When dealing with burnout the adrenal glands are the ones that you hear about the most that get effected. Rightly so since the adrenals are the ones that are responsible for a lot of the hormones that effect stress levels.
When looking at restoring adrenal glands after too much stress, it is important to know that it is not something that recovers quickly.
Realistically it takes about 6-9 months to start seeing benefits with using herbs alongside diet and exercise changes which can help your adrenals start functioning healthy again.
There are mainly 5 things to look at when dealing with adrenal fatigue. They are:
- Reducing stress levels
- Deep and long sleep
- Herbal support
- Proper nurtition
- Supplements
For the sake of simplicity, I will mainly focus on the herbal support portion of the 5 approaches and touch slightly on the other ones.
Nutrition
A diet that is high in vegetables and low in processed foods. We hear this a lot but it will help you with your adrenals more than ever.
Some foods and vitamins to consider:
Salt – We hear that salt is bad for us in case of high blood pressure but a lot of times, with adrenals, it is hypotension (low blood pressure) which we see more often. Most people with adrenal fatigue find that they are thirsty despite the huge amounts of water that they intake. This is because the adrenals are responsible for the hormone aldosterone which is an anti-diuretic hormone, and when the adrenals are weak this hormone can be compromised.
It is important not to just use regular table salt but good quality sea salt or Celtic sea salt.
Essential Fatty Acids – Your body needs these fatty acids which is why they are called essential. They are important for good health and your body cannot manufacture them. They can be taken as a capsule or as a food which you can incorporate into your diet. These include oily fish like salmon and tuna, nuts, seeds, flaxseed oil or ground flax.
B vitamins – The B vitamins play a very important role in the adrenal glands. All the B complexes provide support to the adrenal glands. It is said that B-5 is especially important due to its importance in energy production and in case of adrenal fatigue it is the energy levels which effect a person the most. That is why some naturopaths give B-5 individually as a supplement or along with the B complex. Some foods that include B vitamins include oats, cashews, walnuts pecans, organ meats, egg yolks, berries, brown rice.
Magnesium – It is one of the more important minerals for your adrenals since it prvides energy for your adrenals and pretty much every cell in your body to function properly. Some foods that contain magnesium include oats, almonds, cashews, wholegrain bread, wheat bran.
When looking into adding different types of foods and supplements into your life to help your adrenals, always consult a nutritional therapist or the guidance of your health care provider before adding a supplement to your regime as your individual case is likely very different than other peoples. There are other vitamins that are useful to look into when it comes to supporting your adrenals which include vitamin D, C, E as well as minerals like zinc, selenium and calcium.
Reduce Stress
This is probably the most important piece of the adrenal fatigue puzzle. reducing stress levels and doing things that will decrease those stress levels to take the pressure off your adrenals. Start to pay attention to your body and what it feels like when you are stressed and test and try a few natural stress relievers.
- Rest when you feel tiered
- Sleep at least 8 hrs a night
- Avoid staying up too late to regulate sleep cycle
- Practice grattude
- Exercise regularly
- Eat regular meals at regular food cycles and reduce caffeine and sugar
- Take walks
- Bike rides with kids
- Laugh with your kids
- Watch funny videos
- Avoid negative self criticism and negative people.
Reducing stress starts a lot with the thoughts that you nurture. If you start thinking that something is an emergency when it reality it often times is not, then your mind with build neural pathways and look for evidence for how that way of thinking is true. Using prayer or having a prayer word that you go back to when you find yourself dealing with negative thoughts will replace the negative thinking and give your mind something to do.
When we think negative thoughts it starts our fight or flight response. Even small things after long prolonged exposure to stress can leave you in a stress stage making your stress response work overtime and not healing your adrenals. That is why reducing stress and not giving up on this aspect of healing your adrenals is crucial.
It is an ongoing process with different periods of your life having different stress reducing techniques. Do not give up if one thing is not working, it might take a while to working this one out.
Herbs
Liquorice (glycyrrhiza glabra) – This herb has a long standing reputation for helping the adrenal glands. The root supports the glands by reducing the need to manufacture cortisol. It was the herb of choice with Addisons disease when there is complete failure of the adrenal glands. The theory as to how this root helps is that it has the constituent which has steroid like structure and it behaves in a cortisol like way sparing the adrenal glands producing its own cortisol and allowing them to rest.
This herb is also good to use if you have a poor immune system and because of burnout have a poor ability to recover from infections. People that find themselves being exposed to prolonged periods of stress have an elevated Th2 which are helper cells in fighting infection and excess inflammation. Because of liquorice having anti inflammatory actions it is useful to keep in mind when dealing with prolong illnesses due to stress levels. (1)
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) – One of the more popular adaptogens, this herb has gained a lot of popularity in the West. I find it helpful to take this herb into consideration when people are encountering prolonged weakness, poor libido, mental fogginess, mainly ones that have had symptoms of adrenal fatigue for a long time. This herb has been researched also and it categorized as an anti-stress and adaptogen.
This herb is great to use alongside liquorice and passionflower before bedtime to promote good and restful sleep. With people that are dealing with adrenal fatigue, sleep is of importance and Ashwaganha helps to nourish adrenal glands while you are resting.
Rose root (Rhodiola rosea) – This herbs is known to grow in the cold mountains of Asia and Europe. Mainly found in the Himalayas and has been traditionally used to give strength to those crossing a mountain to protect against any sort of altitude sickness. (2) It makes sense because when you think about the symptoms of altitude sickness it sounds a lot like burnout and adrenal fatigue which includes: nausea, headaches, weakness, dizziness and feelings of palpitations.
Rhodiola has been studied a lot in recent years and has shown support for mental response to stress and reducing cortisol secretion. (3) In studies it also is shown to relieve mild to moderate depression as well as increasing the mental resilience to stress. (4) When looking at incorporating this herb for clients that are particularly stressed out, I would look at people that are burnt out due to emotional exhaustion and feel just completely drained and debilitated.
Siberian ginseng (Eleuthero) – Another favorite adaptogen that helps increase resistance to stress. It works quickly and most will notice a shift right away. This herb comes originally from Russia where it was traditionally used to help elderly people with the freezing winters. These days it is used by herbalists for people that have continuous stress, which sounds like a lot of people in the world now, but think of this one when you need support for adrenals when there might be a stressful week coming up or a stressful day.
It is known as an adrenal tonic and a immune stimulant (5), so it helps your adrenals while giving your immune system a boost, an extra bonus! I look at this herb when a person might have reoccurring colds and has a poor immune system. When they have difficulty recovering but at the same time feel extremely fatigued, Eleuthero is the go-to. Honestly this herb is always in my cabinet as a powder.
Final thoughts
It is important to understand that adrenal fatigue or burnout can be a bit controversial since some do not believe that it is a real issue until there are health issues that absolutely have to addressed like allergies or digestive issues or constant illnesses.
Including certain foods in your diet is the safest and most easy way to absorb nutrition and help your adrenals. A nutritional therapist will closely consider your digestion function and can tell you which type of foods will help your case the most. Do not just embark on a new supplement journey or an herb journey if you are on medication, pregnant or nursing without the supervision of a medical professional.
There are a number a supplements and herbs that can help combat adrenal fatigue, but if you are dealing with major symptoms for prolonged periods of time like fatigue, brain fog, hair loss, insulin resistance and low sex drive, it is best to have a team that can advise you on which herbs and which doses and which foods based on your minerals and vitamin needs.
I hope that this gave you a good start to thinking about natural ways to help your adrenals. Many people deal with this and if you need to reach out to an herbalist, schedule your free consultation to see if we can be a good fit together based on your health needs.
God bless you.
Krystina
