HOW ADAPTOGENS can be ADRENAL FATIGUE's ANTIDOTE

THIS WEEK ON MYSTICAL MONDAY

by Adriana Ayales 
 

STRESS OH STRESS. Why on earth do you even exist?! It creeps in through thick and thin —changing the workings of our innermost tissues. Oftentimes we get intensely triggered, reminding us of its power over us, then it sometimes disappears, making us think its not there anymore. Its so common how many of us just keep coping with it, and living our lives being “alright”. Our body’s are so capable at finding balance, that we just keep maneuvering through our day-to-day balancing on a pile of unmanaged stress. 

Our beloved adrenal glands are the key helpers in managing stress. Emotionally, physically and spiritually, they are our little purifiers, making sure stress is abolished enough to keep us running. They actually help us channel stress when we actually need like. If we are in danger, for example, the stress response sent to the adrenals is what boosts our adrenaline, and optimizes our engine to deal with the present moment with a phenomenal ability. The real issue here is, if we permanently live in this place, triggering the living heck out of our adrenals then we live in the classic “flight or fight response.” This is exactly where we would contract the infamous adrenal fatigue. 

DONT RUN YOURSELF TO THE GROUND!

Its almost addicting to live on adrenaline. Our body gets used to the high’s and low’s and compensates with poor dietary habits (even if they are “healthy”), mood swings, and hormonal imbalance. “Over time, repeated activation of the “flight or fight” response takes a toll on the body. Research suggests that chronic stress contributes to high blood pressure, promotes the formation of artery-clogging deposits, and causes brain changes that may contribute to anxiety, depression, and addiction. More preliminary research suggests that chronic stress may also contribute to obesity, both through direct mechanisms (causing people to eat more) or indirectly (decreasing sleep and exercise)” (2)

COMMON FEELINGS:

— Feeling tired for no reason.

— Trouble getting out of bed, even when you’ve had a decent night’s sleep

— You constantly feel overwhelmed and anxious

— Unable to handle stress, becoming a constant trigger. 

— Low libido. No sexual apetite. 

— Low immune function. A difficulty recovering from being sick

— Intensely craving sweet or salty snacks

— Overuse of stimulants like caffeine, sugar, tobacco. 

— Seemingly unexplainable weight gain

— Recurring brain fog, lack of creativity and focus.

ADRENAL FATIGUE is a term often used by health practitioners to define the adrenal glands running on empty, and the state of mind and body a person feels.  It’s usually associated with high (and unmanaged) levels of stress.  Our glands release high levels of cortisol during stressful periods, which is the most important hormone we have to help the body deal with stress.  Prolonged stress is our biggest enemy and when these glands become overworked, with zero maintenance, they do not keep up with the demand and basically collapse.  As a result, cortisol levels crash and our body can’t respond accordingly anymore.

WHAT DO ADAPTOGENS DO? 

Adaptogens are a class of herbs that are natural compounds known as immunomodulators, which have been used for thousands of years in traditional eastern medicine (Chinese medicine,  Daoist, Ayurvedic medicine, etc.) In a nutshell, they meet your body where it is, whether it’s high, for example an overactive immune system, or low, in the case of chronic fatigue, and help bring it back to balance. Sometimes your immune system is working too hard (think an autoimmune flare, chronic inflammation, or very high cortisol when your body is in constant fight-or-flight mode), and sometimes your body isn’t sending the signals that the immune system needs to fire (as in the case of adrenal fatigue and very low cortisol outputs). Immunomodulators and adaptogens help bring the body back to homeostasis (balance) by guiding the body’s messenger signals (in the case of adrenal fatigue, on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal-Thyroid axis) to either boost certain activity or calm it down.

Isn't this incredible?

These plants seem to have a natural intelligence TO KNOW exactly what YOU NEED, and tackle it directly. This category of plants work “non-specifically”, meaning it can help multiple functions in the body, physically, mentally, and biological