Oct - Adrenal Fatigue & Recovering from Burnout
Adrenal Fatigue & Recovering From Burnout
Adrenal Fatigue and Burnout tend to happen about 6 months after a stress is over…it’s a frustrating truth, but let me tell you why. And this entire masterclass is all about how to recover ❤️.
How adrenal fatigue and burnout happen
When you’re under stress, your body is doing everything it can to keep you alive. Every nutrient is spent and your body’s only priority is today.
Because your body feels you’re in danger, it will try to keep your energy up and keep you feeling capable of getting through each day. But, each day is draining….and that adds up.
Once you’re out of danger (or out of the chronic stress), your body goes into recovery mode. Anything that’s been depleted while you were stressed out now needs tending to. This could be nutrients, overall energy, sleep, hormones, etc.
The way I think about it is this – when a big stressful time is finally over your body asks, as politely as it can, if it can show you what it’s been dealing with to keep you alive. Sometimes your body will show you these symptoms soon after a chronic stress ends, but other times your body might wait 3 – 6 months before it knows life is safe enough to show you.
Mostly, your body feels things are safer now and wants to show you that it’s T.I.R.E.D. Downright exhausted and overwhelmed with the chronic stress. And maybe lacking in stress resiliency. This is why your body might have a very low tolerance to stress all of a sudden. Or, you need 5 cups of coffee to get through your day. Or, you can’t remember a darn thing unless you write it down. These are all signs your body is feeling pretty burnt out and could use some recovery time.
How do you know if you’re burnt out?
A common symptom is that you feel overwhelmed by everything. Your to-do list feels impossible. And, you just don’t feel yourself anymore.
Symptoms of burnout (according to Herbert Freudenberger):
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Decreased sense of accomplishment
And yes, these symptoms are EVERYWHERE right now!
Adrenal Fatigue and Burnout are pretty much the same thing. Adrenal Fatigue is the name that was used by the Naturopathic community for decades before Burnout was considered a “thing”. I’m so happy that Burnout is a diagnosable condition and that it’s being taken seriously by the medical community.
Over the last few years I’ve started using the term Burnout more than Adrenal Fatigue because it’s more understood by our community as a whole and is more recognizable. But, from my experience, they’re one and the same.
In this masterclass, I’ve put together the steps to help your body recover from Adrenal Fatigue and Burnout. I’ve tried to make them as easy as possible (‘cause you’re already tired!), but please reach out anytime if you’d like an easier version of something or a different option.
This masterclass is in 5 parts:
Part 1: How Burnout Impacts Your Body Systems
Part 2: High cortisol vs. low cortisol
Part 3: Sleep and burnout
Part 4: Fast and effective energy boosters
Part 5: Long-term strategy for healing from burnout
If you’re having trouble getting out of the stress state - check out this masterclass on Completing The Stress Cycle. It has tons of practical ideas to help you move out of stress and into a more relaxed state.
If you’re feeling too exhausted and overwhelmed to go through the whole masterclass - that’s a-okay. Part 1 & Part 4 has the most direct and useful information for you. Once you’re feeling better, consider incorporating the suggestions in Part 5 to help your body heal.
I’m not a stranger to burnout and adrenal fatigue. I’ve gone through this 3 times myself. The first time I didn’t know what happened and only when I looked back did I realize it was burnout. My second time was in my early days as a nutritionist and I was grateful I had the tools and resources to heal quickly. And my third time was more of a warning, I was on the edge of burnout about 4 or 5 years ago and caught it before I started to feel any major symptoms (I slept A LOT that winter).
If you have any questions, concerns, or need to talk out your symptoms and how you feel, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to help and would love to hear from you ❤️
Got any questions or comments? Comment below, jump to our private Facebook Group, or the Ask Lisa page :)
Let’s get started! Head over to Part 1.