How to recover from Adrenal Fatigue

So you've wondered what is adrenal fatigue and you've ran the home tests or maybe your Naturopath has diagnosed you, OR maybe you just want to do what you can to keep your adrenals in tip top condition? I have been reading a fab book by James L Wilson called "Adrenal Fatigue - The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" and I recommend it.  I have had the copy for my library for way way to long and must return this book as there are others waiting for it, sorry if this is you.

Healing from adrenal fatigue really just involved leading a primal lifestyle - eating whole foods, avoiding foods that cause aggravation and embracing a lifestyle that involves rest, relaxation and connection.  I seriously could write you a blog that would take you three weeks to read on what to do to achieve this, but with the library fine pending I am lifting a review straight from the book by Wilson.  It's a lovely bullet pointy overview.  I hope you find it helpful. 

• Be in bed before 10pm (I call this PaleO'Clock).
• Sleep in until 9am whenever possible (yeh right).
• Look for things that make you laugh.
• Eliminate energy robbers from your life (people who drain you).
• Make your lifestyle a healing one.
• Do something pleasurable every day.
• Whenever you are not enjoying your life read this and find a way to deal with it.
• Notice one small thing every day that you are grateful for.
• Take your supplements regularly.
• Move your body and breathe deeply.
• Believe in your ability to recover.
• Use your mind as a powerful healing tool.
• Keep a journal and jot down your daily experiences.
• Eat the foods your body needs.
• Learn which foods disagree with you and eliminate them.
• Salt your food, salt your water.
• If you eat sweet things, combine them with fats.
• Combine starchy carbohydrates, protein and fat at every meal.
• Eat an abundance of whole food.
• Eat lots of coloured vegetables.
• Chew chew chew chew and chew your food.
• Take the power and responsibility of your own health into your own hands.
• Make the lifestyle changes needed to make you regain your health.
• Laugh several times a day.
• Enjoy your recovery.
• Consider taking 1,000mg of vitamin C complex with 200mg magnesium and pantothenic acid at 2pm daily to avoid the 3-4pm low.

and I would like to add:

• Focus on healing your gut as all heath starts in the gut.
• Make rest a priority, it is part of the cycle.
• Get out in nature.
• Meditate, nap or lie with your feet up for 20mins after lunch.
• Practice yoga.
• Remember "life is not an emergency".
• Take care of yourself first so that you can take care of others.
• Breathe fresh air.

Avoid these things

• Getting overtired.
• Caffeine, sugar, alcohol and white flour products.
• Coffee, even decaf.
• Staying up past 11pm (avoiding your second wind)
• Pushing yourself.
• Energy suckers.
• Being harsh or negative with yourself.
• Foods you are addicted too. (these tend to be what's making you ill).
• Foods you suspect and allergy or sensitivity to.
• Foods that make you feel worse, cloudy or pull you down.
• Never skip breakfast.
• Avoid fruit in the morning.
• Never eating starchy carbs by themselves.
• Do not eat foods that adversely affect you in anyway, no matter how good they taste or how much you crave them.

and I would like to add these to the avoid list:

• Over exercising.
• Becoming too hungry.
• Letting yourself become uncomfortable in anyway e.g. too hot, too cold, need the toilet and holding on.
• Grains. refined sugar, dairy.
• Household chemicals.
• Cosmetic chemicals.
• Fasting.

So there you go Fallsy, nothing too new really hey?  I hope you enjoyed!!

Three things you can do to deal with any situation

I love this, I read it in James L Wilson's book on Adrenal Fatigue and I find it really useful to deal with every day difficult situations.  Pain and suffering occur when you resist the present moment.

In life there are three things you can do when you are in a difficult situation and they are:

1. You can change the situation
2. You can change yourself to fit (adapt to) the situation
3. You can leave the situation

To illustrate it lets imagine a difficult situation where your son is playing horrible loud music in the same room as you. 

1. You can change the situation by asking him to go into a different room or unplugging the sound system!
2. You can change yourself to fit the situation by wearing earplugs!
3. You can leave the situation by leaving the room.

