Adrenal fatigue is a syndrome that occurs when the adrenal glands work below the necessary levels for your body to function properly. The syndrome is a term applied to a collection of nonspecific symptoms, including pain, fatigue, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and digestive problems.  Beyond fatigue, pain, anxiety, sleep disorders and digestive problems, the symptoms of adrenal fatigue include: asthma, allergies, dizziness, dry skin, frequent urination, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, low sex drive, numbness in your fingers, poor circulation, and weight gain.  The symptoms of adrenal fatigue are non-specific and can be from any number of other illnesses. If you have any of these symptoms, it’s best to see a health care professional to get a diagnosis. Adrenal fatigue is caused when the adrenal glands do not produce enough of the hormones your body needs to function properly. While it can present with the above-mentioned symptoms, many people will show no symptoms at all.  Adrenal fatigue is usually associated with intense or prolonged stress. But the syndrome can also appear as a result of acute or chronic infections, influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia.  As the name suggests, the most prominent symptom of the syndrome is fatigue. You may not even notice that you have adrenal fatigue, but simply feel a general sense of being unwell or fatigue. While there is a wealth of information available on the internet about adrenal fatigue, it is a controversial diagnosis. Not recognized as an actual condition by medical doctors, most proponents of adrenal fatigue are holistic and alternative medicine practitioners.  Medical doctors, including those at renowned institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, don’t recognize adrenal fatigue as an illness; however, they do support the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency or Addison’s Disease to denote inadequate production of one or more of the hormones essential to life that the adrenal glands produce.  The symptoms of Addison’s Disease are similar to adrenal fatigue and include: fatigue, body aches, unexplained weight loss, low blood pressure, lightheadedness, loss of body hair, and skin discoloration (hyperpigmentation).  Proponents of adrenal fatigue maintain that the syndrome is a mild form of adrenal insufficiency caused by chronic stress. They theorize that the adrenal glands are unable to handle constant stress and thus can't produce enough of the hormones an individual needs to feel well. According to their theory, blood tests cannot detect this minute change in adrenal function, but the body can.  You may notice that many sites with information about adrenal fatigue will not give you complete information, but instead will prompt you to buy books and products. If you have the symptoms of adrenal dysfunction and are concerned that you may have the syndrome, get tested by a medical professional. You should also consider getting tested for Addison’s Disease and other illnesses, since the symptoms of adrenal function overlap with them.  Remember that a medical doctor may not recognize your concern about adrenal fatigue and may test you for Addison’s Disease or another illness. Adrenal dysfunction can be tested by various methods. Your doctor or health care professional may prescribe blood tests to analyze levels of the following hormones secreted by your adrenal glands and thyroid: cortisol (which controls stress), ACTH, FT4, FT3, and total thyroxine.  Two additional tests that you or a health professional may administer for adrenal fatigue are the iris contraction test and postural low blood pressure test.  The iris contraction test measures how long the iris can contract in response to repeated exposure to dark light. Go into the dark bathroom and allow your pupils to adjust to the lack of light, then shine the light from a penlight or flashlight into your eye. You will notice the pupil contract (or get smaller); however, someone with adrenal fatigue’s irises will not be remain contracted for a prolonged period of time, and after about 30 seconds they will begin to dilate, despite shining the light on them.  Postural low blood pressure measures how quickly blood pressure rises when a person stands up. Someone suffering from adrenal fatigue will see no change in their blood pressure or even a slight fall, which is also called orthostatic hypotension.  To test this, lie down for five minutes and have someone measure your blood pressure. Then stand up and, after one to three minutes, have the person take another reading. Not the change, if any, in your blood pressure readings. Once you have a diagnosis for adrenal dysfunction, talk to your health professional about your treatment options and the recovery time. If you’ve diagnosed yourself, you may want to do some additional research on how to treat the syndrome.  The treatment options for adrenal fatigue range from changing diet and exercise, to reducing stress, and taking herbal or hormonal supplements. Estimates for the recovery period from adrenal fatigue range from about six to about eighteen months. Some individuals may need less time, while others need more, depending of the severity of the syndrome.  There are some adrenal fatigue treatment programs online including Dr. Wilson’s Adrenal Fatigue Supplement Program.

Summary: Know the symptoms. Know the causes of the syndrome. Know about the controversy. Get diagnosed with adrenal dysfunction. Learn about treatment options and recovery from adrenal dysfunction.


Turn off the lights and close the windows if it is light outside. Don't worry; cats have excellent night vision! It doesn't have to be anything fancy; any light source in a dark room should engage your cat. Cats have excellent night vision, and seeing a point of light in the dark will trigger your cat's predatory instincts. Be careful with where you point the light. Your cat may only be paying attention to the light, and not the environmental surroundings around the room.

Summary: Darken the room. Grab a flashlight or laser pointer. Turn on the flashlight and move it around the room.


Professors have many students to keep track of, and they'll need to be reminded of who you are. Say your name, as well as the class you have with the professor, including the specific class period, such as "MWF at noon." Professors are busy people, so you don't want to drag out your email. Say what you need to say as briefly as possible, leaving out any extraneous details. For instance, if you have a question about an assignment, get to the point: "I have a question about the assignment you gave us last Tuesday. Do you want us to work in groups or alone?" This email is not a Facebook post or a text to a friend. That means you need to use complete sentences when writing to your professor, as anything less does not look professional.  For instance, don't write, "Awesome class, man... stellar!" Instead, write, "You gave an enlightening lecture last class." When you're first contacting a professor, keep your tone and language very professional. That means no emojis! If you develop a correspondence with your professor, you may find that you can get a bit more relaxed as the semester goes on. That's particularly true if your professor initiates a bit of informality (such as by sending an emoji in an email to you). Many students try to demand things from their professors. That will get you nowhere. Instead, phrase your issue as a request that the professor can grant or not. For instance, you may want the professor to give you an extension on a paper. Don't say, "My grandmother died. Give me an extension on this paper." Rather, say, "I've had a difficult week with the death of my grandmother. Would you please give me an extension on this paper?" In an email to a friend, it may be fine to skip over periods and commas. However, when you're writing to your professor, make sure you are using punctuation where you should. As much as text language is taking over the internet, professional emails are one place where you should leave it behind. That is, don't use "u" in place of "you," or "2morrow" in place of "tomorrow." Use proper spellings. Don't forget to run your email through spellcheck. Words at the beginning of sentences should be capitalized, as should proper nouns. Don't slip into text speak where you selectively capitalize words. Make sure you are always capitalizing words that need to be capitalized.

Summary: Remind the professor who you are. Stick to the point. Write in complete sentences. Work on tone. Make requests politely. Use proper punctuation. Spell out words. Capitalize words appropriately.


Any monsters will do.  This is easier said than done as they are some of the strongest Pokémon trainers in all the land. You will likely have completed much of the game before this happens.
Summary: Capture at least 60 monsters. Finish the Sevii Islands sidequest. Defeat the Elite Four. Once all that is done your Pokedex will automatically upgrade to the National version.