Behind the Buzzword: Getting to the Bottom of Adrenal Fatigue

If you’re a healthy lifestyle human, there’s no way you haven’t heard the buzz about adrenals. “My adrenals are shot;” “I have adrenal fatigue;” “My adrenals are worn out.” Then people turn to piles of supplements to try to crash cart their adrenals back into balance. But, like, what does any of that mean? And is it a real medical malady or a health industry hallucination?

The alliterations are popping today.

You know we love a good fact vs. fiction moment; you can never have too many excuses to fall down a research rabbit hole. So we dove headfirst into the origin of the adrenal fatigue zeitgeist to find out if this is really a thing, and, if it is, what we can do to support against whatever it is that’s wearing them out so hard.

Let’s get into it.

The Shortest BIO101 Intro to Adrenal Glands

Your adrenal glands are two little triangle-shaped lumps that sit on top of your kidneys; they basically serve as a hybrid way station/deployment center for the body’s stress response system. Properly functioning adrenal glands play a key role in keeping certain hormone levels balanced. Each gland has two layers:

• The outer layer, the adrenal cortex, produces cortisol, aldosterone, and androgens, which together regulate metabolism, blood pressure, blood sugar, salt and water balance, stress response, libido, and hormonal balance.
• The adrenal medulla is the inner layer that produces epinephrine and norepinephrine — THE fight-flight-freeze hormones.

So, on a regular day, your adrenal cortex is doing the absolute most just by regulating signals and balancing levels of different chemicals. Meanwhile, your adrenal medulla is sitting ready, just in case you need to run for your life. Or talk to your ex. Same, same.

What Do People Mean by “Adrenal Fatigue?”

In the wellness sector, people use the term adrenal fatigue to describe an inferred wearing-out of the adrenal glands as a result of chronic stress. Chronic stress keeps the body in a constant state of miscommunication. The idea is that your adrenal glands are signalers, and when you just continue jamming different, chaotic, often incorrect signals in there, eventually, they won’t understand how to relay signals correctly anymore. Basically, chronic stress theoretically gaslights your adrenal glands into oblivion, and then you feel:

• Super tired, literally no matter what
• Unable to rest even when you technically slept for 12 hours
• A total inability to concentrate on anything for even a little bit
• The need to eat all the Taco Bell
• The urge to cry, laugh, and yell at your cat all at the same time

The theory, while folksy, makes sense. But unfortunately, the way the wellness world has absorbed the concept of “adrenal fatigue” is riddled with issues, especially when you start tacking on words like “severe.”

The Medical Reality of Adrenal Insufficiency

Case in point: if you walked into your doctor’s office and told them you had adrenal fatigue, the first thing they would do is ask you what you’re even talking about. It’s not a medical term nor a medical condition. What is a medical condition — a truly severe adrenal problem — is a disorder called adrenal insufficiency, which, when it’s severe enough, can be fatal. Adrenal insufficiency can be caused by dysfunction/damage in the adrenal glands themselves, the pituitary gland, and/or the hypothalamus.

But it’s like, oh, what’s so bad about not enough cortisol, right? Actually, a bunch of stuff, though. Too little cortisol and/or aldosterone means your body is unable to keep basic systems in balance. You get fatigue, low blood sugar, weakness, low blood pressure, dizziness, and chronic dehydration. And your stress response becomes so weak that you’re unable to recover from exercise, surgery, or emotional stress. If hormones drop suddenly, blood pressure can drop so low you literally d*e. It’s a real condition that has to be closely managed with medication.

That being said, people who feel they’re experiencing adrenal fatigue obviously aren’t making up their symptoms — nobody’s trying to swallow 13 smelly horse pills a day because they already feel great. So it’s not like there’s nothing going on here.

Okay, So Why Is it All Over the Wellness World?

What’s going on here is chronic stress, y’all. It’s the stressed, depressed life, and it’s everywhere every day forever. No amount of treat-yourself culture is going to cut the constant news cycles, social media, 60-hour weeks, late nights, and existential dread of well… everything. So pointing to something definite and saying, "Hey, that’s it!" That gives us a feeling of control in a world that’s completely out of calm vibes.