3 DIY at home tests you can do to see if you have Adrenal Fatigue

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on adrenal fatigue. It's probably a good idea to point out at this stage that I have no formal training or qualifications in medical diagnosis.  The information I bring to you is information I have read and am bringing the juicy bits to you in bite sized pieces, to share this wonderful empowering knowledge so that you can take your health to new levels.

I have my own experience to go on as well as the constant research I am doing.  If you want to find out if you have adrenal fatigue I suggest you visit a holistic health practitioner for a comprehensive diagnosis. Disclaimer over!  Naturopaths can run tests to determine if you have adrenal fatigue by using Saliva Hormone tests.  Doctors can run blood tests which test the morning cortisol level in your blood.  Saliva tests are more reliable. But there are some tests for adrenal fatigue that you can do at home and it won't cost you a thing...

Iris Contraction

You will need:  a chair, a small flashlight or pen light, a mirror, a watch with a second hand (or a phone) and a dark room.

Darken the room and sit in the chair in front of the mirror.  Shine the flashlight across one eye (not directly into it you don't want to go blind) from the side of your head. Keep the light shining steadily across one eye and watch it in the mirror with the other eye.

You should see your pupil (the black bit) contract immediately as the light hits your eye.  This happens because the iris, a tiny circular muscle, contracts and dilates the pupil in response to light.  Like all muscles, if it has been exercised beyond all capacity, it likes to have a rest.

The pupil normally remains contracted in the increased light but if you have some form of adrenal fatigue, the pupil will not be able to hold it's contraction and will dilate despite the light shining on it.

The dilation will take place within a couple of minutes and will last for 30-45 seconds before it recovers and contracts again.  Time how long the dilation lasts and record it with the date.  You can retest monthly, only do one test at a time, let the eye rest.  If you eye indicates you are suffering from adrenal fatigue , the re testing will let you know if you are getting better.

When you are fully recovered the iris will hold it's contraction and the pupil will remain small for longer.  This test works if moderate to severe adrenal fatigue is present but may not detect mild cases.

I ran this test (like right now) and my pupil held contracted for over two minutes making minute contractions and dilations as my hand wobbled with the flashlight. So maybe my adrenal fatigue is mild?  I have been working on healing my adrenals for over six months now and taking adrenal herbs to support adrenal function.

Low Blood Pressure and Postural Low Blood Pressure

If you have adrenal fatigue you usually also have low blood pressure, do you ever get light headed when you get up quickly? Low adrenal function is thought to be the most common cause of low blood pressure (and most ignored by Doctors).

If your blood pressure drops when you stand from a lying position, this almost always indicates low adrenals.  I remember in my Pump Class days we used to go from doing triceps dips on the step to quickly standing up and doing over head triceps extensions with a 5 kilo weight, I always nearly, but never did, black out. 

You can test for this at home if you buy a blood pressure reader.

1. Lie down for 3-5 minutes rest.  Take your blood pressure while lying down.
2. Stand up and re take your blood pressure.  It should rise 10 to 20mmHg or at least stay the same.  In adrenal fatigue, the blood pressure will drop when standing from a lying position.

I haven't done this test as I don't have a blood pressure reader, but would like to try it.  I'll take my gym experience as a hint!  I sometimes feel it now, if for example I have been exerting myself  like cleaning the cupboard doors or walls in a squat position and then standing and reaching up over my head. *Stars*

As you recover from adrenal fatigue your low blood pressure will get better, but don't worry it won't give you high blood pressure. Your blood pressure will normalise as your adrenals strengthen and you won't have those dizzy spells anymore.

Note that complete vegetarians may have a lower than normal blood pressure of around 95/65, if so, your overall blood pressure does not mean you have adrenal fatigue, run this test to see if you do.

Sergent's White Line

Only 40% of people who do have adrenal fatigue will test positive in this test but if you do test positive it is absolute confirmation that you do have adrenal fatigue.  The test is named after a French physician named Emile Sergent. 

Take the dull end of a ballpoint pen and lightly draw a line on the skin of your abdomen, making a line about 12cm long.

