One of the very common complaints that I have from dealing with people with adrenal fatigue
is that they have a sense of feeling better when they first exercise, and then
after they stop exercising things get worse. This is Dr. Lam, founder of DrLam.com.
In our approach to dealing with people with adrenal fatigue, this is a very common complaint,
so what is really going on? When you exercise, several things are happening to
your body. One of the most important things is the release of adrenaline in order for
you to do aerobic exercises, for example. You are not going to be able to stand up and
run without an output of norepinephrine, as well as epinephrine also called adrenaline.
So many people feel wonderful, they feel great during the exercise high. Why? Because the
adrenaline is helping their heart pump, they're increasing oxygenation, they basically don't
have the fatigue because the adrenaline is taking over as a large result, and the adrenaline
is driving the body.
Now, after the exercise is finished, whether it was an intense bike trip or intense weight
lifting, then there is no more release of the adrenaline to the degree that is necessary,
so the adrenaline starts to burn off. Now, this may take a few hours, so initially you
feel okay, but starting 2-3 hours or even a half an hour after the exercise a gradual
onset of fatigue will come on.
This fatigue actually represents the body's inability to sustain itself after the adrenaline
has burnt off because the sustaining is not a real energy by the body, it is artificially
being propped up by the temporary release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands. So
once the support is not there, then the body basically kind of collapses, and people feel
very, very drained. It can take up to 3 or 4 days to recoup from this slump, so to say.
So, a healthy person would be able to exercise, feel good, and continue to feel strong immediately
as well as 4 to 6 hours after the exercise. People with adrenal fatigue tend to either
be unable to tolerate exercise because they feel fatigued right away, or they feel exercise
is okay, but then they have a slump after the exercise.
So this is quite classic of this phenomena; knowing what is going on physiologically,
with this adrenaline will help you understand that this is a normal physiological response.
It is the body's way of telling you that your body is running on the reserve. The reserve
is driven by adrenaline, it is not driven by your body's natural response. This is important
because if you don't understand and accept that fact, then you will always be on the
lookout for more energy, and you will deny that the slump is a good thing for you and
is the designed by your body to help you rest. Instead, what you do, is you take coffee,
energy drinks, to then prop up the body again because you want to feel energized and you're
not accepting the fact that low energy is the body's way of telling you to relax.
Well, you can do it once in a while, but if you keep doing it for a long time, then you
will get into another set of problems where you overexercise in order to get adrenaline.
Then when the adrenaline runs off, you prop it back up with artificial stimulants, and
this type of cycle will set up in a vicious way, and you will get more and more tired
and more and more fatigued until such time that many people actually crash because when
they crash after exercise, no matter what kind of stimulants you throw in, they will
not work because the body is in control and the body will tell you it doesn't want more.
By that time, one could be housebound, you don't want to do that, you don't want to be
there, you want to be able to recognize very early when you have problems after exercise.
I hope you've enjoyed this video. For more information on this topic, head over to DrLam.com
where I have written over a thousand articles to help educate people. You can also call
me at 626-571-1234 for more information on Adrenal Fatigue and how to navigate it. Finally,
if you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks for watching.