Weight Gain & Insomnia: Adrenals stuck in “ON”

Juicing For Health | Juicing To Lose Weight | Juice Lady Cherie

Adrenal Fatigue Can Make You Fat & Sleepless

Your adrenal glands are little glands that sit on top of your kidneys. Though small they have a big job. They are responsible for producing a hormone called cortisol – the stress hormone which when elevated can contribute to lower levels of key hormones and neurotransmitters. This leads to the classic symptoms of adrenal fatigue like tiredness, low energy levels, and a general lack of vitality and enthusiasm. If you have other symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, insomnia, inability to lose weight, feeling anxious, allergies, or brain fog, Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) may be at the root. If you suspect you may have AFS, take my Adrenal Fatigue Quiz.

How Adrenal Fatigue Can Lead to Weight Gain

Cortisol can cause us to want to eat higher calorie foods such as high fat, high sugar foods that will immediately support the body’s need for energy. This will elevate our blood sugar—a survival mechanism to deal with stress. Eating is an inmate response to stress. With increased intake of sweets and junk food, our body begins depositing fat stores, primarily in our midsection. The reason it does this according to author Dr. Robert Lustig is that “belly fat breaks down into fatty acids faster, and has a direct line to the liver for burning”. Therefore, our body can access the fat faster when there’s a physical emergency, but that doesn’t happen much—like needing to out run bear. So the midsection fat just keeps building up. Chronically elevated cortisol can also affect your thyroid gland function and low thyroid can also contribute to weight gain.

How Adrenal Fatigue Can Lead to Insomnia

Numerous things can be going on with adrenal fatigue, but two aspects can affect your sleep. High cortisol can affect blood sugar levels causing them to drop. This can happen in the night. If you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, your blood sugar may have dropped too low. Get up and eat a little protein. Also, eat a small protein snack before you go to bed such as a few almonds or a slice of turkey.

With AFS, insomnia can develop and it takes longer to fall asleep. According to Dr. Lam, “the body starts to favor cortisol production over other hormones. Other hormones such as pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, and estrogen are less favored and start to decline. As a result, total pregnenolone output is reduced but the total cortisol output continues at a normal or even elevated levels.” As the situation worsens, cortisol levels may elevate in the night waking you up and preventing you from falling back to sleep. Eating sweets can cause your adrenals to get stuck in the elevated or “on position” meaning cortisol is higher even at night when it should drop so you can sleep. This is the point where you are “wired and tired.”

This has happened to me. And I recently met a lady who told me she had to fly clear across the U.S. to find out her adrenals were stuck in the “on position” and sweets were a big culprit.

Your way out of this syndrome is to reduce stress, eat more protein, avoid ALL SWEETS in any form, reduce caffeine, reduce alcohol, and rebuild your adrenal glands with the proper nutrients such as vitamin C and adrenal support herbs that feed the adrenal glands. If you are stressed out, I recommend that you work on reducing your stress and learning new ways of responding to stress, which we will always have. My husband, who is a psychotherapist, has had good results with the emWave2. Check it out. If you order one, he can help you get started.