This is part 1 of a series of 3 blog posts to help you learn about the adrenal glands, identify and combat adrenal fatigue.
The Adrenal Glands
The adrenal glands, situated just above your kidneys, allow your body to cope with all kinds of stress, and their proper functioning affects your resilience, energy, endurance and overall quality of life. So it’s nice when they’re working well! If you’ve been feeling drained and lacklustre of late, read on to learn more about adrenal fatigue and ways you can combat it to revive yourself and rediscover your zest for life!
What Your Adrenal Glands Do
Your adrenal glands are very close to your body’s major artery, the aorta, and major vein, the vena cava. This position enables quick response to hormonal messages transported via the blood. There are various different regions of the adrenal glands and these produce different hormones, including adrenaline, oestrogen, testosterone, cortisol and aldosterone. These hormones play vital roles in how tissues, glands, and organs function, such as regulation of blood sugar, fluid balance, thought processes, emotions and immune function. Your health quickly becomes affected when the adrenals are not functioning optimally and hormone production is out of balance.
Hypoadrenia and Adrenal Fatigue
Hypoadrenia, a deficiency in the functioning of the adrenal glands, is commonly referred to as adrenal fatigue. In its severest form, this is known as Addison’s disease. In the more serious cases of adrenal fatigue, the activity of the adrenal glands may be reduced to such a level that a person is bed-bound most of the time.
What causes Adrenal Fatigue?
Stress is the key culprit in both mild and severe adrenal fatigue. It is defined as ‘the body’s reaction to a physical, mental or emotional strain, whether real or perceived, that is placed on it’. Some people are more sensitive to stress than others, but anyone can experience adrenal fatigue. Lack of sleep, poor diet, a traumatic event, and insufficient time to relax, are just a few examples of contributory factors.
Quick Tip
Take 10 minutes sitting quietly with a pen and paper, and write down the following life areas:
Health ___
Personal Growth and Spirituality ___
Family and Friends ___
Love life/Relationship ___
Career ___
Finances ___
Hobbies/ fun ___
Home Environment ___
Now think through each category and give yourself a score out of 10 for how happy and satisfied you feel with it. (1= extremely dissatisfied, 10 = completely satisfied).
Once you have done this, look back at your scores, in particular at your three lowest. Identify and write down one thing you can start working on today in order to make yourself feel more satisfied with these particular areas of your life.
Read more about Adrenal Fatigue:
Adrenal Fatigue – signs and symptoms and what to do next
How to overcome Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal Fatigue – Dr. James Wilson Interview
Menopause – Dr Wilsons Adrenal Fatigue Program
Adrenal Fatigue – Quick Online Assessment
More Information about Adrenal Fatigue on our BeatFatigue website
Vitamin C – An important nutrient for your adrenal glands