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You've heard of the “fight or flight” syndrome, right? Accompanied by the image of the saber-toothed tiger dashing after a hunter, getting ready to attack. You often get into this situation, don’t you? In modern times, we’re not literally in that frantic position, but our bodies usually react as if we were fighting for our lives. Our adrenal glands, located on top of each kidney, are forced to work overtime to deal with stress from all sources: injury, disease, work, family, finances, environment, etc.
It’s hard to imagine these small endocrine glands, essentially the size of a walnut, responsible for manufacturing and secreting vital hormones such as cortisol, estrogen, and testosterone. Cortisol production is crucial for the body to combat stress. Whereas thousands of years ago, stress was a finite amount of time—you either outran the predator or survived or were eaten—nowadays, stress seems to be a state of being for many people.
Although not getting along with a boss or missing a bill payment are not life-threatening like the saber-toothed tiger, our bodies similarly react to stressors. The body starts to feel unsettled. More and more cortisol is produced because the body believes it needs massive amounts of energy to run for its life. This happens over and over again throughout the day: getting the kids ready for school and getting yourself ready for work, traffic, spilling coffee on your new suit, your assistant calls in sick, and you’ve got to send out 20 packages today, the babysitter is late picking up the kids from school and taking them to soccer practice, your late afternoon meeting runs over and you leave the office late so family dinner becomes you eating leftovers alone. And all this is going to happen again tomorrow!
Here’s the problem: chronic stress can overload the adrenal glands to exhaustion. For some, the fatigue will become overwhelming, and the adrenals will no longer function properly to provide the energy and resources the body needs daily. When someone is exhausted, a natural suggestion is to get more sleep. That’s not always easy with adrenal problems because insomnia is a common symptom. There are steps you can take to prepare yourself for sleep, which is undoubtedly one of the best ways to refresh and rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit.
For better sleep and to heal your adrenal glands:
1) Go to bed at the same time every night, between 10-10:30 pm.
2) Avoid stimulants such as caffeine and sugar in the late afternoon/evening (or remove them entirely from your diet to avoid any rollercoaster-like blood sugar surges).
3) Keep a gratitude journal near your bedside. Every night, list five things for which you are grateful. Remind yourself that even though you may feel fatigued, there are beautiful aspects of your life and many reasons to heal.