MAKING LIFE EASIER, HAPPIER, BETTER FOR ADRENAL FATIGUE

When faced with adrenal fatigue, but for a long while not really knowing what it was, the severity of it, what to do about it... it's easy to keep on doing what you've always done, which of course is what got you to where you are in the first place. Once you then come to terms with it all, you go about trying to figure it all out on your own, or seek professional help. Either way there's quite often a long time in and out of sessions, buying multiple supplements, trial-and-error-ing just about everything.

So I wanted to shed some light on a few strange things that made my life easier, better, happier, or even just a bit nicer, whilst dealing with adrenal fatigue myself.

-- Sleeping whenever I felt the need too

Sleeping in, getting to bed (really) early, having afternoon naps... getting enough sleep is key in healing adrenal fatigue in my belief and research, and in order to do so, I had to kick my ass into bed to lie down and sleep, instead of trying to stay awake to do things that "needed" doing. It's all too easy to keep pushing through tiredness to finish a blog post, get our ass to that yoga class, see friends for dinner, or scroll through Facebook, but when we are sooo tired, we know we can't physically do anything, we require rest first and foremost. If you're a control nazi, an A type personality, perfectionist, or something else along these lines, then sleeping whenever you feel the need too may be challenging. But actually doing it, and letting go of your points of view around not getting whatever else done... The benefits you will feel speak for themself.

-- Yoga nidra

Again, something really hard for me to do because I always felt there were better ways I could be using my time. But on the days when I allowed myself the time to lie down and plug Yoga Nidra in on my ipod, I would drift off into LaLaLand, to awake 30 minutes later feeling refreshed - or so much more tired, but in a place I could very easily close my eyes again and sleep for longer. No guilt attached.

If you've never done Yoga Nidra, you'll love it. Everyone does. It's like meditation where you listen to prompts instructing you to focus on your left thumb, left pointer finger, left middle finger, ring finger, pinky... left wrist, forearm, elbow... it goes through every part of the body, and does so to exhaust your mind of thinking of anything else, and allow your body to completely and utterly melt into pure bliss. Your physical body relaxes incredibly so, lets go of everything, and rests. It's super healing and a huge recommendation to anyone experiencing fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and more.

-- Restorative yoga

Legs up the wall, child's pose, savasana... I wrote more about how much I love this after being introduced to it at Dr Libbys weekend in Sydney last year. I had never done restorative yoga previously as (of course) I loved power yoga, vinyasa flow, pump classes and running. A slow, drawn out style of yoga? Um, no thanks. Boring. Well, boy was I wrong. After 2, 2hr sessions with a woman I fell in love with, I was hooked. Transformed. Changed.

I reckon, when we don't allow our bodies the time, space and quiet time it needs to balance out against the craziness we so often live with, any instant we are made to do so (like at a retreat, a class our bestie drags us too, or a weekend workshop), our body just drops. Oh hello girl! Where has this practice been our whole life? Imagine seductively taking the first bite of something so incredibly, delicious, your taste buds melt. Your eyes close. Your smile widens. You're moaning just a little. You don't know whether to put the spoon down for a minute, or to keep going. You know the meal right? And wonder why you never came across it before. Life changing. Well this was that for me. And my body ab-so-lute-ly loved it!

-- Nature time

My partner is exceptionally good at this one - when he's not feeling top of his game, he heads out into nature. I wasn't as good at it, and probably partly due to a lack of energy to want to go anywhere, but it made huge differences even just getting out the front door and eating lunch on the grass, breathing in fresh air, and getting some sunshine. Negative ions circulating, grounding, and taking deep breathes... life changing stuff right there, and so easy to get. Try to get some Mama Nature time daily.

-- Supplements

I've been on and off with different ones, but I am certain these have made a difference to my energy levels and overall health. If you do some research you'll find long lists of supplements recommended for adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue, but I think it's individually dependent as to what will be necessary for you (as your fatigue could be due to autoimmune disease... or the 6 coffees you've had everyday for the past 5 years... or from being a professional athlete who never quite got the nutrition side of things right... see where I'm going?). Having said that, some that I took and would be happy to recommend to the general fatigue-patient would be: a high dose non-acidic vitamin C (liposomal if you can get it) 2x daily, acetyl L-Carnitine 500mg 2 in the morning, an activated B complex (or a liquid) 1x daily, CoQ10 150mg 1x daily, liquid chlorophyll in water daily, magnesium 2x daily (doses vary from person to person), liquid oxygen in water daily, enzymes with meals, and apple cider vinegar before meals (unless your enzyme formula contains betaine hydrochloride in which case there's no need).

-- Coffee enemas

Again, dependent on the individual but these make massive differences for me. I was doing a coffee enema daily for quite a few months, then took a long break to travel and focus on my gut health again, and I'm back on them again. In short, these are awesome for your liver so there is a link with poor liver function impacting your adrenal health, this is definately worth looking into.

-- Getting off drinking coffee

You all know I'm a coffee fan (and was a barista for 8yrs - read my coffee post here) but for someone with adrenal fatigue, getting off coffee 100%, I believe is a must. It's not a life ban, but it most likely needs to be eliminated completely for some time. Read plenty more on this one here.

-- Doing short cleanses and other protocol when appropriate

Because my diet has consisted of vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, filtered water, sprouts, and this past year animal meats, products, bone broth and little bits of dairy... my body rarely needs a full on cleanse. But every now and then I would lay up a little on something I might have been eating too much of - I gave up sugar for a month when I noticed I was eating a little more and a little more than usual, and then feeling the energy crashing effects of it all. I've also done a few days of larger quantities of filtered water than usual - for energy, hydration, optimal functioning of all systems and organs, filtering everything through, and cleansing top to toe. And done vitamin C flushes where doses are taken every 15 minutes until a loose stool is had. This way you can be consuming upwards of 20,000... 30,000... 100,000mg of vitamin C in a day. This makes massive changes (improvements) to energy levels, adrenal function, sniffles (which I often got with low immunity), skin appearance, and detoxification function... but mainly an overall general feeling of wellbeing - which as someone who had fatigue, (1) I needed a lot more vitamin C than someone without, and (2) that feeling was/is amazing.

-- Day dreaming and giving myself time to do nothing

This was HUGE! I've always been someone who wants to set a million goals, study a dozen different things (at the same time), train everyday, travel often, the list goes on. But to actually just let myself daydream... life changing stuff guys! I kid you not. Try it sometime. More fun with a snuggle buddy.

And most recently...

-- Access Bars sessions

Best ever. This is something that I've only been made aware of in the past 12 months, and more so in the last 6 months. Access Bars is a technique where a practitioner puts their hands on different points of your head - 32 in total. Running these points (or bars) may leave you feeling really chilled, nurtured and relax and often find many points of view that had bothered you no longer do. Bars sessions also open us up to receiving fully, and many people find they make money more easily, have more fun, better snuggle sessions and laugh more. For me, I just feel lighter, happier, calmer and well rested.

Have you healed yourself from adrenal fatigue? Are you currently in it? Or do you know someone who's had fatigue? Feel free to share below anything you know that has helped others as well, as we're all different and not everything suits everyone.