Welcome to Dr. James Wilson's Adrenal Fatigue Blog

Dietary Supplements: Herbs, Stress and Adrenal Fatigue

Certain herbs that promote healthy adrenal function can be very beneficial during adrenal fatigue. The best herbs for supporting and reinvigorating the adrenals are adaptogenic ones that have a normalizing effect on the adrenal glands. They revitalize fatigued adrenals without over-stimulating them and help the body cope more effectively with stress. Four of the most useful herbs for adrenal fatigue and stress are described briefly below. Following that are a few words about herbs to be avoided during adrenal fatigue because they can delay or prevent adrenal recovery.

Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza glabra)

The herb best known for supporting adrenal function is licorice. Yes, the ingredient that gives that common black twist of candy its flavor is beneficial for adrenal glands (check ingredients as not all “licorice” candy contains licorice). This anti-stress herb is known to increase energy, endurance and vitality and act as a mild tonic. It has been used to ease drug withdrawal and stimulate the adrenal hormones for anti-inflammatory action. It is known to naturally fortify cortisol levels, arguably the most important hormone in stress and adrenal fatigue. Licorice has also been used to help decrease symptoms of hypoglycemia, a common side effect of decreased adrenal function. Wound healing, which can be slowed down by stress, has been improved by using licorice. Licorice can also soothe nervous stomachs, a common occurrence in people under stress. Both blood circulation in the heart and arteries and production of interferon- like substances by the immune system are stimulated by licorice.

There has been some concern that licorice increases blood pressure. This is because licorice may increase sodium retention and also partially block the conversion of cortisol into cortisone, which can produce higher amounts of circulating cortisol. Cortisol slightly increases contraction of the medium arteries and heart muscle causing blood pressure to rise. However, there is so little actual licorice in candy that consuming normal amounts is unlikely to produce any elevation in blood pressure. In any case, people experiencing adrenal fatigue typically have low blood pressure, so this is not usually a concern. The few who have both high blood pressure and low adrenal function can limit licorice intake and/or monitor their blood pressure to make sure it stays below approximately 140/90.

It is best to take licorice in capsules, as a liquid herbal extract, or in the original dried root which can be chewed or made into a tea, rather than eating the candy. The candy usually contains too much sugar and may only contain licorice flavoring or anise, and not any actual licorice. When adrenal function is low, it may be good to keep some authentic natural licorice candy on hand for an occasional temporary boost.

Ashwagandha Root and Leaf (Withania somnifera)

Ashwagandha is an ancient East Indian herb with a history of therapeutic use dating back to at least 1,000 BC, probably because of its direct beneficial effects on adrenal tissue and function. Although it is also known as Indian ginseng, it is not related to ginseng. Traditionally, ashwagandha has been prescribed as a tonic for all kinds of weaknesses, as well as to promote strength and vigor. It has long been regarded as a rejuvenator and mild aphrodisiac. Because of its anti-inflammatory action, Ayurvedic physicians use it as the treatment of choice in rheumatic pains, inflammation of joints and other related conditions that arecommonly seen in states of adrenal fatigue.

Ashwagandha is considered to be an adaptogen. An adaptogen is any substance that helps the body function more towards its normal level. For example, if cortisol is too high, it lowers it; and if it is too low, it raises it. Studies have shown ashwagandha is capable of normalizing cortisol levels, whether they are too high or too low. This herb is becoming recognized for its multiple health benefits and especially for its value in adrenal fatigue. However, in very high doses (above 35gms/day) ashwagandha can actually inhibit adrenal function. 

Siberian Ginseng Root (Eleutherococcus senticosus)

Siberian ginseng, although not from Siberia and not strictly a ginseng, is good for women as well as men. It has a wide range of activities that help support and rejuvenate adrenal function, increase resistance to stress, normalize metabolism, and regulate neurotransmitters (which are important in modifying the stress response). It counteracts mental fatigue and is known to increase and sustain energy levels, physical stamina and endurance. With its antidepressant properties, Siberian ginseng has demonstrated its ability to calm anxiousness, improve sleeping, diminish lethargy, lessen irritability and induce a feeling of well-being. It has been used by Russian workers, deep-sea divers and Olympic athletes for better performance and by cosmonauts for stress and disease resistance, increased vitality and to counter depletion of the adrenal stress hormones. In addition, it has been shown to normalize blood sugar, stimulate antibodies to bacteria and viruses, increase resistance to environmental pollutants, improve absorption of some B vitamins and decrease vitamin C loss. Although it has been shown to normalize blood pressure, it should not be used if blood pressure is very high. Siberian ginseng is more normalizing than stimulatory in its effects on the adrenals and, as can be seen by its actions, it can be an important aid for anyone trying to recover from adrenal fatigue. (See below for a cautionary note about Korean Ginseng Root (Panax Ginseng))

Maca (Lepidium peruvianum)

Maca has been recognized for centuries in Peru for its many health benefits, including its ability to increase stamina, energy and endurance, and improve the ability to withstand stress. This adaptogenic herb helps normalize the body's response to stress, modulate cortisol levels, reduce the exhaustion that follows a stressful event, and protect the body against the negative effects of stress.

Additional Beneficial Herbs
Ginger Root (Zingiber officinale) and Ginkgo Leaf (Ginkgo biloba) are two other herbs worth mentioning for their beneficial effects during stressful times. Ginger is another adaptogen for the adrenals that helps modulate cortisol levels. Gingko is a powerful anti-oxidant that helps protect the adrenal glands, the brain and the liver from inflammation and free radical damage that occurs during stress. 

How to Take Herbal Preparations

The above herbs can be obtained and taken singly or ideally together, in liquid or dry forms. Always take the usual precaution of starting with low doses, and increasing the dosage slowly when using herbal preparations. Because of the varying strength of herbal preparations, it is best to follow the instructions on all packaged herbs. If there are no instructions, a general rule for preparation of herbs is as follows:

Tincture (alcohol extracts): Take 10-15 drops in liquid three to four times per day. Tinctures are important sources of the beneficial ingredients in plants because some of the most active agents in herbs can only be extracted using alcohol. Water extractions or glycerin-based preparations may not have the potency of alcohol extracts. However, since a number of people with low adrenal function are sensitive to alcohol, they can briefly simmer an herbal tincture in some tea or water to evaporate
the alcohol before taking it.

Other Fluid Extracts: Take 5-10 drops in liquid three to four times per day.

Leaves: Steep (cover with boiling water and let sit off the heat) 1 teaspoon of dry leaves per cup of water for 15 minutes. Strain and drink. Honey or other natural sweeteners can be added to taste.

Root: Simmer (heat in water kept below boiling) 1 teaspoon of grated dry or fresh root for each cup of water for 15 minutes. Strain and drink. Honey or other natural sweeteners can be added to taste.

