Are You Driving Yourself to Exhaustion?
Are You Driving Yourself into Adrenal Fatigue?
In a society where parents vie for prestigious preschools for their Ivy League bound toddlers, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we prize behaviors that prove we are driven, high energy personalities. Our role models are politicians, celebrities and entertainers who work themselves hard. Reality TV shows push contestants to the breaking point with long stress filled days, physical challenges, lack of sleep, and fear. The winners must prove that they are capable of withstanding various types of physical, emotional and mental stresses and we applaud their toughness.
Are we applauding patterns that will lead us to adrenal exhaustion?
We all know that if we want to be healthy we need to eat right, exercise, lose weight. But many people do not realize that they can do themselves harm by pushing too hard. The American motto “If a little is good, more is better” does not serve us well.
Top 3 Behaviors that Could Be Exhausting You
1. Skipping meals
2. Intense or Overly Vigorous Exercise
3. Waking too early
Over the years I have read many quotes by successful people extolling the virtues of rising before dawn, exercising strenuously and eating sparingly or skipping meals. These people look like the lean, mean corporate raider types that we expect. But in reality, you have no idea how they feel and if they are in good health. Swallowing a hand full of vitamins with your prescriptions does not mean you are healthy. They may be able to live this lifestyle for many years, but others will burn out and become ill or injured.
Here’s Why
The adrenals help balance blood sugar, so if you have unstable blood sugar your adrenal glands will respond to bring your body back to homeostasis. This is true of skipping meals and eating highly processed junk food which will cause your blood sugar to surge then crash.
Intense exercise is a form of stress that can wear you out instead of building you up and it can actually become counter productive in weight loss. If you have ever found yourself bemoaning that fact that you exercise but don’t lose weight, you might be pushing yourself too hard. Once your body secretes cortisol, the stress hormone, all of its properties come into play, including the one that causes your body to convert stored glycogen back to blood sugar. So instead of following that Calories In – Calories Out equation, the body follows its own rules and dumps some glucose into your blood to help you deal with stress.
Lastly, because the adrenal glands secrete hormone in a daily rhythm, people who stay up late, work nights, sleep during the day or get up too early will be fighting against their body’s inner clock.
If you suspect you are suffering from Adrenal Fatigue (to check click here), you must avoid the following behaviors:
- Pushing yourself to exhaustion
- Junk food, sugar and caffeine use
- Eating carbohydrates without protein or fat
- Staying up late with a “Second Wind”
- Drinking high sugar beverages (soda, sweet tea, coffee beverages, alcohol)
- Caretaking behavior (not leaving time for yourself)
- Over committing yourself (Supermom syndrome)
- Being too serious and ‘stressed’
- Doing things you dislike because you have to
- Negative self talk
After years of overtaxing your body, being kind to yourself is part of the healing process. To recover you must eat every two hours, sleep until 7:00 -8:00am, if possible and exercise moderately.
There are many supplements which will help heal the adrenals, which I will touch on in my next post.
Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!