Nearly my whole adult life, I allowed myself to be stressed. In college I stayed up late studying and worried about financial aid. When I left college, got married and moved to another country, well... need I say more?
I moved back to the U.S., I got divorced and nearly lost my job. I met a new guy, married him, the relationship was stressful and I was left with a 7-month-old baby. I was a single mom then in another less-than-desirable relationship and then met a great guy. When I finally met Mr. Right, I was working at a corporation under a slave-driving manager. The worst thing to happen while I was working there was the fact that they made the candy machine FREE. I was stressed, my son wouldn't sleep (which kept me up) and I was using sweets and caffeine to keep up the pace.
In time, I learned how to relax and not stress. I slowly started getting rid of the unneeded stresses in my life. I left that job, entered into a healthy relationship and started taking better care of myself. Yoga is also a great relaxer for me.
So, if I started taking better care of myself, why was I still exhausted so much of the time? I found out when I started learning about my hormonal system that my adrenal glands were worn down. All of that stress caused me to run on adrenalin. Adrenalin should only be used for fight or flight, not like a reserve energy to rely on most days. All the sugar I was consuming just made things worse. I felt more fatigue.
What I found out is that the endocrine system is a system of glands that signal hormones. Hormones regulate our whole system in our body. Many think hormones are mostly to do with the reproductive system but they do so much more. Adrenal glands are part of the endocrine system. Adrenals release adrenalin so the body can perform in a heightened state when needed.
Since my adrenals were worn (which can happen in men and women) I was having severe hot flashes. I had learned to relax but I hadn't built back up my adrenals. I started taking an adrenal support supplement and after six weeks my hot flashes were gone and I was sleeping better. My body was having a hard time regulating my body temperature because the adrenals were stressed. I have noticed if I start slacking on my supplements, the hot flashes try to come back.
So many people I know have worn their adrenals out. It has been the American way. We may sometimes get to a point in life where we are not living that stressful industrial nation life but we have to build those adrenals back up to function with any sort of energy.
If you are fatigued, tired, low energy and/or have hot flashes and can't sleep, you may want to check your adrenals. There is testing for adrenals and if they are low there are many sources to get good- quality supplements for bringing your adrenal levels back up where they should be.