In those with healthy adrenals the mark made by the pen is initially white and then reddens within a few seconds.  In those with adrenal fatigue the line will stay white for about two minutes and will also widen.

My line reddened.  What about yours? Will you run these tests?

What is adrenal fatigue and do you have it

I believe that a lot of those health issues people have, that get fobbed off as nothing or worse - depression, may be caused by adrenal fatigue.  I had heard of this adrenal fatigue thing but didn't really know what it was.  You can run some saliva tests with your Naturopath to see if you have it, the Dr can also run a blood test but the results are less accurate. 

The aim of this post is to present a easy to read bullet point overview of adrenal fatigue, what it is, and to determine if you have it.

Adrenal fatigue is my new favourite topic and I've been reading the book "Adrenal Fatigue - The 21st Century Stress Syndrome"by James L. Wilson and I've taken the following info from there and added the extra bits I've learnt on too.  So if you don't fancy reading 345 pages on the topic, skim this.  Apologies to Robyn at the library, I've had this book out way past it's return date and to the person waiting for it to return - sorry.

I'd also like to add that if you have an auto immune disease, gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, chronic fatigue, clinical depression or fibromyalgia then you will more than likely have some level of adrenal fatigue.

What is adrenal fatigue?
It is a decrease but not failure in the ability of the adrenal glands to carry out normal functions and become unable to respond adequately to stress

Why does adrenal fatigue occur?
Adrenal fatigue occurs when stress from any source - physical, emotional, mental or environmental exceeds cumulatively or in intensity, the body's capacity to adjust appropriately to the demands placed upon it by the stress. The adrenals get tired basically and can't continue to respond to the stress.  Spinning a few plates anyone? Been spinning those plates for a while anyone?

Who suffers from adrenal fatigue?
Anyone.  Old or young. Male or female. Any race or culture. We are all individual and respond differently to stress, some cope better than others. You are more likely to suffer from adrenal fatigue if you have:

• Suffered a serious or infectious disease
• Suffered a serious injury or had surgery
• Illness
• Allergies
• Inadequate nutrition (choosing the wrong food OR not absorbing the minerals due to impaired gut health)
• Intense social, emotional or physical pressures including over exercising
• Toxic environment  - exposure to chemicals at work, or sick building syndrome for example

Life choices that lead to Adrenal Fatigue:

• Lack of sleep (are you a parent?)
• Poor food choices and not eating mindfully (scoffing food down on the go)
• Using food and drinks as stimulants when tired (coffee anyone?)
• Staying up late even when tired (must watch MKR!!)
• Being constantly in a position of powerlessness
• Constantly driving yourself
• Trying to be perfect
• Staying in no win situations over time
• Lack of enjoyable and rejuvenating activities - all work and no play!

Lifestyles that lead to Adrenal Fatigue:

• University Student
• Mother of two or more children and little support from friends or family
• Single parent
• Unhappy marriage
• Unhappy or stressful work conditions
• Self employed with new or struggling business
• Drug or alcohol abuser
• Shift workers with adjusting sleep patterns
• All work, no play

Life events leading to Adrenal Fatigue:

• Unrelieved crisis or pressure at work and or home
• Any severe emotional trauma
• Death of a close friend or family member
• Major surgery
• Prolonged or repeated respiratory infections - always getting a cold?
• Serious burns including sunburn
• Head trauma
• Loss of stable job
• Sudden change of financial status
• Relocation without support of friends or family
• Repeated or overwhelming chemical exposure including drug and alcohol abuse

Here are some common symptoms of adrenal fatigue, how many sound like you?

