If you’ve ever felt that unrelenting, bone-tired fatigue, I’m sharing my framework and tips for getting back to an optimal state.
Have you ever felt that unrelenting, bone-tired fatigue? Between healing from a parasitic infection, supporting my mom with her cancer diagnosis, and celebrating my daughter’s engagement, I have not felt this tired since 2017. Because I’ve experienced adrenal fatigue in the past, I want to share my framework and tips for getting back to a regulated, optimal state.
First and foremost, we have to look at the thoughts and beliefs that we have about our fatigue. It’s normal to resist it, feel shame about it, or just plain hate it. In my experience, once you start to express gratitude for your body and its internal messaging system, it creates a welcoming environment for healing.
In this episode, I highlight certain lifestyle and diet factors that tend to trigger adrenal fatigue, including poor sleep hygiene, nutrient deficiencies, and exercise patterns. I share simple steps that help address those factors and support your journey to feeling energized again.
Listen in to learn more about adrenal fatigue and how to heal from it.
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Dana Frost 00:07
Welcome to Vitally You, a podcast created to introduce you to the tools that will be your roadmap for feeling younger while growing older. I'm your host Dana Frost, a wellness expert, life coach and energy medicine practitioner. Here's what you can expect conversations about vitality from the inside out with guest experts in the field of health, culture and spirituality, and solo episodes along the way from me where I do deep dives into the topics of aging, heart intelligence, energy, medicine, and your innate capacity to heal. If you want to feel younger, while growing older, this is the place for you.
Dana Frost 00:53
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Vitally You Podcast. I'm Dana Frost, your host and I am coming to you direct this week for an intimate conversation about what's happening in my life. And I think that most of you are going to be able to relate. But first I want to invite you to our retreat that I am co hosting April 14 and 15th and you will be able to join from the comfort of your home. Now if you need support and inspiration coming out of winter, please come rejuvenate, restore and refuel with us. The weekend is going to be split up with five different healing practitioners sharing their best tips and tools. I am going to be teaching through the functional nutrition model. And this is going to be very practical, it is an excellent opportunity for you to create an inventory of your health through the functional lens.
Dana Frost 01:50
Rachael White has organized the event you might remember Rachel from Episode 40 she shared the power of floral essences she actually grows, distills and creates all of her own floral essences. Her business is Totem. I think it's called totem, um, something to do with Totem. Now Rachel is considered the skeptical shaman and Rachel is going to facilitate a guided shamanic journeying meditation to connect the attendees with their totem animals and learn how to integrate totem animal work into their spiritual practice. If you've never experienced a shamanic journey, or work with a shaman, really, you are not going to want to miss this. I had my first shamanic journey. Let me see, I think it was maybe 2010. And I had my first animal encounter when I was living in Brazil. I don't know if I've ever shared my bat encounter.
Dana Frost 02:53
I don't think I have I'll have to share that on another episode. But if you've never just really learned about the energy and medicine of that comes to us from animals. This is really going to be an well just an exciting opportunity. There is a practitioner who will be facilitating a session focused on the major astrological transits coming the spring and their impacts on our individual and collective energies. As we emerge from hibernation. She's also going to provide key tips and tricks for the upcoming season. There's another practitioner who's going to be sharing how to harmonize the nervous system through nutrition, herbs and rituals connected to the spring season. So everybody is going to be relaxing and invigorating. And I hope that I will see you there. So back to the podcast. Welcome to this week. Thank you for tuning in.
Dana Frost 03:46
To be honest, I am really tired and I am so tired that I didn't publish an episode last week. There are a lot of things going on. In my life. My mom has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, it's highly treatable with radiation and I will be in Missouri next week supporting her and being with her. If you follow me on social media, you probably know that my second daughter got engaged last weekend and we are so thrilled for her and her fiance. We had a beautiful weekend of festivities. But when it was all over, I'd have to tell you, all I could do was realize recognize and feel my fatigue. And I've been trying to recuperate this week. But I'll tell you it led me to just really think about this community and how many of you have ever felt that bone tired fatigue that is unrelenting? I know there are going to be some of you who can relate.
