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#100 Why am I so freaking tired? A checklist for energy with Christa Biegler, RD

• Christa Biegler

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Occasional fatigue is one thing but if you’re lacking energy day after day, its time to dig in and figure out if there is something under the surface causing trouble.  

In this episode, I explain the mental checklist--including sleep problems, nutrient deficiencies, and adrenal dysfunction--I use to stop the fatigue-fest in practice so you can consider if any of these scenarios apply to your life.  


Key Takeaways:

[04:19] Tips on getting enough sleep

[09:45] Blood sugar imbalance

[16:59] Symptoms of B12 deficiency

[18:26] What is Cortisol?


Mentioned in this episode:


Thanks to our episode sponsor Zyn, a delicious turmeric-infused sports-style drink I use almost daily to reduce low-grade inflammation. You can get 25% your first case of Zyn at https://drinkzyn.com/

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spk_0:   0:00
you know you can't just run on coffee like not give yourself the Barrett essentials like you're not eating reasonably or enough food or foods that are nourishing, then that's the first step Ray and then see like we don't supplement ourselves out of lifestyle. Ever

spk_1:   0:15
welcome to the less stressed Life podcast, where our only priority is providing those ah ha moments toe up level your life, health and happiness. Your host Integrative dietitian nutritionist Krista Bigler, helps health conscious women reduce the stress and confusion around food, fatigue, digestive and skin issues at less stress. Nutrition dot com Now onto the show