• Difficulty getting up in the morning. Three alarms and you still don't feel awake enough to lift your head off the pillow.
• Continuing fatigue not relieved by sleep. Despite getting a good night's sleep, you still feel tired when you wake up.  Refreshed is a foreign word to people with adrenal fatigue.
• Craving for salt or salty foods. You find yourself eating the whole bag of chips or adding salt to already salty food.
• Lack or energy. Everything seems like a chore, even the things you used to enjoy.  Frequently, just getting up out of the chair requires too much energy.
• Increased effort to do every day tasks. Everything seems to require ten times as much effort as it should.
• Decreased sex drive. The hottest movie start could be waiting in your bedroom and you would ask him for a rain check! Sex is the last thing on your mind when you hardly have the energy to keep you head up.  Cup of tea  and a foot rub instead please!
• Decreased ability to handle stress. Little things that never used to bother you get to you.  Road rage, constant anxiety, yelling at your kids, and compulsive eating, smoking or drug use let you know your adrenals are crying out for help.
• Increased time to recover from illness, injury or trauma.  The cold you got in October is still hanging on in November.  The cut on your finger takes weeks to heal. Two years after your father died you are still incapacitated by grief.
• Light headed when standing up quickly. Sometimes you feel like you are going to pass out when you get up quickly from the bed or a chair.
• Mild depression. Why bother making an effort, it all seems so pointless.
• Less enjoyment or happiness with life. Not much seems to interest you any more.  Work and relationships feel empty and you almost never do something just for fun.
• Increased PMS. Bloated, tired, cranky, cramping and craving chocolate - does it get any worse than this?
• Symptoms increase if meals are skipped or inadequate. You have to drive yourself with snacks, colas and coffee just to keep from collapsing.
• Thoughts are less focused, more fuzzy. You frequently lose track of your train of thought and it is harder and harder to make decisions, even about little things like what to wear.
• Memory less accurate. You are so absentminded, you should be a professor.
• Decreased tolerance. People seem a lot more irritating than they used to.
• Don't really wake up til 10:00 AM.  Afternoon low between 3:00 and 4:00PM. Around three to four in the afternoon you start to feel like you have been drugged with sleeping pills. And you thought it was just cause the kids got home. Feels better after evening meal. After 6:00 PM and supper, you start to feel alive again. And you thought it was just cause the kids had gone to bed, or maybe it's the wine?
• Decreased productivity. It takes you longer to complete tasks and it is harder to stay on task.

Is adrenal fatigue common?
Yes. It is estimated to affect many millions of people in industrialised nations.  This is mainly due to our busy culture.

Can I recover from adrenal fatigue?
Yes, with proper diet and lifestyle changes most people can fully recover.

Can children suffer from adrenal fatigue?
Yes especially if born to parents suffering adrenal fatigue themselves. Pregnant women often experience a relief in symptoms due to the presence of the unborn baby's adrenals. So maybe it wasn't post natal depression?

Is adrenal fatigue common in someone with cancer who is going through chemotherapy?
Yes, the extreme fatigue of this and any other chronic illness is often the result of decreased adrenal function.  Chronic illness and toxic treatments like chemotherapy are both large stressors for the body and the adrenals are directly involved in trying to balance the stressors.

Other points:

• Around 80% of people suffering from adrenal fatigue also suffer from low thyroid function.
• Adrenal fatigue reduces the immune system, meaning you are more prone to illness.
• It can increase allergic responses, this is because cortisol is a major anti inflammatory and you produce less of this when you have adrenal fatigue.
• Most Doctors only recognise extremely low adrenal function called Addison's disease and disregard the rest.
• Smoking increases your chances of getting adrenal fatigue, anything that places a stressor on the body makes it more difficult for your adrenals to function.

I hope you have found this information helpful? I will be writing another post on how to recover from adrenal fatigue and how to keep your adrenals healthy. Can you relate to any of the symptoms listed above?  I know that at different times in my life I have related to many. I hope you have had a few light bulb moments and that you will be able to make sense of some of the signs and symptoms your body is wisely trying to show you.  You can make a full recovery and enjoy life more than you perceived possible, just by eating real foods prepared using methods our ancestors handed down and by honouring your body's rhythms just by making a few lifestyle changes.

If all of this sounds overwhelming I am available for private consultations to guide you to make empowered choices for your best life.  You can email me at primalsoapbox@gmail.com

Can you be a Primal Die Hard on holiday?

