ENERGY AND BALANCING ADRENAL HEALTH

Do you experience fatigue, weakness, poor immunity, moodiness, hormonal imbalance, and stress?

If so, it’s time to take a look at your adrenal health– specifically the direct relationship between stress and high cortisol levels.  There are many natural options that can help you to heal and restore your overall stress response.

The adrenals are walnut-sized glands that sit on top of your kidneys, where they serve as important manufacturing centers for many of the body’s hormones.  The primary purpose of the adrenal glands is to help you survive in an emergency or threat by utilizing the body’s resources into “fight or flight” mode by increasing production of cortisol and adrenaline — increasing your heart rate, blood pressure, releasing energy storage for immediate use, shutting down digestion and sharpening your senses.  The adrenals respond to all forms of stress.

The Circadian Rhythm or Body Clock

Our bodies have a number of processes that happen at regular intervals throughout the day. We respond to light and dark, hot and cold, and other natural polarities – in effect “yin and yang”. Through spending less time in natural environments, working long hours, eating at odd hours and all of the other less natural behaviors we conduct ourselves in disrupt these processes.  “Circadian rhythms” describe these processes and the changes that happen internally in response to our environment. The influence of these rhythms can change sleep and wake cycles, release various hormones, influence body temperature and regulate other important bodily functions.

Similarly, in Chinese medicine, the meridians follow natural periods of heightened activity and of relative rest. Observing and respecting this rhythm allows our body to function more efficiently and to defend against illness.

In our modern world, we live by constant stimulation, overwork and stress on a daily basis, which places pressure and demand on our adrenal glands.  The body produces cortisol to help us meet these stressful challenges by converting fats and proteins into energy, keeping us mentally alert, counteract inflammation, balance electrolytes, and calibrate the heart beat and pressure.  Although this helps us greatly in the short-term, but sustained high levels of cortisol can tear the body down_ — such as weaken the immune system, impair digestion, metabolism, mental function, slow down healing and cell regeneration, destroy healthy muscle and bone, and interfere with endocrine function.

Restoring Healthy Adrenal Function Naturally

•  Never allow yourself to get too hungry.  Low blood sugar itself puts stress on the body and taxes your adrenals.  Long periods without food makes your adrenals work harder by requiring them to release more cortisol to keep your body functioning normally.

• Time your meals to match your body clock. Cortisol has a natural cycle that works with your circadian rhythm.  It rises at 6am reaching the highest peak at 8am and gradually declines throughout the day in preparation for bedtime rest.  Ideally one can:

• Eat breakfast at 8am or earlier to restore blood sugars.
• Eat lunch between 11am and 12pm to continue to restore blood sugars
• during the day.
• Eat nutritious snack between 2pm and 3pm to help you through the natural
• dip in cortisol between 3pm and 4pm.
• Eat dinner at 5pm or 6pm and make this the lightest meal of the day.

Timing your meals can help prevent dramatic dips in blood sugar levels, minimize cortisol output, increases in adrenal function, and sustain energy throughout the day!

• Eat fresh whole foods.  Eating meals and snacks that are made of fresh whole foods, preferably organic or locally grown, without colors, dyes, chemicals, preservatives or added hormones are best to strive for. Include some protein in all your meals and snacks (especially in the morning).  This will have a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar, which in turn can help you overcome caffeine and sugar cravings.

• Rest when your body asks for it.  If you find yourself craving caffeine or refined carbohydrates, your cortisol is low and seratonin may be imbalanced.  It can simply be your body needs rest.  Honor your body’s request to take a break or rest.  Take a short walk, meditate, practice deep breathing or light stretching.

• Get acupuncture and herbs.  Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help balance our adrenal glands.  We must acknowledge that both the Chinese clock or body clock and the circadian rhythms serve in part as reminders that we are in fact human and are related to our environment.  Chinese medicine can help us balance and reconnect to our natural environment.