Adrenal Fatigue – for the caffeine dependent
Imagine drifting off to sleep, tired after a hard day’s work, and waking in the morning – to feel as if you haven’t slept at all. We all look forward to a good night’s sleep at the end of each day with our bed seemingly having magical restorative properties. For adrenal fatigue patients however, their tiredness is inescapable – with fatigue persisting even after adequate rest.
Our bodies rely heavily on being regulated by the adrenal glands, located on the top of each kidney. Even the name ‘ad’ ‘renal’ is latin for ‘over’ the ‘kidney’. Whilst only weighing a combined 7-10g in adults, their role in biochemistry is unparalleled – secreting tiny yet precise amounts of hormones that enable us to respond healthily to the numerous stresses we are exposed to on a daily basis.
Adrenal fatigue is often hard to diagnose. Suffered by millions worldwide, it is still not recognised by the conventional medical community as a legitimate syndrome, except in the most extreme form (addisons disease). You may not have obvious signs of physical illness but you may be living with a general sense of unwellness and tiredness. Those suffering adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, coke, energy drinks and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to get through the day.
In most parts of the Sydney CBD you cannot go more than a hundred metres without passing a coffee vendor. The proliferation of energy drinks is also alarming, with them now inescapably appearing at the supermarket checkout, the train station platform, the taxi rank, even halfway up the escalators at Westfield. It would seem that between the coffee shop at the bottom of the escalator, and the coffee shop at the top, we need the opportunity stimulate again at the landing in the middle!
Most people would agree that coffee and other caffeinated drinks are yummy. The heavy reliance on them for proper mental and physical function however, is not normal. Stimulants should be exactly that – substances that stimulate us beyond our normal homeostatic (stable) state. Getting up in the morning, provided adequate sleep, should be normal and easy. Staying awake for 14 hours (6am – 8pm) should be absolutely normal without any stimulants. There should be a gradual decline in energy from the start to the end of the day, with minor variations after meals depending on the type of food ingested.
Stabilising adrenal function is easily achievable with the right knowledge and the right supplements. In fact many of us at Edge Wellness have done so, and now use stimulants sparingly (as a treat) because they are no longer required to ‘just get through the day’.
…and we feel great!
One Comment
Cool blog!