Adrenal fatigue has become more and more common in modern society. Many people suffer the sypmtoms of adrenal exhaustion. These adrenal symptoms occur as a result of stress.
People in our society are always on the go. Chronic stress from work, family, school or whatever stressful situations you can think of, cause the adrenal glands to be pushed to their limits. Diet also attributes to it. Foods containing caffeine and/or sugar really pushes the adrenals.
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys. They're responsible for regulating 50 hormones in the body. Cortisol is one of those hormones. Normally, your adrenals will give you a bit of corisol in the morning that makes you want to get up. It helps make you alert after sleep. That level will drop slowly during the day and will come down more rapidly at night to prepare you for sleep. When this normal pattern doesn't occur you feel tired in the morning and can't sleep at night.
Some of the symptoms of adrenal exhaustion are:
feeling tired easily
mild depression
muscle weakness
salt cravings
decreased ability to handle stress
decreased sex drive
Though this condition is commonly diagnosed in the natural health world, it isn't recognized by medical doctors. There is a disease caused by underactive adrenals called Addison's disease. The symptoms of this disease include, fatigue, weight loss, aches and pains, low blood pressure and loss of body hair. Adrenal fatigue is thought to be a less intense version of this disease.
The Effects of Massage
Massage therapy can be used to help regulate the hormones and calm the nervous system to reduce the stress response. Massage can help ease depression and help you sleep more easily throught the night. Besides helping with the symptoms of adrenal exhaustion, massage can help lessen the stress hormones in the blood stream.
Massage styles like shiatsu, Thai massage, Swedish massage and Esalen massage are great for supplementing the treatment of this condition.
Aromatherapy massage is another good massage for this condition. The use of aromatherpy oils will help soothe the mind and ease stress even further.
