Colic Remedies That Work

One thing I used to find confusing was how after a bout of baby-caused terrible sleep deprivation, I would get a good night’s sleep and wake up more exhausted than when I went to bed.  I expected to be refreshed and couldn’t understand what was going on.   Through my understanding of Chinese Medicine, I finally realized that I was suffering from adrenal fatigue.

When you are chronically sleep deprived, you start running off adrenaline energy as that is all you have left.  It is akin to running your car on fumes.  Often you can be surprised by how energetic you feel, especially given how little sleep you are getting.  The energy you are feeling is not true energy, however, but the manic adrenaline energy.  Once you start to get true, deep sleep again, what happens is that you start replenishing your storehouse of true energy.  This tells your body that you no longer need to run off adrenaline.  When adrenaline stops being overproduced, you crash because, even though you might have gotten a couple of good nights of sleep, you’re gas tank is still low.  And since you no longer have the false front of adrenaline propping you up, you feel more tired than you did before.

I have had clients tell me that they liked it better when they were hopped up on adrenaline.  Understandable – it’s no fun to feel how tired you truly are.  However, the price of living off adrenaline as a long-term strategy is fairly high – burnout, stress related illnesses, chronic exhaustion.  This is no recipe for true living.  Instead, see living off adrenaline as a safety net; a way to get through when you have no other choice, such as when you are up all night, night after night, with a newborn who has colic.  But know that, as soon as possible, your body needs you to get back to the habits that build the true energy that keeps it healthy – good sleep, good food and deep breathing.  These are the processes through which deep, centered energy is created.

So if you are experiencing an adrenaline crash and are tempted to return to bad habits in order to prolong the high, don’t do it!  Give your body a chance to rebuild it’s storehouse.  In the long run, you will be far better off.