spk_0:   0:39
Today's episode of The Less Stress Life podcast is powered by Zin. Yes, Zin. It's a refreshing, tumeric infused beverage. A little leg, a sports drink with a shot of anti inflammatory power that comes in four delicious flavors. Tumeric is one of the most anti inflammatory and widest studied herbs in the world, and its absorption is massively increased when combined with a compound from black pepper. Zin has figured out how to get this black pepper compound in its delicious drink. Without compromising flavor, you can get 25% off a case of Zin and just $5 shipping at drink Zin. That's drink z y en dot com. So there's a pretty common denominator that I see often as I'm going through my day working with clients, and that is not having the energy you wish you had or having fatigue. And so today I want to talk about why are we so freaking tired? And here's the energy checklist I kind of go through when I'm assessing what is wrong. What are some of the causes of what is wrong and what can we do to fix it. So when I started to record this episode the first time, I was talking a 1,000,000 miles a minute going over all of the topics, and I decided to slow down and tell you kind of the layout of this week's episode. So I'm going to talk about basics of energy, right? So is there enough sleep? Is there good sleeping? What goes into that? What is the diet like? And what can happen if the diet is inadequate, related asleep like What are you eating? Are you not getting the right nutrients or foods and then talking about overworking and stress? Then I'm going to jump into more Intermedia and advanced level things that could be going on that trigger those basic things which are in melons and bacteria in the gut, mitochondrial issues in this cell cortisol awakening a response being often I'll tell you what you can do to fix that. And then other common things I see in practice related to low certain low nutrients and particular issues that happen with the adrenal glands. So let's jump into today's topic. But first, a couple weeks ago, I said we were giving away Omega three Task. It's and I just want to announce the winner. So to win an Omega three test kit, you could get as many entries essentially as you wanted by commenting on the Instagram or the Facebook post for the two Omega three episodes, and or sharing the podcast with a friend, any podcast episode and sending a screenshot to hello at less stress life dot com. So I would love to congratulate Emily Hofer and Mary Wilson Hale's four their entries and for winning the Omega Three caskets and I'll be in contact with you to get those shipped out. So let's go over energy So first up, Are you getting enough sleep? I know that seems like sort of a ridiculous question, but we always have to start with the low hanging fruit. And so frequently we all let ourselves get away with this from time to time. We'll stay up until midnight because we're so busy dealing with Children or this is what ever right. Like we stay up because we think we have so many unfinished things to do to stay up too late and get up too early. And we're not getting that prescribed 7 to 9 hours of sleep. And for people that actually have a little bit of adrenal dysfunction, which I'll talk about much leader, then it's kind of non negotiable for them to get those 7 to 9 hours or a history of that adrenal dysfunctions crucial for them to get that adequate amount of sleep. Otherwise, they're not gonna function very well. So if we're not getting enough sleep, what can we do to change that? And so sometimes I just have a basic conversation to talk about lifestyle, and there's a lot of recommendations that the Institute for Functional Medicine puts out, and so I tell you a few of them, so they really suggest putting together. And I mean, if you haven't thought about what your bedtime routine is, this isn't open canvas. You couldn't do so many things. So there's different buckets that they kind of recommend, and one is minimizing and avoiding stimulants. So if you're doing caffeine or alcohol or certain meds that maybe shouldn't be at bedtime or even I've had people use supplements incorrectly. But actually, you see that all the time because I do a lot of reconcile ing with supplements for people. And so I see people accidentally misusing them at the wrong times, and it's interfering with their sleep dramatically. And so we just do some tweaking, and actually that can impact what's going on in the gut. And so I'll explain here in a moment. So minimize and avoiding stimulants, minimizing nighttime tension and anxiety. So avoiding arguments. I know that's not always possible, like there is this TV show that my husband and I were watching for a while and I could not watch it before BET because it was not okay. It starts to the y. It ends with a stone, and if you guys watched that show. It was, like way too gory to be watching before BET. So anything that's anxiety provoking and including watching the news before bed etcetera. So not like paying bills, for example, right before bed can be very anxiety provoking for some people. And then the big thing is really planning and preparing for sleep. So I'm wearing currently sense the holidays. I've been wearing a ring that tracks my heart rate, variability my recovery and sleep. And I know a lot of people were different devices for this, but it'll tell me it like 7 30 It's time to think about getting ready for bed now, and it's like, okay, but it is common to think about getting ready for bed an hour beforehand if it takes you a while to fall asleep. So you have to think about what is it like normally for me to fall