Modern life surely does take a toll on the human body. The amount that we have to try and pack into any given day is often overwhelming and we find ourselves sleeping less and working longer hours as we try and balance our jobs with our family responsibilities and our dwindling social life. One of the first things to go is our exercise regime and we make this situation worse by turning to convenience foods, in the mistaken belief that we do not have time to prepare a good diet. Combine poor nutrition with a lack of exercise and it’s not surprising that strains and stresses start to appear and our body starts to break down. Not surprisingly, adrenal fatigue is a very common condition, even though it is poorly diagnosed and linked to the adrenal glands, very small organs located near the kidneys, of which we ask a great deal. These organs can start to fail after many years of unhealthy scheduling and unsustainable lifestyle habits.

Remember that our body developed over the centuries according to very basic functions and primitive needs. All we needed to do, primarily, was to eat, sleep and fight if needed. Today is a much different story, especially when you consider that we eat very nutritionally deficient foods, bring so many toxins into our bodies and don’t repair ourselves correctly by sleeping as we should. Because of these extra demands, if we are to survive we should be demanding even more sleep and greater nutrition.

Before we know it, chronic fatigue begins. The adrenal glands are not able to help us handle stress or regulate our blood sugar. Stress hormones create an imbalance, our thyroid, nervous system and brain function is impaired and as our immunity is compromised, we are so vulnerable. We are unable to regenerate our adrenal glands due to lack of sleep; with such a poor diet, food sensitivities result in hormonal imbalance and an inability to stop inflammation and fend off attacks.

Most people will not notice these symptoms, certainly not enough to look into them further. They may feel run down, but attribute this to the hectic lifestyle and think it is just a consequence of the way that life is, these days. They do not recognize their low levels of energy as a problem and think that if they eat a quick, convenient, “junk” meal or dive into the gym for 30 minutes that this will be okay, not realizing that they are just putting even more strain on their adrenal glands.

One of the most important building blocks for hormone composition in the body is pregnolone. Whenever we are overstressed or run down, our body uses pregnolone to make cortisol, so we can handle stress. However, it appears that excess cortisol can be “stolen” when the body is overstressed, from testosterone or DHEA, which adds additional problems on top of an already aggravated situation.

What can you do? Essentially, slow down, make sure that you go to sleep and wake up in harmony with the cycles of the sun, eat only a very highly nutritious diet and exercise regularly. Is this too much to ask, or too difficult?