Salt and Adrenal Fatigue

Craving salt is one of the most common adrenal fatigue symptoms. As a health conscious person you likely withhold or limit salt from your diet. If your salt/sodium levels become too low, your body will crave salt. This happens because your cells cannot fully hydrate without sufficient salt. On a very basic level water follows salt into the body. Salt deficient or depleted diets contribute to both dehydration and Adrenal Fatigue.

One of the most common complaints with Adrenal Fatigue is salt cravings. The reason for this is that when the adrenals become fatigued from prolonged stress (whether its due to working too much, lack of sleep, chronic illness, etc) they do not release enough of the hormone aldosterone which leads to increased potassium and decreased sodium (aldosterone causes the body to excrete potassium and retain sodium).

High blood potassium, low blood sodium and low blood pressure indicate adrenal insufficiency. The early symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue include fatigue, salt cravings and orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure drops when standing up & you feel dizzy or faint).

Your body craves salt because it needs it. If this describes you, do not limit your salt intake but instead use a natural form of salt liberally on your food. Natural sources of salt contain trace minerals and not only sodium (NaCl). Examples include sea salt, real salt, Himalayan salt & Celtic salt.

There are simple saliva tests for adrenal health.

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