your expense report... the stress adds up.
It's chronic, low-grade stress that never quite goes away that leads to physical problems.
A Medical Perspective
Adrenal fatigue is often described in the medical community as hypoadrenia or low-functioning adrenals. This is largely a result of the adrenals being overworked by chronic stress so that they literally start to wear out. A worst-case scenario would lead to Addison's disease, a condition where the adrenals fail to produce sufficient cortisol.
Asking your physician to check you out for adrenal fatigue can be frustrating. Your doctor will most likely use a test to look at your cortisol levels. There's a range they consider normal; let's say that's 20-60.
If you are 19, you're low, so you have Addison's Disease (not enough cortisol). If you're 61, you're high, and have Cushing's Syndrome (too much cortisol).
But if you're clearly low (around 21-25), although not quite into Addison's territory, most doctors will stop there and call you "normal."
According to some progressive doctors, what you really have is adrenal fatigue, but because there's no formal recognition of it, there's no ICD code (International Classification of Disease). To most doctors, no ICD code means that adrenal fatigue doesn't exist!
The take-home message is, don't just assume your typical doc will be helpful if you think you suffer from adrenal fatigue.
Tests For Adrenal Fatigue
Here's a quick guideline to the most common tests:
Saliva Testing: Adrenal expert Dr. James Wilson advocates this, as saliva hormone levels are more reflective of hormone levels within cells, where hormonal reactions take place. They're easy to do – spit in a vial and you're in business.
Blood Testing: You can measure aldosterone and cortisol this way, but the knock is that you'll only see levels that are circulating in your blood, not in your tissues or cells.
Hair Mineral Testing: This is a method advocated by Dr. Lawrence Wilson. He looks at various mineral levels in the hair such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium.
Ragland Test: A simple test you can do at home. Lie down for 3 to 5 minutes and then measure your blood pressure with a blood pressure gauge. Now get up and retest it. If it drops, it's a classic sign of adrenal fatigue. Normally your blood pressure would rise or at minimum stay the same.
Iris Contraction Test: This was discovered in 1924 by Dr. Arroyo and is another easy test you can do at home. Shine a light across your eyes and have someone watch your pupil dilation carefully. If you have adrenal fatigue, your pupil will stay contracted, and even when it does start to dilate, it will alternately contract and dilate.
Fixing Adrenal Fatigue
The good news is that part of the issue is easy to fix through diet and sleep. The bad news is that there are lifestyle changes that you may have to take on, and that can be easier said than done.
Improve your Diet
When you eat is of utmost importance for those suffering from adrenal fatigue. Going long periods without eating is a mistake because it results in a perpetual cycle of adrenal stress.
The adrenal hormone cortisol helps keep your blood sugar at adequate levels to meet energy demands. If you have adrenal fatigue, your adrenals aren't making enough cortisol, making it harder to maintain normal blood sugar levels. Most people with adrenal fatigue have hypoglycemia as well.
What's especially important is to not skip breakfast. Between 6 and 8 AM, cortisol levels usually rise, peaking around 8 AM for most. This can kill your morning appetite, but you must eat by 10 AM at the latest and begin to restore glycogen supply.
Have an early lunch, a snack at 2 or 3 PM, a healthy dinner, and then another snack later. There are many popular styles of eating in the bodybuilding world, but frequent, small, nourishing meals are the best if you have adrenal fatigue.
by John Meadows, CSCS – 3/31/2011
The Test
Answer yes or no to the following:
You spend every morning in a "fog" and just can't seem to wake up without excess caffeine.
You frequently feel overwhelmed.
You have trouble falling or staying asleep at night.
You feel unusually cranky, emotional, or frustrated.
You're lethargic most of the day.
When you get sick it takes a long time to recover.
Did you answer yes to any of these? These are the most common symptoms of adrenal fatigue, a controversial subject practically ignored by the medical community, but a very real condition that requires your attention... especially if your answers were mostly yes.
As we get busier, eat more crap, rest less, and live in constant states of stress, it's no surprise that this condition is so common. But if you can optimize your adrenal glands and fix this condition (or prevent it), you'll have one less roadblock to deal with in your quest for physical perfection.