Caution!

Just as there are herbs that are beneficial and restorative to the adrenals, there are herbs you should avoid if you are experiencing adrenal fatigue because they can worsen your symptoms, increase your recovery time, or prevent your recovery by further exhausting your adrenals. These herbs include the following:

• Ephedra (or Ma Huang)
• Cola nut
• Strong black teas

Also avoid any herbs or teas containing stimulants, sedatives, or hallucinogenic substances, and any teas that over-stimulate the nervous system or the adrenals. Just because it is natural does not mean it is good for you. Strychnine, arsenic, aflatoxin and mercury are also all “natural” substances, but would not be desirable in the body. So avoid these herbs.

A cautionary note about Korean Ginseng Root (Panax Ginseng)

Panax ginseng is an herb more suitable for men than for women. Although it has been shown to help increase cortisol levels, clinical experience has shown that while men can usually take Panax ginseng with mild to significant benefits, women should be careful in its use. This type of ginseng, especially Korean Red, can have adverse effects in some women, similar to the adverse effects they experience with excess DHEA. These can include an increase in facial hair and acne. In men increased aggressiveness, irritability, or sexual excesses are signs that they are taking too much and should cut down or stop taking it. Men are advised to use it in small doses at first and build up gradually and women to avoid its use altogether.  

 

 

 

Bad Marriage Raises Stress Levels For Men and Women

Your relationship could be literally killing you, and it may be more important to fix a bad marriage than fix a time with your doctor for that next check-up. A recent study has shown that men and women who are in bad marriages take that stress to work with them, thereby increasing their risk of developing heart disease and diabetes and other chronic complaints stemming from stress.

"What is happening is that marital problems are spilling into the workplace," said Brandeis University's Rosalind Barnett, one of the study's authors, in a news release. "And if these tensions persist over time, there could be serious health problems."

In the study, which was published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Barnett and colleagues looked at 105 middle-aged married adults -- 67 men and 38 women -- to determine the relationship between the quality of their marriage and several physical and mental stress indicators.

Participants' feelings about their marriage were assessed using a standardized scale. Then, their blood pressure and levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol, determined from saliva samples, were checked throughout a working day. Those who expressed more marital concerns had higher blood pressure during the workday. They also had higher morning cortisol levels, with fewer changes in levels over the course of the day than those with fewer marital concerns. People who scored worse on the marital quality scale also reported feeling more stress.

Over time, high cortisol levels can increase your risk for obesity, diabetes, depression, immune problems and more, while high blood pressure raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Contrary to what some may expect, these effects were seen in both men and women.

"It's generally assumed that primary relationships are more critical to women's psychological well-being than men's, but this is not the case," Barnett said. "When there is marital concern, men and women are equally affected." Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2009

Comment by Eric Bakker, ND:

Here is yet another study highlighting the relationship with emotional conflict creating long term ill health by way of altering the sensitive stress mechanism of the human body. Countless studies have shown that high cortisol levels (a hormone produced by the adrenal gland) which stays high can lead to many chronic degenerative diseases for which pharmaceutical drugs are conveniently prescribed by your doctor. There are some enlightened doctors however who do understand the relationship with stress and health, and here are a few comments I received from doctors who use Dr. Wilson's Adrenal fatigue Program in their clinics. A doctor I know here in New Zealand has been using Dr. Wilson's Adrenal Fatigue Program successfully in his primary practice for the past two and a half years. His comments: "The more patients I see in primary care, the more I can see the connection with many of their presenting complaints and stress. In fact, if I placed half of my primary care patients on Dr. Wilson's Program I could reduce my workload at least by half." Another doctor I spoke with in the South Island of New Zealand mentioned that he used to treat depression as a "disease in its own right" but after studying Dr. Wilson's work has seen that many cases of depression actually stem from adrenal exhaustion (and altered cortisol levels) in men women. His comments: "Many cases of depression I see in patients seems to be connected to their level of stress and tiredness, and once I got used to treating their fatigue and stress patterns, their depression lifted and in some cases disappeared."

 

Dietary Supplements: Minerals, Stress & the Adrenal Glands

Mineral nutrients are the inorganic elements found in food that are essential to health. They play important roles in the body’s tissue structure and biochemistry, and work with vitamins in enzyme activity. Dietary minerals are generally classified according to the amount required each day as the following:

• Macro Minerals: More than 100 mg/day
• Micro Minerals: 1-100 mg/day, and
  
• Trace Minerals: Less than 1 mg/day

There are several minerals from each of these classes that are key to healthy adrenal function and the stress response.

Macro Minerals and Stress

Magnesium

Magnesium acts like a spark plug for the adrenal glands and for the energy system of every cell in the body. It is essential to the enzyme and energy generation necessary for the adrenal hormone cascade that produces hormones like cortisol to deal with stress. Together with vitamin C and pantothenic acid, magnesium helps adrenal activity reach its full potential. Several of the steps that create energy in every cell, and especially in the adrenal glands, are so dependent on the presence of magnesium that it is a specific for adrenal recovery. When there is not enough magnesium present, the stress response can be triggered with less provocation, leading to increased irritability and reactivity.

Magnesium is absorbed best when taken at night after 8 PM but is beneficial throughout the entire day. During times of stress, it can be helpful to take magnesium, vitamin C and pantothenic acid two to four times a day, or even hourly if the stress is severe. Approximately 400 mg. per day of magnesium is the recommended daily amount for the average person. However, if supplemental calcium is used, more magnesium may be required – in a 1:2 ratio of magnesium to calcium. Taken before bedtime, magnesium promotes relaxation and sound sleep. It is essential for muscle relaxation. However, it can be used in the morning to help create energy because it improves ATP (Adenosine-5'-triphosphate – the cell’s energy transporter) synthesis in cells, and in the early afternoon to help mitigate the afternoon lows. Although absorption of magnesium during the day is not as great as after 8 PM, it is usually sufficient to produce the desired effect. For best absorption, take magnesium and all other minerals with an acidic food or drink, like fruit, meat or juice, or with digestive aids.

Good food sources of magnesium include cooked or sprouted whole grains (wheat, oats, barley, etc.); yeast raised whole grain bread; sprouted legumes (soy beans, mung beans, etc.); legumes that have been soaked and then cooked in fresh water; fermented soy products such as miso and tempeh; lightly roasted brazil nuts, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds; sprouted or lightly roasted sesame seeds (unhulled) and products made from them such as tahini and humus; cooked spinach and artichokes; and sea vegetables such as kelp (the highest source).

When taking supplemental magnesium, look for magnesium citrate, malate or glycinate. These are generally the easiest supplementary forms for the body to absorb.

