Stress & Fatigue
Would you consider yourselves to be operating under some amount of stress? Do you feel like you don’t have the amount of energy you’d like during the day? Is stress and anxiety keeping you up at night and keeping you in this vicious cycle of sleep-deprivation induced fatigue? You aren’t alone.
A 2017 study showed that 77% of US citizens experience physical symptoms induced by stress, and 73% experience psychological symptoms. The top things listed as being sources of stress were people’s jobs, finances, and health. We’re focusing on the health side of things but we want to take a moment first to examine this culture of busy-ness and overworking that we’ve come to glorify. We’ve been laughing as we have been preparing this post because we have been falling into some of these patterns ourselves as a new mom/business owner/wife and practitioner. So this post is a reminder to us as well. We can’t do it all. We have to slow down and take care of ourselves and feed into our minds and souls so that we are able to be there for others. The typical day for most people includes rushing around, eating on the run, carting the kids from one activity to another, maybe trying to prepare healthy meals or squeeze a workout in, crashing from exhaustion at the end of the day. Many of us are what we call “tired and wired.” Your brain is revving, you’re constantly running through your checklist of to-dos, and you’re totally wiped out and exhausted.
So what do we do about it? It’s a multi-disciplined approach and requires treating physiological and psychological patterns. For the psychological side of things, learning to slow down and saying “No” is of utmost importance. If your body is sending you messages that it is under chronic stress, and has been doing so for an extended period of time - something about your habits needs to change. What works best is different for everyone but I suggest starting by implementing some kind of routine at a certain point in the day. For some people that means quiet reflection and tea alone first thing in the morning. For others it means a walk on their lunch break. For others, it means a warm bath and essential oils or a 10 minute meditation at night before bed. Just some consistent pattern in your week where you are taking time to quiet the mind without distraction. Start small and you can build from there.
For the physiological or body side of things, we know that stress primarily upsets the body’s HPA axis. This stands for hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal, and is in reference to an intricate relationship between these endocrine glands that control metabolism, digestion, emotional response, immune system strength, libido and energy through the day. Our adrenal glands produce a hormone called cortisol which is often known as “the stress hormone.” It is released as a response to registered stress but it also has the function of decreasing inflammatory response, keeping blood pressure and blood sugar levels stable, and several other functions. When we have infrequent episodes of stress, everything functions normally to keep us in balance. But when we are under chronic, unyielding stress the production of cortisol eventually flattens out and becomes desensitized to stress basically. We begin to function more on adrenaline at that point which leads to anxiety and irritability, but we also start having low cortisol symptoms such as low blood pressure episodes, dizziness, irritability and shakiness between meals, chronic sinus or urinary infections, and on and on. Higher adrenaline levels also exhaust our good calming neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin, and we end up with insomnia, insecurity and self doubt.
Now with low energy most people assume thyroid is the culprit (and that is the most common dysfunction that we treat in this clinic), but if thyroid and adrenals are both worn out we need to address both. This often gets ignored in Western medicine treatments and that’s why people go on thyroid hormone replacement and feel better for a bit and then have to raise their dose in 6 months or a year. I’ve heard the analogy of the adrenals being the engine of your car and the thyroid being the gas pedal. If the engine is broken, slamming the gas pedal all the way to the floorboard won’t make any difference. The body is incredibly smart and tries to conserve energy, so tired adrenal glands will send the message to the thyroid to SLOW DOWN. Then you get all the thyroid symptoms such as constipation, hair shedding, menstrual issues, depression, etc.
Do you see what a complex maze this is? What I have noticed is that every occurrence of stress and/or fatigue comes from specific organ dysfunctions and specific nutritional deficiencies. What we need to figure out is why YOU are having trouble with healthy stress response and what specific organ dysfunctions and nutritional deficiencies are causing YOUR body to fall into the cycle of stress and fatigue.
If you are already experiencing trouble with stress or fatigue, I can assure you that you are deficient in certain vitamins and minerals already, and since these vitamins and minerals serve as fuel for the organs, you can assume that your organs are not working at 100%. And as soon as these organs are not working at 100% their ability to absorb, digest and utilize vitamins and minerals diminishes. This causes a vicious cycle that will make you more nutritionally deficient. The more nutritionally deficient you become, the more often your symptoms will come on and the more severe they’ll be. The more severe your symptoms become, the more stress it is going to put on your organs, and so on and so forth. You then get this downward spiral that just continues on and on.
So what we must do is put a halt somewhere in this mechanism to stop any further damage and help support the situation, enabling it to stabilize and many times improve. So what needs to be done is to find what vitamin and mineral deficiencies you already have and exactly what organs are already being affected and fix and handle them once and for all.
Now, let’s talk about SUGAR. Sugar causes nutritional deficiencies and sugar causes organ dysfunction. Most of my clients say that when they have a stressful week, they reach for sugar. When they’re tired, they reach for candy or a frappuccino to wake them up. It’s perpetuating the cycle. You need to be willing to admit that at least some of your current health situation is coming from your current dietary habits. Check out this site to read 141 reasons why I encourage you to stop eating sugar: https://nancyappleton.com/141-reasons-sugar-ruins-your-health/
Look at number 74 that says sugar can lead to depression.
Look at number 97 that says sugar decreases emotional stability.
And even if you don’t feel like you suffer from stress or fatigue, there are enough other incentives on that list, from a health standpoint, to get you to stop eating sugar.
Now look at number 2 that says sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body. this is important because we have to have adequate minerals to keep our bodies functioning — our whole bodies, but adrenals in particular respond well to mineral therapy. One easy way to replenish mineral stores is to drink a salt sole solution in the mornings before you eat or drink anything else. Below is a recipe for Salt Sole, but basically you take a glass jar with a non-metal lid and fill it about 1/4 full of himalayan, celtic, or Real salt — not iodized salt, and top with filtered water. shake gently and let sit overnight. If there is still salt in the bottom of the jar the next morning then it’s reached maximum saturation and you know it’s chock full of minerals. This can be part of the solution to getting the body in repair mode. You’ll add a teaspoon of the solution to a glass of water before you eat or drink anything else in the mornings.
If you would like to find out more information on how we can help with stress and/or fatigue using a Nutrition Response Testing program or would just like more information on Nutrition Response Testing, feel free to contact us at healingrootsokc@gmail.com.
We would love to set up your initial consultation and determine whether or not you are a “Nutrition Response Testing Case”. If you are NOT a Nutrition Response Testing case then it is unlikely that Nutrition Response Testing will ever help your stress or fatigue. If you are a Nutrition Response Testing Case, then, in our experience, it is our belief that nothing else will help you destress or gain energy as much.
SALT SOLE SOLUTION
-fill glass jar 1/4 full with sea salt (Himalayan, Real Salt, Celtic salt)
-top with filtered water
-secure with non-metal lid and shake gently. leave on countertop overnight
If there is still salt in bottom of the jar the next day the water is fully saturated and full of minerals!
Add 1 tsp of salt sole solution to a glass of water and drink first thing in the morning before food and drink. Be sure to use non-metal measuring spoon.
It helps to normalize blood pressure and maintain alkaline/acidity balance in body. Can help with blood sugar balance, skin conditions, breaking addictive behaviors and increasingenergy.