Is Stress Getting You Down?

Let's talk a bit about stress!!

Cortisol is the main stress hormone that triggers that fight or flight response. And this response is great when we are being faced with real danger. It stops our not so important functions and hightens other senses that get us away from danger. The problem starts when our cortisol levels STAY elevated for long durations. This can happen from a stressful lifestyle, consuming cortisol inducing foods and drinks (sugar, caffeine, alcohol), AND from not knowing how to properly manage your stress.

Here are some health risks that are associated with high cortisol levels.

1. Abnormal blood sugar, diabetes, and prediabetes. Cortisol's main job is to RAISE glucose levels. Even small increases in cortisol, such as those experienced when drinking caffeine, can rasie blood sugar and increase insulin resistance. If you have read any of my posts/blogs or worked with me, you know I heavily STRESS (hehehehe) that we need to maintain a stable blood sugar in order for our hormones to be balanced. Ensuring you are using proper coping mechanisms for your stress is going to assist you in doing this (along with ensuring you are eating protein, fats, and fiber at every meal).

2. Obesity, increased body fat, and metabolic syndrome in women. Too much stress makes you fat, especially at your belly, where fat cells have four times more cortisol receptors than fat located everywhere. Metabolic syndrome, present in 24 percent of the North American population, is a cluster of signs, including high blood pressure, triglycerides, low HDL (or good cholesterol), thick waist (greater than 35 inches in women) and elevated fasting glucose.

3. Mood and brain problems, including depression, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS). Patients with high cortisol have problems with emotion perception, processing, and regulation, similar to the mood symptoms found in depression. Hypercortisolism and an overactive set point of the HPA system are linked to depression and suicide, and half of people diagnosed with depression have high cortisol. Excess cortisol shrinks your brain, causes cognitive impairment, decreases brain activity, and it associated with Alzheimer's disease. An overactive, stressed-out nervous system has been linked to neurodegeneration (breakdown of the nerves) and increased disability; both developmental and progression of MS are linked to sterss and HPA reactivity, and at all stages, MS patients show high cortisol levels.

4. Worsening sleep: Insomniacs have higher 24-hour cortisol levels.

5. Bone loss in menopausal women and a higher rate of vertebral or spinal fractures are also associated with higher cortisol levels.

6. PMS problems elevated cortisol levels are linked with higher problems associated with pms including mood swings, period pain, acne, breast tenderness, fatigue, AND a higher risk of breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine cancer, and heart disease...

What's my favorite way to lower cortisol levels? YOGA!!!! I think it is one of the best tonics for stress and getting your cortisol to a sweet spot. I feel like I have consumed an amazing sedative drug at the end of a yoga session. And it has been scientifically shown to reduce cortisol levels. If you want to check out a study you can do that by checking out this link.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768222/

If you know you are stressed and do not know how to fix it, first think about what you are putting into your body. Is it something that is actually causing a stress response? Something like caffeine? Maybe alcohol? Or what about all of those refined sugars and carbohydrtates? All of these things cause the body to release cortisol. Which then makes your RESPONSE to an actual stressor even worse.

Need help with managing your stress and cortisol? Let’s chat about how I can help you, because if you have not already figured it out, it is hurting every aspect of your body.