How to
Calm Your Stress and Rejuvenate Your Adrenals
What your adrenals need at physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

Adrenal problems (from insomnia to nervousness, anxiety, chronic fatigue and poor performance and concentration) reflect a sympathetic nervous system that is too excited. Hence you have to find a way to activate more your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps with natural relaxation.

What are the best natural remedies for your adrenals?

1. A good sleep pattern is the primal remedy to calm and rejuvenate your adrenals. You cannot fix your adrenals if you do not sleep well. Period.

2. Potassium is needed also to invigorate your adrenals. So make sure your potassium requirements are met through a healthy diet. Please also consider that when your potassium levels are low, your body does not handle well dairy products.

3. Vitamin B5 is also needed to strengthen your adrenals. Interestingly, when your body is low in vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), you do not handle well acidic food, which lowers it. This fact was discovered by Dr. Donald Lepore long time ago. (1)

4. Of course, the full spectrum of B vitamins is helpful to strengthen your parasympathetic nervous system, but vitamin B5 (which is often omitted in the B vitamin complexes) is key. One very good source of vitamin B5 is the super-food Royal Jelly.

5. Another popular natural remedy to calm your stress and nerves is the amino acid known as Glutamic acid, which plays an important role in your immune system, digestion, and brain health, as it may be involved in learning and memory.

6. Adaptogens are a group of natural herbal remedies that help you better handle stress and that act as a tonic for you adrenal glands. Most notable adaptogens are the Ayurvedic remedy Ashwaganda, and Rhodiola, Tulsi, Gingko Biloba, Gotu Kola, Siberian Ginseng and Schisandra are also included in this category.

What about your diet?
What diet is good for your adrenals?

Taking good natural supplements for your stress and adrenals is helpful. But you will be even better served if you could take care also of your diet. It goes without saying that you should get rid of junk food (which is usually loaded with artificial sugars, artificial ingredients, GMOs and trans fats) as much as possible.

Secondly, consider Ayurveda. Stress and nervousness in Ayurveda fall into the category of a disturbed Vata dosha. Dosha is the Sanskrit word for mind-body type and under Ayurveda there are three main doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha). The Vata dosha is made of Ether and Air, so avoid any “airy food” to stop exacerbating your nervousness. The rule of thumb to pacify a disturbed Vata dosha is to say NO to raw foods, dry foods, leafy vegetables, cold foods and frozen foods and say YES to heavy, warm, oily, moist food. Warm soups are an excellent way to pacify your Vata dosha. (2)

Of course, if you are not nervous, but angry, impatient, hateful and resented, it is a whole different story. In this case you would fall into the category of a disturbed Pitta dosha. The Pitta dosha is made of Fire and Water, so avoid any hot and pungent food because it would only increase your inner fire and your anger. So the rule of thumb to pacify a disturbed Pitta dosha is to say NO to sour foods, salty foods, spicy foods, alcohol, meat and fried foods, and to say YES to using cooling herbs, and eating salads. Salads are excellent to pacify your Pitta dosha. (3)

What about your life-style? What life-style changes are good for your adrenals?

This is the difficult part for most people who want to calm their stress and rejuvenate their adrenals, because almost everybody is programed to live a hectic life in our modern societies.

But you can start with small meaningful changes. For instance, avoid the temptation to multitask, because it exacerbates your Vata dosha. Concentrate on one single project at a time instead.

Also, try to have your meals and to go to sleep at the same time every single day. Regularity calms your Vata dosha.

Another small change is to avoid watching TV, or your computer or tablet or mobile late at night, because it will leave your mind running and will make it difficult for you to have a good sleep.

And the obvious is also true. Incorporate in your life relaxing and inspiring activities, be it walking in nature, yoga, tai chi, chi kung, dancing, cycling, swimming, etc.

Obviously, music plays an important role in healing your adrenals. Listen to inspiring, relaxing, and grounding music, like classical music, new age music, 432 Hz music, etc. You find all these genres on my music website.

What about the psychological and emotional factors behind the adrenals?

If you know Energy medicine, you will know for sure that the adrenals are governed by the so-called Circulation-Sex meridian, which is more active in the evening, between 7 and 9 PM. And this meridian, as Dr. John Diamond discovered, is altered or imbalanced usually when “you are in the midst of a long project, and it seems that the project will never be completed”, so “you sincerely regret that you ever began it.” (4)

Another typical situation that alters your Circulation-Sex meridian is when “you are thinking of a person who really turns you on, and the more you think about this person, the more excited you become.” (5) This is because the Circulation-Sex meridian also governs your reproductive glands. It is a complex meridian. And sexual tension is an emotion that lowers the energy of the Circulation-Sex meridian, as Dr. Diamond explains. This is very important because sexual tension is subliminally induced also by lots of advertisements today, as in the typical case of the pretty girl with the car ad.

A third example of a situation that causes an imbalance in your Circulation-Sex meridian is when “you find your lover with a rival and you try to figure a way of getting your lover away from the rival and back for yourself.” (6) In this case, jealousy is the emotion that triggers the imbalance.

A fourth example of an emotion that lowers he energy of the Circulation-Sex meridian is stubbornness, as when an executive refuses to even try a new pattern of operation.

In sum, the emotions of regret, remorse, sexual tension, stubbornness or jealousy can alter the energy of your Circulation–Sex meridian (and hence your adrenals) according to the findings of Dr. Diamond. (7)

As you can see, all those examples are pretty common in our modern societies, so no wonder many people suffer from adrenal disturbances.

And as Louise Hay pointed out, problems with the adrenals signal defeatism, anxiety and no longer caring for the self. This is not an uncommon pattern that people present in the modern days. (8)

Metaphysically speaking, the adrenals also reflect an inner conflict regarding your path. When some animals are lost, instead of running like crazy they stop and sit, as if to calmly find their path again or waiting to be found and rescued by other members of their crowd. In the case of humans, you also may feel “lost” in your direction and therefore your body and system reacts by slowing you down and causing you fatigue or even extreme, chronic fatigue. Hence some spiritual coaches always advice you to “find out why you are here”, in the spiritual sense of the phrase. (9) In other words, to find out your passion and purpose in life. My book "How to Find Your Passion and Purpose in Life" can help you in this regard.

This element about your path is also relevant in other severe conditions related to your adrenals. In the case of the so called Addison's disease (melanoderma, hypotension, asthenia, lumbar pain, weight loss, and digestive problems), the metaphysical explanation is an inner conflict where you “think that you have not chosen the adequate direction”, as Claudia Rainville explains. (10) For Louise Hay there is in the Addison's disease “a severe emotional malnutrition and anger at the self.”

Another condition related to the adrenals is the so called Cushing´s disease (hyper-function of the adrenals, muscular atrophy, obesity of the face, neck and trunk, plus hypertension). In this case the metaphysical explanation is an inner conflict where you feel that you “do not know how to manage your emotions and how to act” and and where you do not feel understood in your needs of affection and understanding”, as Claudia Rainville points out. (12). Coincidentally, according to Louise Hay there is in the Cushing’s disease a “mental imbalance (with) overproduction of crushing ideas (and) a feeling of being overpowered.” (13)

Now that you understand the complexity of the adrenals physically, emotionally and metaphysically, you are in good shape to make the necessary adjustments in your diet, your life-style, your emotions and your spirituality to find again the balance that your being is seeking.