4 - 2018 - Dr Libby

Signs your adrenals need support

June 18, 2019April 9, 2018 by Dr Libby Weaver

Ever wake up feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck? It could be that your adrenal glands are struggling to keep up with what you’re asking of them.

Only the size of a walnut, these mighty glands—you have two—are part of your endocrine system and they sit just on top of your kidneys. They produce an array of hormones (chemical messengers), which include adrenaline and cortisol, sex hormones such as progesterone, and hormones that help control blood pressure, fluid balance and salt retention in the body—just to name a few.

If we live a high-stress, fast-paced lifestyle, or live our lives on an emotional rollercoaster, it can take a toll on our body. To our body, any kind of stress—be it because we’re in immediate danger or simply feeling financial, relationship or work pressures—is interpreted as a direct threat to our life.

Why?

Historically, the only stressors we faced were typically life threatening. We might have had to fight or flee from a sabre-tooth tiger or a neighbouring tribe for example. Our only long-term stressors were things like famine, war or drought. So, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense that our bodies are primarily wired for survival.

The problem is, in the last one hundred years or so our way of living has taken a radical change. In the last twenty to thirty years, it’s changed even more significantly. But in terms of evolution, this is just a tiny speck of time, so our biology has not yet had a chance to evolve to cope with our modern lifestyle.

The body’s protective mechanism is to fire off stress hormones, namely adrenaline and cortisol, produced by the adrenal glands. Adrenaline is our acute stress hormone, designed to get you out of danger, and cortisol is the stress hormone produced in excess if the stress becomes chronic. If we’re living life at a million miles an hour, rushing around trying to get through our endless to-do list and feeling as though we’re not getting anywhere, our adrenal glands can get a walloping.

If the stress response doesn’t truly switch off and you have had a high cortisol output for many, many years, your adrenal glands may not be able to sustain this. They aren’t designed to withstand this kind of output, so they ‘crash’ and cortisol output is no longer optimal or elevated; it will plummet. This has become known as adrenal fatigue, or ‘burn out’.

Here are some signs that your adrenals need support:

A deep, unrelenting fatigue
Feeling tired but wired
Feeling stiff, particularly on waking
Extreme difficulty getting out of bed in the mornings
Feeling like you NEED sugar or caffeine to get you through some mornings and most afternoons
Unless you go to bed by 10pm, you will typically get a second wind and it will be much harder for you to fall asleep if you’re still up at midnight

The pituitary gland in your brain regulates your adrenals (and the rest of your endocrine system), and, although treatment for adrenal fatigue usually involves a range of strategies that support the adrenals themselves, going one step further and assisting the pituitary gland can also be immensely powerful and highly beneficial to restoring your health and vitality.

In my opinion, a form of yoga known as restorative yoga, or Stillness Through Movement, is one of the most effective ways to make progress in recovering from adrenal fatigue. With that said, never underestimate the healing and restorative power of food the way it comes in nature. With a combination of restorative practices, herbal medicine and a nourishing way of eating, it is possible to regain your health and vitality and recover from adrenal fatigue. Prioritising your own health is a necessary step your recovery.

Are your sleep habits sabotaging your energy?

June 18, 2019April 9, 2018 by Dr Libby Weaver

12.00am, 2am, 2.15am, 3.00am – do these times look familiar? When was the last time you actually slept through the night? Or better still when was the last time you woke up feeling refreshed? Unfortunately more often than not I hear the phrase “I can’t remember.” Can you imagine a world free from sleep anxiety where when your head hits the pillow and sleep is virtually automatic?

One of the single most important things you can do for outstanding health costs absolutely nothing and the key to it may be right in front of you. The results have the ability to transform your life.

Many people sabotage themselves when it comes to sleep. The trouble is they do this with things they probably don’t even give a second thought to. Once they are addressed they can make a tremendous improvement to your ability to get to sleep and stay asleep.

So what are some common lifestyle factors that are overlooked?

Firstly, we need to address your relationship with sleep. Are you someone who can be overheard saying that you are going to finish “that pile of work” after dinner? An overactive or stimulated mind can be hard to put to rest. Do you watch a gripping thriller on TV and leave yourself at the edge of your seat before trying to sink into bed and drift peacefully off to sleep? Do you finish your meal with coffee, claiming that it doesn’t affect you? Is your favourite food a spicy curry that leaves you with indigestion, or because of work commitments you eat late at night engulfing anything and everything to fill the void because you haven’t eaten since 2pm?

Addressing why you can’t sleep involves looking at a number of factors, many of which can be right under your nose.