Calcium

In addition to being the primary structural component of bones and teeth, calcium acts somewhat like a shock absorber for the body when a stressor hits. It helps trigger adrenal hormone secretion, facilitate the transmission of messages throughout the nervous system, calm sensory and motor nerves, activate enzymes that release stored energy in the muscles, modulate muscle tone (including in the heart and blood vessels), control blood acid- alkaline balance, and regulate the flow of nutrients in and out of the cells. It is so important to survival that the body takes calcium from the bones when circulating levels are too low.

Stress reduces calcium absorption in the intestine but there are a variety of dietary and physiological factors that can enhance calcium uptake. Vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium in the small intestine and decreases loss of calcium in the urine. Vitamin D can be obtained through food, supplements and skin exposure to sunlight. Supplemental vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is identical to the form of vitamin D the human body manufactures from sunlight, whereas supplemental vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is less potent and active in the human body than vitamin D3. Unfortunately, D2 is the form usually used in milk and many supplements. Phosphorus enhances calcium absorption from food and supplements when it is in a ratio of approximately 1 part phosphorus to 2 parts calcium similar to the ratio found in human milk. Too much phosphorus, however, increases calcium excretion – a good reason to avoid all soft drinks. Moderate protein and fat intake, adequate hydrochloric acid in the stomach, vitamin C and exercise also improve absorption of calcium.

Calcium and magnesium counterbalance each other’s actions in the body to maintain equilibrium. For example, during the stress response calcium helps increase blood pressure and muscle tone in preparation for physical action, then as the stress lessens, magnesium helps muscles and the cardiovascular system relax. Magnesium also helps calcium stay more soluble in the body, reducing calcification. The typical recommended daily amount of calcium is 750 to 1,000 mg. When supplemental calcium is used, at least half that amount of supplemental magnesium should also be taken.

Like magnesium, calcium is absorbed best after 8 PM, but because calcium can interfere with magnesium absorption in the intestine, it is better to take calcium and magnesium at different times. They can be taken on alternate evenings or at separate times in the later part of the same day, but take the magnesium closer to bedtime. Also, the presence of dietary fiber can help protect magnesium absorption from calcium inhibition.

Cow’s milk and dairy foods are commonly considered to be good food sources of calcium. However, commercially available cow’s milk presents two problems in this regard: 1) The process of pasteurization and ultra pasteurization changes the calcium complexes in the milk, making them less suitable for the body. 2) Synthetic vitamin D2, made  by irradiating ergosterol, is commonly used to fortify milk but produces much less enhancement of calcium absorption in humans than does an equivalent amount of D3 (the form that naturally occurs in milk), and tends to increase calcification in the joints and other areas of the body. Certified raw milk and goat’s milk, fortified with natural D3, do not pose these problems to calcium absorption.

There are several other factors to consider about using milk as the primary source of calcium: the calcium to magnesium ratio in milk is approximately 10:1, so the more milk is consumed, the more magnesium needs to be obtained from other sources to prevent a magnesium deficiency. Although milk protein (casein) and milk sugar (lactose), in small amounts, facilitate absorption of calcium, diets high in meat and dairy protein can cause an acid condition that the body tries to balance with calcium taken from the bones. In addition, many people these days are sensitive or allergic to the protein or sugar in milk and other dairy foods.

Phytates found in raw plant foods like leafy greens, whole grains, nuts and legumes also interfere with the body's ability to use calcium. Phytate levels can be lowered by certain food processes such as using yeast to raise dough; lightly roasting or sprouting seeds, grains, legumes, nuts; presoaking legumes and then cooking them in fresh water; and fermentating.

Good non-dairy food sources of calcium include sprouted or lightly roasted sesame seeds (unhulled) and products made from them such as tahini and humus; calcium set tofu; cooked deep green vegetables such as kale, collard, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, parsley and broccoli; sprouted legumes (soy beans, mung beans, etc.); legumes that have been soaked and then cooked in fresh water; fermented soy products such as miso and tempeh; winter squash; figs; nuts; and sea vegetables such as kelp; blackstrap molasses; sardines; canned fish and meat stews cooked with bones in.

When taking supplemental calcium, look for calcium citrate or calcium lactate (if you are not sensitive to milk). It is best to avoid calcium from bone meal, dolomite, or unrefined oyster shells as these may contain lead or other toxic metals. Keep in mind that your body can normally efficiently process about 500 mg. of calcium at any one time, whether from food or supplements. If you are taking more than this in supplements, split them up into several doses for optimum absorption and utilization.

Micro Minerals, Trace Elements and Stress

Micro minerals and trace elements occur in very small amounts in your body and in food but are essential for your overall health. Micro minerals  are minerals required by a typical adult in quantities of 1mg-100 mg. per day. These include copper, sulphur, manganese, selenium, zinc and chromium. Trace elements are minerals required by a typical adult in quantities of less than 1mg per day. These include fluorine, iodine, cobalt, molybdenum and silicon, among others.

They typically have a calming effect on the body and are especially valuable if you are jittery, nervous, or easily frightened or upset. When your adrenals fatigue, you may become extremely edgy and trace minerals can help you feel more tranquil. Like most minerals, micro minerals and trace elements are absorbed and utilized better when they are taken in the evening and/or with an acidic food or drink. Therefore, have them with meals when your body’s digestive juices are secreted or with something acidic such as tomato juice or vitamin C. If needed, however, they can be taken throughout the day as a calming influence.

Trace and micro mineral supplements vary in the quality and quantity of each mineral they contain. They are generally easiest to absorb in liquid form but you should be careful of so called “colloidal” preparations. They sometimes contain toxic trace minerals including lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. The best sources of trace and micro minerals are sprouts, young plants, algae, and sea vegetables and the trace mineral supplements made from them.

A hair analysis is an inexpensive and fairly reliable way to determine your mineral deficiencies and toxicities.

 

Minimizing Adrenal Fatigue & Letdown After a Stressful Event

The letdown that almost invariably follows an illness, a stressful event or even the holiday season is largely attributable to adrenal fatigue. However, with proper adrenal support you can often minimize or avoid the letdown and maintain a healthy ability to handle stress.

To understand why letdown occurs, it is helpful to know a little about the pattern of physiological adjustments your body makes in response to stress -- regardless of its source.

Primarily through adrenal hormones, you prepare for the same physical "fight or flight" reactions as did primitive man, even though modern day stress rarely requires that you physically fight or flee.

Your initial stress reaction produces a large rise in cortisol, adrenaline and other adrenal hormones that mobilize your energy, mental and physical resources to take action. This lasts for a few minutes to a few hours -- essentially how long it might take you to fight or run away from a threat. At the end of this alarm phase there is a recovery period lasting a few hours to a few days (depending upon the magnitude of the stress) when levels of cortisol and other adrenal hormones drop and remain low. This is a natural letdown phase during which you likely feel more tired and listless and want to rest. At this time your adrenals are temporarily fatigued and less able to respond to stress. The more fatigued or depleted your adrenals were at the time of the initial alarm, the longer and more debilitated your letdown.

