QUESTION: I'm trying to find an article that will explain to me in layman’s terms how one would know physically and mentally when they are becoming fatigued.

Recommended Books:
1. How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy (encompasses it all)
2. Adrenal Fatigue in the 21st Century (mental, nutritional)
3. Muscles Testing and Function (physical)
4. Conversations with God (spiritual)

Well, let’s start by saying this: if you are intuitively wondering if you are physically and mentally fatigued, at some level you are fatigued. I would say that out of all the clients that I see here at the CHEK Institute, about 100% of my clients or people that I consult with are showing signs of fatigue. There are many factors that can contribute to this, but the main culprit is behind most of the symptoms we feel or don’t feel is stress. Stress has many faces and that can be the tough thing for people to understand. Stress is, but not only pertaining to family, relationships, and your job. Stress can be physical, electromagnetic, chemical, nutritional, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental. So if you take a look at all the above, now you can somewhat appreciate that most of our lives are surrounded by stress.

Most of the symptoms that you feel, as well as your clients present with can be traced by to a specific or many of the stressors. In life, we all have stressors but it just comes down to how we can adapt to and fight off these stressors. Someone that leads a life of the typical American is a great example of stress taking a hold of them. Our goal in life is to control our own thoughts and our own life. We can do that be simply starting to make the right choices when it comes to our health and well being. Waiting until you have a headache or any other symptom is not a good example of taking responsibility for yourself. It is equivalent to riding in a car and going straight towards a brick wall. You know you are going to hit it, but wait until after you hit it to realize the impact. Instead, you should have taken the necessary steps prior to PREVENT the crash from happening. Take the bull by the horns and start now so you will have a life that is full of health and happiness. Not a life of could of, should of, would of’s. . Since you asked about physical and mental, let me start by explaining physical stress, then mental and if you are thirsty for more you can purchase one/all the books above.

One important point that I need to discuss in regarding stress is your adrenal glands. These two tiny endocrine glands sit one atop of each kidney and are related to the Sympathetic Nervous System. They are constantly being facilitated when we are waking each morning, are eyes are stimulated by light or under times of stress (“fight or flight”). They release what are called glucocorticoids, cortisol being one of them. So, when you wake up in the morning, your cortisol levels start to rise and keep rising until about 12noon. Then they start to taper slowly downward until the adrenals stop producing this hormone around 6pm. This is when your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in releasing hormones for rest and repair. This is our natural hormonal cycle or it should be. So many people in society are constantly stressed by all the stressors I mentioned above. On top of that, they exacerbate the situations with coffee, sugar, processed foods, pasteurized milk, alcohol, over the counter/Rx meds, altered sleep/wake cycles and not enough water

Like I said above, you adrenals work under stressful situations as well. If they have to keep releasing cortisol to keep up with all the stress, eventually they become empty and drained. This is what you call adrenal fatigue. The symptoms of adrenal fatigue are very simple: trouble waking up in the morning, tired midday with a jolt of energy around 6pm, difficulty falling asleep, poor memory and concentration= fatigue.

There are many ways to test for this, but using Biohealth Diagnostics (www.biodia.com) salvia test is the easiest way. You would just have to find a CHEK NLC 2 or 3 in your area to read the results for you. As well, making sure you drink half your body weight in water per day, get to bet by 10pm and get up no earlier than 6am, eliminate all sugar, caffeine, processed foods and pasteurized milk from your diet, perform daily meditation exercises and thinking right will assist in cooling off your adrenals.

PHYSICAL STRESS:
Physical stress can be anything from sitting, standing and moving with poor posture. As well, exercising using improper technique, equipment, improper exercise selection/variables, and over exercising. Any of these will create too much stress to the musculoskeletal system, organs, and respiratory system. Having dysfunction in any other these systems can manifest itself as:
a. inverted breathing pattern causing trigger points in your accessory muscles
b. constipation
c. difficult breathing
d. joint pain/arthritis
e. muscle imbalances
f. hormonal imbalances
g. decreased immune system
h. depression
i. fatigue and much, much more!

The bottom line is that most of society does have poor posture. Learning about posture is in this world today is a simple thing to do. You can almost find it in any book or anywhere on the internet. Buying Muscles: Testing and Function by Florence Kendall is a great starting point. If you or any of your clients have poor posture, over exercise, and/or have poor exercise technique, you are creating stress within the body. As you learned above, this is one stress that can cause your adrenals to become overworked and fatigued, as well as create a myriad of musculoskeletal and visceral dysfunctio.

MENTAL STRESS:
Mental stress is a common problem in society today. What does “mental” equate to, THOUGHTS! As humans, we beat ourselves up with our thoughts. There is one big problem with this though. Our physical body is a manifestation of our thoughts. It is very simple to understand by following the Law of Cause and Effect. For everything in life or everything that happens to us in our life has a specific cause. That in turn will have an effect which most of the time in the world today is negative. I am sure you have heard of thoughts?words? deeds before. That is the same thing as the Law of Cause and Effect. Lets say you have a client coming in and you start to think in your head, “I hate this client, he/she irritates me.” Or “I am so tired right now, all I want to do is sleep.” Well, guess how your words and actions are going to be during that session with your client? I think you can figure it out. If you begin a situation or the day for that matter with positive thinking and not “stinkin thinking,” then the effect of that will be a happy, productive, efficient and healthy day. Your mind, body and soul will be able to work the way you want it to.

Most of society today tends to live their life according to others, as well as in fear of what others think. Start to take control of your thoughts today and make the right decisions because most of the time these decisions effect your life and not society’s. By eating, drinking, sleeping, moving and thinking right, you can combat your physical and mental fatigue. As well, incorporating parasympathetic (meditation) exercises into your daily routine will not only assist you in controlling your thoughts, but is another very effective way of relaxing the physical and mental body. Symptoms of mental fatigue are:
1. Poor attention span
2. Poor concentration
3. Poor memory
4. Decreased motivation
5. Stinkin Thinking

At this point, hopefully I have helped you in discovering whether or not you are physically or mentally fatigued. Begin by purchasing How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy book above and that will give you a great platform to start from. Please feel free to email me if you have further questions at jr@cttherapy.com.

Namaste!
Joshua Rubin