If you are lucky enough to live in a Paleo mecca such as Melbourne with it's trendy eateries serving paleo and primal meals then I would say eating out when you are out of town, would be a breeze. Even fun!  However, when you live somewhere like Western Australia where Paleo is still quite new and 'out there' and there are only a couple of Paleo joints and they are in Perth CBD...then it's not so easy.

Last week my Mam, Dad, husband, kids and I stayed at a beautiful resort in Busselton. It was what I call a 'proper holiday'.  It was hot and sunny, there was a pool to jump in and lounge by, you could walk to the beach and walk for a coffee, the apartment was large, clean and comfy. We drank champagne, had breakfast by the beach and ate at restaurants for dinner.  Bliss.  A good time was had by all.

Now that I realise how crappy my old 'food pyramid' diet made me feel, I have no desire to indulge or pig out - not even on holiday.  Reverting back to old staples such as gluten, excess sugar, alcohol and dairy leaves me feeling bloated, sore, bunged up, snappy, foggy, nauseous and I don't sleep well.  So you can understand I wanted to stay as primal as physically possible whilst away.  As much as holidays are advertised as relaxing experiences the reality is (especially for parents) that there is a lot of organising and extra thinking to do, a different routine,  a long road trip, different beds not to mention the over excited children. Not that any of those lessen the enjoyment, I am just mindful that they contribute to the load on the body - see my bucket analogy here.

So you can see that it's not just food that can contribute to you feeling less than tip top when away from home, but everything else about it too.  I think that the best way to handle a change in routine is to focus on making sure the food you eat stays as primal as possible.  Aim for 100% but accept 80%. In my opinion this is probably the biggest impact you can have on your stress levels when out of your comfort zone.

What I took from home
Every day staples:

• Paleo Bread
• Nut Milk (which I take to cafes and ask them to make coffee from)
• Grass fed meats for the obligatory holiday BBQ
• Coconut Oil
• Organic Yoghurt
• Avocado, salad leaves, asparagus and other seasonal veg
• Eggs from our chooks
• Organic milk and organic butter
• Kombucha
• Fruit for the kids
• Rain water (I know...)
• Snack options like gelatine lollies, macadamia nuts, 90% cocoa chocolate

Primal Substitutes for our favourite holiday food:

• Paleo baking like banana bread 
• Vegetable chips for platter with champers
• Organic Wine

 
It really depends on how long you are going away, how organised you are feeling and if you can be bothered. Road trips are a good time for some intermittent fasting, if you don't feel hungry, don't eat.  A handful of nuts may be just enough to get you through the trip. If going on holiday for you means a break from cooking then read on...

What to chose in restaurants & cafes
What food makes you feel the worst?  Is it dairy? Alcohol? Sugar? Grains? Gluten?  Chose your worst offender and avoid that the most.  For me I try to remain strictly gluten free at all times as that is my worst offender.  In WA most cafes and restaurants have GF options and are often more than happy to make meals GF for you, it may mean removing the gravy and that's all, don't be afraid to ask.  When ordering it's really pretty simple if you stick to meat and veg or salad.  It's safe to assume that all pasta and pizza dishes are off the menu.

After that I try not to drink too much, two glasses of wine seems to be my limit these days.  Two glasses of wine several nights a week with breaks in between that is.  Remember that the bucket fills over time so two glasses of wine every night of the week spells bucket overflow! When I am on holiday I allow a bit more sugar into the diet but am usually majorly disappointed when I share a GF cake from a restaurant - so sweet, so fake, so plastic, so bleugh.

As a treat I like to have some GF bread with breakfast, it is usually super carby and filling and makes me happy to stick to my Paleo Bread when I get home (mainly eggs, zucchini, almond meal.) For lunch on a super hot day I chose a veggie juice, I normally advocate eating food as opposed to removing the fibre and drinking them but remember to 'do the best with what you have at that moment in time'.

