Maintaining fitness of a lifetime, and better health - Overtraining & Adrenal Fatigue (Part 4)

By looking at the skin tone of a person, one could tell if he or she spend most of the time indoor or outdoor. Fair skin individuals, tend to be deficient in sun exposure as well as Vitamin D level too. Why spending good amount of time outdoor during day time is critical? How does sunlight exposure matters to health and even related to fitness? 

Imagine, a person who is awaken before the sun rise, headed to the studio set and work all day indoor, exposing to bright lights. At the same time, it's raining outside during the day, with moderately bright sunlight during showers. Study has shown that exposure to bright sunlight after 30-60 mins upon awaken from sleep during morning, will initiate the 'cortisol awakening response'. Meaning, the circadian rhythm kick start for that day itself, to initiate a supposedly proper rhythm for day and night cycle. Exposure to natural strong sunlight for just minutes in the morning, triumphed the strong artificial lights indoor for the entire day. 

A typical individual who head to work early in the morning, being transported by car or commuter, generally lack of sunlight exposure and intensity, losing the ability to kickstart the circadian rhythm for the day itself. If any of you have tried before, spending time outdoor in the morning or daytime during summer or hot weather, you tend to be able to fall asleep earlier in the night, and achieve quality sleep during night time. The cortisol and melatonin cycle is crucial, as part of hormonal cycle and without distressing the adrenals.

Not getting enough time outdoors during the day or living in a place far from equator where there are more dark hours than sunlit ones especially in the winter time can alter melatonin secretion. Bear in mind, if your melatonin is low, your sleep is going to be lousy. Lack of REM sleep, then you may not dream, which is actually necessary for your mental health. Poor sleep, poor recovery, poor fitness. Apart from that, there are also some sleep medications may interfere with quality restorative sleep. 

As you may wonder, after pulling an all nighter staying awake or flying across multiple timezones, you fall sick a day or two after that. Melatonin primes your immune function and thus, stimulates inflammation, while cortisol tends to dampen immunity and reduce inflammation. That's how these two chemicals work together in a modulatory pattern. Cortisol is not the villain here, and there is no bad guys nor good guys, as each different chemical or hormones in the body play it's own important role to ensure the body function optimally.

For people who suffer from insomnia or any sleep related problems, it would be ridiculous to think that it is due to deficiency in sleeping pills. For some, taking melatonin supplement may help for short term aid of making one sleep better, but this is not recommended for long term fix. Even for any holistic protocol or approach towards insomnia or similar sleep related disorder, relying on melatonin supplement could make the condition worst if prolonged application. Reason? It disrupt the natural rhythm of the body ability to regulate circadian and potentially disturbs the integrity of the pituitary gland. Bear in mind, oral melatonin typically does not cross the blood brain barrier and can down regulate endogenous melatonin from being produced in the brain, which is needed for healthy detoxification there. If one feels better and can sleep well after taking melatonin supplement, it is likely you have leaky brain! Both good and bad news at the same time.

As for some naturopathic doctors or practitioners, they may recommend or prescribe at bioidentical hormones, but it should not be used as a long term fix for any hormonal depletion or dsyregulation. it does not matter if you are 30's or 60's. It will impact on your circadian rhythm, but for some patients, a quick short term application could help them in various ways.

For many years, I've personally known may people including fitness enthusiasts and even personal trainers, who live on processed foods or refined carbs diet, and burning off their adrenals even further by performing exercises which flood the body with elevated cortisol production. Some may think that as long as I can run 5 km daily for the last 8-10 years, or having the ability to do Crossfit day in day out, I'm healthy and fit. That is just another sign of these individuals shooting their adrenals from all possible angles.

There is virtually no way for the body to make seratonin and melatonin for bedtime, if you are bombarding yourself with junk loaded garbage. Eating primarily carbs or sugars from grains, wheat and processed or fast foods will inhibit the conversion of tryptophan to these crucial neurotransmitters. One may think that they can fall asleep when they hit the bed at 1 or 2am. Remember, it is not because of ideal levels of melatonin produced by the body, but it is the exhausted adrenals from the daytime stressors which drained the energy levels and flat you out entirely.

Try choose a random workday, you will notice many people around your workplace gulping down soft drinks, coffee (the green logo cup), and teas (caffeinated) just to keep the energy going at office, those will accompanied with carbs loaded lunch and breakfast, as the cravings and dependency on sugar, gluten and caffeine become bad to worst overtime. Buying fake energy with these stimulants during the day, will knock off your adrenals, and for the ones who is chronically stressed out from other factors such as job, relationship and family issues, this is a big whopping nail in the coffin.

