Is Your Body Asking You to Slow Down?
2019 was full of highs for me. I married my best friend and we honeymooned in Bali. I quit my day job to study my passion.
But 2019 was also the year my body said “I’ve had enough!”.
I started feeling fatigued all the time. I couldn’t move weight at the gym like I used to. Walking up stairs became laborious because my legs felt like heavy sacks of brick.
I had trouble getting out of bed and felt desperately exhausted during the day no matter how many hours I had slept.
Scariest of all, I lacked the motivation to do the things I love. I no longer recognized the sluggish, anti-social person I had become. I eventually realized I needed professional help.
Suspecting a hormonal imbalance, I asked my doctor to do some comprehensive hormone testing. We discovered a number of imbalances, including very low levels of DHEA, a hormone produced by the adrenals that notoriously affects energy levels.
Things had gotten way out of whack, and I let it happen by pushing myself too hard. The cumulative stress of the year prior was too great a load for my body to bear.
Planning a wedding, sleeping poorly, guzzling coffee to compensate, dieting, and completing high intensity workouts proved too much for me, as much as I hate to admit it even now.
The true root cause of all my problems was not my hormonal imbalances, it was the stress that caused them. Chronic stress wore down the communication between my brain and hormones and led to something called HPA Axis Dysregulation.
The HPA Axis is a complex system involving the hypothalamus, pituitary glands, and your adrenals that deals with your brain and hormones. It is a part of your stress response, and too much chronic stress wears it down and causes HPA Axis Dysregulation.
If I had taken a moment to take inventory, I would have noticed how hard it was for me to fall asleep. I would have seen how much coffee I was drinking. I would have recognized how moody and frazzled I had become. I would have felt how much the stress of my lifestyle was negatively affecting my health.
Would I have slowed down had I noticed all those red flags? Maybe not. That Ayla was committed to doing more, resting less, and making. It. Happen.
But I’ve grown since then. And I now know the importance of minimizing my stress load.
So here’s my question for you: is your body asking you to slow down? Take a minute to be honest with yourself.
Ask yourself these questions:
- When was the last time I did something for myself?
- How’s my energy? Do I rely on stimulants to make it through the day?
- How’s my sleep?
- How do I deal with stressful situations?
Although it is common to feel sick and tired, it is normal. You have what it takes to seek the help you need and make the lifestyle changes that will help you feel vibrant again. Life’s too short to settle for anything less.
