Why is cortisol so important?
people, adrenalin never switches off. This leads to (among many other things) chronic inflammation. The body can’t withstand this so excessive amounts of cortisol are then made.
Cortisol is our chronic stress hormone. In other words, we tend to make too much of it when we are stressed for a long time. Historically, the only long-term stresses humans had were floods, famines and wars; all scenarios where food may have been scarce.
Today, our long-term stress tends to come from relationship or financial worries, or health or weight concerns. However, because cortisol was designed to save your life when food was scarce, even though food may be abundant for you today, cortisol sends a message to every cell in your body that your metabolism needs to be slowed down so that those precious fat stores can keep you going until food returns.
Hi Maude. If we remember that we are completely geared for survival and that cortisol tells every cell of the body that food is scarce, another of its roles is to slow down your metabolic rate. It does this by driving catabolism – breaking your muscles down. Muscles use more energy than body fat so the less muscle mass you have, the slower your metabolic rate will be.
A slower metabolism leads you to burn body fat for energy far more slowly then you have in the past, as cortisol is designed to make sure that you survive this perceived period of famine.
Hi Lyndall. Managing stress involves different strategies for different people.
However, common threads include a reduction in caffeine consumption (caffeine drives adrenalin production, our shortterm stress hormone), incorporating a breath-focused practice such as yoga, meditation, tai chi or Pilates, as diaphragmatic breathing activates the calming arm of the nervous system, known as the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).