If stress continues, your adrenals adapt to handle it by producing slightly elevated levels of hormones, particularly cortisol, in a kind of constant semi-alarm phase. This phase can last for weeks, months or even for many years. However, your body's prolonged biochemical readiness for "fight or flight" without commensurate physical action causes increasing problems in your body the longer it goes on, and it becomes another source of stress. If stress persists beyond your adrenal's capacity to maintain this higher function, or another stressful event occurs, your adrenals may eventually become depleted, leaving you in the more lasting letdown of adrenal fatigue and no longer able to respond adequately to stress.

Stress intensifies the demands on your body -- nutrients are used up faster than they can be replaced by food, toxic by-products rapidly build up, and every organ and gland (including your brain) is asked to work harder. Your adrenal glands must respond to every stress you experience by producing hormones that help your body cope with the stress and maintain homeostasis.

When you can anticipate stressful times, you can make a significant difference to how you will feel and the amount of letdown you will experience by paying attention to what your body needs and stepping up your level of self care. The following tips should minimize letdown, and help you bounce back more quickly, become more stress hardy, sustain good energy, experience more refreshing sleep, and remain calm, clear-headed, focused and steady.

• Eat what your body needs to function optimally by choosing fresh, wholesome food. When your adrenals are stressed, it is especially important to eat regular meals morning, noon and evening which each contain protein, healthy fat and complex carbohydrate.
  

• Avoid foods that stress your body, such as sugar, white flour/refined grains,hydrogenated oils, excessive additives and junk food.

• Minimize substances that over-stimulate your adrenals, such as caffeine.

• Exercise regularly and make sure you get up and move around frequently throughout the day to help keep that “fight or flight” reaction from creating further internal stress.

• For at least ten minutes a day take a mental break – concentrate on your breathing, meditate or focus on something peaceful.

• Take dietary supplements specifically designed to support and strengthen your adrenal glands for at least a month leading up to the anticipated stressful time, as well as for as long as needed afterward. Look for supplements, like the ones suggested below, formulated by an expert in stress to provide your adrenals and stressed body with precise forms, amounts, and ratios of high quality, natural ingredients they can optimally assimilate and utilize to enhance your health and minimize letdown.  The right supplements can make a world of difference.
  
  
• If you are stressed and having difficulty staying balanced during the day, tend to feel anxious or mildly depressed, or are having trouble sleeping, look for a combination of organic herbs designed to support the Hypothalamus/Pituitary/Adrenal (HPA) axis and adrenal function to help balance you during the day and promote sound sleep at night.
  
  
• Adrenal hormone production is very nutrient intensive, so supplementing with the precise nutrients your adrenals need to make these hormones can help you feel good and maintain a healthy response to stress. To enhance your response to and feel better while under stress, look for a combination of vitamins and minerals formulated in precise ratios, forms and amounts to replenish the specific nutrients used up by stress, facilitate the production of adrenal hormones, and support adrenal health.
  
  
• To replenish the vitamin C that gets rapidly used up during stress, look for a true sustained release supplement that provides a steady supply of an optimal amount of vitamin C, plus a 1:2 ratio of bioflavonoids to vitamin C to enhance the vitamin C activity and help protect your tissues from the oxidizing damage of stress, as well as trace minerals to neutralize the acidity of vitamin C so it’s easier on your stomach.
  
  
• If you have been depleted by stress, your adrenal glands may need deep replenishment and extra support to maintain healthy function and adequately respond to further stress. Look for a hormone-free multiglandular that contains adrenal, hypothalamus, gonad and pituitary concentrates designed to provide natural building blocks that fundamentally support and strengthen the structure and function of the adrenals and other glands affected by stress.
  
  
• Many people who feel stressed also experience energy lows at in the morning, mid-afternoon, or after exertion. To help temporarily bolster your energy at these times, look for a caffeine- free energy booster that is designed specifically to both provide support to your adrenals and naturally enhance your energy levels.
  

By taking steps to bolster and protect your health from stress, you can minimize the debilitating letdown that often occurs during and/or after a stressful event, and discover a new level of steadiness and stamina that allows you to enjoy life more fully, even in stressful times.

 

 

Thoughts for Stepping Into a Healthy New Year with Adrenal Fatigue

Looking forward to the New Year with optimism doesn’t always come easy for those with adrenal fatigue. In the midst of the holiday’s social gatherings, late nights, rich food, and magnified financial considerations, stress can affect even the heartiest person. Everyone has a different capacity to handle stress, and that capacity varies over time and events. Adrenal fatigue occurs when the amount of stress overextends the body’s capacity to cope with and recover from it. In addition to the usual stresses of this season, the twists and turns of one of history’s greatest economic storms has hit many people hard, ending 2009 with an overwhelming stress load for adrenals to handle.

Despite how burned out you might feel right now, I want to assure you that the new year can be better; that the past doesn’t necessarily equal the future. It IS possible to recover from the debilitating symptoms of adrenal fatigue – with some knowledge, the right tools, and a commitment to feeling good again. Even in adrenal fatigue, the body is still wonderful, beautiful and incredibly wise. We may not able to change outside events or society, but we can learn to use better judgment when it comes to taking care of ourselves and to respond to stress in healthier ways.

As a New Year and a new decade begin, it is an opportune time to review – and renew – your life, to realize how important health is in the overall scheme of your life and to make your own health a top priority. Honestly ask yourself: “How much would I sell or trade my health for? How hard would I work if I could earn good health?” One of the few saving graces about adrenal fatigue is that you can do most of what is necessary to recover and regain your adrenal health, yourself. Being in charge of your life is important for adrenal health; researchers have found from earlier scientific experiments that rendering an animal helpless is one of the most rapid ways to deplete its adrenals. Putting yourself in charge your health does not mean doing it all yourself, however. Solicit the help of anyone or anything that will lead to your healthy recovery – as long as you retain control of your own recovery program.

Taking your health into your own hands is very empowering but not without its challenges. There are no magic pills for adrenal fatigue. It takes time and dedication to embark on a recovery program, but there are certainly key lifestyle changes and nutritional supplements that will greatly facilitate your recovery. What you eat and drink, the thoughts you feed your mind, the beliefs you base your life on, the attitudes that guide your choices, the people you spend time with and the way you spend your time all have a potent influence on your health.