asleep? If it takes longer than 15 minutes, there might be something going on, and if I fall asleep really less than 15 minutes, maybe I'm honestly too exhausted. So those air some suggestions of what's optimal. But some people they toss and turn before they're actually able to go asleep, go to sleep once they get in bed. Is that because they've allowed there's something creeping? It's keeping their mind really active and instead of relaxed and ready for bed. So there's some things. I mean, we've all had this happen, right? So this isn't some kind of pedestal talk. I mean, we all have this. So there are times when you can't avoid that. And maybe there's something you can do to try to settle it down. My favorite first thing as breathing exercises. There's a nice breathing exercise podcast episode I did with Marco Tessie, who's a breath coach, and he actually coaches me through an exercise, which is good cause he's actually coaching you through an exercise. But one of the most common things I recommend us four square breathing where you inhale for cold, for Exhale, for hold, for there's a lot option. We have let it get to you, so I won't go through all of that occasionally. If I'm really amped up, let's say I'm traveling and so we go out late and eat Lee, and so it's just hard to settle down right? Sometimes I will use a calming type of magnesium glass in a terse ITRI before bed on purpose, because that's worked as a precursor to melatonin eventually. And so after about 1/2 hour, 45 minutes, it does give me quite a feeling of calmness and Zen. People have to rely on that long term. I think it's a great thing to use short term. And if it feels like someone needs a really long term, then let's go back to that lifestyle or other root causes. There's some other things about nighttime routine, a lot of things about if you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, but also with you can influence the entire environment, right? So this includes light noise temperature. People already know this, and they don't even think about it right where they think about it. But no one talks to impart in a podcast, right? Also, some people betting and pillows make a difference. And then there's a great episode coming up on light therapy about how people circadian clocks get all kind of out of sorts when we're looking at our devices at certain times. So if you wake up, I'll give you a preview. If you wake up and look at your device. You're telling your photo receptors in your eyes and on your skin that it's now noon because that's how similar the light ISS. So what you should do. And this is actually the answer to Court of Awakening response, which we'll get to in a moment. That's like I can't get out of bed. The one thing you can do to help improve mood and energy when you can't get out of bed is to get up and look at the sun. You would be amazed at how many people are not really able to do that, right? Especially in the winter time. And so we could talk all about that. Hopefully don't forget to mention them. So basics. Are we getting enough sleep? So to get enough sleep, you literally planet, right? Like you back up and you're like, Okay, how many hours of my getting and doing you to make some tweaks right to make that work? Are you getting a good wrestle sleep or are you waking up in the middle of the night? There are times that people wake up in the middle of the night and they can kind of in for that, there's a certain problem. So if someone's waking up between maybe four and 5 a.m. there's a couple things I'm thinking. It's typically stress or in anticipation that can often be it. But regardless, it's 1/4 all rice, right? So court is all sort of that darling stress hormone. We often think about that, See, created by those adrenal glands. A sit on top of the kidneys and cortisol will rise, of course, when we're anticipating. So if you've ever gotten up early for a plane or a flight, right, like everyone is waking up. Sometimes I don't feel like I sleep if I have to get up really early to get on a plane, because I'm too anxious about it. So the court is all rises. But there's also a reason that cortisol can rise if someone isn't really getting enough or the right foods. So, for example, if someone's blood sugar is low, so subclinical or imbalanced, blood sugar effects so many people. This is not men. They always take it to the next level. I was talking to a man the other day. I was asking some questions about blood sugar being imbalanced, and he's like, what? Of diabetes or anything, and I'm like, That's not what I mean. So many people have blood sugar and balances because there's many nutrients that impact your body's ability to manage and use blood sugar. People eat very erratically. Didn't really think about the time. The three team. They're just kind of eating winds. Suddenly they feel like it or when they don't necessarily have a plan. So therefore they kind of wait till they're hang gree or starving and back. Actually, I want to mention that the word hangar, right? Like getting hungry and angry. That is a sign or symptom of a blood sugar imbalance. Right, because that's us saying like a minute, I need to eat. So anyway, the simple, simple, simple starter thing, too. This is get a protein and a fat in a carb at each meal, any irregular intervals. And if you didn't eat supper, for example, or you're just not getting enough intake, then your blood sugar could dip low and your body will compensate by raising court is all early in the morning hours. I'm waking you up. That could technically happen any time, but I think it often happens. 