How Adrenal Fatigue Negatively Effects Your Emotions and Personality

The adrenal glands are the energy centers of your body, and they produce over 50 hormones that are essential for life. They play a major role in the management of stress, and release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline in response to perceived threats. Fight or flight situations were rare in our ancestral past but modern-day living exposes us to emotional and physical stressors that are practically inescapable. Ongoing, chronic stress forces the adrenalin glands into overdrive and the constant output of stress hormones can lead to adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue can cause physical and mental exhaustion and a slew of other troublesome symptoms. It can also dramatically affect your emotions and personality, in the following ways:

Adrenal Fatigue Reduces DHEA

DHEA, or Dehydroepiandrosterone, is a steroid hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands and it’s used by the body in order to manufacture androgens and estrogens. DHEA has natural antidepressant, anti-anxiety and anti-inflammatory properties.[i][ii] When the adrenal glands are fatigued, the production of DHEA declines, which can result in moodiness, emotional sensitivity, fatigue, depression, loss of libido and anxiety. Fortunately, several studies have found that supplementing with DHEA can help to reverse these symptoms and restore mental and emotional wellbeing in DHEA-deficient individuals.

Adrenal Fatigue Causes a Cortisol Depletion

Cortisol is a hormone that helps to regulate the stress response and you need cortisol in order to feel alert and emotionally balanced.[iii] When cortisol becomes low, or the adrenal glands have a reduced ability to produce cortisol, than your body will default and release adrenaline in its place. When adrenalin is released you experience a jolt of energy, but the energy is not sustainable and shortly after it’s released, you will crash and burn. This cycle can make you feel fatigued, irritable and out of balance. The sudden release of adrenalin also makes you prone to overreacting to situations and more likely to pick a fight over something that might otherwise be considered trivial.

Adrenal Fatigue Leads to Desperate Attempts to ‘Feel Normal’

Oftentimes people with emotional issues, ‘drama queens,’ and people who have to excite themselves emotionally in order to feel good, behave that way because their adrenal glands are fatigued. Although these individuals often don’t realize it, they create drama and arguments because it helps their body to release cortisol and adrenalin — in essence, they are picking fights in attempt to feel ‘normal’ again.[iv] After encountering a very serious emotional disruption, these individuals will feel temporarily better, and experience a sense of calmness, while the target of their emotional outburst is left confused and upset. This can negatively impact personal relationships, and create a vicious cycle where fights lead to grudges, and grudges lead to more fights…all of which further depletes adrenal function.

Adrenal Fatigue Can Trigger Substance Abuse

Adrenal fatigue can trigger substance abuse in two ways. Firstly, many people with adrenal fatigue will turn to caffeine in a desperate attempt to relieve emotional and physical fatigue. Unfortunately, caffeine exhausts the adrenal glands further and tolerance increases with time; eventually the stimulatory effect of caffeine is no longer experienced. This can lead adrenal fatigued sufferers to seek out more powerful stimulants such as alcohol and cocaine in a subconscious attempt to feel well again. Secondly, the tendency towards drama and picking fights often leaves the adrenal fatigued sufferer feeling guilty and/or depressed, and they may resort to alcohol or drugs in attempt to both relieve the guilt and boost their cortisol levels. The resulting substance abuse can completely transform one’s personality and trigger moodiness, anger, anxiety, depression, irritability, and irrationality.

The Good News

Fortunately, strengthening the adrenal glands is often all that is needed in order to reverse these negative emotional and behavioral patterns. When you restore adrenal health a newfound sense of happiness and wellbeing will bestow you and previously held attributes such as patience, understanding, positivity, and vitality will shine through again.

The Recipe for Adrenal Health

Consume a wholefoods, high fiber diet, void of sugar, caffeine, vegetable oil and processed, packaged and fried foods. It’s also important that you eat something small every three hours; this will help to balance blood sugar levels and prevent your adrenal glands from panicking out of fear of starvation. Make sleep and relaxation a priority, avoid negative people, laugh and do something fun that you enjoy every day. Augment the above with a nutritional supplement that contains adrenal boosting ingredients such as: Ashwagandha, Licorice Root, Dimethylglycine HCL, Cranberry Extract, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Garlic Bulb Extract, Caprylic Acid, B-Complex Vitamins, and Adrenal Cortex.

*Adrenal DMG contains a proprietary blend of clinically proven nutrients with a powerful ability to boost adrenal gland health: http://www.delgadonaturals.com/adrenal-dmg/

[i] http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/dehydroepiandrosterone

[ii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23552182

[iii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21232874

[iv] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21232874