The Holiday Hangover.

We’ve all felt it. That worn out, flu-like feeling after the holidays.

Yeah. That’s your adrenals. The brain fog, the tiredness, the food cravings, possibly depression or anxiety and sometimes even joint pain or diarrhea – it’s all your body letting you know that you’re doing too much. 

That feeling is the let down of adrenaline from going so hard to get everything done during the holiday season. For moms, it starts with the September back-to-school chaos, moves right into Halloween costumes and candy, goes right into Thanksgiving prep and family gatherings and then continues on through Christmas chaos and then finishes with a bang on New Years when we’re so tired, many of us don’t even bother to see the ball drop.

Recovering from adrenal fatigue is hard. Unless you’re living on a remote island with no one to care for and someone else is tending to all your needs, chances are, you have adrenal fatigue. It’s simply the cost of living in the world we live in.

Adrenal fatigue happens when we constantly push ourselves to get that never-ending To Do list done at all costs. It’s when we reach past our natural limits and tap into our adrenaline stores to keep going and get it all done. That’s fine for a short time. Our adrenals were meant to keep us alive if we needed to fight a battle or shore things up before a storm. But it was never designed to be a lifestyle. Our adrenaline was meant to be a short burst of energy to help us survive in an emergency, but when everything in life is screaming at us and feels like an emergency, our bodies don’t know how to turn off that dump of adrenaline and we end up using it as fuel. It’s extremely taxing on our bodies. Adrenal fatigue can lead to weight gain, depression, anxiety and can exacerbate things like OCD. And long-term stress can increase the risk of high blood pressure, headaches, heart attacks, and stroke. 

Knowing what your limits are and what actually fills you as opposed to depletes you is important in managing your adrenals. Constantly moving and going and having appointments – even if they’re fun times with friends – all take energy and when we don’t have an energy reserve, when we’re not well-rested and taking care of ourselves, we’re tapping into our adrenals. 

The trick is knowing what fills you. Spending time with friends may be enjoyable, but your body may simply need to stay home and rest for a bit, and that’s okay. Knowing your limits and not over scheduling yourself is a sign of maturity and knowing and respecting yourself. It’s a form of self-care. 

How to Support Your Adrenals

When you’re eating processed foods, you body is working overtime to try to squeeze out any nutrients it can from something that is nutrient deficient. Your body’s doing everything it can to keep you healthy and when we’re eating processed foods, we’re not helping support our body in what it was designed to do. This is nothing about weight. This is about health. This is about helping your body help you. This is about loving your body and nurturing it. 

That being said, if ice cream or chocolate brings you joy and soothes you emotionally during a time when all you can do is fight to keep it together, you enjoy whatever it is you need to. Supporting your body can be supporting yourself emotionally and many foods are triggers to dopamine and good feelings. Some foods may bring us back to a happier and more simple time, if even for a moment. Just know it’s a stress on your body and avoid what you can but don’t deprive yourself. Depriving yourself will ultimately cause more stress than it’s worth. But if you binge on McDonalds, maybe follow up the next meal with a salad. It’s all about balance and honoring where you are right now and nurturing and loving yourself through this, whatever it may look like. 

High intensity aerobics , especially for women, can trigger a cortisol release that is other wise known as the “stress hormone.” When we’re doing high intensity aerobics or lifting heavy weights, we’re putting a stress on our body which is depleting it rather than building it back up. There is absolutely a time for a hardcore workout, it’s just not right now. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t move your body. Pilates, Yoga, and walking are all ways to release stress without taxing your body. They actually help recenter you and give back to your body rather than depleting it. 

Connecting with nature releases feel good chemicals in our brains and actually reduces stress. We were designed to be in nature. Humanity has always had a close relationship with nature until only a couple hundred years ago when we moved from farming to factory working. Our ancestors thrived in nature and it’s what helped get us to become the humans we are today. 

Polluted cities, confined spaces, crowded areas and electronics are all positively charged. But our bodies function better when they come in contact with negative ions.

It’s scientifically proven that negative ions neutralize free radicals, revitalize cell metabolism, enhance immune function, purify the blood and balance the autonomic nervous system, promoting deep sleep and healthy digestion. Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, resulting in higher alertness and concentration. The most recent scientific research has shown negative ions combat inflammation, cardiovascular disease, muscle damage, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression.

Our bodies thrive when they come in contact with nature. Walking barefoot for 20 minutes on grass, sand or dirt is often the preferred method of grounding simply because it’s easy to do. But grounding can also be gardening without gloves or taking a nap in the grass. The point is to connect with the ground and allow the earth’s negative ions to cancel out the positive ions we accumulate through daily life.