345 AM I think it can happen different times as well, but that's just what we commonly see in practice or what I commonly see in practice when people are awake between Maur like 12 123 a. M. I think that's more of a gut issue or another internal issue that kind of needs a little bit of one on one support. Often, if you haven't decided it's a lifestyle piece. So number one. Enough sleep number two. Good quality sleep Number three diet. Are you getting proteins, fats and carbs at each meal? And are you taking it enough food to make energy? So this could be a lot of things, but if someone's not taking in enough food, they're not going to be making energy either. We actually take in calories. We take in carbohydrates. We take in things to make energy so our body breaks down carbohydrates with B vitamins to make energy via the Krebs cycle, called a U. T. P. A dentist in tryst phosphate. And so if we don't have the nutrients or bear materials to make energy, then you will not have energy. Okay, so overworking and stress. You've already kind of heard how that plays in because people are. They'll stay up late, they'll work late. It'll cause an increase in the stress hormone or blood pressure or whatever. And they'll have a hard time unraveling and winding down and going to sleep where they'll stay up too late and work right and then they won't get adequate or enough sleep. So it's sort of all these things all play into each other from that basic checklist. Okay, so after people have dealt with some of the life south things on their own, then maybe I want to look at theme or intermediate level or advanced level problems that are relating to people's sleep in energy. So I'm a little biased because I do a lot of gut health stuff, right? But I was just talking about the Krebs cycle and identity and triphosphate and how we make our body makes energy. And so if you have got imbalances, there's a couple things that can happen. We'll talk about the B vitamins first, so there's got imbalances. We're gonna eat up B vitamins because those bacteria want energy, too, so they're gonna consume your B vitamins, which are there not the only thing. And it's not like you can just go take to. My issue is you can take a replacement. But what about dealing with the root cause so you don't have to take that replacement long term? That's the path I advocate for. So if we've got bacterial overgrowth, those guys need energy to They'll consume those B vitamins that would be normally essential for your energy production. And then you don't have the raw materials to make energy. Now another thing can happen. Called, We Make serotonin, which is a calming neurotransmitter, and serotonin is a precursor to melatonin, our sleep hormone that also acts as a cool antioxidants. A very cool hormone colic vitamin D, which ex like a vitamin and a hormone as well. So very cool when they sort of do a couple things whole topic on their own. So serotonin call me neurotransmitter, By the way, cool fact many antidepressants. The action that the antidepressant takes is that they are slowing down the excretion of serotonin, so they're just trying to keep more calming neurotransmitter around longer. So if there is mood stuff going on, then I always like to look in the gut because 70% of serotonin is made in the gut. So if you are affecting the production of 70% of serotonin because of some other imbalance, then I would love to start there, right, you're getting in the very best of me today. You can hear me fighting something. I've been gone a lot with Children in not great sleep environment, which is a breeding ground for not feeling your ideal or a lot like trying to fight something off. So excuse me. So serotonin call me neurotransmitter antidepressants. Very commonly, their job is to slow down serotonin excretion, and so serotonin is largely made in the gut. So I've had people when we've got got imbalance is very, very, very common to be waking up between that 12 and three again mark, because it's or having trouble falling asleep in general. So that's usually that's the first thing I think about inflammatory sidle kinds, which are essentially like inflammatory bullets, can come from any type of inflammation, and inflammation can stem from your stress and then stem from what's going on. Food wise aken stem from exercise habits again stem from like too much or too little right like there is a side of each. You know, there's always too much into little of a lot of things, nick and stem from bacterial or imbalances or gut imbalances. So serotonin production is a big deal to me, and I was mentioning earlier how people sometimes misuse supplements, had people misused different types of supplements. And sometimes they'll take them too close to bedtime and also impact serotonin production as well. So, in the basic shark list, I'm just gonna keep repeating myself. Enough sleep, good sleep. How is diet? Is it adequate enough to make energy? And you're having proteins, fats and carbs to keep blood sugar stable and is there over worker stress? The next level is despite aosis or imbalances in the gut and B vitamin deficiencies. And I'm gonna talk a little bit more about another B vitamin deficiency SC very frequently. And then there's mitochondrial issues. And then let's talk about cortisol awakening response. So let's talk about the other B vitamin that I see most commonly in practice being deficient. So if people have a lot of stress, they tend to compromise stomach acid production because we don't magnesium, which is a calming it, like calm down your nervous system and it works in 300 other ends. I'm processes, and you can make stomach acid very well, which is like