Plus, buzzwords sell bottles. “My adrenals are shot”, while medically non-factual, is more efficient to communicate than “My hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is dysregulated from chronic exposure to environmental stress.” And let’s be real — when a problem is widespread and semi-mysterious, put a catchy hook and instant fix in front of us, and we’ll do it — we’ll try literally anything just to not feel like sh*t for a minute.

This is where we need to be careful, and for a few reasons. First, not everyone is out here for a good reason — many companies take trends as an opportunity to fearmonger, make false claims, and create new problems, all so they can sell more stuff that doesn’t work because it was never meant to in the first place. Second, cramming 7 or 15 supplements in a day without any real confirmation that the product is quality or how each interacts with the others can end up resulting in a health crisis, or even just perpetuating the problem you’re trying to solve.

Third — and maybe the most important — what if someone does actually have adrenal dysfunction? Or another very real medical condition causing those symptoms that, if left untreated, can be just as dangerous? If the wellness world is busy conflating actual medicine with holistic wellness, there will certainly be cases where it’s doing more harm than good. If you have a suite of symptoms, go talk to your doctor; do not just assume that a supplement is safe, let alone has your best interest at heart.

Can We Calm Down & Just Talk About Stress, Please?

What’s actually happening to cause your chronic brain fog, bad mood, restlessness, and inability to shake the cold you’ve had for months is HPA dysregulation. Not cute or flashy, but true. The human stress response was not built for a post-Industrial world.

Before round-the-clock production, rampant consumer culture, and a productivity-obsessed undertone to literally every corner of every part of the day, our bodies were allowed to de-stress, biologically. Those 4 hours after work weren’t filled with TVs, advertisements, emails, or games, so your parasympathetic nervous system was able to effectively distribute its “It’s okay, let’s chill out now” signal. We’d go to sleep, actually sleep, and wake up feeling okay. Rinse and repeat. Enough time to be a human who actually enjoys existing.

But then the Industrial Revolution was like, what if we just never went home or forgot about work or stopped working even to eat or take a moment to breathe? And the US was like, yes — sounds good, will do. And now here we are.

Chronic stress means chronically raised cortisol and a parasympathetic signal so stifled that no one can hear it. Too much cortisol and epinephrine disrupt your sleep and important hormone cycles, which lowers your mood and your ability to think clearly or get motivated. Over time, this cycle hampers higher-order processes like emotional regulation and executive function. And this is where the concept of adrenal fatigue came from — you’re so tired you don’t know how to function; your adrenals must be, too. But as we’ve learned, that’s not really the case.

And as we’re about to learn, there are ways for us to help our HPA axis get back on its feet and restore our stress resilience.

Modern Stress Requires a New Approach to Fight Fatigue

No, this will not be your typical do-more-yoga-and-meditate mandate on how to de-stress. No shade — those are healthy life practices and are very useful to some. But no amount of yoga, meditation, consistent workout schedule, or nutritious diet is going to stop your kid from calling you at 1 am to come get them from the sleepover because they threw up. Or your boss from blaming you for a problem that he actually caused. Or your ex from texting you 46 times today. There’s nothing wrong with needing a bit of help; it’s just about choosing something that addresses the source of your symptoms, not just the presentation.

The reason a nutritious diet is recommended for every human ailment is because what you consume has a huge impact on whether your brain and body can function at their full potential. So it follows that adaptogens and nootropics are a more targeted, potent example of that same notion. Adaptogens promote stress resilience, sleep, and recovery by performing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective activities while curbing the production and signaling of stress chemicals. Nootropics promote energy, focus, and mood by encouraging the production and signaling of neurochemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine while modulating fatigue signals.

When you combine a simple formulation of key nootropics and adaptogens and then bring the whole thing together with a few superfoods, you get a powerhouse formula that boosts vitality, not just energy. Why? Because all those functions coalesce to gently push your body’s systems back into alignment. When systems are running smoothly and hormones are in balance, that sweet spot of homeostasis not only feels amazing but is actually a signal of healing on a biological level, too. Less about buzz words; more about creating a feel-good supplement that works for you on a real level.

Alright now, say it with me: “My hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is dysregulated from chronic exposure to environmental stress!”