Defining Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue is a collection of symptoms that occur when your level of stress – be it physical, emotional, mental, or a combination – overwhelms your body's ability to compensate for that stress.
The adrenal glands are two endocrine glands that sit on top of the kidneys. When you encounter stress, the adrenals produce adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and cortisol. This hormonal release is often called "fight or flight" and is designed to prepare you for immediate physical challenges.
Your body is made to handle stress quite well when it's acute and short lived, as there are strong homeostatic mechanisms in place with our sympathetic (jack you up) nervous system, and parasympathetic (calm you down) nervous system.
The whole system is beautifully designed and worked well for our ancestors, who typically faced intense but brief stressful situations like warding off a hungry predator.
Now think of what stress is today: A strange number on your wife's caller ID, Junior coming home smelling like Keith Richards' tour bus, your boss warning you about irregularities in your expense report... the stress adds up.
It's chronic, low-grade stress that never quite goes away that leads to physical problems.
A Medical Perspective
Adrenal fatigue is often described in the medical community as hypoadrenia or low-functioning adrenals. This is largely a result of the adrenals being overworked by chronic stress so that they literally start to wear out. A worst-case scenario would lead to Addison's disease, a condition where the adrenals fail to produce sufficient cortisol.
Asking your physician to check you out for adrenal fatigue can be frustrating. Your doctor will most likely use a test to look at your cortisol levels. There's a range they consider normal; let's say that's 20-60.
If you are 19, you're low, so you have Addison's Disease (not enough cortisol). If you're 61, you're high, and have Cushing's Syndrome (too much cortisol).
But if you're clearly low (around 21-25), although not quite into Addison's territory, most doctors will stop there and call you "normal."
According to some progressive doctors, what you really have is adrenal fatigue, but because there's no formal recognition of it, there's no ICD code (International Classification of Disease). To most doctors, no ICD code means that adrenal fatigue doesn't exist!
The take-home message is, don't just assume your typical doc will be helpful if you think you suffer from adrenal fatigue.
Tests For Adrenal Fatigue
Here's a quick guideline to the most common tests:
Saliva Testing: Adrenal expert Dr. James Wilson advocates this, as saliva hormone levels are more reflective of hormone levels within cells, where hormonal reactions take place. They're easy to do – spit in a vial and you're in business.
Blood Testing: You can measure aldosterone and cortisol this way, but the knock is that you'll only see levels that are circulating in your blood, not in your tissues or cells.
Hair Mineral Testing: This is a method advocated by Dr. Lawrence Wilson. He looks at various mineral levels in the hair such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium.
Ragland Test: A simple test you can do at home. Lie down for 3 to 5 minutes and then measure your blood pressure with a blood pressure gauge. Now get up and retest it. If it drops, it's a classic sign of adrenal fatigue. Normally your blood pressure would rise or at minimum stay the same.
Iris Contraction Test: This was discovered in 1924 by Dr. Arroyo and is another easy test you can do at home. Shine a light across your eyes and have someone watch your pupil dilation carefully. If you have adrenal fatigue, your pupil will stay contracted, and even when it does start to dilate, it will alternately contract and dilate.
Fixing Adrenal Fatigue
The good news is that part of the issue is easy to fix through diet and sleep. The bad news is that there are lifestyle changes that you may have to take on, and that can be easier said than done.
Improve your Diet
When you eat is of utmost importance for those suffering from adrenal fatigue. Going long periods without eating is a mistake because it results in a perpetual cycle of adrenal stress.
The adrenal hormone cortisol helps keep your blood sugar at adequate levels to meet energy demands. If you have adrenal fatigue, your adrenals aren't making enough cortisol, making it harder to maintain normal blood sugar levels. Most people with adrenal fatigue have hypoglycemia as well.
What's especially important is to not skip breakfast. Between 6 and 8 AM, cortisol levels usually rise, peaking around 8 AM for most. This can kill your morning appetite, but you must eat by 10 AM at the latest and begin to restore glycogen supply.
Have an early lunch, a snack at 2 or 3 PM, a healthy dinner, and then another snack later. There are many popular styles of eating in the bodybuilding world, but frequent, small, nourishing meals are the best if you have adrenal fatigue.