Dana Frost 04:49
And if you've never had an intimate experience with fatigue this episode may not be for you or maybe it is so that you can relate to the people in your life who experience fatigue To be honest, I have not felt this tired since 2017 When I had a marriage crisis. Now I do have a history with adrenal fatigue, it goes back to my health crisis in 2011, it took me two years of healing to restore my energy. I want to fast forward to 2021 When I started using my lifewave patches, and I started to feel like I felt before my health crisis, it was just amazing. In 2021, I started to have this very strong sustained level of energy. And the energy that I felt from using the patches is actually the main reason I decided to become a brand partner with LightWave. So I asked myself, Why am I now feeling so much fatigue after a long period of time with sustained energy? Why am I so tired? I know that if you've ever felt fatigued, you're you ask yourself the same question. And if you're still listening, I'm sure that you've asked yourself this question, because you're thinking I want some support with this.
Dana Frost 06:07
So I have a few ideas and tips for healing fatigue, and I'm really excited to share them with you today. So this episode is for you, if you've ever felt fatigued, I see you and I intimately understand your struggle. If you've ever felt fatigued, and resisted it, and by this, I mean, you push through it, you ignore it, you keep on keeping on. I've been that person, if you've ever felt fatigued and hated it, and by this, I mean, you would judge it as wrong. You don't accept it. And by rejecting it, you are rejecting a very real, raw part of yourself that is asking to be seen and not silenced. Yes, I've been that person. Maybe you've been that person. If you've ever felt fatigued, and you are embarrassed by it. For example, why can I just feel energized? Like, fill in the blank? Why can I feel energized, like fill in the blank? And for me, that is my Energizer Bunny of a husband. Yes, he's felt fatigue, but never, never fatigue that a night's rest doesn't solve.
Dana Frost 07:23
So this feeling of being embarrassed by it, it's that sense of what's wrong with me that I feel fatigued. That has definitely been me. Has that been you? Have you ever been embarrassed by your fatigue? And where can you see yourself in in many of these narratives. Let's go through them again, fatigued and resisting it fatigued and hating it and judging it fatigued and embarrassed by it. Well, I want to flip these beliefs for you today. Okay, instead of resisting it, embrace it, rest. My one, I will say one of my mentors and rest in peace, Rob Berkeley, convinced me and he was right that my body would not heal unless I allowed it to rest. So my healing crisis was 2011. And this was spring of 2012. Right after I received my lab work that showed adrenal fatigue. And I was meeting with Rob, and he gave me that very wise information, that until I rested, my body would not heal, because rest is the antidote to fatigue.
Dana Frost 08:37
Your body only heals in resting mode. Okay, flipping the judgment, and just the hating of it. Instead of judging it, embrace it, allow it, we cannot treat our bodies like a workhorse. The body needs an on and off switch. It needs rest as much as it needs work and play. And it is kind enough to tell you that it's tired. So fatigue is signaling from the body. And it's asking you to pay attention. And it's saying I'm giving you this message, I'm tired, could you reciprocate that kindness, and give me some rest. So instead of judging it, embrace it, allow it don't resist it. And listen to that communication from your body and give it the rest that it needs that it's asking for instead of feeling embarrassed by it or feeling like something is wrong with you. instead ask what's right with me instead of what's wrong with me what's right with me.
Dana Frost 09:48
I'm actually if you can feel the fatigue, you are feeling what's actually happening in your body and that means you are embodied. So what I see Eat. And what I know is true for me is that I was living outside of my body, most of the time I was living in my head, and I was living in my thoughts instead of feeling what was happening in my body, I'll never forget being in my life coach training. And Dr. Martha Beck called me to the carpet in terms of what was happening in my body and what the messages my body was sending me. And I just was very disconnected to the signaling from my body. So if you're actually feeling it, this is actually a very good sign. Because you have an advantage, you can feel what's happening in your body. And if you cannot feel it, you cannot heal it, we cannot heal that which we cannot feel. So those are the narratives and the way that we can flip them.
