Stress and You

Stress and You

Getting up in the morning is one of the hardest things for me. I feel foggy, tired. I am not rested. Did I even get any sleep? I feel like I was hit by a truck. Of course it does, it took me ages to fall asleep and I woke up several times during the night. As I sit at the kitchen table looking at my breakfast, I realize I used salt instead of sugar on my cereal. Again! My day has just started and I feel overwhelmed. I just want to go back to bed. As I sit there looking at my defunct breakfast all the things I need to do today come flooding into my mind; the kids, the lunches, drop kids at school, drive to work, pick kids up, do the shopping, cook the dinner, put the children to bed, clean up etc, etc. By the time the clock strikes 1030pm I am wide awake and looking at the ceiling counting sheep. Even that doesn’t work. I feel fatigued just thinking about this as I write. Fatigued. I have dark circles under my eyes. Does this sound familiar? I decided to do some research. I am tired of being tired! I am tired of feeling like this each day. I am tired of dragging myself from task to task in a semi-zombie state. What happened to me? My zest for life seemed to have all but dried up. I am stressed with a capital S!
As I scour google I found that stress is everywhere. You could say it is the latest buzz word in health. What I noticed though is that stress is most prevalent in industrialized nations. Why? Why is stress so inescapable in the modern world? Can you believe that women are more likely than men to experience stress? I found research that says 28% of women versus 20% of men report large amounts of stress. So apparently, the body’s stress response is designed to be triggered when the sabre tooth tiger is after us. What does this mean that the sabre tooth tiger is permanently after me? But they don’t’ even exist nowadays! I am more than frustrated. But then I think about the way I am feeling and I begin to write down all the things that I do each and every day. It hit me! I am squeezing 2 days work into one day. I found articles that suggest mounting pressure from too much information or workload can create a sense of overwhelm and that overwhelm can create stress. The only way our ancient bodies are able to deal with the stress is to use the same mechanism reserved for the sabre toothed tiger day in and day out. So even though this animal is extinct – it’s not really because my body and mind are perceiving that the world is a place filled with too much information and too many expectations (my own sabre toothed tiger right there). This to the body is perceived danger. This was all making sense now. I do feel a sense of relief just knowing that I am not abnormal. I found one really good article that said continual stress caused adrenal fatigue. This happens when the adrenals are always on alert. There is no off switch. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue can be loss of sex drive, loss of hair, premature aging, crying without knowing why, indigestion, irritability, anger, craving salty and sweet snacks, feeling tired when you wake up and lying awake at bedtime and not being able to fall asleep and stay asleep. I am shocked, they are describing me! Secretly I am excited because I have found the answer to my issues. I have adrenal fatigue.