If you’re a healthy lifestyle human, there’s no way you haven’t heard the buzz about adrenals. “My adrenals are shot;” “I have adrenal fatigue;” “My adrenals are worn out.” Then people turn to piles of supplements to try to crash cart their adrenals back into balance. But, like, what does any of that mean? And is it a real medical malady or a health industry hallucination?

The alliterations are popping today.

You know we love a good fact vs. fiction moment; you can never have too many excuses to fall down a research rabbit hole. So we dove headfirst into the origin of the adrenal fatigue zeitgeist to find out if this is really a thing, and, if it is, what we can do to support against whatever it is that’s wearing them out so hard.

Let’s get into it.

The Shortest BIO101 Intro to Adrenal Glands

Your adrenal glands are two little triangle-shaped lumps that sit on top of your kidneys; they basically serve as a hybrid way station/deployment center for the body’s stress response system. Properly functioning adrenal glands play a key role in keeping certain hormone levels balanced. Each gland has two layers:

• The outer layer, the adrenal cortex, produces cortisol, aldosterone, and androgens, which together regulate metabolism, blood pressure, blood sugar, salt and water balance, stress response, libido, and hormonal balance.
• The adrenal medulla is the inner layer that produces epinephrine and norepinephrine — THE fight-flight-freeze hormones.

So, on a regular day, your adrenal cortex is doing the absolute most just by regulating signals and balancing levels of different chemicals. Meanwhile, your adrenal medulla is sitting ready, just in case you need to run for your life. Or talk to your ex. Same, same.

What Do People Mean by “Adrenal Fatigue?”

In the wellness sector, people use the term adrenal fatigue to describe an inferred wearing-out of the adrenal glands as a result of chronic stress. Chronic stress keeps the body in a constant state of miscommunication. The idea is that your adrenal glands are signalers, and when you just continue jamming different, chaotic, often incorrect signals in there, eventually, they won’t understand how to relay signals correctly anymore. Basically, chronic stress theoretically gaslights your adrenal glands into oblivion, and then you feel:

• Super tired, literally no matter what
• Unable to rest even when you technically slept for 12 hours
• A total inability to concentrate on anything for even a little bit
• The need to eat all the Taco Bell
• The urge to cry, laugh, and yell at your cat all at the same time

The theory, while folksy, makes sense. But unfortunately, the way the wellness world has absorbed the concept of “adrenal fatigue” is riddled with issues, especially when you start tacking on words like “severe.”

The Medical Reality of Adrenal Insufficiency

Case in point: if you walked into your doctor’s office and told them you had adrenal fatigue, the first thing they would do is ask you what you’re even talking about. It’s not a medical term nor a medical condition. What is a medical condition — a truly severe adrenal problem — is a disorder called adrenal insufficiency, which, when it’s severe enough, can be fatal. Adrenal insufficiency can be caused by dysfunction/damage in the adrenal glands themselves, the pituitary gland, and/or the hypothalamus.

But it’s like, oh, what’s so bad about not enough cortisol, right? Actually, a bunch of stuff, though. Too little cortisol and/or aldosterone means your body is unable to keep basic systems in balance. You get fatigue, low blood sugar, weakness, low blood pressure, dizziness, and chronic dehydration. And your stress response becomes so weak that you’re unable to recover from exercise, surgery, or emotional stress. If hormones drop suddenly, blood pressure can drop so low you literally d*e. It’s a real condition that has to be closely managed with medication.

That being said, people who feel they’re experiencing adrenal fatigue obviously aren’t making up their symptoms — nobody’s trying to swallow 13 smelly horse pills a day because they already feel great. So it’s not like there’s nothing going on here.

Okay, So Why Is it All Over the Wellness World?

What’s going on here is chronic stress, y’all. It’s the stressed, depressed life, and it’s everywhere every day forever. No amount of treat-yourself culture is going to cut the constant news cycles, social media, 60-hour weeks, late nights, and existential dread of well… everything. So pointing to something definite and saying, "Hey, that’s it!" That gives us a feeling of control in a world that’s completely out of calm vibes.

