Adrenal Body Type
Adrenals: Your adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney. The adrenal glands are known as your stress glands, have you ever been under stress? I was once. The adrenal glands don’t care if the stress comes from worry about bills, or a relationship, or getting hit by a Mack truck. The stress is all the same to the adrenal glands they treat both mental and physical stress the same. One of the main functions of these glands is countering stress by the production of several hormones. The adrenal glands have many other functions such as anti-inflammatory actions (getting rid of the body’s pain and swelling), immune system protection to balanced fluid and salt levels, and controlling minerals (such as potassium), rapid heart rate, sleep, and awake cycles. When the adrenals have a dysfunction, the fat forms primarily in and around the abdomen organs and sags downward over the belly. Another term for this sagging belly is called a pendulous abdomen, meaning hanging loose, sagging. This is different from the liver body shape, which is a potbelly; this is more a perturbing belly like a water balloon, while in the ovary body shape the person has a small bulge below the belly button and into the hips. In the adrenal body type, the belly actually hangs. There are many different degrees of adrenal problems, but many of them do not show up in the blood test until they are well advanced into dangerous stages. A fat pad can develop in the lower neck and upper back known as a buffalo hump. Fat will accumulate in the face which gives a round or moon face appearance. The face can also have a reddish appearance because of small vessels close to the surface. This type of individual generally has a large midsection with thin arms and thin legs. This is the person you see in the summertime that has a big body and thin legs. They are an adrenal type body shape. A common problem with adrenal-type body shapes is the inability to fit into clothes, especially around the waist. The adrenal hormones control the sleep and awake cycles. With adrenal problems you can be tired all day yet, despite being exhausted you can’t sleep through the night. The body will not let you get into deep sleep cycles. Because the adrenals counter stress, their production of abnormally high amounts of stress hormones makes it impossible to attain the deep, restful sleep you need to properly rejuvenate the body for the coming day. Certain adrenal hormones are responsible for making you feel awake mentally. Others are responsible for the sleep cycle. Often a person will just wake up at around 2:58 AM for no reason and end up laying there for an hour or so before going back to sleep. Or they wake up and have to go to the bathroom. The problem with this is not just losing a little bit of sleep but the problem is you burn fat at night in the deep sleep cycles. With an adrenal problem, you’re not getting into the deep sleep cycles, so the fat-burning effects from exercise can be nullified due to poor sleep. Some other symptoms you can get by having weak adrenals are insomnia, sleeplessness, need mid-afternoon nap, nervousness, anxiousness, frequently dealing with stress, acne or poor skin, red cheeks, round or moon face, puffy face and dark circles around the eyes, double chin, facial hair, receding hairline, high blood pressure, lacks ligaments – weak ankles and knees, weak or brittle bones – due to loss of calcium and protein, difficulty absorbing calcium, need coffee to wake up, crave salts, cheese, chocolate and sugar, and may have ringing in ears or low sex drive.
