I am addicted to stress. Well, I used to be… well, erm, I am a recovering stress-a-holic, how’s that?
So I‘ve been reading about cortisol a lot lately, heard of that? I had, being a personal trainer for 6 years and becoming a BioSignature practitioner it had floated around as something to consider, but was never one of the important factors when it came to planning an exercise regime or discussing food with clients. Or for myself.
Have you ever had a day where you just break down? All becomes a bit much really, and you’re not sure what exactly it is? I have. Plenty of times. Now I am starting to put my finger on it.
I am a stress-a-holic, a recovering one…yes.
The modern world with all of our bits and bobs that squeak and whistle and alert us the moment anything happens. Having dinner with friends and the whole night at least one person is answering a text or checking in on facebook, waiting on an email to come through on their iphone, does this sound familiar?
Our cortisol levels are going through the roof!**Not to mention being a scheduling master (or having a scheduling master working for you) and packing your day full of meetings (a sign of success, right?) just enough commute time to make it to the next meeting, you absolutely cannot miss that 7.51 train or the whole day goes out of whack. Working back late and priding yourself on it as a sign of success, that you’re important, that’s why you have so much work to do, people are depending on you.
I’ve been there. Still am to a fair degree. Now though, I am putting my finger on it.
Cortisol. The hormone that can be very handy for us, or can completely trip us up. Cortisol is what they call a corticosteroid, gets secreted from the adrenal glands (little hats on top of your kidneys) in times when your pituitary gland (in your brain) calls for it.
Cortisol, you could call it kind of like a mild form of adrenaline - so you’ve heard of fight or flight, right? When in a state of stress or emergency, your brain senses it, cortisol is released, blood glucose goes up and so does blood pressure – to feed the muscles energy quicker.
The digestive system has its energy taken away from it, digestion isn’t important right now, you need to run! The energy goes to your brain so you can make on-the-spot decisions. You feel a little shaky, a little queasy maybe? But the situation gets dealt with in good form like you always do. You get to the end of the situation and you have a sit down, deep breath and collect yourself back together a bit, then move on.
What if you are in this state all the time though? To varying degrees?
Phones ringing off the hook, everybody needs your advice and right now! But your schedule is full and you can’t fit them in. And it goes on. It makes you feel alive. Makes you feel successful.
Eventually though, it’s enough, your body says; ‘Hey! You’ve been abusing the cortisol, you get no more.’ And so it produces less. You become tired, sleep is no longer refreshing and you have trouble getting to sleep. Sex is no longer enjoyable, the elusive ‘O’ is becoming but a faint memory. The things you usually enjoy are now just, meh.
Stay here for too long and conditions such as ‘adrenal fatigue’, ‘chronic fatigue’, anxiety, depression, caner start creeping out. Not Good.
I was there. Fatigue, bottoming out. Now I’m recovering.
How? In all the reading I have been doing I now consider cortisol management the most important step in attaining health, before looking for fat loss, before looking for muscle gain. If you don’t consider the effects of high/low cortisol, in my experience, the physical goals are near unobtainable.
So, here’s some tips, mostly from Charles Poliquin and Dr. Sara Gottfried;
- Find a good calming meditation track or calming music, I love ThunderBeat, Thunder Vision Records, not fluffy or airy-fairy, just relaxing. Chuck it on and chill out for 5 minutes when you get home, or into the car.
- Practice self-centering, this can be done anywhere, and when you get good at it can be very effective immediately. When you feel the stress levels rise, take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, then as you release your breath, imagine the stress being expelled with the air. Concentrate on calmness in your centre, permeating out to your limbs.
- Be aware of your stressors, your hang-ups or crap you’re holding onto from years ago, acknowledge them and feel out a way that you can manage it better for yourself, or even better, let go of it!
- Go to Yoga. (‘om’ not ‘ah’) I just went to an ‘Om’ Yoga class this week for the first time. Once I got over feeling silly for chanting ‘om’ out loud, the reverberation of the whole room of people saying ‘Om’ in unison was really quite beautiful, I began to relax and soon I wasn’t concentrating on saying ‘om’, but it was coming out of me in unison with all these people whom I didn’t even know. Great!
- Practice a martial art. If you’re not into being a yoga guru, then do self-defence. I practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and find I often need to enter a meditative space to keep breathing when it gets tough and stay calm when needing to defend myself.
- Stay hydrated. Physical stress can be just as bad as mental stress, keep your body well hydrated so the poor thing doesn’t stress out!
- Reduce caffeine, yes, it elevates cortisol. And I have found, I don’t reeeeeealy neeeeeed those 4 long blacks per day.
- Limit sugar, gluten and most grains as they are acidifying and your body gets stressed out working hard to alkalise more.
So, there you have it. A recovering Stress-a-holic to another. Let’s be healthy together!