Vitamin B5 can help support your adrenals. Ashwagandha is another great choice. As an adaptogen, it seeks out where your body needs healing and goes to work where it’s needed most. CBD works in much the same way and it’s great at supporting the body’s stress response, regulating cortisol output, and calming the adrenal system. 

There’s a reason you feel a bit hung over after a poor night’s sleep. Your brain hasn’t gone through its natural cleansing process so it’s basically swimming in its own sewage. During sleep the brain activates its internal cleaning system called the glymphatic system. This system drains waste products from the brain by flushing cerebrospinal fluid through it and ridding toxins from the brain that accumulate during wakefulness. In fact, lack of sleep has similar effects on the brain as alcohol. Being awake for 17 hours is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol level of .05%.

Lack of sleep is an incredible stress on the body. Not getting enough sleep raises your cortisol levels as your body’s way of compensating and drains your adrenals even further. Plus, getting good sleep is just good mental and physical health maintenance. 

Coffee is one of the major sources of depleted adrenaline. Caffeine causes your cortisol levels to rise, forcing your adrenals to work harder, and leading to further adrenal fatigue. If you can’t skip the caffeine completely, just try to cut down on it. Do your best. It’s not an all or nothing. Cutting down on caffeine will help your body recover and will aid in deeper sleep which is vital in helping your manage stress. Caffeine isn’t sustenance. We’re not designed to live in an overly caffeinated state, and if you’re needing caffeine to get that to do list done, consider cutting back on your expectations of yourself rather than just amping up your adrenals and trying to push through with your favorite latte.

Magnesium supports the health of the adrenal glands and balances hormone production, two key factors in keeping your adrenal glands healthy. Plus, Magnesium is great before bed to help with a good night’s sleep. An Epsom salt bath is a great way to help with magnesium levels. Remember, your skin is your biggest organ, so what you put on your body, goes into your body. A warm bath opens pores, helping the skin to absorb the magnesium in the Epsom salt. Plus, a warm bath will relax muscles and release stress, further lowering cortisol levels. Extra points if you put a CBD bath bomb in with your Epsom salt to further relax muscles and bring cortisol levels down. 

Your body can’t eliminate the excess stress hormones and toxins that are released without adequate hydration. Drinking water flushes out toxins from the skin and body and can improve not just your skin texture, but your overall health. Water helps skin maintain its elasticity and people who drink large amounts of water are less likely to have acne, scars, wrinkles and dark under-eye circles. Make sure to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day (if you weigh 140 pounds, you should be drinking 70 ounces of water).

Relaxation is so important. Stress drains our adrenals. Take deep breaths, try box breathing or meditation, use essential oils, listen to calming music, whatever it is that centers you will help heal your adrenals.

Things like turning off our social media notifications or making sure our phone doesn’t ping every time we get an email can do wonders for our adrenals. Every time we hear that “ding” of our phones, there’s an adrenal response of something that needs our attention. I’m not saying skip social media or ignore your emails, but setting aside times in the day to focus on those is better for our systems because we’re not in a reactionary mode. And let’s be honest, when it’s an emergency, people don’t email. Even the chime you use for your text message notifications can make a huge difference on your adrenals. Think of a calming chime verse an alarm. Your body will react differently to the different sounds. 

I was actually having lunch with a friend one time and I had to ask her to put her phone on silent because each email notification, social media notification and text message was an actual alarm sound. It was messing with my adrenaline and those alerts weren’t even for me. 

The books we read, the shows we watch, the social media we consume, and the sounds we surround ourselves with all influence our adrenals. If you’re constantly watching scary movies, your body is going to be in a perpetual state of adrenaline. Of course scary movies are fun sometimes, but if you’re feeling yourself dragging, maybe lay off of them for a bit and see how you feel. If the books you read are thrillers that are keeping you up at night, maybe it’s time for some non-fiction or a sappy romance. 

Remember, adrenal fatigue is a real thing and it affects most women. You are not alone and you are not broken, you’ve simply pushed yourself too hard and it’s going to take a little bit to get back to feeling like yourself, but as long as you take care of yourself, it WILL happen. Take care of yourself, take a nap if you need it, and remember, you’re doing the best you can.

I’m starting a series on self-care and how to become the best version of yourself so make sure to sign up for my newsletter below to have the information delivered directly to your inbox.

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