The precise, comprehensive program I developed to address all of these different aspects of adrenal health and stress has been gratifyingly successful at empowering many people to effectively help themselves. I hope you find the following “D-E-S-T-R-E-S-S” acronym useful as a guideline for starting the new year with a fresh outlook and a positive frame of mind, making 2010 your time for establishing adrenal health and attaining greater happiness and health:

D-E-S-T-R-E-S-S

• Define who and what are important in your life and Decide to live accordingly.

• Energize yourself with foods that nourish, and Exercise to increase circulation, optimize function and eliminate toxins.       
• Support your body with dietary Supplements designed specifically to help compensate for the effects of stress on your body and supply nutrients used up during stress.      

• Take Time to breathe deeply and fully, to find a moment of calm, and to enjoy something each day.
  
  
• Reframe events that stress you in order to Release yourself from paralysis so you can discover what you can do, and how you can benefit from these events or turn them to your advantage.
  
  
• Eliminate energy robbers and health drains, and Establish clear boundaries.
  
  
• Sleep to give your body a chance to recharge and heal, and your mind a few moments of Silent Solace each day so you are refreshed and ready to take effective action.
  
  
• Smile and See the Soul-fullness in your life. The physical action of smiling changes how you feel inside, which changes how you behave and how your body reacts.

Your in health,

Dr. James L. Wilson

Adrenal Fatigue: How to Beat Negative Thinking

By Eric Bakker, ND

Which came first, the depression or the pessimistic thoughts? The answer may surprise you! In many cases, depression actually is the result of habitual negative thoughts. When bad things happen, we begin chastising ourselves with thoughts such as: "I’m no good, I’m a total failure" or "Nothing ever goes my way", or "I’m fat, stupid, lazy", etc. Our feelings constantly follow what we are thinking, and negative thoughts like these can send us spiraling down into anxiety and depression. Your thoughts are your world; they create a blueprint for how things will turn out for you in your life. This article (below) is excellent and so relevant for many patients I see in general naturopathic practice. Print it out and read it carefully. Which category do you slot into? Are you like Rhonda, or maybe like Donna? Look at your "self-talk", you may be too hard on yourself or maybe have an unreasonably high expectation of yourself and others. We are all guilty of this – because we are all human beings. People with adrenal fatigue people often experience depression, anxiety and generally feelings of unhappiness at some stage. Understanding why and how you think and react to a given situation allows you to "reframe" as Dr. Wilson mentions in his book: "Adrenal Fatigue The 21st Century Stress Syndrome." Our practice has sold hundreds of copies and I can’t recommend this book highly enough for anybody to read either for themselves or to give to a friend or family member who has fatigue or suffers from stress. If we think something often enough, we begin to believe it’s true and our feelings match what we are thinking about ourselves. To conquer depression, we must stop those automatic negative thoughts and replace them with more positive, truthful ones. By nipping these thoughts in the bud, we can halt depression before it even starts.
 
~ Eric Bakker ND

From "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy"

See if you recognize yourself in any of these 10 common cognitive distortions or faulty thought patterns that send us into depression.
 
1. All-or-Nothing Thinking: John recently applied for a promotion in his firm. The job went to another employee with more experience. John wanted this job badly and now feels that he will never be promoted. He feels that he is a total failure in his career. He thinks it is all over for him and he will never get an opportunity like this again.  Of course he won’t, this is what he is projecting to others.
 
2. Overgeneralization: Linda is lonely and often spends most of her time at home. Her friends sometimes ask her to come out for dinner and meet new people. Linda feels that that is it useless to try to meet people. No one really could like her. People are all mean and superficial anyway.
 
3. Mental Filter: Mary is having a bad day. As she drives home, a kind gentleman waves her to go ahead of him as she merges into traffic. Later in her trip, another driver cuts her off. She grumbles to herself that there are nothing but rude and insensitive people in her city.
 
4. Disqualifying the Positive: Rhonda just had her portrait made. Her friend tells her how beautiful she looks. Rhonda brushes aside the compliment by saying that the photographer must have touched up the picture. She never looks that good in real life, she thinks.
 
5. Jumping to Conclusions: Geoff is waiting for his date at a restaurant. She’s now 20 minutes late. Geoff laments to himself that he must have done something wrong and now she has stood him up. Meanwhile, across town, his date is stuck in traffic. "what a bitch, she has stood me up" thinks Geoff.
 
6. Magnification & Minimization: Scott is playing football. He bungles a play that he’s been practicing for weeks. He later scores the winning touchdown. His teammates compliment him. He tells them he should have played better; the touchdown was just pure "dumb luck."
 
7. Emotional Reasoning: Laura looks around her untidy house and feels overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning. She feels that it’s hopeless to even try to clean.
 
8. Should Statements: David is sitting in his doctor’s waiting room. His doctor is running late. David sits stewing, thinking, "With how much I’m paying him, he should be on time. He ought to have more consideration." He ends up feeling bitter and resentful.
 
9. Labeling & Mislabeling: Donna just cheated on her diet. "I’m just a fat, lazy pig", she thinks.

10. Personalization: Jean’s son is doing poorly in school. She feels that she must be a bad mother. She feels that it’s all her fault that he isn’t studying.
 
If you recognize any of these behaviors in yourself, then you’re halfway there. Here’s a homework assignment for you: Over the next few weeks, monitor the self-defeating ways in which you respond to situations. Practice recognizing your automatic responses. Now, we will take each of the above cognitive distortions and discuss some powerful coping strategies that will help you dispel the blues before they even start.
 
All-or-Nothing Thinking:
John recently applied for a promotion in his firm. The job went to another employee with more experience. John wanted this job very badly and now feels that he will never be promoted. He feels that he is a total failure in his career.

This type of thinking is characterized by absolute terms like always, never, and forever. Few situations are ever this absolute. There are generally gray areas. Eliminate these absolute terms from your vocabulary except for the cases where they truly apply. Look for a more accurate description of the situation. Here’s an example of self-talk that John could have used to cope with not getting that promotion:

"I wanted this job a lot, but it went to someone with more experience. This is disappointing to me, but it doesn’t mean I’m not a good employee. Other opportunities will be available in the future. I’ll keep working on my skills so that I’ll be ready for them when they arrive. This one setback does not mean my career is over. Overall, I have excelled in my work."
 
Overgeneralization:
Linda is lonely and often spends most of her time at home. Her friends sometimes ask her to come out for dinner and meet new people. Linda feels that that is it useless to try to meet people. No one really could like her. People are all mean and superficial anyway.

When one over generalizes, one takes an isolated case or cases and assumes that all others are the same. Are people really all mean and superficial and could never like her? What about her friends who are trying to get her to go out? Obviously she does have someone who cares about her. The next time you catch yourself over generalizing, remind yourself that even though a group of people may share something in common, they are also separate and unique individuals. No two people are exactly the same. There may be mean and superficial people in this world. There may even be people who dislike you. But, not every person will fit this description. By assuming that everyone doesn’t like you, you are building a wall that will prevent you from having what you crave the most — friendship.