a fence for opportunistic weeds or bad bacteria to come in and take up residence. And so when you've got that going on when stomach acid is low, it also is gonna possibly compromised how you're going to break down proteins. We only get B 12 from animal foods, and so we want to be able to break those proteins essentially down. So there could be things that happen in the upper got or with the stomach acid not being able to break down proteins very well and then intrinsic factor that helps, like, bring in or absorb B 12. Which B 12 for me, like for a lot of people like this is a really big one for energy, like a huge room for energy, and it's very comments. Some of the symptoms of beetle deficiency include depression, neuropathy, which would feel like kind of pins and needles, or maybe the numbness and fingers and toes, and also issues with memory and, specifically, fatigue There's a few other ones like Orel soreness like a soreness in your mouth. I mean these air when it gets pretty bad. But I would say fatigue is the most common thing I see in practice. And at least 40 to 50% of people that I see end up with a low trending or inefficient B 12 and the reference range for beat of your doctor contract your B 12 your serum B 12. So you're free circulating you 12 and it has a large reference range, which means it's very white. And so it goes, usually from about three or 400 to 1000 or 1200 so that's hanging down own at the lower end. I would still consider that a reason to deal with it because it's not really robust and good, so that's always a possibility that you could address that. But if someone is be told efficient than I usually think that there is a gut imbalance going on, impacting the ability to absorb B 12 as it should be absorbed. Okay, so we've talked about the basics of good sleep. Enough sleep dia overworking stress, bacterial imbalances that impact B vitamins, which impact energy. Now let's talk about quarters all awakening in response because it's kind of a simple one to talk about. So quarters, all awakening response your body makes. Let's just talk about quarters offer second So your adrenal glands sit atop of your kidney glands and they secrete cortisol. Cortisol has a like kind of a life span of 90 minutes or so, because court is all goes up so you can deal with things when you need thio. So if you get a flat tire after work, your body wants you to be able to go to bed at night, so it wants to raise cortisol then so you can deal with it. Raise your stress from and then but then also go down so you can go to bed, and you can kind of resume life again after that experience. So cortisol shouldn't be hanging out high for a long time. But for a lot of people, it is hanging out high for a long time, which causes issues. It can also get out of place, or it can get out of its normal cycle, so circadian rhythm or are awakened. Sleep cycles can really impact this so night shifts are really challenging. Unfortunately for this, and so are cortisol should want to naturally rise in the morning to help us get out of that. So if they're rising too early at that 45 a. M, and you don't want to get out of bed till six, then it's rising a touch early, and so we can kind of tryto work with this very simple technique. I'll tell you in a moment, try to help your body improve that so port is awakening should rise in the morning because it should help. You want to get out of bed and then it'll go up and then it will come down and it will go into a low spot in the evening because it you know you want to sleep. And so you want that to be low. Some people it will be upside down so they'll have more energy in the evening instead of in the morning. That's kind of upside down cortisol, and so what's one easy way we can help re program this now. Now we contest this, too, if someone feels that that's very validating for them. But this simple thing that we can do is get full spectrum light in the morning right when we wake up. So there's a great episode coming out about. We're actually gonna do a whole month on lighting health kind of End of April beginning of May. I just did a great interview the other day and the interviewee was talking about When we look at our screens first thing in the morning, we're telling our body that it is now noon because the light that our screens have is very similar to what the light that the sun has at noon. So it tells the photoreceptors in our eyes and on our skin that it is now noon if we just look at our screens. So to help our body sort of program, Mr Kitty and rhythms in its master clocks, it's encouraged to go look at full spectrum light right away in the morning. So I'll tell people get up and look at the sun for 100 seconds in the morning when you wake up. But you'd be surprised how not really possible. This is for a lot of people, especially in the winter time. They'll go to work before the sun rises just cause a lot of problems. So some people do choose to get ah, full spectrum light box. I don't have any brand recommendations or anything. There's also alarm clocks that have full spectrum light and kind of simulate the sun. They just sort of right before they're going to go on. They start to Brighton next to your bed in the morning. So that's kind of the goals that they simulate, that I will tell you I never have anyone who says This doesn't help my how I feel If they do it for at least a week, I just want to preface and say, Any time I'm recommending something, especially life cell I was working. People will do it for one or two weeks, but a week is easy enough for people to do kind of short term. I think for this experiment, for sure it's