Cortisol Levels: The Shocking Truth
Ever felt the urge to engage in comfort eating when stressed out? The feeling that you’ve just got to have that FatBurger triple deluxe quarter pounder with bacon? Or the rich, creamy sundae with layers of chocolate? Do you feel guilty afterwards for not being disciplined enough?
It is not entirely your fault. You can blame it on a hormone known as cortisol. The cortisol levels in your body directly affect your cravings for unhealthy starchy and fatty foods.
Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands usually in response to a stressful situation. It serves the useful purpose of helping you cope with ‘fight or flight’ situations where your very survival is threatened and you need to react fast. In the caveman days an example of such a situation would have been encountering a saber tooth tiger in the forest.
Nowadays it is more likely a stressful job situation like not meeting sales targets, the threat of a layoff and so on. When cortisol is released into your bloodstream it causes these effects:
- Breakdown of muscle tissue for energy. Normally your body obtains its energy needs from glycogen but when under ‘attack’ it will do whatever is necessary to give you that extra boost of energy even if it means cannibalizing your own muscle tissue.
- Increased mental acuity and alertness in order to deal with the threat
A very crude analogy would be dipping into your retirement savings to deal with an unexpected financial crisis. Having the savings available for use gets you through the crisis but continuing to spend the savings for an extended period of time puts your long term financial stability at risk.
Similarly, having elevated cortisol levels for an extended period of time is bad for your health.When cortisol is released it is usually at the expense of other vital hormones necessary for normal body function. If cortisol levels remain elevated the longer term effects are:
- It triggers build up of abdominal fat. Abdominal fat is the unhealthiest kind and greatly increases risks of other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
- Leads to loss in bone density and eventually an early onset of osteoporosis
To best way to manage your cortisol levels is to avoid stress. Avoid taking on too many activities outside of work and family to keep your sanity and also exercise a lot. Doing this will make sure that cortisol is only secreted when you really need it—like when the boss puts you on the spot during the quarterly business review!
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by Don Demarco
