Mastering how to recognize the signs of adrenal fatigue and prevent over-exhaustion (even if you think “I’m good, I’m good”)

There are three major areas of your life in which you can notice the signs of adrenal fatigue to prevent chronic stress, over-exhaustion and burn out.

The first step in preventing chronic stress, and in this case adrenal fatigue, is to become aware of your body sensations.

When you become aware of your body sensations you are able to attend to them and address whatever is going on right then, instead of letting them get worse and falling into a victim mode. Gina Mitidiero, National Board Certified and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, says that if you have lower back pain, have gained a little extra weight you’re not sure where it came from, have sugar or caffeine cravings during the day, or are having trouble sleeping, your adrenals might be affected.

Last week, I felt my eyelids super heavy, and my body was very low in energy. I clearly saw the signs that I needed to rest (because of course I always want to perform perfectly in my work and put lots of pressure on myself to do so), so I listened and I took a nap at 11am on a weekday!

The second thing to become aware of to prevent adrenal fatigue and to release any stress, is to notice your thoughts. When we are able to recognize the activity that is ongoing inside our head, we are better able to choose what thoughts, actions, and words to use. Because our words, thoughts, and actions carry and energy. And when we recognize that our thoughts are negative, pessimistic, judgemental, and self critical, among other things, we are better able to switch them to the opposite (more positive and encouraging). It is in this way that we start taking control of our health and therefore preventing chronic stress that could start by adrenal fatigue.

Awareness of body sensations and of thoughts are both something that I work on with my clients within the Tune-In program. They are both in the first part of the 3-part Tune-In framework I’ve developed in which we balance our thoughts, our body and our emotions while we become aware of them all. 

The third way I suggest we prevent adrenal fatigue and release stress, is to become aware of our emotions, on top of our body sensations and thoughts. When we notice our emotions, we are able to recognize where they land in the body (physically) and then starts the awareness circle again > body, thoughts, emotions.

The awareness circle works like this: when you feel into body sensations you recognize any blockages, any stiff or painful parts of the body that basically are signs that the energy is not circulating freely in your body. Associated to those sensations are often negative self-critical thoughts, leading us to be in a victim mode, identifying ourselves with things we say we cannot do like any physical exercise. This tension in the body and mind limits the array of possibilities that are normally available to us when we have a healthy body.

This physical and mental tension lead us to have many emotions, because when we start healing the body sensations and turning the negative thoughts to positive, we often can have many emotions arise… ready for healing. 

And then we get back to the body sensations manifested physically by our emotions, because many emotions show up this way in the body. 

When, for example, you feel guilty, you may feel it in your upper back. When you feel fear that you won’t have enough money or that you were not enough and that things won’t work out for you, you might feel it in your lower back. 

And there you are in the first part of the awareness circle again: awareness of body sensations. And then the circle continues awareness of your thought patterns around that, then feeling into how the emotion has shifted or what else is showing up. Such is life…!

When you feel into emotions that are going on for you, you are better able to assess not only where they are coming from, but to fully live and express them, instead of letting them bottle up or instead of pushing them to the side thinking you’ll be better off getting to them later. 

Emotions are our gateway to growth. The body is our gateway to learning, and our thoughts are our gateway to change.

To know more about things you can do in your life right now to release stress efficiently, watch the video on this topic inside our free online community of #soulconnector women called You Have It In You. Click here for the video (make sure to join the group first to view).

To know more about the Tune-In program and my 3-part Tune-In framework, visit tuneinprogram.com or contact me at cs@claudiasamsoulcoaching.com