Are Your Adrenal Glands Stressed Out?
The adrenal glands are triangular shaped and sit as a pyramid on top of the kidney. Its main fu
nction is to enable our body to deal with stress from every possible source; whether it is emotional or physical. A great example to explain how the adrenal gland works is how it mobilizes hormones to escape or fight off danger to survive. In the primitive era, the adrenal gland was vital to help humans respond very quickly to threats in the environment by fighting or pursuing an enemy. However, when the adrenals are overtaxed and poorly supported, the result in adrenal fatigue (the adrenals burning out), which is a very common thing in our current world.
Adrenal fatigue is a term used to describe a cocktail of non-specific symptoms. This term, though commonly used by many people in alternative health, is not an accepted medical diagnosis. Your health care professional would have to check you out to figure out the source of these signs and symptoms to make a diagnosis.
The non-specific symptoms of an overtaxed adrenal gland may include:
- Depression
- Irritability
- Constipation
- Fatigue
- Body aches
- Hypoglycemia
- Unexplained weight loss
- Difficulty building muscle
- Low sex drive
- Poor digestion
- Poor concentration
- Inability to cope with life’s pressures.
- Low blood pressure
- Lightheadedness
- Loss of body hair
- Sleep apnea
- Skin discoloration (hyperpigmentation)
If you ever have been diagnosed with adrenal issues or have the above non-specific signs and symptoms, it is important to start taking care of your health by:
- Taking time for self-care: Try to do things that make you feel relaxed or happy. If it is listening to music, painting, walking, dancing. Do what ignites joy in you!
- Make sleep a priority.
- Get adequate daily exercise.
- Practice deep (diaphragmatic) breathing. Most of us are not truly breathing all day, and we are not aware of it. I have been mindful of this when in stressful situations like driving during rush hour or trying to finish a mentally challenging project. I endeavor to remind myself to breathe. Breathe! You’ll be okay.
- Learn effective ways to deal with negative emotions and situations. Lack of/poor communication has been linked to a lot of modern healthcare problems (more of this later), and the ability to effectively have difficult conversations is key to our emotional wellness, and having healthy relationships.
- Avoid things that can strain the adrenal glands like smoking, alcohol, added sugars, drugs, caffeine, excessive exercise, poor sleep, and environmental pollutants.
- Purse things /people that matter to you. Let go of all that does not serve you to make room for the wonderful things that you do deserve.
Dr. Tolu Oyewumi is a people developer, divergent thinker and voracious reader who is madly in love with learning. With her strong scientific and artistic talent, she invites you to look at the world through a different set of binoculars and microscopes.