Dana Frost 10:54
And I am acutely aware that fatigue is very tricky. I will never forget, after my pacemaker was implanted fall of 2011, I was going to different doctors to figure out why am I still so tired? Why do I feel like I have to drag myself off the ground just to get through the day. Every single doctor, I went to the cardiologist, the endocrinologist and my gynecologist, every single one said, Ah, well, fatigue is so hard to diagnose, actually, my electrophysiologist that was all in my head. And I know there are those of you out there who can relate to that they've heard the doctor tell them, it's in your head. So, fatigue is hard to diagnose, because there are many potential causes. And it's really hard to know where it's coming from. And this is where you get to take dominion over your health, because you are the one who's with yourself 24/7. And I had to self educate myself, to actually learn that, number one, rest is always the protocol.
Dana Frost 12:09
And actually, none of those doctors told me to rest. I think that many of you have heard me say that my gynecologist prescribed antidepressants. The endocrinologist who knew I was pre diabetic, basically said, wait until you're diabetic, I mean, seriously. And the cardiologist basically said, Well, your heart function is fine. And as I said, the electrophysiologist said, it's all in my head. So I had to just really go to work. And also, when I finally found the integrative internist to eventually diagnosed me with adrenal fatigue, but before I got to her, because that was like five months later, I had to begin educating myself. And where I want to guide you is to really appreciate that we have to look at our stress level, we have to be able to evaluate is my stress real? Or is it imagined? And we know we need to look at our mindset, what's happening in our thoughts, really determines how weird metabolizing and dealing with the stress in our life. And just importantly, what I had to begin to look at was my gut health and my glucose metabolism.
Dana Frost 13:25
And you know, from a health perspective, we always want to start with the gut, we want to clean up the gut, you know, you'll start to see more clearly other contributing factors. If there are any, once you start clearing up, gut dysbiosis. So if you are fatigued, really get quiet with yourself and be honest, what are the contributing factors? So for me, there was some mental stress and mindset that I needed to clear up and eventually I really did need to look at what was happening in my gut I had when I finally did the analysis, I had parasites I had Candida. I had h pylori, there was a lot going on in my gut health and we already know because I was pre diabetic that there was the glucose metabolism issue.
Dana Frost 14:15
So you know, we really want to make that list and I made my most recent list and if you've been tuning in, you know that I've been clearing parasites, and this can make you very tired. And then so I knew that that was a contributing factor, but I also something you don't know is that I found mold and fungus to go along with the parasites. So not only have I been treating parasites, I've been using an herbal remedy that helps to clear both parasites and mold and fungus. So as you can see, it is totally natural that I would be feeling fatigued. When you know when you understand and you've got the you know, you can sit down and really look at what's going on. You can do that. revaluation, it really allows you to lean in to being restful, and doing the things that need to be done so that your body can heal. So let me just go through some things that might be on your list.
Dana Frost 15:14
Okay? Excessive activity or sedentary lifestyle. So, this is one metric that I like to encourage people after a workout. If you feel energized for hours post workout, that's perfect, then you are working in your in a zone that's really feeling for your body. However, if you feel tired an hour or two, after working out, you're pushing yourself too hard for the state that your body is currently in. Now, when I was healing from Adrenal Fatigue, leading up to adrenal fatigue, I was doing bootcamp at 530 in the morning, twice, two to three times a week, I was very, very tired, I did not have the knowledge that that workout was actually working against me. Your body reads intense workout a stress, there's nothing wrong with that unless your body is already depleted. Okay, so you want to look at your activity level. If you are if you have a sedentary lifestyle, and you're not moving, you're going to be sluggish, you're going to be tired. And in that case, you need to begin to move your body.
Dana Frost 16:22
Okay, now, the next one, sleep dysregulation and or poor quality sleep, sleep apnea might be involved. We also don't like to think about this, but excessive weight impacts your sleep. Excessive weight is a significant contributor to sleep apnea, and metabolic chaos and diabetes, excessive weight contributes to fatigue. So we do want to look at the quality of your sleep. We also want to look at your sleep hygiene. What are you doing in the evening to prepare your body for sleep? I'll mention that a little bit later as well. I'll dive into that. But so another thing that might be on your list would be high alcohol or sugar intake, those are going to impact your sleep. Stress. As I already mentioned, it is a major contributor to fatigue. So you want to look at what's the load, how much stress do I have? Is it acute? Is it chronic? Am I working and caring for my family members, whether they're young children or parents, stress will make you very, very tired.
