Check for signs of adrenal fatigue.

Check for signs of adrenal fatigue.

Feelings of fatigue and exhaustion are becoming more common in today’s society. People are exposed to a variety of stressors. That affect their bodies and minds, leading to chronic stress and affecting their overall health. 

The hormone that plays the most role in stress is cortisol. Which is secreted from the adrenal glands. It plays an important role in responding to stress by making the body alert and balancing blood sugar and minerals. Normally, cortisol levels change throughout the day, with the highest levels in the early morning and lowest at night. During the day, it is secrete into ทางเข้า ufabet the bloodstream intermittently. When the body is stimulated by stress. However, if the body is exposed to stress for a long time, it may adversely affect the cortisol secretion cycle, causing adrenal fatigue.

What is adrenal fatigue?

The adrenal glands are two small glands located on top of the kidneys. They produce a variety of hormones, including cortisol. When the body is exposed to prolonged and chronic stress, the adrenal glands may function poorly, leading to cortisol deficiency. Reduced adrenal gland function can cause brain fog, dizziness, intermittent or constant fatigue, depression, insomnia, cravings for sweet and salty foods, etc. It has been found that adrenal fatigue is different from adrenal dysfunction due to diseases such as Addison’s Disease. Currently, we can measure the balance of adrenal hormones in the blood to assess the risk of adrenal fatigue.

Causes of Adrenal Fatigue

The most important and most common cause is severe and chronic stress. This is not just mental or emotional stress, but also physical stress, such as illness, office syndrome, hormonal changes in the body, inflammation in the body, or even stress resulting from an unhealthy lifestyle, such as eating too much sugar, eating foods that the body resists, such as gluten and milk, drinking alcohol, people who work shifts or work too much overtime, not getting enough sleep, and exercising heavily on a regular basis, etc. 

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

The main symptom of adrenal fatigue is fatigue. Although it is similar to other symptoms, it has a distinctive pattern, as follows: 

• In the morning, I feel tired even though I have had enough sleep. Sometimes I feel unrested and don’t want to wake up until after lunch.
• In the morning, caffeine is need along with sugar and fat, such as eating donuts with coffee to compensate for the drop in blood sugar from insufficient cortisol. Caffeine stimulates the release of cortisol, which may make you feel refreshed for about 2-3 hours.
• In the afternoon, around 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., the hormone cortisol drops, and the body is more likely to feel tired and want to take a nap, which can last for about 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.
• After 6 pm, you may feel better or wake up more throughout the day. This is often due to an imbalance in the hormone cortisol, which affects the sleep cycle. People who have had this symptom for a while do not want to wake up in the morning, but cannot sleep at night.
• If you don’t fall asleep, late at night, after 11pm, you will feel like you’re waking up again until 1am or 2am, which will disrupt your sleep cycle and make your adrenal fatigue symptoms worse.

Effects of Adrenal Fatigue

• Feeling tired all day, having less energy, and may feel more depressed or sad than usual.
• Work performance, concentration and memory are reduce.
• There is an increased desire to eat salt or salty foods, which increases the risk of consuming high sodium regularly, a major cause of high blood pressure.
• Craving sugar, sweet drinks, and sweets increases the risk of weight gain, increases the chance of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and may experience low blood sugar levels.
• You may experience a decrease in your sexual desire because if your body tries to produce too much cortisol, it can reduce the production of sex hormones.
• Allergy and food intolerance symptoms worsen because the hormone cortisol affects the immune system’s balance.

Treatment of adrenal fatigue

The way to treat adrenal fatigue is to manage stress, both physical and mental, by making healthy lifestyle changes, such as:

1. Eat healthy food, choose unpolished rice and flour, protein from fish, tofu, various beans and grains, and good fats such as olive oil, rice bran oil, nuts. Eat about 5-6 cups of vegetables per day and eat breakfast before 10 a.m. Eat food that contains beneficial microorganisms or probiotics. Don’t forget to chew each bite 30 times to help the digestive and absorption systems, and choose the right food for each person’s body.
2. Do moderate-intensity exercise regularly or engage in physical activity that moves your body every day. Excessive exercise can do more harm than good to your adrenal glands. 
3. Get enough sleep and sleep on time every day. You should go to bed before 10:00 PM and avoid using electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and televisions at least 2 hours before bedtime. 
4. Relieve yourself from stress, reduce the pressure on yourself. Identify the triggers that cause stress and try to avoid them by doing activities that help relax or make you laugh. It could be a book, a movie, a story, a joke or a funny memory. Because laughter is a way to relax the body and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.