Chronic overtraining is what leads to serious health problems, including adrenal insufficiency. Severe overtraining over an extended period can result in adrenal depletion.
Over-training causes the body's adrenal glands, which manage stress, to secrete high levels of cortisol on a regular basis. High cortisol can cause bone loss, and muscle breakdown, create belly fat, increase sugar cravings, and lead to insulin resistance, a pre-diabetic condition that causes high blood sugar.
Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms
fatigue, particularly upon waking, with intermittent “crashes” throughout the day. poor stress response and mood regulation. cognitive issues or “brain fog” increased energy levels in the evenings.
The short answer is, yes, you should incorporate some level of physical activity even if you have adrenal fatigue. However, that will look different for each person. Exercise, especially high-intensity exercise, is stressful on the body and it causes your body to release cortisol.
The adrenal fatigue theory suggests that prolonged exposure to stress could drain the adrenals leading to a low cortisol state. The adrenal depletion would cause brain fog, low energy, depressive mood, salt and sweet cravings, lightheadedness, and other vague symptoms.
Recovery from adrenal fatigue can take anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. Each individual has a unique set of symptoms and an individual response to treatment. The recovery process depends upon the stage and severity of the adrenal exhaustion.
Symptoms said to be due to adrenal fatigue include tiredness, trouble falling asleep at night or waking up in the morning, salt and sugar craving, and needing stimulants like caffeine to get through the day. These symptoms are common and non-specific, meaning they can be found in many diseases.
Acute adrenal crisis is a medical emergency caused by a lack of cortisol. Patients may experience lightheadedness or dizziness, weakness, sweating, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, or even loss of consciousness.
Your metabolism is disrupted by your adrenal glands. Over-training interferes in sex hormone production. Things someone might notice include: worsened PMS, more irritability, elevated testosterone symptoms and acne. Over-exercising can lead to cortisol depletion leaving us in a chronically stressed state.
Overtraining significantly affects your stress hormones, including cortisol and epinephrine. This hormonal imbalance can cause mood swings, unusual irritability and an inability to concentrate.
If you like to go hard with HIIT, just beware of overdoing it, which can actually have the opposite effect on your hormones, leading to excess adrenaline and cortisol. “Over-exercising can increase our stress hormones, and raise the risk of muscle loss, injury, and fatigue,” according to Dr. Akhunji.
As we discuss in the The Adrenal Fatigue Solution, one of the major causes of Adrenal Fatigue is getting insufficient sleep. Getting more rest is therefore one of the best ways to recover.
Specifically, vitamins such as magnesium, B and C can help prevent adrenal fatigue. Magnesium aids in calming and supporting the nervous system, improving your quality of sleep, reducing stress levels, and boosting energy production.
The ACTH stimulation test is the test used most often to diagnose adrenal insufficiency. In this test, a health care professional will give you an intravenous (IV) injection of man-made ACTH, which is just like the ACTH your body makes.
Exercise-related symptoms of overtraining:
(1) A plateau or decline in workout performance or progress. (2) A perception of increased exertion during “normal” or “easy” workouts. (3) Excessive sweating or overheating. (4) Unusual feelings of heaviness, stiffness, or soreness in muscles.
Chronic fatigue
Fatigue is a common sign of overtraining syndrome, and often one of the first to appear. Everyone feels tired at times, but too much exercise without enough rest and recovery can leave you feeling drained, depleted and washed out. You may feel physically tired, mentally tired or both.
B-Vitamins is very important for your adrenal glands, especially Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to adrenal cortex stress, so supplementing with vitamin B12 can be a beneficial addition to your adrenal fatigue diet.
Adrenal fatigue and anxiety occurs when the body experiences too much physical or emotional stress and therefore depletes the adrenal glands of important hormones, particularly cortisol (your stress hormone). It is a prevalent condition that is rarely diagnosed or treated correctly leaving people reeling for answers.