The other thing I noticed on holiday is the smells!  So much perfume! Perfumed soaps in the loo, perfumed air freshener squirted at regular intervals, cigarette smoke, car fumes, perfume on men, perfume on women, perfumed fabric softeners, perfumed sunscreen  - it was an annihilation on my nostrils I tell ya! All of the perfume can contribute to headaches, nausea and an inability to taste and smell your food properly and is another toxic load on your old bucket. Oh and don't get me started on the crappy tap water!

Some things to let go of and accept

• Accept that the food in the restaurant probably isn't going to be organic.
• Accept that it will be cooked in crappy oils. 
• Accept that most things in the restaurant will have been ordered in processed and ready made (the pesto I ate with breakfast didn't look like basil and pine nuts to me!)
• Accept that some gluten will be present maybe from cross contamination or just from innocent mistakes - did you know hot chips contain gluten? 
• Accept that if it doesn't say GLUTEN FREE then  it isn't.
• Accept that you will consume a myriad of artificial colours, preservatives, flavours and other toxic additives. 
• Accept that you can fix it all when you get home!

How did I go?
So you know I was pretty strict, one time my husband and I fell out because it was the third café and I couldn't find anything suitable.  It was hard but I felt necessary as I just can't stand those crappy feelings anymore.  On the drive home I made a list of my symptoms on my iPhone here they are:

• groggy
• dry lips
• sore tummy
• bloated
• light sensitive
• irritable
• very tired
• film on my teeth
• itchy skin
• sneezing in the night
• itchy nose

I found this to be quite fascinating as I had forgotten about these symptoms! I just don't have those anymore.  I also found it amazing how the offending foods had crept in anyway even though I tried really hard to choose from the primal plate.  And that makes me conclude that you really do need to shoot for 100% all of the time as it will inevitably be 80%. 

Apologies to my kids
It was an avalanche of pure shite for the kids.  Fish and chips, ice creams, juice boxes you name it.  It was practically impossible to find anything that they would eat that was primal. They will eat a plate of spag bol with zoodles and home and a zillion veggies in the sauce but not chow down on salad for lunch in a restaurant, especially now my son can read the menu! "No you can't have chicken nuggets".  That's OK, it was only four days and then back to normal.  I could see a change in their behaviour and mood from the different food too which is more motivation to feed them nourishing gut soothing food now we are back home.

My no gym experiment

If you are a follower of this blog then you'll know that I am gym goer of, forever.  25 years of continuous gym going and even some instructing too.  There are a myriad of benefits to exercise but weight loss is not one of them.  Shocking I know but true.  80% of your body composition is determined by what you put into your mouth.  The other 20% is a mixed of genetics, how you manage stress, your sleep quality and how much sun you get.  Yes, really.  I know, it definitely gave me the permission to stop exhausting myself trying to make the gym classes.

Every day life is busy enough
I think exercise is a daily necessity, we are not genetically used to sitting at a desk all day we are used to moving around all day at a moderate pace.  Well, I was doing that but feeling guilty for doing it, feeling bad for rushing from one thing to the next, not taking any 'time out' to relax. But the list of things to do never ends!  There are kids to feed, clean up from, then feed again repeat a million times, there is washing to do and hang out and sort and put away, cooking, baking, shopping, feeding all of the animals, tending to weeds in the veggie patch, plus random house projects such as painting bits of furniture, clearing out the kids drawers, cleaning the house, vacuuming, mopping end and repeat.  Right? I know you relate.  Whether you are a guy or a gal, your list of jobs is never ending. So I decided to view this as activity, therefore a good thing.  My Grandma was busy like this with her three kids and I bet the woman before me in my line had similar chores to do.  It's physical.  It's enough. 