enough and then always create some kind of way to remind yourself to do it. So because people have their phones all the time, I just suggest setting alarms and your phones, so quarters all awake in your response, look at the sun in the morning and actually are light expert that is coming on end of April, beginning of May, he talks about the importance for reprogramming to look three times per day. So look in the morning, look at lunch and look in the evenings that what your body is seen, like getting different light readings from the sun or from full spectrum light. If you are using the light box, don't use it afternoon because it's going to tell your body the wrong things. Okay, so we've talked about bacterial imbalances, cortisol awake. Any response and let's talk about mitochondria. So mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. They're kind of the the magic makers. So they're supposed to be a couple of 1000 of mitochondria and in each cell and there the little action guys that are responsible for actually making energy or the 80 p in the cell. So this is a very nutrient dense process. And if I see a nutrient report and people have a lot of particular nutrient efficiencies that are related to how mitochondria are made, I think okay, like this person means a lot of mitochondrial support. Why else would you care like this isn't just about energy. I've heard it talked about in this way that the difference between an older person and a very in a five year old person is made of country. You just have less mitochondria as they age in those in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, M s, et cetera. They have, like that becomes essentially mitochondria problems. Neurodegenerative Shin is, ah, breakdown or of quality. And my 200 not having good cellular health. So as an example, will have Dr Terry Walls on the show very soon. And she's having update coming out to her book, The Walls Protocol. And she is a doctor that got herself out of a wheelchair and now bikes to work every day. Because dietary approach is just very high in mitochondria. Nourishing nutrients, really a lot of organ meats, actually. So mitochondria issues occur for a lot of reasons. One common nutrient that we see that's important for mitochondria would be coenzyme Q 10. I think of it like a key to turning on that whole process of how it makes energy. So Coke, your tennis also really involved in the Krebs cycle to make a teepee or energy, and so Coke you 10 is commonly becomes deficient one as we age and to the very common medications people take as they age. So just think of the very, very common ones about like statins, et cetera. Coco 10 is there's a drug nutrient interaction where Coke you 10 just becomes a deficiency. So should people just run out and take Coke? You 10? I'm not sure. I mean, if you take a really high dose of cocaine 10 for a long time without any monitoring, you can create a copper and be five deficiency as well as I always have. My caveat. Then there's different qualities, but I don't know if it hurts otherwise. But there's a lot of other nutrients that impact medic Andrea's, well, carnitine, et cetera. And so I want to talk about mitochondria in a different way as well. So I want to talk about one other thing that I think is related to a lot of got imbalances and period issues, etcetera. So another thing that where people will not feel better for 50 GE and they'll feel really terrible, as if they have low iron or low ferret in again. The reference range is a little bit wide, so even below 30. Some people don't feel very well or they'll start Losing their hair under 10 is like horrible, atrocious. So why do people get this low Iron Loaf Sheraton So sometimes got imbalances will create this, but got imbalances are related to period problems. And if people have a heavy period history Oh, are they have heavy cycles or heavy bleeding? They will lose blood. So therefore they will lose iron Essentially right, So that is one reason. But I think again, these things all overlap to each other. Okay, so I'm gonna review and then I'm gonna tell you the most complicated thing I see in process. So the basics, enough sleep, good sleep, dia. So there's good blood sugar balance and enough nutrients to make energy because, you know, you can't just run on coffee like not have give yourself the Barrett essentials like if you're not eating reasonably or enough food or foods that are nourishing than that's the first step Ray, and then see like we don't supplement ourselves out of lifestyle, ever. And then there's the intermediate and advanced level stuff. That's bacterial imbalances affecting quality of sleep and infecting nutrients and then mitochondrial issues due to maybe age or prescription interventions or other reasons. Cortisol, awakening response just really from our lifestyle, a little bit thrown off our circadian rhythms and just using screens at different times of the day without really much eye protection. And we talked about B 12. We talked about Low Iron and Sheraton. And now let's talk about the thing that I find most challenging. And I find it most challenging because it takes me the longest to sort of realize that sometimes that this is the issue, and it's also the most challenging for a couple other reasons. One, we want to be sure this is the problem. I check for this on hormone testing, and sometimes that takes a while to get back because it needs to be timed properly. And when people only have a cycle once a month or not every month, sometimes it throws off how we choose to do that and then a second. Is it slow to improve? So it takes a couple of months for