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❓ What are the adrenal glands? As organs go, the adrenals are pretty tiny! Yet they’re crucial for forming hormones (such as cortisol) that regulate energy and stress.

👨‍⚕️ Doctors say that increasing your nutrient intake, along with balancing vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and magnesium, promotes the health of the adrenal glands.

🌿 Recommended natural supplements for adrenal support can include Ashwagandha, CoQ10, and Maca Root.

Inside today’s blog:

What’s Adrenal Fatigue?
➡️How Is Adrenal Fatigue Treated?

…and What About Adrenal Overactivity?
➡️Symptoms of Overactive Adrenal Glands

9 Natural Supplements for Adrenal Support
➡️Ashwagandha
➡️B-Vitamins
➡️CoQ10
➡️Maca Root
➡️Magnesium
➡️Pantothenic Acid
➡️Vitamin C
➡️Vitamin E
➡️Zinc

FAQs About Adrenal Function
➡️What Vitamins Are Good for Adrenal Support?
➡️Can Overactive Adrenal Glands Cause Anxiety?
➡️Are There Any Herbal Supplements for Adrenal Support?

What’s Adrenal Fatigue?

Right then, let’s start with a somewhat controversial topic!

Adrenal fatigue — is it even real?

Traditional and naturopathic doctors often clash heads on this.

Alternative medicine expert, James Wilson (Ph.D.) first coined “adrenal fatigue” in the late 1990s.

The term has certainly caught on in society over the past 10-20 years. But strictly speaking, adrenal fatigue isn’t a medical diagnosis.

A better way to think of it is as a group of symptoms that are often tied together. Common features include:

Nevertheless, there is an official diagnosis for when the adrenal glands are under-performing.

Addison’s disease — also known as “adrenal insufficiency” — affects around 8,400 people in the UK. In the States, between 40 and 60 MILLION have it.

The disease happens when the adrenal glands, which sit neatly just above the kidneys, don’t produce enough of two key hormones:

Symptoms can be hard to classify, as they may mimic other conditions such as the common flu.

You may experience depleted energy, body weakness, mood changes, and loss of appetite if you have Addison’s disease.

How Is Adrenal Fatigue Treated?

Of course, getting the right treatment has to start with the right diagnosis.

Adrenal fatigue isn’t exactly easy to diagnose, which makes things trickier. At this moment in time, there isn’t an approved blood test that can track small changes in adrenal production.

Still, we promise it’s not all doom and gloom!

Because you can check if you have adrenal insufficiency (Addison’s disease). It involves a simple blood test that looks at your levels of cortisol.

Cortisol is labelled as the “stress hormone.”

When this hormone is low, it can be a sign of adrenal insufficiency, which may leave you more vulnerable to low energy, low mood, and a lack of motivation.

Recommended treatments to maintain healthy adrenal gland function often include:

… and What About Adrenal Overactivity?

Unlike adrenal fatigue, adrenal overactivity is more recognised by conventional medicine.

Officially, it’s referred to as Cushing’s syndrome.

This syndrome is caused when the adrenal glands produce too MUCH cortisol, rather than too little.

Diagnosis can be provided following a blood or urine test. And people who are most at risk tend to be those who have a history of taking steroid medications.

Tumours in the pituitary gland or the adrenal glands are also potential causes of high cortisol.

But what are the signs to watch out for?

Symptoms of Overactive Adrenal Glands

According to the NHS, common signs of adrenal overactivity are:

• More fat around your chest or abdomen, while your arms or legs remain slim
• More fat on your shoulders or the back of your neck, causing a “buffalo hump” effect
• More redness, roundness, or puffiness to your face

Additional symptoms may include:

• Depression
• Easily bruised skin
• Limb weakness
• Mood swings
• Problems with fertility
• Reduced libido
• Stretch marks, typically purple-coloured and large in size

9 Natural Supplements for Adrenal Support

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, which means that it helps the body protect against stress, stay centred, and retain balanced levels of energy.

The nourishing herb is widely used in Ayurveda, a form of traditional Indian medicine that dates as far back as 6000 BC.

B-Vitamins

B-vitamins have almost an endless amount of essential functions in the body!

Six of the most useful B-vitamins for adrenal support, energy production, and metabolism are noted as:

CoQ10

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is potent for supporting natural energy production in the cells. You’ll often see this supplement in the heart health category.

When the cells can create and circulate energy as they should, the body has a chance to feel more vibrant and resilient.

Maca Root

Once a rare find in kitchens around the UK, the popularity of maca has exploded in the past decade. And it’s no wonder…

Maca root has a huge list of potential wellness benefits, including libido, energy, mood, and reducing menopause symptoms. You can read more on Healthline.

Magnesium

Honestly, we could rave for days and days about magnesium! It’s often recommended to help with stress tolerance, and as a night-time dose before bed to improve sleep.

Yet magnesium deficiency is thought to affect around one-fifth of the population...

Worryingly, when magnesium levels are low, the risks of multiple health issues seem to go up, including headaches, asthma, diabetes, and more.

📙 RECOMMENDED READ: World Sleep Day

Pantothenic Acid

Pantothenic acid (also known as Vitamin B5) has been linked to the main stress centre in the body — the hypothalamus.

It supports the adrenal glands to regulate cortisol, and may even be able to stop cortisol levels from becoming too high during times of stress.