I recommend playing with kittens as a good stress reliever!

Have you ever noticed that you feel like you’re rushing through the week and trying to slow down and catch your breath on the weekends?  I was reminded of this very thing last weekend when I was turning onto my street.  A bike path crosses my street, and it’s sort of an unwritten rule that whoever gets to the intersection first (bike or car) blazes through.  At least that’s how it seems to be during the week–everyone is in a hurry.  During the weekend, however, I saw some bikers approaching the intersection, and I stopped in the right turn lane to wait for them to pass.  It was a small courtesy that probably took me an extra 10 seconds, but the refrain of this action echoed through my head all day:  “Slow down, slow down, slow down…”

Over the past few months, my body has been telling me to slow down in the only way it knows how–through physical symptoms.  I was tired.  And not just ”I don’t want to get out of bed” tired; instead, “peel me out of the sheets” exhausted.  My body wanted to sleep, sleep, sleep.  Waking up was hard.  Working out was hard.  Concentration was hard.  It seemed like mono, but my mono test was negative.

One Friday Dr. Becky was out of town, and I needed an adjustment, so I popped over to Dr. Kandace’s office.  I mentioned the exhaustion, and she asked me if I’d thought about checking my adrenal glands.  We performed Raglund’s Test, which is a blood pressure test that checks the adrenal glands.  Mine failed MISERABLY. 

The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and are responsible for releasing adrenaline and cortisol, which are hormones released especially during times of stress.  Researcher Hans Selye pioneered research on stress and chronic illness in the 1940′s.  He says the stress response comes in three phases:
-Alarm stage:  The fight-or-flight response kicks in for immediate energy.
-Resistance stage: A time for recovery from the alarm stage occurs, but if the stress response is activated again, there is not adequate time for recovery and resistance is down.
-Exhaustion stage:  The body can no longer recover from the chronic stress, and it begins to break down. 

More details about the stress response and adrenal function at: http://www.treatingandbeating.com/adrenalfatigue.html

I’ve started taking an adrenal supplement, which helped within the week.  I’m being adjusted at least one time per week and am drinking a lot of water.  My sleep schedule has gotten more normal and my concentration is better.  And I’ve been taking that extra 10 seconds in the right turn lane to let bikers pass.