What the Heck is Cortisol?

You’ve definitely heard about products that reduce levels of cortisol, but what exactly is cortisol? And how can reducing cortisol help you lose weight?

According to recent studies, a direct link exists between stress, tension and excess belly fat. Stress produces a fat making steroid hormone called cortisol, also known as cortisone and hydrocortisone. Too much production of this stress hormone can cause weight gain. Immediately after the body confronts stress, it produces the cortisol hormone that tells the body to save energy to fight the stress. And to simply state it, saving energy means storing fat. The production of too much cortisol accelerates the accumulation and storing of this excess body fat, particularly around the waist and stomach areas.

But it doesn’t stop there. This excess cortisol also increases your appetite, prompting the need to eat larger quantities and cravings for sweets and simple carbohydrates-foods that make insulin levels spike and then plummet. This unhealthy activity also makes one hungrier than normal and increases the urge to eat more frequently, often resulting in over eating unhealthy or fattening foods. Scientific evidence shows that elevated cortisol levels are associated with difficultly in managing weight, difficulty feeling relaxed, sugar or carbohydrate cravings, fatigue, an increasingly negative perspective, moodiness, increased symptoms of the menstrual cycle, increased appetite, weight gain, irritability, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, weakening of the immune system and overall poor health.

There are many everyday situations that can easily trigger this fat-storing hormone. Just to name a few: being stuck in traffic, arguing with family members or people in general, arriving late to work, getting over anxious about an upcoming exam, over-exercising, physically demanding jobs, worrying about your next meal, illness, and temperature extremes. These few incidents of physical or emotion stress cause our bodies to release “more than necessary” amounts of the catabolic hormone cortisol. Also, research has shown that cortisol levels in normal individuals are higher in the morning from 6 to 8 a.m. and lowest around midnight. Simply stated, keep your stress levels down between 6 and 8 a.m.

Many of you are probably asking yourself how you can lower your cortisol levels. Many different ways exist, from coping with stress better to taking medicine to fight high cortisol levels. Many experts prefer reducing cortisol levels without medication, and if you think your cortisol levels are too high and want to use a medication, they prefer you visit a doctor first.

If you plan on coping with stress better to lower your cortisol levels, then try dealing with it. If you are one of those people who always gets stressed out over things, you should ask yourself why. You should look at each situation as one that can be solved, and not over exaggerate the situation. Also, if you have a physically demanding job, you could try to eat small snacks or meals throughout the day to give your body energy. Your body shouldn’t have to rely on muscle tissue for energy. It should be running off the food that you eat

Even though cortisol levels are less important than diet and training, they should still be taken seriously. Every little thing helps when you’re building muscle mass. Lowering high cortisol levels will make your body less catabolic, causing your body to be in a more anabolic state, helping you to build muscle mass quicker.

Related Sources:

http://books.google.com/books?id=D8VE11Zcp74C&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=all+about+cortisol&source

=bl&ots=YroyEE7_W&sig=PF1bsAPTTWjgpc4BRe6OKjm0pVA&hl=

en&ei=BpKxSerJI5jAtge954XCBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/articles-submit/tom-venuto/

cortisol-stress-body-fat2.htm

http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=ACSM_News_Releases&CONTENTID=9807&

TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm