Combating the Stress Hormone

How stress and cortisol affect your health and what you can do about it.

By Jill Case

Stress. We all have it. But some people have chronic stress, suffering from its ill effects daily. If you are one of those people, you need to be aware that stress doesn’t just affect your emotional health, but can affect you physically as well, in part, thanks to the excess production of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to danger or threat. Your body may perceive any kind of emotional or physical issue as a threat, anything from a fight with your spouse to tight deadlines at work.

Cortisol’s main purpose is to provide your body with the fuel it needs to escape a dangerous situation. Long ago, these threats were often physical. For example, you needed to escape from a wild animal or dodge another danger in the natural world. Today, however, our stressors often occur as we sit at a desk or in our homes. The things that stress us out do not require that we run away or even move to escape. Therein lies the problem. The issue is that we may have almost constant stress, which puts the body into a constant state of alertness, causing the release of cortisol, the fight-or-flight hormone.

“Cortisol’s function in the body is to try to help the body handle stress by raising your blood sugar (glucose) so that your body has an immediate energy source for your muscles,” says Kim Eagle, an award-winning personal trainer in Austin.

When too much cortisol is released, insulin production is inhibited so that the glucose is not stored.

“Insulin’s function is to basically clean sugar out of your blood, but excess cortisol tells the body to leave the sugar alone so that it can be used to provide more energy,” Eagle says.

This can lead to excess blood-glucose levels remaining in the body, and having constantly high blood sugar can lead to pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes.

While there is no definitive study that shows a link between cortisol and weight gain, some experts do believe that excess cortisol can lead to weight gain. One reason?

“Cortisol lingers in the body after stress to bring rebalance back to the system and help restore the nutritional needs,” Eagle says. “Basically, it tells your body you are hungry so that you will take in calories. Unfortunately, the fuel needed is sugar, which means we will have carbohydrate cravings. That, coupled with eating comfort foods when we’re stressed, is a major cause of the weight gain.”

Excess Stress, Cortisol and Cardiovascular Disease

Studies have shown a direct correlation between too much stress and cardiovascular disease. Another hormone that is released during the fight-or-flight response is adrenaline, which raises the heart rate and blood pressure. The combination of an almost constant production of adrenaline and cortisol due to stress can be very damaging to the heart. In addition, it can also contribute to problems with depression, digestion, sleep and the immune system.

The best advice to help reduce the amount of cortisol is to reduce and manage your stress. There are no magic diets, foods or pills to help with this problem; it all starts and ends with you and learning to balance your life to make it less stressful as often as possible.

Special Diets and Supplements

Some studies have shown a relationship between stress and extra belly fat. This has led to many special diets to reduce belly fat, as well as supplements that claim to cause weight loss by blocking cortisol. Austin Woman asked Kim Eagle about using special diets and supplements to reduce belly fat and lose weight. She told us:

“I don’t believe in any supplements. I believe in real food. I really think if you eat properly—two to three fruit servings a day, five servings of vegetables each day, proteins, carbs, fats, all in moderation—you’re doing the right thing.”
“The reason I’m not a fan of supplements is because they’re not regulated by the FDA, and we don’t know what’s in them. It’s not the supplements that are going to help you; it’s decreasing your stress level by changing your diet, getting exercise and limiting the cause of your stress. There is nothing you can take that will take away the excess cortisol created by too much stress.”
“I also don’t believe in rash diets or detox programs. If you want to detox, stop drinking alcohol and limit your sugar intake. Our bodies need carbs, proteins and fats. It’s all about balance.”

Doctors and experts agree with Eagle. In fact, there are indications that taking some supplements that claim to block cortisol can be harmful to your health, particularly if you are diabetic or have high blood pressure or other health problems. Never take these supplements without having a discussion with your doctor.

Kim Eagle’s Tips for Managing Stress and Reducing Cortisol

The good news about cortisol is that managing your stress can help reduce the amount of cortisol your body produces, improving your health and helping to prevent problems. Austin Woman asked Kim Eagle for her top stress-management tips.

Pinpoint what is causing the stress in your life.
Identifying the source of your stress is important because it helps you to focus on ways to cope with it, as well as identify potentially stressful situations before they happen.
Clean up your diet.
Ridding your diet of processed foods, foods that are high in sugar, diet and regular soda, and foods that are high in sodium can make your body healthier and more able to cope with stress when it does occur.
Exercise regularly.
Cardio workouts—walking, kick boxing, cycling, jogging—are extremely beneficial when dealing with stress because they help use up the high blood sugar that occurs when your body releases cortisol. Exercise can help you deal with the emotional aspect of stress.
Get enough sleep.
“Another important one that I think a lot of people overlook is sleep,” Eagle says. “Not getting enough sleep is actually a stress on the body. If you’re not getting six to eight hours of sleep each night, you’re probably putting your body through a state of stress without realizing it.”
Avoid training too much.
If you’re working out more than two or three hours each day on a regular basis, you are putting stress on your body. Forty-five minutes to an hour is a good amount of time to aim for when working out.
Develop and nurture healthy relationships.
Try to spend time with people who make you happy. Healthy relationships have been shown to be beneficial to your physical health. Getting rid of relationships that consistently make you sad or upset will also reduce your stress.
Meditate.
Eagle emphasizes that you don’t have to know how to meditate.
“It could be as simple as taking five to 10 deep inhalations and exhalations,” she says. “Sitting quietly and breathing this way will actually drop your heart rate and decrease cortisol levels, as well as help manage your stress.” She also recommends yoga.
Consider therapy.
If you feel that you have tried many methods to cope with your stress and nothing has worked, consider seeing a therapist to help figure out what is going on at a deeper emotional level and learn to cope with it more successfully.