We have more people who suffer from depression and sleep disorders then ever before. With the increase of sleeping pills and SSRI prescriptions for 'zombies' and depressive patients, the rates of these disabilities are on a record high, and it does not tally with the overly prescribed drugs for these conditions. The rates of depression should be all time low, and we should see more people hitting REM sleep with less insomnia cases. But why it's the opposite instead? It just doesn't make any sense at all.

Meanwhile, below are some of the simple things you can do, for a better restorative sleep, and without most nights of quality sleep, there is no way your immune system can reach it's maximum healing potential.



What to do before bedtime?

- No work nor any electronic devices usage by 9pm (or at least an hour before bedtime).
- Switch off all wireless devices and set mobile phone to airplane mode (wireless router, radio, etc)
- Avoid caffeinated beverages in the afternoons
- Avoid odd hour shift work or late night outings
- Ensure adequate amount of protein (animal based) during dinner
- Try add a tablespoon of coconut oil with dinner, or before sleep
- Drink tulsi herb (tea form) instead of melatonin supplement, before bedtime.

Maintaining fitness of a lifetime, and better health - Overtraining & Adrenal Fatigue (Part 3)

What if the body's stress adaptation system becomes malfunction? What if adrenal dsyfunction is not necessarily the result of one thing, but can be caused by many different factors? Is adrenal dysfunction necessarily progressive in nature?

As many of us go through our daily lives for countless days, months and years, how much do we really realize the impact of stress to our health and body? Some of us suffer from chronic stress, for others, the adaptation system for stress becoming less and less functional, and eventually broke down somewhere along our lifespans. From regular partying when we were in high school and college, to eating crap diet most of our lives, and enduring stressful job and relationships, how much do we all know about adrenal glands? The very vital crescent-shaped glands that sit on top of each kidney like a cap. Small glands with huge job, imagine these little glands need to secrete chemical messengers that communicate with our brains, immune system and metabolism for our entire lives! 

Firstly, let's get to know cortisol a little better. Although this stress hormone is not as popular as adrenaline, but it is vitally important for a long list of functions in our body. It influences macronutrients metabolism, but if abused in excess, cortisol can lead to metabolic disorder and immunosuppression. This primary stress hormone is largely catabolic in nature, meaning, it generally breaks things down. However, a minimum amount of cortisol is needed for certain anabolic or building, functions such as gut repair. It counteracts inflammation. It can also increases fatty acids in the bloodstream to be used as fuel for energy. 

For whoever concern about mood and emotional stability, this particular hormone plays a crucial role. Chronic cortisol secretion inhibit seratonin (happy hormone), GABA (anti-stress neurotransmitter), and deplete your reproductive sex hormones too. When one is often depressed or feels stressed out, GABA and seratonin are the primary neurotransmitters which drop low whenever the brain perceive as stress as cortisol pouring out day in day out, further depleting anti-oxidants levels and stealing sex hormones too.

As how humans have evolved, cortisol help the body cope with emergency by increasing blood sugar level. The liver undergo a process called gluconeogenesis through protein mobilization from peripheral tissues that are converted to glucose. Bear in mind, cortisol is neither good or bad, but it has been made villain by the medical industry. This vital hormone needs to be present in the right amount at the right times to be optimally beneficial to the body. In other words, a healthy rhythm, or some may call it circadian rhythm.

I remember many people asked me "How do I know if my cortisol hormone is regulating optimally?" Firstly, your cortisol level is normally highest in the morning when you first wakes up. If you have to drag your butt off the bed to awaken yourself, that's a sign of adrenal fatigue, or exhausted adrenals. Over the course of the day, cortisol secretion eases and reaches at its lowest point when the darkness increases and during bedtime (9 to 10pm). As one stays awake late at night, your body will perceive as summer or daytime, and cortisol secretion continue to pour out, suppressing melatonin (sleep hormone). The entire hormonal pathways will be affected directly, causing dsyregulation of insulin, ghrelin, leptin and sex hormones.

Throughout the night when we sleep, blood sugar level drops ( in a perfect world ). But, the problem is, most people are eating a high carbs/sugar meal or dinner before they hit the bed, spiking blood sugar and triggering cortisol during sleep period. Wonder why you fall asleep and awake about one of two hours later for possibly no reason? Bear in mind, cortisol is an awakening hormone. We are suppose to have low cortisol at night and during sleep, and increase when we are awake during the sympathetic nervous system regulation.

I have personally known too many people in my life, the ones who want to achieve ideal fitness and lean body, but they scored poorly and neglected the aspect of good circadian rhythm and sleep wake cycles. The body primarily goes into repair, rebuild and rejuvenate when it is is resting mode, especially deep uninterrupted sleep. The 2 phases of repair during sleep is vital, from 10pm to 6am.

