We’ve talked about adrenal fatigue before, but it’s worth discussing again. Adrenal fatigue is very common, but most sufferers don’t realize they have it, and considering how much it can affect your quality of life, it’s something you should know about. However, with the holidays comes a lot of stress, and for some people it can be a depressing time of year, making it difficult to know whether it’s adrenal fatigue or just holiday blues.
Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue occurs when a person has low cortisol levels due to being overly stressed for a long period of time. This condition is very common, and it’s believed that almost everyone will experience it at some point in their lives, but most people don’t recognize the symptoms. We lead high-stress lives nowadays due to work, school, kids, social media, holidays, family or marital issues, or a variety of other potentially stressful things. Though most of these things are out of our control, we can control our reaction to them and our nutritional intake. Nutrition can make a big difference in our ability to deal with stress both physically and mentally. Having vitamin or mineral deficiencies makes your body and mind more susceptible to stress, and most people are suffering from at least one nutritional deficiency.
Symptoms
Adrenal fatigue usually occurs when a person is under a lot of stress, which eventually causes the adrenal glands to stop producing cortisol the way they should. These symptoms could be due to a different condition, but adrenal fatigue can cause:
- Brain Fog
- Fatigue
- Weight Gain
- Body Aches
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Mood Swings
- Hair Loss
- Trouble Sleeping
Holiday Blues
Anxiety and depression are more common during the winter months for different reasons, there’s even a mood disorder called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that causes people to feel depressed during the fall and/or winter seasons. Seasons affect our moods for different reasons including less sunlight (which means less vitamin D), stressful holidays, social gatherings, etc. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between adrenal fatigue or holiday stress, but taking certain supplements can help you deal with stress regardless of what’s causing it.
How to Fix It
Our Comprehensive, Comprehensive Plus Hormones, and Super Panel blood tests include a cortisol test which can tell us if your cortisol is too low or too high. For low cortisol you can take Adren-All which contains bovine adrenal glands, vitmins A, C, E, B6 and B12, licorice root extract, and a few other ingredients that promote healthy cortisol levels. For high cortisol levels you can take AdreneVive which contains ashwagandha root extract, l-theanine, skullcap root extract, and a few other ingredients that can help lower and re-balance cortisol levels. Supplementing with a high-quality multivitamin like Alpha Base Without Iron, and a mineral supplement like Reacted Multimin can help fill in any vitamin or mineral deficiencies which will help your body deal with stress. Anxiety and depression tend to become more common during the winter months, and CereVive is a great choice to help lessen the symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression.
Work on eating a balanced organic diet, try out some supplements, practice stress-reducing techniques, set aside time for a relaxing bath or something else that relaxes you, and focus on the positive. It’s difficult to heal adrenal fatigue without reducing the stress that caused it. Remember to enjoy the holidays, and not let them stress you out!