Have you ever felt wired and unable to relax despite whatever you try to do? Let's say
that you are in a stressful situation. You can sense that your body is under attack,
you can sense that your body is under stress, so you remove yourself. You try to relax,
you try to take some deep breaths, you try to do some meditation, but your body simply
won't do it. It's almost like your body won't cooperate with you. This is Dr. Lam, founder
of DrLam.com and this video will go through some of the mechanics of why, and what is
really going on, and how this can be a symptom of adrenal fatigue.
Now, remember, let's take a step back. When the body is under stress the system is automatically
put on overdrive, and the body releases cortisol as an anti-stress hormone. However, if this
is overly done, meaning too much stress, whether it is physical or emotional over a long period
of time the body's adrenal system can get worn out. At this point, the body then has
no option but to activate the body's sympathetic system as a way of regenerating a survival
strategy. So, when this happens, the body goes into a situation when it becomes irritable,
it becomes stressed, and the body's hormones kick in.
One of the hormones that are most frequently released is called norepinephrine and this
hormone causes the body to be on full alert. When this circulates in the brain it causes
mental sharpness, focus, and prevents you from sleeping. So, when you are in a very,
very high state of norepinephrine the body actually feels super alert, not able to sleep.
In the milder state, you will feel that the body is tense, and no matter what you do you
cannot fall asleep, or you cannot relax. Why? The reason is simple.
You see, most of the hormones in the body have opposing hormones. For example; calcium
is opposed by magnesium, progesterone is opposed by estrogen. They act as natural balancing
compounds. Now, with norepinephrine as well as epinephrine these two hormones are considered
hormones of last resort. They are designed to help us survive physical attacks and to
run away from danger, so we are designed to have these two hormones to help us, at the
same time they are not designed to be opposed. So once these hormones come up they have to
be burnt up, there is no opposing hormone we can switch on to deactivate them. That
is why some people may say that when they are under stress that they feel better when
they go running. Why? It's because when you run, you burn off the hormones.
Now running, exercising, especially being too active can bring a different set of problems
in the sense that they can actually generate more norepinephrine and epinephrine, but we
won't go into that point here. The point to understand is that norepinephrine and these
hormones cause the body to be on alert, and you will be very sharp and unable to relax.
So, the key to overcome this is not to allow these hormones to come out, but to stop it
well before it's even begun to be released, recognizing that this sign of adrenal fatigue
is important because there are things you can do to medicate and prevent what comes
out as well as to prevent further release that can make things worse.
Now, I have an article on my website called 'Adrenal Exhaustion' which goes through a
lot of these mechanisms and would be a great read for you if you are interested in this
topic.
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.