In order to have quality, restorative sleep, an aspect of your nervous system must be activated, the calm branch associated with “rest and repair.” If you are reading, listening or doing anything that stimulates the other revved up branch, associated with “fight or flight” – anything that increases your heart rate, makes you feel worried or stressed, or requires significant concentration – your ability to switch off and switch to rest and repair can be compromised.

What you do before you try to sleep can influence whether your sleep hormone, melatonin, is produced or suppressed. Melatonin production is inhibited by light hitting the retina in the eye. It is only produced in darkness. Do you text, look at your iPad, or read an electronic book late at night in bed? Any backlit devices have the ability to suppress melatonin production meaning you lay there growing increasingly frustrated while your body is trying to adjust itself. Serotonin, our happy, calm, and content hormone, is converted into melatonin inside the body. Low serotonin levels can result in sleep disruption and sleep disorders, including insomnia. Stress and poor digestion are common causes of low serotonin levels, which can lead to disrupted sleep, depression, anxiety and fatigue.

What is absolutely astounding is that 80 – 90% of our serotonin is actually found in the gut and in fact 400 times more melatonin is synthesized in the gut than in the brain. Hence looking after your digestive system becomes a crucial component of outstanding sleep. Who would have thought that something as simple as taking care of your digestive system could result in improved sleep!

Quick tips to improve sleep anxiety

Support digestive function by starting every morning with apple cider vinegar or lemon and warm water.
Keep your room clear and free from clutter
Keep your bedroom dark
Keep a notebook beside your bed so if you wake up and think of something you need to remember, you can write it down and go back to sleep instead of lying awake worrying you might forget it
Get up at the same time each morning and expose your eyes to sunlight (don’t look directly at the sun, obviously). Better still, go outside and exercise after waking. If this is not possible because of young children, fling open the curtains and look outside, breathe slowly moving your diaphragm and recognise a new day has dawned that you are fortunate to be part of.

Is there such a thing as too much exercise?

June 18, 2019April 9, 2018 by Dr Libby Weaver

Physical exercise is good for us right? Of course! Movement is an integral part of any healthy lifestyle and we would benefit from including more incidental exercise in our daily routine if we don’t do so already. However, exercise, depending on its intensity, can sometimes put additional pressure on the body and in certain circumstances it can do more harm than good.

Exercise is supposed to energise us. If you feel energised and uplifted at the end of an exercise session then by all means keep going with it!

But many people over-exercise—either for too long or at too high an intensity. In the long-term, strenuous, high intensity exercise can not only exhaust our energy supply but can also impact our immune system, leaving us feeling totally run down. Couple this intense exercise with our often-frantic modern lifestyle and we can be left feeling tired but wired.

That’s because too much high intensity exercise not only creates more free radicals, it can trigger our stress response.

The adrenal glands are part of the endocrine system, and they sit just on top of the kidneys. They produce an array of hormones (chemical messengers), which include our stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, sex hormones such as progesterone, hormones that help control blood pressure, fluid balance and salt retention in the body, just to name a few. When it comes to our vitality, they pack a major punch in helping to create this.

Initially during a short-term stress response such as intense exercise, the adrenals release cortisol and adrenaline which acts to increase the heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, the nervous system response known as “fight or flight”.

When this short-term stress becomes long-term (from intensive exercise or even stress from chronic illness, work, relationships or other worries) the adrenal glands may no longer be able to cope and hormone levels can drop. The “fight or flight” response that historically protected us from predators, was not designed to protect us from this constant low-grade stress we are often experiencing in today’s world.

Symptoms such as low libido, sex hormone imbalances, compromised immunity, fatigue (even after 8 hours sleep), sugar cravings, weight plateau or weight gain and the inability to concentrate become evident. Sometimes people’s hair starts falling out.

More so than ever, it is essential to listen to your body. Choose your movement options wisely, not out of guilt or for calorie expenditure. A walk on the beach with a close friend or a stroll through a park taking notice of the sights, smells and sounds. You might find that embracing a breath-focused yoga practice is more energising for you at the moment. Adaptogenic and adrenal herbs can also be wonderfully supportive and provide much needed nourishment. Herbs such as Withania, Rhodiola and Licorice can help to support the adrenal glands and modulate the immune system. Vitamin C, B vitamins and magnesium are also essential for optimal adrenal gland function and more are often required with periods of prolonged stress or to help combat the effects of intense exercise. If this resonates for you I would encourage you to speak to a health professional, as there may much you can do, or new ways to move for you to learn about so you can support yourself to feel better again.

Signs your adrenals need support

Are your sleep habits sabotaging your energy?

Is there such a thing as too much exercise?

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