Mental Filter:
Mary is having a bad day. As she drives home, another driver cuts her off. She grumbles to herself that there are nothing but rude and insensitive people in her town. Later, a kind gentleman waves her go ahead of him. She continues on her way still angry at how rude all the people in her city are. When a person falls victim to mental filters they are mentally singling out only the bad events in their lives and overlooking the positive. Learn to look for that silver lining in every cloud. It’s all about how you choose to let events effect you. Mary could have turned her whole day around if she had paid attention to that nice man who went out of his way to help her.

Disqualifying the Positive:
Rhonda just had her portrait made. Her friend tells her how beautiful she looks. Rhonda brushes aside the compliment by saying that the photographer must have touched up the picture. She says she never looks that good in real life. We depressives are masters at taking the good in a situation and turning it into a negative. Part of this comes from a tendency to have low self- esteem. We feel like we just don’t deserve it. How to turn this around is simple. The next time someone compliments you, resist the little voice inside that says you don’t deserve it. Just say "thank you" and smile. The more you do this, the easier it will become.

Jumping to Conclusions:
Geoff is waiting for his date at a restaurant. She’s now 20 minutes late. Geoff laments to himself that he must have done something wrong and now she has stood him up. Meanwhile, across town, his date is stuck in traffic. "what a bitch, she has stood me up" thinks Geoff. Once again, we fall victim to our own insecurities. We expect the worst and begin preparing early for the disappointment. By the time we find out that all our fears were unfounded, we’ve worked ourselves into a frenzy and for what? Next time do this: Give the person the benefit of the doubt. You’ll save yourself a lot of unnecessary worry. If your fears have some basis in reality, however, drop that person from your life like a hot potato.

Magnification and Minimization:  
Scott is playing football. He bungles a play that he’s been practicing for weeks. He later scores the winning touchdown. His teammates compliment him. He tells them he should have played better; the touchdown was just dumb luck. Ever looked through a telescope from the wrong direction? Everything looks tinier than it really is. When you look through the other end, everything looks larger. People who fall into the magnification-minimization trap look at all their successes through the wrong end of the telescope and their failures through the other end. What can you do to stay away from this error? Remember the old saying, "He can’t see the forest for the trees?" When one mistake bogs us down, we forget to look at the overall picture. Step back and look at the forest now and then. Overall, Scott played a good game. So what if he made a mistake?

Emotional Reasoning:  
Laura looks around her untidy house and feels overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning. She feels that it’s hopeless to even try to clean. Laura has based her assessment of the situation on how it makes her feel not how it really is. It may make her feel bad to think of the large task ahead of her, but is it really hopeless? In reality, cleaning her house is a doable task. She just doesn’t feel up to it. She has reached the conclusion that it is useless to try based on the fact that it overwhelms her. When a situation feels overwhelming, try this: Break down the task down into smaller ones. Then prioritize what is most important to you. Now, do the first task on your list. Believe it or not, you will begin to feel better and ready for more. The important thing is to just do something towards your goal. No matter how small, it’s a start and will break you out of feeling helpless.

Should Statements:
David is sitting in his doctor’s waiting room. His doctor is running late. David sits stewing, thinking, "With how much I’m paying him, he should be on time. He ought to have more consideration." He ends up feeling bitter and resentful. We all think things should be a certain way, but let’s face it, they aren’t. Concentrate on what you can change and if you can’t change it, accept it as part of life and go on. Your mental health is more important than "the way things should be."

Labeling and Mislabeling:  
Donna just cheated on her diet. I’m a fat, lazy pig she thinks. What Donna has done is label herself as lazy and hopeless. She most likely will reason that since she can’t lose weight, she may as well eat. She has now effectively trapped herself by living up to the label she placed on herself. When we label ourselves, we set ourselves up to become whatever that label entails. This can just as easily work to our advantage. Here’s what Donna could have done to make labeling work in her favor. She could have considered the fact that up until now she has been strong. She could then forgive herself for only being human and acknowledge that she has been working hard to lose weight and has been succeeding. This is a temporary setback that she can overcome. Overall, she is a strong person and has proven it by her successful weight loss. With this type of positive thinking, Donna will feel better and be back to work on her weight loss goals in no time.

Personalization:
Jean’s son is doing poorly in school. She feels that she must be a bad mother. It’s all her fault that he isn’t studying. Jean is taking all the responsibility for how her son is doing in school. She is failing to take into consideration that her son is an individual who is ultimately responsible for himself. She can do her best to guide him, but in the end he controls his actions. Next time you find yourself doing this, ask yourself, "Would I take credit if this person were doing something praiseworthy? Chances are you’d say, "No, he accomplished that by himself." So why blame yourself when he does something not-so praiseworthy? Beating yourself up is not going to change his behavior. Only he can do that. The solutions I’ve presented here are some of the common situations we find ourselves in.

Take these as examples and create your own positive solutions to your negative thoughts. Recognizing that you do it is the first step. Then play devil’s advocate and challenge yourself to find the positive. Turn your thoughts around and your moods will follow suit. Remember, you are what you think!
 
Burns, David D. "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy". Avon Books : New York, NY, 1999.

Vitamin C and Adrenal Fatigue – Part 2

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient and antioxidant necessary to many aspects of your health, including adrenal function; carbohydrate metabolism; formation and repair of bone, skin and all other tissues; cardiovascular fitness; immune function; and the production of hormones and neurotransmitters. It helps your body absorb iron, which is needed to make red blood cells, and speeds the healing of burns, wounds and scars. It is the major water-soluble antioxidant responsible for preventing oxidative damage to cell membranes throughout your body.

The highest concentrations are found in your adrenal glands, eyes and brain. Stress, cold, pollution, smoking and alcohol consumption all cause vitamin C to be used up at a more rapid rate, making less available for critical activities like immune responses and adrenal function. Bioflavonoids normally occur in nature with vitamin C and greatly enhance its activity and anti- oxidant strength.  However, vitamin C and bioflavonoids are not manufactured by the human body and, therefore, have to be regularly replenished through food or supplements.