Dana Frost 17:30
So you've got to take an honest look at your stress. Depression will make you tired, anxiety will make you tired. So mood dysregulation, those are going to be contributors to fatigue, nutrient deficiencies are something else that might be on your list. How are your B vitamins? How's your magnesium? What about your vitamin D, your iron, your and your c these are nutrient deficiencies that can impact your fatigue. Processed foods are not going to provide the nutrients your body needs for fuel. So are you getting your leafy greens, an assortment of vegetables and fruits. And if you have, if you have sensitivities to food, they will make you very tired. So think about this. If you're tired after you eat, there's something that you're eating that's weighing your body down you you want to feel energized after you eat. If you feel like taking a nap, then it would be very important to do an analysis of food sensitivities.
Dana Frost 18:35
Your body needs fuel for food excuse me for fuel. So if you aren't getting enough carbohydrates, if you're under fueling yourself with food, you may be very tired. A lot of people avoid carbs when actually we need carbs for fuel. Okay, another one would be too much caffeine. If you're having too much caffeine you're gonna have and your body is sensitive to caffeine, you may get very tight, you may have that initial splurge and energy and then you'll have a dip. So be thinking about caffeine that might be on your list. Dehydration, are you getting enough water really do a little inventory? What's your hydration level? Are you a shift worker, if you're a shift worker, you may be having some issues with fatigue. The body likes to be in rhythm with daylight and nighttime.
Dana Frost 19:28
So shift workers can really have an issue with this as well. We might have health conditions and I will list a few but it's not limited to hypothyroidism heart conditions, adrenal fatigue and cancer. Those conditions will make you tired. So what's on your list? I want you to make a list and I would love to hear from you. What are you seeing where fatigue is involved in your life? Now I have very good news for you. You can heal from fatigue. I certainly do. did. So let's talk about a framework for healing fatigue. First we need to, and I get this from my functional nutrition teacher Andrian Akiyama, we need to clear the Muddy Waters. What do I mean by this? So one, the way you know the list doing that inventory of why you might be feeling fatigue, just making that list will allow you to begin to see more clearly when the waters are muddy.
Dana Frost 20:26
We just don't even know what we're dealing with. So we've got to look at inflammation dysbiosis. So for me way back when I had my health crisis, I had to clear H. Pylori, which is a bacteria in the gut, I had to clear the parasites. I had to clear the Candida I had to look at the stress. These are big variables that need to be cleared in order for us to see what else might be going on. We also want to just clear the Muddy Waters and our mindset get clarity about our life situation and our mindset around stress. We've talked a lot about that. And so really being honest with yourself about that the mindset, you want to create a movement strategy that works for you. So when I had my health crisis, yoga was gentle yoga, I will say more of a restorative yoga and walking around really light strength training were the movement strategies that worked for me.
Dana Frost 21:26
But I have to say, really, walking is just such should not be underrated in terms of how it really helps you heal from fatigue. You want to look at your nutrition and hydration. So if you're healing fatigue you ideally you would cut alcohol and sugar and processed foods, you would determine if caffeine is working for or against you. You would take an honest look at the quality of your sleep and your nighttime hygiene. So when I say nighttime hygiene are you getting? How much screentime Are you getting? In the hours when the sun goes down before you go to bed? Is there late night snacking? Are you drinking? What's happening in those hours after the sun has gone down before you go to sleep, you really ideally want to sync up your rhythm with nature. And that means rising with the sunrise and quieting your life down with a sunset. Another framework for healing is plant medicine, plant medicine can provide a tremendous amount of gentle support when you're dealing with fatigue. And this comes in the form of adaptogens.
