HOME > > Adrenal Fatigue, Depression and Illness: The Sleep and Fun Connection (Day 9)

Adrenal Fatigue, Depression and Illness: The Sleep and Fun Connection (Day 9)

By Ritamarie Loscalzo

Happy young woman with colorful balloons on a green meadow

I work with a lot of people who are struggling with adrenal fatigue and depression.  It’s almost an epidemic in our world today, and if you stay up with current events, watch the news and read the newspapers, there’s a good chance that you’re experiencing some adrenal fatigue symptoms and heavy mode as well.  The media thrives on shifting people into fear mode.  Fear sells.   When you are fearful, the part of your nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system takes control, getting you ready for fight or flight.  In this mode, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure increases and your digestion shuts down.  The aftermath is fatigue, nutritional deficiencies and depression.

I just wrote a very detailed article for Purely Delicious magazine about stress, fatigue and burnout.  It will be published soon.

When you’re burning the candle at both ends, you are much less able to deal with stress.  To compound the problem, when stress levels are high, you have a tendency to sleep less, because stress can cause insomnia or frequent night time awakenings.

And of course, taking time for fun goes out the window in times of stress because of the perception that there just isn’t “enough time”.

My commitment for this month is to incorporate more fun and sleep into my life. Yours may also include eating balanced meals, eating more slowly, becoming more conscious when eating.  These are all VERY important and I support you in your commitment.

So try this.  Before you begin to put food into your mouth, stop.  Take a nice deep breath.  This alone is enough to shift you out of your  sympathetic nervous system – remember–the system that causes your digestion to slow way down. Then take a few seconds to appreciate the food you are about to consume. Think about where it came from, how it was prepared, how it will nourish every cell.  Only then, begin to eat, staying conscious of each forkful.

No kidding, it will take some focused effort to do this!  Yet the time and attention to conscious eating, appreciative eating, is well worth it!

Go ahead and give it a try, and post a comment about how it went for you.

Join me on Wednesday March 10 at 12:30pm CST for my Blog talk Radio Show: Creating a Vibrant Life, during which I’ll reveal 5 strategies for balancing your mood through food.  www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-ritamarie

My Report Card for Monday:

1- Green Smoothie – 2 quarts Done

2- weight training exercise Done

3- bed by 11:30  (how daring of me!) maybe even earlier a little later – 12:20

4- write a chapter in my new book did the research but didn’t complete the chapter

5- quality time with the kids – family conflict rather than quality time…

Commitments for Tuesday:

1- run 3 miles

2- bed by midnight

3- Drink 1 quart of green smoothie

4- drink 1 cup veggie juice

How about you?  What are you committed to today?

Let us know.  Post your comments below.

Love, Health and Joy to you,

Dr. Ritamarie

Share this:
Magic Questions eBook Cover

Are you feeling stuck?

Do you feel as if something is missing from your practice that's keeping you from delivering breakthrough outcomes for your clients?.

I am a Health Professional, Coach or Nutritionist (or I am in training or planning to become one)

Recent Posts

Our Programs

Nutritional Endocrinology Practitioner Training (NEPT)

The Mastery and Certification tier is our flagship program and provides everything you need to feel confident as a practitioner who knows how to get results that lead to healthy and happy clients.

Functional Assessment Mastery

Explore the relationships between the most important hormones and their relationship with nutrition.

Functional Nutrition Mastery

Learn how to support your clients to eat and supplement in a way that reduces and eliminates chronic symptoms.

Medical Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, drritamarie.com, and the experts who have contributed. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

Disclosure: Sometimes (but not always), when I share resources in my programs, newsletter, and on my website, I'm using an affiliate link, which means I do make money if you buy. My credibility is extremely important to me; therefore, I only endorse the products, services, and people I believe in. DrRitamarie.com is independently owned and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Click here to see our Privacy Policy.

2 Comments

  1. mary on March 11, 2010 at 10:31 am

    Oh thank you for the great advice. I am going to try that tomorrow the concious appreciative eating!
    So today was a good day for me I decided that eating slowly and not overeating go together because they both involve paying attention to what you are eating. So I committed to both of them today and I did not over stuff myself and I did chew my food conciously. So I am feeling pretty good about that. Also I did not eat any nuts today even though that wasn’t a commitment of mine. Every day away from nuts for me is good.

  2. […] at their “fork in the road” because of an event in their lives. For some individuals a serious condition such as a frightening diagnosis or morbid obesity thrusts them into an […]

Leave a Comment





Related Posts