Stress and it's impact on your body

Stress/How To Relax The Natural Way

Your adrenals are important because they help you respond to stress. If you have chronic stress, your adrenals get beat up, and your energy plummets and it becomes difficult to manage your life. You could feel tired and wired, all at the same time. You might get palpitations or feel anxious or have trouble sleeping. You might crave salt. You may get dizzy when you stand up. You might have low blood pressure. You might even have sugar cravings, because your body can’t regulate your blood sugar properly. All these are clues that you could have adrenal problems.

So, why do we get adrenal burnout? We get it from the chronic, unremitting, ongoing stresses of everyday life: stresses of our families, stresses of relationships, stresses of work, the stresses of constant interaction with Facebook and Twitter and the online world, and all the inputs that never let us pause.

It’s really important to understand how the whole stress response works, why it goes wrong, and why, over time, your adrenal glands, which are these little glands that sit on the top of your kidneys, are not able to compensate for the chronic stress that you have in your life. At Space Coast Advanced Health, we do saliva testing to measure cortisol levels throughout the day. When you have adrenal burnout, your cortisol starts to go down, you can’t respond normally to the stresses of life, and you end up just feeling tired and crummy most of the time. We push ourselves with coffee and other stimulants to feel better – but using these tactics doesn’t really work.

How do you heal your adrenals and regain your energy?

 First, I recommend eating a whole food, anti-inflammatory diet. Focus on anti-inflammatory foods including wild fish and other sources of omega-3 fats; red and purple berries (rich in polyphenols); dark green leafy vegetables; orange sweet potatoes; and nuts. Add anti-inflammatory herbs – including turmeric (a source of curcumin), ginger and rosemary – to your daily diet. Eliminate inflammatory foods such as refined, omega-6 and inflammatory oils, like corn, soy and safflower oils. And don’t skip meals. It can be hard for your body to recover from skipping meals if you have adrenal dysfunction.

Next, find ways to actively relax. Do yoga or take a hot bath at night (take two cups of Epsom salts, half a cup of baking soda, 10 drops of lavender oil, and you soak for 20 minutes). Did you know that they put lavender oil in babies’ baths? They do this because lavender oil lowers cortisol and helps to balance the whole hormonal system. After this bath, you will end up with a really decreased stress response. We also recommend MetaRelax, from Metagenics  (a great tasting orange citrus flavored magnesium powder blend that helps to promote restful sleep, positive mood, and relaxation) There are other things you can do, as well. Massage is great, as is meditation and deep breathing. There are all sorts of tools and resources available for you online.

Very simple things have profound effects. Exercise is always important — gentle, regular exercise like a morning walk, a light jog, a little bike ride. Do something out in the fresh air to get natural light that affects your pineal gland and helps reset your brain and the stress response.

I also recommend regular rhythm. Rhythm is the key because your hormones are balanced in rhythms. So, waking at the same time every day, going to bed at the same time every day, eating at the same time every day — these are the rhythms in life that help to reset your natural balance. Following your natural rhythms of work and rest during the day is also essential. Take natural breaks when you are tired. Our bodies function best on ultradian rhythm cycles of 90 minutes of activity punctuated by a few minutes of resting or zoning out! Naps are also a great way to reset.

Don't let stress ruin your health, 
get tested, get guidance and 
get back to optimal health
We are offering a discounted consultation fee with the mention of this post to FaceBook. 
Please call us today to find out more 
321-783-1930 
Visit our website to learn more about what we do >>Space Coast Advanced Health
Cocoa Beach's Chiropractic & Functional Medicine
Headquarters
299 N. Orlando Ave.
Cocoa Beach, Fl. 32931
Follow us on Instagram

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9 Recommended Lifestyle Changes For Autoimmune Diseases

Image
Autoimmune diseases have become a huge health burden. They're now estimated to impact over 24 million Americans, or between  five to eight percent  of the population. In fact, more than 80 diseases have been classified as autoimmune, and the list continues to grow. That includes conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, Celiac disease, and thyroid disease. They often involve hard-to-classify syndromes like inflammation, pain, swelling, and misery. Autoimmunity occurs when your immune system—your body's defense against invaders—becomes confused. In other words, your body is fighting something, whether that's infections, toxins, allergens, or a stress response. But somehow, that immune army can't distinguish friend from foe. Your own tissue gets caught in friendly crossfire, and your joints, brain, skin, and sometimes your whole body become casualties. Typically, drugs are used to address autoimmune diseases. In many cases, they ...
Read more

5 Explanations Of Lupus And Hashimoto’s Co-existence

Image
According to estimates, about 6% of patients with lupus also have hypothyroidism and 1% hyperthyroidism. Hashimoto’s disease is the most common form of hypothyroidism in patients with lupus. This finding doesn’t come as a surprise because both conditions are autoimmune diseases with a common etiology. Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease that can target almost any part of the body, especially the joints, lungs, heart, skin, blood, kidneys and brain. In Hashimoto’s the immune system attacks only the thyroid, however a lack of thyroid hormones can affect all bodily functions and any organs. As a result when lupus and a thyroid disease coexist it can have a much bigger negative impact on your body. Many symptoms of both disorders can overlap and drive each other making the diagnosis and treatment even more difficult. It can take years for Hashimoto’s disease and lupus to develop and progress to the stage when a person can be diagnosed with a standard testing. This can lea...
Read more

How The Gut Microbiome Influences Autoimmunity

Image
I like to think of the gut microbiome as a rainforest. In a rainforest, many types of plants live together in a symbiotic ecosystem but if the balance gets disrupted, the good or beneficial plants begin to die and the bad ones start to take over. This also happens in your gut– even just one dose of antibiotics can throw off the balance of the good bacteria that used to keep your immune system running optimally. The good gets killed or greatly reduced, and the bad bacteria (SIBO) and yeast (Candida) that used to be kept in check can take over and grow out of control. Additionally, if you’re eating a diet high in refined carbohydrate, sugar and alcohol then you will feed the SIBO and yeast ( Candida ), letting them grow even more out of control and this is called dysbiosis. Certain medications such as antibiotics, acid blocking drugs, birth control pills and steroid can also cause further dysbiosis. As the dysbiosis gets more out of control it can cause a suppression in your immune...
Read more