people to see really a difference, and people don't really like. I mean, that's not a desirable right, like we'd prefer a really quick difference. I think it's the most challenging thing. So I'm talking about low metabolized cortisol, and essentially what this number means is what has your body been doing for a long time? For weeks, months, et cetera. So there's a few scenarios you can have. Good court is all like, Hey, I'm stressed and I'm stressed and I'm not when I'm not. There is elevated cortisol where people are kind of chronically high stress for too long. And then there's like burned out. I've pushed on my court is all buttons too much to now the point where I like I'm having a dysfunction and I need some support cause I can't keep up anymore. I'm kind of in survival mode, So this happens to the best of people are overachievers professionals, those trying to dio a 1,000,000 things at once? Those have experienced a trauma, which is not like you would normally think, But needing surgery is a trauma. There's a lot of things work shifts, et cetera, So people who just are feeling pretty bottomed out sometimes, right or they haven't gotten good sleep for a long time because maybe their pet wakes them up for their child, wakes him up or whatever, like it's too long. It's not like a few weeks. It's like yours that this has been going on. So then we've got low metabolized. Court is all it looks like a lot of things that people become more sensitive to things. They start to have responses or stress reactions to even low stressors. It's a really unfortunate, not a great problem because it's not the first thing we confined, and it ends up kind of inhibiting our progress, progress and others. So people aren't improving in the way that they should always want to assess low metabolize cortisol. A swell So there a few things happening. So again, the long term stress hormone cortisol is running high and causes some burnout. So again, and people at work nights have the trauma chronic, unaddressed stress, so many things. It feels like you're very sensitive things. You have that physical response to small stressors. You might be a light sleeper. Maybe you have a low immune system, possibly because also D H E. A, which is helping temper that has issues. It's very difficult again because we find out last. It takes a couple of months to see the difference, and there's a three pronged approach to improve it. So we need minerals and nutrients because we're trying to support essentially the mitochondria, and we need a lot of minerals and nutrients to do that. So when you really robust vitamin support, we need some kind of adrenal support which can really go really well or really poorly, like something's air really stimulating to certain people. And they cause issues. And some things were really calming, which is what that person needs but the right type of adrenal support. So, for example, like, What's internal support? Actual Gonda? But there's also a lot of other things that I mean, like licorice, could be really stimulating in the wrong choice for a lot of people. I don't know if you want a willy nilly. You deal with that. But there's so many different formulas some people use. There's a lot of options there, some minerals and nutrients, adrenal support and then things specific for mitochondrial health. So this would be like the carnitine, the Coenzyme Q 10 specific B vitamins, and, unfortunately, is not like one formula that does a beautiful job, so end up alternating things back and forth. And the fact of the matter is that it takes a good 4 to 6 months to see the magnitude of difference that you need to see, because this has usually been tourney down for a long time, and now we have cell damage. So to rebuild cells, we need some time to do that. And we need to nourish and we need to hell. There's got to be a lot of life self pieces and they're called non negotiable. Sleep 79 hours, reducing that influx of stress. And this is like one of the hardest things I see. So I'll quit being a broken record about why it's the hardest thing. But I wanted to go over this nice little energy checklist. There's, of course, probably more things I forgot to talk about today, but these are the most common things. I'm running through my head when I'm trying to get people's energy to look like it's in a great place. If this and this and this are working, okay, what else is going on underneath the surface that could help this person live their best life? So thank you so much for listening to me yammer at you today. If you found this episode helpful, let me know in your comments in the review, send me a message over at You can go to less stress life dot com. Click on the speak pipe widget and ask a question. Any time that I love to answer in the podcast, you are awesome. Have a great day. One of the best gift you could give us at the less stress life is your feedback. We are paid in podcast reviews. If you enjoyed this or any other episode, please leave us a review in the iTunes store or from your podcast app. Just search for less dressed life as if you're not already subscribed. Click on the banana Face image scroll to the bottom, where it shows the text of other reviews and write a review while you're there. Hey, make sure you hit Subscribe for Android or stitcher users. You gotta go to the desktop site and search for less dress life and then scroll down to leave a review. Stitcher doesn't load Apple reviews on their site, so if you want, you can leave a review in both places. Your feedback means a lot to the success of the show. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that. You rock