Adrenal Testing
If you are feeling tired and exhausted, wake up feeling like you haven't had enough sleep or have difficulty getting to sleep then adrenal testing may provide some clues. Here's why....
Adrenals and energy levels
Your energy levels and your ability to get to sleep are highly dependent on adrenal gland and brain health.
​
Your adrenal glands make cortisol and adrenaline based on signals received from the brain in response to stress.
​
When poor diet and/or stress, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, financial is excessive, constant or long term, the adrenals can no longer respond effectively to the barrage of signals coming from the stressed out brain. Cortisol in particular is now not being secreted at the right time in the right amount and this in turn will have dramatic effects on your energy levels on waking and throughout the day as well as your ability to get to sleep and even your immune system's capacity to effectively fight colds and flu.
​
This disputed communication between the brain and the adrenals that affects cortisol production, used to affectionately be called adrenal fatigue. Whilst catchy and dramatic, the correct and revised term is HPA dysfunction. Not nearly as sexy but more accurate since the H stands for Hypothalamus, P for pituitary gland, both in the brain and involved in signalling the, A for adrenals.
Basic adrenal testing
The basic, mainstream adrenal test is a salivary test, done in the comfort of your home at 4 different times of the day to assess cortisol production. In a healthy person, cortisol is meant to be high in the morning so you have great energy on waking. As the day goes on, cortisol production naturally decreases so that by late afternoon, evening, cortisol levels have lowered so that you are easily able to get o sleep. However, in a tired or exhausted person, cortisol levels may be low in the morning, making it difficult to get out of bed, whilst evening cortisol may be high, making it difficult to get out of bed. Testing allows us to the see your cortisol pattern and determine the appropriate lifestyle and dietary changes as well as key supplements and herbs that will help restore balance.
​
Comprehensive adrenal testing
The extensive adrenal test called the CAR (cortisol, awakening response) includes the testing of cortisol four times in the day as well as additional morning samples to assess your response to waking for the day. This is considered to be like a mini stress test for the body and reflective of your ability to handle stress in general. Again your results will help with providing specific lifestyle, dietary and supplement recommendations to help improve your energy, resilience and ability to respond to stress.
​
Next steps
If you would like to find a solution to your low energy and fatigue, book a consultation and let's get you feeling good again!
​
​
​
​
​