Bear in mind, a typical pattern of a circadian rhythm dsyregulation of an individual, similar to roller coaster ride. A classic example would be, the person wakes up feeling tired and exhausted, having the need to drink that cup of coffee or tea to get the morning started. For some, the craving for refined carbs and wheat based foods are very a dependency for breakfast. And yes, even tons of personal trainers and doctors and going through this unrealized adrenals dilemma. Bread, sugars and caffeine,  appear to be a norm for most part of the globe, and we are shooting our adrenals even further, as breakfast may well kick-start the 'vicious cycle' for that particular day. For someone who suffer from circadian rhythm dsyregulation, he or she would chronically irritable and agitated, emotionally reactive and having problem winding down at night, and restless when sleep. These type of people, tend to have trouble managing stress in their lives.

This type of circadian rhythm need to be taken seriously and addressed aggressively with diet, and nutrition protocols and support. Dependent on stimulants such as sugars, gluten, alcohol, nicotine and caffeine is definitely not the solution. In fact, these stimulants will destroy your hormones and making the adrenals even more fatigue with prolonged consumption. The 'fake energy' is brief and damaging to the body, not to mention extremely addictive especially coffee and gluten-based foods (wheat) and of course, SUGAR, arguably the no.1 public enemy in terms of health and weight gain.

As for these individuals, they are primarily sugar burners, and have low tolerance to of blood sugar swings. They rely on sugars as primary source of fuel, and I meant simple/refined sugars. You may be asking, how would I know if I'm a sugar burner? It's simple. Try eat a meal primarily consist of fats and perhaps moderate amount of protein, and virtually zero carbs. Once your feel full after the meal, and if you crave for sugars or carb-based foods, you are most likely insulin-resistance and sugar burner. It doesn't matter honey, fruits, starchy vegetables, grains or processed sugars, your brain will still perceive as sugars.

Now, let's shift gear and visit the gym. When we hit the gym, or perform any form of exercise or even play sports, our body breaks down into a catabolic state. Doesn't mater resistance training or running marathon, the longer the body undergo stress (physical), your brain sends signals to the adrenal to secrete cortisol for survival purpose. Wonder why your feel weaker after every set of doing bench press or squat? You get weaker after every rep and set as the workout routine prolonged.

As the main focus for most people is on weight loss or building a nicer toned body, most of us fail to listen to our body, thus, in most cases, endocrine pathway goes haywire, and the body release way more stress hormone then other beneficial hormones when it comes to exercise or 'workout'. In a nutshell, we are hurting our body physiologically and physically too.

Maintaining fitness of a lifetime, and better health - Overtraining & Adrenal Fatigue (Part 2)

The term adrenaline, comes to mind when one experience scenarios such as roller coaster ride or perhaps being chased by a stray dog. But, in fact, cortisol is really our primary stress adrenal hormone. It has huge variety of influences. It response to stress, involve in carbohydrates, protein and fat metabolism, it is also a catabolic hormone. Most fitness enthusiasts and gym rats know what anabolic is, and in this case, it is the opposite, which means breaking things down. But, we do need a low amount of cortisol for function such as repairing the gut and address inflammation. It is a true blood sugar hormone, and our  adrenals release cortisol when we are in a state of surival mode, flight or fight situation. Our body goes for the rocket fuel because it may think that we are under threat and the need to outrun or fight off a predator. 

In the modern society,  people stressed out in their lives, blood sugar can be chronically elevated, and for most elite athletes, cortisol level is chronically high, peak output is a stressful thing to do. High ortisol equally to elevated blood sugar and vice versa. In the world of  'dreaming of 6 pack abs' body or getting the physique of a bodybuilder or even fitness models, we have officially raise the 'cortisol bar' of new stress standard. Many of us self abused our body physically and hormonally. Think of burning a candle faster then what it should be, your adrenals are taking the hit round the clock. 

Some of you may have a considerable clean diet, but constantly thrashing your body in the gym or training for marathon or trialthon may well age you faster, increase gut permeability, damaging brain cells (BDNF), and always set your sympathetic nervous system ON, while enabling your body in a catabolic state. In a perfect world, it releases in a rhythmic pattern,  high in early wee hours, and lower when the sun is setting down, and lowest when darkness increase with very minimal light. We should be able to get a good night sleep, but more and more people are now suffering from insomnia, either difficulty to fall asleep, or poor interrupted sleep during the night. Sleep is as vital as your exercise and diet routine, and if your body is contantly in catabolic stressed out mode, it will lose the ability to cope with recovering and repairing itself, thus, more damage then doing good. 