Vitamin C is so essential to your adrenal glands and your ability to cope with stress that if you do not make vitamin C available to your body through supplementation and diet, adrenal hormone production cannot begin or continue. When your adrenal glands are unable to make the additional adrenal hormones required to maintain you during stressful times, you will feel worse and take longer to recover. Because there are so many other tissues in your body that also need increased vitamin C during any kind of stress, an adequate supply of it is vital to your ability to respond properly. If you find yourself in one of the following stressful situations, it can be helpful to take extra vitamin C:

• If you feel yourself starting to come down with a cold or respiratory infection, it is a good idea to start taking vitamin C right away. This not only aids your immune system in fighting the infection, but it helps your adrenals to respond to the stressful situation in your body created by the infection.
• If you know you are going to be up late
• If you are stressed for an examination or work even
• If you are going through an emotional crisis or have to push yourself
• If you are injured, ill or going through surgery
• If you are experiencing adrenal fatigue

Cautions with Vitamin C

As you take more supplemental vitamin C your body adapts to this higher level of vitamin C. Therefore, if you later decrease your vitamin C intake, do it gradually. A sudden drop in vitamin C can lead to deficiency symptoms even when your actual vitamin C intake is well above the recommended quantity. Decrease your intake by 500 mg, or less, every three to five days until you reach your desired daily amount. If you begin experiencing unusual weakness, swollen gums or easy bruising, it could mean you are decreasing too fast and should temporarily increase your amount of vitamin C and bioflavonoids. Then step down the dosage more slowly. Just as your body adapts to an increase in vitamin C, it will also adapt to a decrease in vitamin C. However, it takes about twice as long for the body to get used to the decrease as it does to the increase.

This applies to babies whose bodies also adapt to whatever level of vitamin C their mothers are taking. If a mother has been taking high doses of vitamin C during her pregnancy or while nursing, the baby may need to be given gradually decreasing amounts of vitamin C/bioflavonoids from birth, if bottle fed, or at weaning, if breast fed. 

If you are on blood thinners, monitor your blood clotting. Vitamin C works with vitamin E and other antioxidants to decrease blood clotting and coagulation.

The Myth About Vitamin C in Oranges

There is a myth about the amount of vitamin C in oranges. Not only have there been questions about the actual content of vitamin C contained in the juice compared to label claims, but the amount of vitamin C contained in the orange dissipates with time. After oranges are harvested and remain in storage for two months, only a small percentage of the original amount of vitamin C remains. This dissipation during storage occurs with all fresh foods and vitamin C is also destroyed by heat and exposure to air. In addition, the bioflavonoids in fruit are found mostly in the white part on the inside of the rind that is usually not eaten, rather than in the juicy part of the fruit that usually is consumed. Commercially, orange juice made without the rind lacks the appropriate amount of bioflavonoids. Orange juice made with the skin, including the rind (the most common method), from non-organically grown fruit often contains chemical residues and sprays which may adversely affect some people. Orange juice – and fruit juice in general – is specifically not recommended for people experiencing adrenal fatigue because it raises blood sugar too quickly followed by a subsequent abrupt drop.

Because stress can dramatically increase your need for vitamin C, especially in your adrenal glands, the most reliable way to ensure you are getting enough when you are stressed or experiencing adrenal fatigue is through supplementation. The optimum form of supplemental vitamin C to look for is a true sustained release supplement that provides a gradual, steady supply of vitamin C, with a 1:2 ratio of bioflavonoids to vitamin C to enhance its activity, and trace minerals to balance the acidity the of vitamin C so it’s easier on your stomach.

Food For Thought – The Holidays & Adrenal Fatigue

If you are recovering from stress and adrenal fatigue and concerned about your food intake and energy as we enter the holiday season, here are some sensible, practical guidelines that have evolved over the past 20+ years of observation. I hope they will make it easy for you to eat in a relaxed manner and keep fat and food consumption at healthy levels without having to become a mathematician to count calories. They are simple guidelines, but if you follow them, they will have a profound, positive effect on your health.

1) Before you begin each meal, settle yourself, quiet your mind and body, take a couple of deep breaths and relax. This helps prepare your body for food by diverting the blood flow into your digestive system from your muscles. It also stimulates the nerves that control digestion, increasing the flow of digestive juices and
activating the muscles of the digestive system. This is an important step, so make sure you take the few moments it takes to do it every time you eat. You can still do this even if you are eating in public, or at a business meeting. Just sit quietly, take a couple of deep breaths, let the air out slowly and let yourself totally relax for those few seconds. No one need know what you are doing. If you cannot do this at the table, go to the washroom where there is more privacy.

2) Chew each bite of food at least 30 times per mouthful. Why? Several reasons. For one, the satiety mechanism for appetite (the sense that makes you feel full) is located in the hypothalamus, a primitive part of the brain. There is a 15-minute delay after your stomach is full before the hypothalamus tells you that you are full. Chewing gives this mechanism a chance to keep up with your present state of fullness.
Another reason for chewing each bite 30 times is that thorough chewing decreases the size of food particles which decreases the burden on your digestive system. This allows for better digestion. Still another reason is that the mere act of chewing helps the body relax and prepare to digest the food you are eating. And finally, people who chew their food thoroughly eat less than people who do not chew well.

3) Eat only until you are satisfied; not until you are completely full. The ancient Chinese doctors had a saying: "The first 70% is for yourself; the last 30% is for the doctor." If you only eat until you are satisfied, you will learn more accurately what your actual dietary needs are. People and animals who slightly under eat tend to live longer and have fewer health problems.

4) Don't force yourself to eat things you don't like just because they are "good for you."

5) Learn to taste and appreciate your food as you are eating.

6) Avoid all you can eat situations unless you have good self-control.

7) Remember, you do not have to clean up your plate.

8) Wait at least 20 minutes after the meals before eating desserts.

9) Have natural desserts such as fruit or dried fruit.

10) Have desserts only one or two times per week.

11) Listen to your body before, during and after every meal.

Eating consciously and providing your body with fresh, wholesome food can produce tremendous long-term benefits to your health, and help reverse the negative effects of stress and adrenal fatigue on your body.

Sleep & Adrenal Fatigue

People are becoming more aware of the ravages of stress and how it leaks into every corner of their lives. Of course, increased stress means increased sleep disturbances for many. Less sleep means they experience more stress the day after. This pattern continues in a vicious cycle, making stress and sleep loss in terms of hours and quality intimately interconnected.

If stress has somewhat depleted the adrenal glands, which is often the case, people under stress do not wake feeling rested. Cortisol, an adrenal hormone, is needed to allow that person to wake feeling refreshed and bouncing out of bed in the morning. It is also important to induce an alpha wave, a requirement for the first phase of sleep. If cortisol is low, falling asleep is difficult. Cortisol is also necessary to maintain good blood sugar levels throughout the day and night. If cortisol is low during the day people wake feeling tired and often need coffee, cola and other caffeinated beverages to get going and to keep going during the day. This over consumption of caffeine not only causes blood sugar to rapidly rise and then precipitously fall an hour and a half later, but also tends to interfere with sleep that night. The resulting lack restful sleep creates more stress the next morning and perpetuates the cycle of low cortisol and difficulty sleeping. This low adrenal function is a frequent occurrence in both sleep disturbance and inadequate response to stress. During adrenal fatigue, a condition where the adrenal glands are not able to keep up with the demands placed on them, people often have problems managing their stress and sleeping well.