Plus, buzzwords sell bottles. “My adrenals are shot”, while medically non-factual, is more efficient to communicate than “My hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is dysregulated from chronic exposure to environmental stress.” And let’s be real — when a problem is widespread and semi-mysterious, put a catchy hook and instant fix in front of us, and we’ll do it — we’ll try literally anything just to not feel like sh*t for a minute.

This is where we need to be careful, and for a few reasons. First, not everyone is out here for a good reason — many companies take trends as an opportunity to fearmonger, make false claims, and create new problems, all so they can sell more stuff that doesn’t work because it was never meant to in the first place. Second, cramming 7 or 15 supplements in a day without any real confirmation that the product is quality or how each interacts with the others can end up resulting in a health crisis, or even just perpetuating the problem you’re trying to solve.

Third — and maybe the most important — what if someone does actually have adrenal dysfunction? Or another very real medical condition causing those symptoms that, if left untreated, can be just as dangerous? If the wellness world is busy conflating actual medicine with holistic wellness, there will certainly be cases where it’s doing more harm than good. If you have a suite of symptoms, go talk to your doctor; do not just assume that a supplement is safe, let alone has your best interest at heart.

Can We Calm Down & Just Talk About Stress, Please?

What’s actually happening to cause your chronic brain fog, bad mood, restlessness, and inability to shake the cold you’ve had for months is HPA dysregulation. Not cute or flashy, but true. The human stress response was not built for a post-Industrial world.

Before round-the-clock production, rampant consumer culture, and a productivity-obsessed undertone to literally every corner of every part of the day, our bodies were allowed to de-stress, biologically. Those 4 hours after work weren’t filled with TVs, advertisements, emails, or games, so your parasympathetic nervous system was able to effectively distribute its “It’s okay, let’s chill out now” signal. We’d go to sleep, actually sleep, and wake up feeling okay. Rinse and repeat. Enough time to be a human who actually enjoys existing.

But then the Industrial Revolution was like, what if we just never went home or forgot about work or stopped working even to eat or take a moment to breathe? And the US was like, yes — sounds good, will do. And now here we are.

Chronic stress means chronically raised cortisol and a parasympathetic signal so stifled that no one can hear it. Too much cortisol and epinephrine disrupt your sleep and important hormone cycles, which lowers your mood and your ability to think clearly or get motivated. Over time, this cycle hampers higher-order processes like emotional regulation and executive function. And this is where the concept of adrenal fatigue came from — you’re so tired you don’t know how to function; your adrenals must be, too. But as we’ve learned, that’s not really the case.

And as we’re about to learn, there are ways for us to help our HPA axis get back on its feet and restore our stress resilience.

Modern Stress Requires a New Approach to Fight Fatigue

No, this will not be your typical do-more-yoga-and-meditate mandate on how to de-stress. No shade — those are healthy life practices and are very useful to some. But no amount of yoga, meditation, consistent workout schedule, or nutritious diet is going to stop your kid from calling you at 1 am to come get them from the sleepover because they threw up. Or your boss from blaming you for a problem that he actually caused. Or your ex from texting you 46 times today. There’s nothing wrong with needing a bit of help; it’s just about choosing something that addresses the source of your symptoms, not just the presentation.

The reason a nutritious diet is recommended for every human ailment is because what you consume has a huge impact on whether your brain and body can function at their full potential. So it follows that adaptogens and nootropics are a more targeted, potent example of that same notion. Adaptogens promote stress resilience, sleep, and recovery by performing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective activities while curbing the production and signaling of stress chemicals. Nootropics promote energy, focus, and mood by encouraging the production and signaling of neurochemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine while modulating fatigue signals.

When you combine a simple formulation of key nootropics and adaptogens and then bring the whole thing together with a few superfoods, you get a powerhouse formula that boosts vitality, not just energy. Why? Because all those functions coalesce to gently push your body’s systems back into alignment. When systems are running smoothly and hormones are in balance, that sweet spot of homeostasis not only feels amazing but is actually a signal of healing on a biological level, too. Less about buzz words; more about creating a feel-good supplement that works for you on a real level.

Alright now, say it with me: “My hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is dysregulated from chronic exposure to environmental stress!”