The Dr. Lam Show
The Dr. Lam Show
The Hidden Cause of Those Daily Energy Slumps
Are you under a lot of stress? Do you struggle with morning and afternoon energy slumps? Then it might be because your cortisol cycle is unbalanced because of chronic stress. Here’s how that works and what you can do about it.
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The Hidden cause of daily energy slumps. Do you experience energy slumps in the afternoon? Or do you wake up after a night of sleep and still feel tired? Then you might really want to consider your cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that is sometimes called the stress hormone. It's excreted by adrenal glands and is responsible for a number of essential functions in your body. The most important functions that cortisol does is actually help your body deal with stress. However, however, it's also a pivotal hormone in your circadian rhythm, the natural cycle of your body that determines, you know, when you sleep and wake up. This is why abnormal cortisol levels can actually affect your energy levels throughout the day, and also how well you sleep at night. Your cortisol levels naturally rise and fall throughout the 24 hour cycle. In the morning, they rise to prompt you to get out of bed, your cortisol levels hit their peak at around six to 7am in the morning, helping you to wake up, and then steadily they gently fall throughout the day. And when you get to the evening, when you should be preparing for bed, your cortisol levels should be at their lowest, which will allow you to fall asleep. And this is opposite from the melatonin curve. Because in the morning, melatonin is very low. And then at night, melatonin production increases in your body so that it can make you sleepy. So melatonin and cortisol are basically opposites throughout the day. However, this natural rhythm can actually get very easily disrupted. Some people may have lower than normal cortisol levels in the morning, making it hard for them to wake up or and then their cortisol levels will remain low throughout the day. That's a flat curve. Okay, so that's one of the signs of adrenal fatigue. This could leave you dragging, leaving, need more need for food and coffee and sugars throughout your day, but never really feeling fully engaged or awake. You can also experience an afternoon slump, where you just run out of steam and have to rely on more stimulating items like coffee to make it through your day. Some people can actually experience a reverse curve, which means that a cortisol peaks in the afternoon or even in the early evening instead of in the morning. And so it's an opposite curve. This can cause morning and daytime exhaustion as well as sleeping difficulties. So when your cortisol levels are high at night, you can have a hard time sleeping. So that leaves you laying there awake, wired thinking about why you are going to be exhausted for the next day. Well, it comes down to the fact is that when this cortisol curve is disrupted, your energy levels can become unstable. And this can occur because of chronic, ongoing stress. Cortisol is your anti stress hormone. So during stressful periods, your adrenal glands produce more cortisol to help you meet that challenge of the stress. And once the stress is over, your cortisol is supposed to go back to normal allowing your adrenal glands to reset and rest and prepare for your next stressful event. But if you undergo chronic stress, that's different. Your adrenal glands have to produce more and more cortisol to deal with the stress that you have day in and day out. And then the natural cortisol cycle becomes disrupted, then you can get adrenal fatigue. One of the most common symptoms of adrenal fatigue is that feeling of tiredness in the morning like you can never get a restful sleep, or also afternoon slumps because of your disruption in the cortisol cycle. Unfortunately, work culture in the modern world has led people to ignore it. They cover their symptoms with caffeine or sugary food. And that's just they're just saying, Oh, I'm just so busy. That's why I'm tired. But coffee, sugary foods may not solve, they may help you feel better temporarily, give you a boost of energy. But over a long term, the solution isn't a good idea, patches the problem rather than solving it, and can also lead to weight gain, sleep problems, and maybe blood sugar issues down the line. So instead, if you're noticing that you have swings in your energy levels throughout the day, need to take them seriously. Slow down, ask yourself what's really going on? And what your body's trying to tell you. Chances are that your body wants you to focus on your adrenal health and on decreasing your stress levels. So you need to listen before your problems get really serious and start to force you to slow down. How do you supply energy to your adrenals and deal with stress, we can help you with that. So there are good nutrients that your adrenals need. For example, vitamin C, vitamin B five, that's just a very simple way to get started. But always start supplements with the help of an experienced provider and so that you do want to get your cortisol levels tested. If you're a suspect for suspecting an afternoon slump. If you need help with this, definitely contact us and we'll be able to help you as we have empowered so many people to take control of their health. Even if the doctors around you might not understand we understand what you're going through. So make sure you click the like and subscribe button if you've learned about daily energy slumps today and share it so that we can help more and more people