There can be several reasons for sleeplessness with adrenal fatigue. If you are waking between 1:00 and 3:00 AM, your liver may be lacking the glycogen reserves needed for conversion by the adrenals to keep the blood glucose levels high enough during the night. Blood sugar is normally low during the early morning hours but, if you are experiencing adrenal fatigue, your blood glucose levels may sometimes fall so low that hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) symptoms wake you during the night. This is often the case if you have panic or anxiety attacks, nightmares, or sleep fitfully between 1:00 and 4:00 AM. To help counteract this, have one or two bites of a snack that contains protein, unrefined carbohydrate, and high quality fat before going to bed, such as half a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter or a slice of cheese on a whole grain cracker.

Both too high and too low nighttime cortisol levels can cause sleep disturbances. To determine if this is a problem for you, simply do a saliva cortisol test at night and compare your night sample levels with your own daytime levels and with the test standards for those times. To do the night test, take a saliva sample at bedtime, another if you wake up during the night and a third when you wake up in the morning. Write the time each sample was taken on the vial and in your notebook on a separate sheet of paper. If cortisol is the culprit, your cortisol levels will be significantly higher or lower than normal for those times. If your nighttime cortisol levels are too low, you may sleep better when you exercise in the evening, before going to bed because exercise tends to raise cortisol levels. If your nighttime cortisol levels are too high, try doing one of the relaxation or meditation exercises to calm you down before going to bed. The specific yoga posture called the alternate leg-pull can be quite helpful in getting to sleep or returning to sleep. This is a basic yoga posture that almost any yoga book or video will describe but an instructor is preferable because there is some subtlety to doing this posture.

Here is a list of some additional things you can do to improve your sleep:

• Above all, go to bed before 10:30 PM and stay in bed until 9:00AM as often as possible, even if it is just on the weekends. It is amazing how restorative sleeping until 9:00 AM is for the adrenals.
• Be sure to get enough physical exercise during the day. Try varying the kinds of exercise you do, their intensity or when you exercise. Many people have told me swimming at night helps them sleep.
• Certain postures in yoga, ta'I chi and qi gong can also be helpful. Check with a teacher of these disciplines to find out which postures or exercises would specifically help you.
• Avoid coffee, caffeine containing beverages and chocolate because they act as stimulants. These can interrupt sleep patterns and increase morning lows. Even if they are consumed early in the day, they can disrupt sleep and make the next morning harder to negotiate.
• Some people are photosensitive and watching television or looking at at computer screen keeps their melatonin from rising and inducing sleep. If you are having difficulty going to sleep and usually are staring at a TV or computer screen late at night, try having an 8:00 PM limit on these visual stimuli.
• If your cortisol levels are low late at night, try exercising in the evening, as exercise raises cortisol levels and may afford you a sound night's sleep.
  
• There are particular nutritional supplements that can be beneficial. Often melatonin (0.3-1.3 mg) taken 30 minutes before bedtime helps establish normal sleep patterns. Calcium citrate (500mg) taken with 50 mg of 5-hydroxytriptophan (5HTP) at night before retiring is also relaxing and helps many people sleep throughout the night. Trace mineral tablets taken at the evening meal also help relax the body. Adrenal extracts taken ½ hour before bedtime often help those with adrenal fatigue fall asleep and remain asleep. If your adrenal fatigue is moderate or severe, try this one first.
• The hypothalamus is very important in regulating sleep. Although accurately testing hypothalamic function is complicated, a simple test you can do yourself is to try takig one to four tablets of hypothalamus extract and 10-40mg of manganese before bedtime and see if your sleep improves. Sometimes the hypothalamus tablets need to be combined with the adrenal extracts to normalize sleep.
  
• There are also several herbs commonly used to promote better sleep such as hops (whole plant), catnip (leaves), valerian (root) and licorice (root). Although not known as a sedative, the herb ashwagandha can help indirectly through its ability to normalize cortisol and sex hormones, both of which can produce sleep disturbances.

If none of these help and your life is being deleteriously affected by lack of or interrupted sleep, check your local area for the location of the nearest sleep center. Several cities around the country have these centers that specialize in helping individuals determine the cause of their sleep disturbances.

Take Short Horizontal Rests During the Day

During the day, you will probably notice that you have particular times when you feel more lethargic, cloudy headed, tired or have other symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Try to schedule your breaks so that when these occur, you can physically lie down for 15-30 minutes. Lying down is much more restorative than sitting for the person with adrenal fatigue.

Problems Interpreting Cortisol Lab Tests in Adrenal Fatigue

Complicating the problem of proper interpretation of laboratory data in adrenal fatigue is the fact that steroid hormones occur in more than one form in your body, but most lab tests measure only one. Cortisol, for example, takes on three forms in your blood: 1) unattached to any other substance (free), 2) loosely bound and, 3) tightly bound to blood proteins. The most common measurement for hormones is the amount of hormone not attached to anything, called the free circulating hormone. However, this usually represents a meager 1% of the total amount of hormone available. It does not measure the bound hormones, which act as reserves and become free hormones if needed. This reserve can be critical to proper physiological function. For example, very low circulating cortisol levels can be brought to within normal range by the administration of a synthetic cortisol. But people taking synthetic cortisol cannot withstand stress as well as people with naturally normal cortisol levels, even though blood tests for both show normal free circulating cortisol levels. One reason for this is that although free circulating cortisol levels are increased by taking the synthetic cortisol, levels remain low of tissue bound cortisol that provides reserve stores in cases of emergency (stress). Blood tests can often be deceptive because they do not typically give you the whole picture. Therefore, even though both healthy people and people taking cortisol might show normal free cortisol levels, their response to stress will probably differ considerably. The test results would give a very deceptive picture of "normal" in the case of the person receiving the drug, as it tests only the most superficial layer of cortisol availability.

In adrenal function, the extreme low on a bell curve is Addison's disease and the extreme high is Cushing's disease. The other 95% represents an enormous variation in levels of adrenal function that is usually disregarded by lab computers and overlooked by doctors because the scores in this range do not fall into either of the two extreme or "diseased" categories. By default, any scores falling within this range (95%) are considered "normal" The end result of basing laboratory test scores on statistics rather than on signs and symptoms is that many people who have mild to moderately severe adrenal fatigue are never accurately diagnosed; they look "normal" on the tests.

Stress is a factor that significantly affects adrenal hormone levels. Your cortisol level tested after a quiet, relaxing morning will be very different from your cortisol level tested when you are under stress before you arrive at the lab. To obtain a typical value, have your test on a typical morning.