Dana Frost 22:41
So adaptogens are plants that are grown under difficult, natural environments. And because of that these plants help our body to adapt. So if you I'm just remembering there was an episode with China rose on herbal remedies, I will place that in the show notes. So that you have that one she does talked about, she does address adaptogens there are many different adaptogens. And this is really just to highlight that that is one framework for healing a way that you can support yourself. Okay, so let me give you a few simple hacks for daytime fatigue and just simple things you can do when you're healing fatigue. Number one, you really want to check your protein. So let me tell you a story when I had postpartum depression with my first child. And by the way, I didn't have it with my subsequent deliveries because I learned that oh, I'm breastfeeding. I need a good amount of protein early in the day and at lunch.
Dana Frost 23:49
So I fortunately I went to a mental health counselor for postpartum depression. She had me take some different tests. And then in the evaluation, she asked me about my nutrition and we realized I was just mostly eating easy carbs in the morning. I mean, up until you know dinner, I really wasn't getting a lot of protein. And so I had this very dark, deep dive in the afternoon. And you'll be very surprised to learn adding protein in was the ringer for me and healing my postpartum depression getting protein early in the morning and at lunch. So you do want to look at protein early in the day. Another simple hack, stand up and move your body do a full body shake out. Do circles with your hips and circles with your arms. Drink a glass of water I always tell my clients if you're feeling tired, go stand up.
Dana Frost 24:45
Go get a glass of water and drink a full glass of water. A Bonus Tip Add citrus essential oils into your water or add a squeeze of a lemon or a squeeze of a lime or a bite of an orange or a squeeze of an orange or defuse essential oils in your room. Let me say that lavender oil diffused in a study out of Japan actually increased productivity in the office setting, because lavender calms the nervous system, but actually gives you the energy to be productive. Okay, so the simple hacks would be, check your protein hydrate, stand up, move your body, add in some essential oils. And finally, I want to touch on the lifewave light therapy patches because they have a tremendous impact on fatigue, because they actually restore the body's ability to heal itself. And our energy enhancer patches, they activate the body at a cellular level. So the way that I envision it, it's like putting jumper cables on your body's cells, and telling yourselves wake up and get going.
Dana Frost 25:59
They're very, very powerful. If you want to learn more about the patches, please let me know because I would love to share them with you. And you could also tune into Episode Seven with Dame Sondra, this kind, the episode is activate abundance. And we do talk about patch technology. In that episode, I have another episode for you to reference, and that is episode 46 With Stephanie graves, and that episode is called what is adrenal fatigue and chronic sympathetic activation, you're gonna want to go back and listen to that episode revisited. Because there's a lot of helpful information for anyone who has beyond simple fatigue, I will put the links to those shows in the show notes. And I want to end by encouraging you to listen to the messages your body is sending you, your body is communicating with you 24/7.
Dana Frost 26:54
And fatigue is a way the body communicates as I mentioned earlier, what is your body trying to ask of you through the fatigue, it could be waking you up to so many different things. As I said, there can be so many different root causes of fatigue. And you can it's not beyond your ability to dig deep and understand what's underneath the fatigue. But remember, the body heals when it's in resting mode. And so first and foremost, if you're tired, the body's asking for some rest. Or I would say if you have a sedentary lifestyle, it actually might be asking you to move. But open up that dialogue with your body and give your body what it needs. So that it can heal. And then it can help you serve your mission on planet Earth. A soul that is connected with the communication with the body so your body is your earth suit. I know I've said that before the body is your earth suit. It's how you're able to move about and fulfill your mission on planet Earth. When we listen to the body.
Dana Frost 28:06
And we're in sync with the body we are unstoppable. Hey, everybody, thank you for joining me this week on the vital you podcast. I have one special request for you. I would love to see a few new reviews. It's been a while. If you've never left a review, would you consider giving me a gift and leaving one on Apple you can do that. I know that people say it's so confusing how to leave a review. So if you just go to my show, and you'll see you'll see some stars, you know it gives the show description you'll see some stars just keep scrolling down through the episodes and then you'll come you'll scroll upon a few reviews. If you stop there, you'll be asked to leave a review you'll you'll leave your stars and then you can actually leave a review. That would be really wonderful. And on Spotify, you can rate the show with stars. So thank you so much for joining me this week on the vital you podcast. I look forward to being together next week. Thank you for your patience as I took a pause on posting an episode last week and as always, I am streaming love from my heart to yours