Do you suspect you are dealing with exhausted adrenals? Here is a test you might like to do for yourself to get some idea of the state of your adrenals so you can choose the professional health advice and support you need to pursue.
Pupil Contraction Test for Exhausted or Under Active Adrenals
Hold a small pencil style flashlight near the outer corner of your eye so the light shines across the eye not straight on into the eye. Watch what happens in a mirror.
A normal reaction is for the pupil, the black part in the middle of your iris, to contract in reaction to the sudden flood of light.
With exhausted adrenals this initial normal reaction does not hold and the pupil will start to dilate again, become larger, letting in more light, the opposite of normal response. The pupil can also fluctuate, dilating and contracting, and then settle remaining dilated. This is an indicator of exhausted adrenals.
The iris responds to varying light conditions. The iris is muscular and contracts in strong light and relaxes to let in more light when in dim or poorly lit situations or outside at night. Like any muscle if your pupil muscle is over worked or exhausted it can’t hold a contraction for long and will need rest to recover.
Time It
If your pupil fluctuates and then dilates and stays that way instead of remaining contracted when you shine a light across your eye, time it. It may take 30 to 45 seconds before it can contract again. This will give you a marker to check against down the track when you have been making adjustments to your stress levels, lifestyle, nutritional needs, rest, sleep and exercise.
Adrenal function extremely low is labeled Addison’s desease and extremely high is Cushing’s disease. They account for the 5% of adrenal abnormalities. The remaining 95% represent adrenal hormone levels considered “normal”. As a result most laboratory tests will indicate “normal” if you are in the 95% range, in spite of any symptoms you may be experiencing that are clearly linked to low adrenal function. And of course, your individual biochemical make is not taken into account or considered in any way.
One of the most authoritative texts in medicine, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, states, “Most hormones have such a broad range of plasma levels within a normal population. As a consequence, the level of a hormone in an individual may be halved or doubled (and thus be abnormal for that person) but still be within the so-called normal range.”
Rebuilding Adrenals and Your Health
Each person’s experiences that lead to exhausted adrenals will be unique. But there are patterns to check to help identify the best way to track the improvement as recovery strategies are applied. How you feel is your most valuable subjective measure as only you live in your body.
Changes in lifestyle, including specific foods to support health and adrenal recovery, adequate rest alternating with gentle and gradually increasing exercise is important, building expectations and harnessing beliefs that promote a future of wellness are keys. Any action that can reduce stress is valuable.
Tuning into the body language of posture and muscle response testing with kinesiology is invaluable to recognize which internal organs and glands are struggling to maintain their health. Boosting them with specific acupuncture points for lymphatic clearance, for circulation improvement, and for meridian energy distribution enhances recovery. Emotional Stress Technique will reduce stress, releasing energy trapped in past experiences and make more energy available for your exhausted adrenals on their journey of recovery.
Your thoughts impact on your brain and body and kinesiology muscle monitoring can identify which thoughts and self talk lifts energy and which drags it down.
For more insights and strategies contact me for a discussion of your situation.
Cheers
Anna
www.annamcrobert.com.au
See Stress Release Process http://annamcrobertblog.com/?p=118