But what if I get weak?
The other area I wanted to focus on was strength.  Mark Sisson in The Primal Blueprint suggests this as the recipe for optimal health and fitness, (among other Primal Blueprint Laws)

• Move frequently at a slow pace
• Lift heavy things
• Sprint once in a while
• Get adequate sunlight
• Play
• Get adequate sleep

Yoga & au revoir back pain
Ok so I am nailing the first one. Lift Heavy things, Sisson suggested that these four exercises encompass them all: push ups, squats, plank and pull ups.  I did start by just reps of the four but found it SO BORING.  I love yoga but never really classify it as 'real exercise' (I know, what a fool) but figured that yoga encompasses all of those moves and decided to commit to doing 20-30mins per day on the lawn.  I use the Yoga Download app on my phone, it's free and I get to do whatever class I feel like on that day.  I am loving it and so is my back.  I have suffered with facet joint syndrome for years, bloody agonising lower back pain.  Reducing the inflammation in my body by eating primal has all but eliminated the joint problem and the millions of forward bends and ragdoll poses I have been doing has brought an end to my back problems.  Man, that alone would have been reason for me to go primal. The gym classes made my neck and shoulders tight, as did the stress of being exhausted from the class, the rushing to get there, plus all of the moving around at a slow pace ON TOP of gym work. I was stressed, it was too much for my system.

How getting adequate sleep and sunlight turned my world around
My sleep was pretty rubbish.  Hard to get to sleep, slept lightly, woke regularly, struggled to get back to sleep.  I read that getting outdoors in blue and green space and seeing white light early in the day can help you sleep at night by setting your circadian rhythm.  I thought that sounds good, lets give it a whirl. Yoga on the lawn, followed by a beach walk with sprints on the days I felt energetic enough, followed by a dip in the ocean is my personal recipe for world peace! Tick tick tickety tick.  I felt on top of the world all day after this little routine and by evening I was winding down all yawny and looking forward to beddies. How could you get more sunlight into your life?  Maybe a walk in the morning before work, or at lunchtime, get your arms and legs exposed and be careful not to burn. 

A note on play
Pre the experiment I was too tired, busy and stressed to really get down to some serious play with the kids.  I know you can relate.  Anyway, Dad's are good at that right?  But I had never considered play as prescriptive to overall awesome health and hey if my idol Mark Sisson suggests it as Primal Blueprint Law Number 7, lets give it a bash.  So, because my beachy yoga workouts didn't take as long as a drive to the gym, hour class, shower, drive home (3hrs), I had more time to do my jobs as outlined above and more time for play!  I was in a better mood too and not stressed and shouty.  So a bounce on the tramp, a kick of the footy, frizbee, bike ride races, Uno, monopoly, snakes n ladders etc etc have come into our family life, as well as just some simple tickles, or my fave tickle maths (I ask a maths question to Sam and tickle him til he answers it correctly!) It. Felt. Cool!  Such a good stress reliever and chance to connect with my kids.  Feels good.

Neck pain relief
I have chronic neck pain.  I've got the right pillows, I have massage, I see the chiro and we have decided that it's my mindset that creates the neck pain.  That stressed out feeling, that busy busy busy.  I cancelled my scheduled chiro appointment yesterday as my neck is way looser than before my experiment.  Hoorah to that.  It is still a bit tight, so I'm just off to do some chair neck yoga.

My take away message
Our lives are so busy, most of us are active enough, strenuous gym workouts add to the stress on the body.  Most of us are over stressed as it is, some with adrenal fatigue.  There is a simpler more pleasant way to get the benefits and be fit and strong without knackering yourself!!! I didn't get weak or unfit!  I am just as fit as before, but less stressed!

As Mark Sisson puts it,  "Overexercising is a common scenario when you consider how our active population has such a strong focus, dedication, and willpower to push through signs of fatigue.  Our bodies are simply not adapted to benefit from chronic aerobic exercise at intense or even mildly uncomfortable heart rates nor to slog through exhausting circuits of resistance machines several days a week.  The mild to severe difficulty of these Chronic Cardio or strength workouts overtaxes the stress response (commonly referred to the fight or flight response) in your body.  Here, your pituitary gland tells your adrenal glands to release cortisol into your bloodstream. Cortisol is a powerful stress hormone that is critical to a variety of physical functions and energy production.  The spike of cortisol in the bloodstream from a stressful event increases respiration, heart rate, blood circulation and mental focus and even converts muscles tissue into glucose for quick energy.  This is a great example of how we abuse a system that was genetically designed to respond to emergencies, such as Grok facing a predator."



What do you think?  I love to hear your comments.