Adrenal fatigue is a term your doctor might not know or even agree with if they have. It's one used by natural practitioners like nutritional therapists and naturopaths, to describe the state where long-term stress results in feelings of fatigue, exhaustion and demotivation.

It is so-called because it describes how the adrenal glands have become depleted after long periods of time continually pumping out stress hormones to react to challenge. It is often felt as a crash in energy after feeling you've been on 'constant alert' or 'running on adrenaline' for a while.

This is the result of levels of the stress hormone cortisol dropping, as our ability to produce it as needed is lessened through tired adrenals. Some equate the term adrenal fatigue with 'burnout' and indeed medical opinion is acknowledging that this mental and physical collapse is characterised by lowered cortisol levels, particularly on rising in the morning. In a healthy body, cortisol is naturally high at this time to motivate us to get up and move. When it is low, energy and enthusiasm for the day can be difficult and this can be accompanied with feelings of depression.

You wouldn't expect your smartphone to keep going if you didn't recharge the batteries, would you?

Burnout falls outside any categories doctors have for a 'true' disease, but has shown that it is a state where responses to stress become dampened. Over a long period of agitation and even anxiety where the brain is continually signalling 'alert' to the whole body, those signals shut down and we can be left feeling unresponsive, unable to get going and even like we just don't care. One issue with this state is that if the stress has been a situation like a job or a relationship that doesn't make us feel safe or happy, we then lack the willpower to leave when we may need.

So it is crucial to notice the signs and avoid reaching this this tipping point. We may not even see the signs if we're just used to pushing on through and it is part of our normal existence to strive and strive and strive. Many people I see admit to not knowing how to relax and so these warning signs may just feel like states they believe to be usual, but they are to be listened to as indications that you are expecting too much of your body.

If you can say 'yes' to two or more of the following statements, a reprioritising of your time may be in order:

• You feel like you lurch from 'high to low' all the time, sometimes energised and excited, then suddenly with no energy at all
• You are quick to anger or prone to irritability or moodiness
• You panic that if you let go of the reins it will all fall apart
• You don't make leisure time away from technology, letting your whole body relax
• You need sugar or stimulants like caffeine to get you through the day
• You are showing stress-related symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, depression, IBS and skin issues
• You often find yourself clenching your jaw, holding your breath and feel tight in the shoulders and neck