A NALA Mindset Conversation: W/ ZAAG's Founder Adam - on Founder Fatigue, Allostatic Load and Building Better Systems

We sat down with Adam, founder of ZAAG, to talk about something we think isn’t spoken about enough - what is modern stress really doing to our bodies and talk about why it’s not just about “doing less,” it’s about recovering better.

As a female founder, I’ve felt that ‘crash’ firsthand - the kind that comes after a week of high-output days fuelled by 6am HIIT sessions which I thought were ‘letting off steam’ but were in fact also further increasing my cortisol levels. So I decided to try ZAAG for 90 days. Not as a “quick fix,” but to slow down and tune in - to understand how my nervous system responds when I actually give it the support it needs. 

Spoiler: it worked. Not overnight, not dramatically. But steadily - more stable energy complimented by that rare feeling of being able to handle what the day throws at you with quiet confidence that you’re not going to end up crashing out afterwards. 

This conversation with Adam unpacks into the science behind it: allostatic load, recovery, and why we’re overdue a rethink on what “performance” really means.

THE SCIENCE BIT

I sat down with the duo to talk about all things balance and prioritising their health while living on one of the most sought-after party destinations in Europe.

Most people haven’t heard of allostatic load. How would you explain it in human terms?

Think of your body like a phone battery. Every stressor you face; deadlines, tough workouts, poor sleep, even hidden background worries -  is like an app running in the background. The more apps open, the faster the battery drains. 

That constant drain is allostatic load. It’s not just about the big hits of stress; it’s the quiet, invisible processes that eat away at your capacity. And just like your phone, when the system runs too many apps for too long, it crashes. Allostatic load is the hidden operating system of human performance - most people never see it, but it dictates everything.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about stress and performance?

That stress is the enemy. It isn’t. Stress is the stimulus that forces us to adapt and grow, whether in the gym, at work, in life. 

The real problem is unresolved stress: when there’s no space, no nutrients, no capacity to recover. That’s when the stress system goes from being a performance driver to a performance killer. 

People try to “manage” stress by numbing it or ignoring it - pushing it down, overworking, self-medicating. But the real unlock is supporting your body’s ability to adapt: creating space to relax, breathing through it, fueling properly, sleeping deeply, and letting the system reset.

What’s one thing most people don’t know about supplementation?

That most of it is still built on an old model: solving for deficiencies or chasing single symptoms. Tired? Take B12. Poor sleep? Take magnesium. Feeling stressed? Take ashwagandha. The problem is, life doesn’t work in single nutrients or single symptoms — it’s a system.

The real opportunity in supplementation isn’t adding one more “fix,” it’s supporting the body’s capacity to adapt as a whole. That’s what lowering allostatic load is about. Instead of patching the cracks, you reinforce the entire structure so stress doesn’t break it in the first place.

Talk to us about rest vs. recovery.

Rest is absence. Recovery is adaptation.

Lying on the sofa is rest; lowering your allostatic load so your body can repair muscle, rebalance hormones, and reset your nervous system is recovery.

They’re entirely different. You can rest and still be exhausted if your body hasn’t actually recovered.

Performance has two halves: the work you put in, and the way your body adapts afterwards. Skip the second half, and the first half never pays off. 

Recovery isn’t just time off - it’s the input that rebuilds your system stronger than before.

THE BUSINESS OF BURNOUT

As founders, we’re constantly “on.” How does that kind of chronic mental load impact the body even if we think we’re coping?

Good question! Being “on” all the time means that your stress response is permanently in “fight mode”, i.e. you become sympathetically dominant. 

That’s because your body is really bad at distinguishing between business pressure and a lion in the grass. Stress is stress, and the same cascade follows: cortisol spikes, inflammation builds, creativity and perspective collapse. You start to feel wired but tired, start focusing on ‘threats’, recover slowly, and experience disrupted sleep.

So although you might feel like you’re coping on the surface, underneath your system is eroding. That invisible erosion is your allostatic load - and it’s why brain fog, fatigue and burnout are showing up at record levels.

What’s something most high-performers are getting totally wrong when it comes to recovery?

They treat recovery like a hack instead of a system. Most “high-performers” will smash themselves in training or work, then look for a magic fix; an ice bath, a red-light device, a recovery drink. 

But the nervous system doesn’t adapt on command; it adapts when the inputs are consistent. 

True recovery is boring: regular sleep, nutrient sufficiency, time for the nervous system to shift gears. 

The biggest mistake is trying to shortcut biology instead of supporting it day after day. Professional high performers know this. It’s why athletes sleep for 10 hours a night, compared to execs that run on less than six. 

What’s one wellness trend you think is doing more harm than good right now?

The glorification of extremes. Cold plunges, hour-long saunas, back-to-back ultras, training twice a day. We’ve turned stress into a competition. 

The problem is, most people are already carrying high allostatic load. Layering on more extreme stressors might feel heroic, but biologically it’s just more wear and tear. 

Yes, short bursts of stress can be adaptive, but only if the system has the capacity to rebound. Without that foundation, the pursuit of extremes doesn’t build resilience, it accelerates burnout.

What would you say to someone who thinks pushing harder is the only way to succeed?

If pushing harder worked, founders and athletes wouldn’t be burning out in record numbers. 

The real unlock isn’t more force, it’s more capacity. 

Adaptation is what separates sustainable high performance from collapse. Pushing harder without recovery is like red-lining your engine, it feels fast, until it seizes.

What do you think will be the single biggest unlock in human performance over the next 5–10 years?

I think it will be measurement. Right now we’re still guessing. We track sleep, heart rate, calories - but none of those tell us how much stress our body is actually carrying.

The real unlock will be non-invasive, real-time measures of allostatic load - and microRNA looks like it could be a really interesting way to measure it. Imagine being able to see exactly how well your body is adapting, not just how tired you feel.

In five years’ time, I don’t think anyone will optimise their wellness or performance without knowing their allostatic load. It will be as normal as checking your HRV or steps today. And that changes everything: instead of flying blind, people will finally be able to train, work, and live in a way that truly matches their capacity.

If you could prescribe one thing to every founder you know (aside from ZAAG), what would it be?

Sleep. It’s the cheapest, most effective performance enhancer we have. It resets orexin systems in the brain, clears waste through the glymphatic system, and rebalances cortisol and growth hormone. 

Yet it’s the first thing founders sacrifice. If every founder treated sleep like their most important board meeting, we’d halve the burnout rate overnight.

In a culture that glorifies doing more, pushing harder and performing at all costs,  conversations like this one with Adam @ ZAAG are a reminder that how we operate matters just as much as what we achieve. Supporting your system isn’t soft, it’s strategic. Whether you’re running a business, chasing your next goal or just trying to stay regulated in this crazy fast-moving world, recovery is not a luxury. It’s part of the plan. ZAAG isn’t the whole answer but for us, it’s become part of a wider shift toward a rhythm that feels good and remembering that the most powerful thing you can be is steady.

Interview by Issy @ NALA Creative.