"I walked off stress & tiredness"

Recovering from multiple surgeries for chronic illnesses, Adriana Cowdin found it impossible to get out of bed...until she unlocked the power of her own two feet.

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"I CAN'T BELIEVE this is so exhausting," Adriana Cowdin muttered, as she reluctantly dragged herself to her bed to take a nap after her shower. “That was typical after I underwent several surgeries for health issues,” says Adriana. “I ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to anxiety-inducing flashbacks and fears related to my health.

“Because of all the stress I was experiencing, I developed excessive fatigue that made it nearly impossible to do anything.

“I had always been a positive, happy person who bounced out of bed by 6 AM without an alarm clock, but suddenly, I was sleeping late and lying in bed for hours.

“The fatigue got so bad that most days I found myself dozing off at work—often several times in one afternoon. Blessed with the ability to close my office door when I knew my tiredness was taking over, I would set an alarm for 20 to 30 minutes and ask my assistant to knock on my door to make sure I made it to a meeting or appointment. While the naps were helpful, they were never enough.

Desperate for relief

“I grew so frustrated because I felt like no one really understood how I felt physically and mentally. There’s really no way to describe health-related fatigue to a healthy person. It’s tough for others to understand: Your body just stops. It’s done.

“It was painful to grasp the diagnosis of PTSD, but I was determined to overcome it naturally after learning that boosting the ‘happy’ hormones in my brain like serotonin and endorphins through exercise could combat the fatigue caused by my PTSD.

“Eager to turn things around, I decided to try walking. But I began slowly. At first, my routine was to simply walk from our bedroom to the front door and back. That was all I could handle. Regardless of the distance, every step was exhilarating and felt like a move toward reclaiming a joyful life.