Well, some of you may wonder, how can I measure my stress hormone cortisol? Would the standard blood test tell me anything? Think of watching a movie teaser of maybe 60 seconds. Would you be able to know the entire story and what's happening to your circadian rhythm or adrenals health? Of course not. You may do a salivary adrenal test (ASI), to measure salivary level of cortisol. Blood levels of cortisol serum is about 99% of protein bound and unable to be utilize by the body. So, if you are looking at the free form of cortisol level in body (done throughout the day with different time), the real time data obtained will give a much bigger picture of what's happening with your adrenals and circadian rhythm. In other words, you get to see what kind of pattern your body is operating in. You would be surprise to find out how many people are suffering from adrenal fatigue, the insomniac and the 'snooze-heavy butt' , people who have problems waking up in the morning having to drag their ass off the bed. Meanwhile, most people cortisol rhythm is out of whack during the day too, as levels go sky high in the afternoon, mainly from dependancy of caffeine and stimulants such as sugars and wheat. 

As more cafes and coffee shops are opened from time to time, we are growing into a caffeinated population. Commercially sold coffee products are high in mycotoxins and pesticides, further destroying the hormones and suppressing the immune system. Some people have the need to drink a pot of coffee just to get the morning going, and feeling irritable and agitated during the day has become so common, that we are seeing more 'bad-mood' society around us. Think of roller coaster, a similar pattern of energy all over the place. This particular person who dependant on caffeine to get the day going, are so tired and ending up unable to wind down during the night and have a restless 'high-cortisol' sleep.

Now, imagine you tired, restless, maybe partial brain-fog too, and you realize that you are on schedule to hit the gym and need to workout today. No pain no gain remember? You then ignored what your body is trying to tell you, and you guzzle down more energy drinks and coffee to get the day through, and maybe a protein shake when you are in the locker room of the gym before your RPM or LES Mills class. The cycle will keep on rolling as vicious as it gets, and your body is catabolizing itself into survival mode, infections and inflammation are brewing inside the body, and autoimmunity is just the matter of time before the alarm goes off. I'm sure you have friends or fitness buddies who often tell you that they are sick and down with flu or cold. A society of fit but sick human being. 

 In the current fitness industry, the mainstream approach is GO-GO-GO! Burn more calories and workout more regularly. Want short cut to weight loss or body transformation? Drink your shakes and add in more weight loss supplements, and don't forget, participate in marathon or daily gym sessions. We are being constantly chase by sabre tooth, lions and tigers almost 98% of the time. Human body has evolved for thousands if not millions of years, to be in a relax state of mind, which is the opposite of what we are going through right now. Perhaps the reserved 2% is used for hunting and emergency survival situations. Coming from a fitness background, myself has witness a commercially money driven industry, which not only drain and stressed out the clients adrenals and state of health, this has becoming comical in some way, which almost the entire community is buying into the whole no-pain-no-gain calories burning approach. The self-abuse paradigm is not only decreasing life-span ,quality of life and health, as our ancestors will never do things in such a way. 

Now, let me present to you Dr. Hans Selye. He was often regarded as the father of stress physiology. A brilliant endocrinologist and researcher, and was nominated close to 10 times for Nobel Prize. His findings, research and his adrenal exhaustion model are still being taught as of today, by some of the naturopathic doctors, holistic health practitioners and even clinical nutritionists. 

Dr. Hans Selye

Are you really suffering from adrenal fatigue or faulty signaling from the brain?

The model of Hans Selye proposed in 1950's seems intially logical and theoretically progresses in three stages.


1) The acute stage, in which an initial stressor causes a release of stress hormone cortisol.
2) The resistance stage, during which cortisol levels may be either high or low.
3) The exhaustion stage, in which cortisol release becomes chronically depressed due to adrenal exhaustion.

The last stage of this progression, is regarded as the last nail of the coffin. By that point, your adrenals are 'barbecued' and gone. Although Hans Selye proposed adrenal exhaustion model is right about most things, but today's researchers in the field of stress physiology may debate one or two things. Stress and adrenal exhaustion do not necessarily progress in a predictable stages. For instance, we now know that a person can go into elevated or depressed patterns of cortisol release almost overnight. A traumatic event could easily trigger this state, it doesn't matter if you are a female or male, or even at any age. Any yet for someone else, stress maybe chronic or even severe for many years, and his or her cortisol levels may never change. Unfortunately, most of the natural medicine is still in the 1950's with respect to adrenal issues. In conventional medicine, if it isn't full blown, end stage Addison's or Cushing's disease then it isn't real.


Stay tuned for next post.