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Acid & Alkaline, Anabolic Hormone, Building Muscle, Catabolic Hormone, Testosterone

The Effects Of Stress On Testosterone

We human beings have a survival brain that is designed to keep us safe. It’s our reptilian brain. Psychologically it gets in the way of taking action on ideas that are outside of our comfort zone, or more specifically, zone of familiarity (as our comfort zone often isn’t actually that comfortable). Physiologically, our survival instincts step up to keep us safe in the event of an attack, say from from a wild tiger. This is a ‘fight or flight’ mechanism designed to make us super aware of what is happening. Adrenaline is released and so is the stress hormone cortisol. In short bouts, the stress hormone, cortisol, plays a crucial part in keeping us alive as we are able to respond like a super human to events that we perceive may be an attack on us. Problems arise when cortisol is released consistently, or chronically, as is often the case in today’s world.

We live in an age of ‘hyper distraction’ and are bombarded left right and centre with messages, phone calls, media, social push notifications, advertising campaigns, if you’re a father or mother your kids are wanting your attention all the time (so I hear) – all while you’re trying to create something in this beautiful world in which we live and trying to get work done. How do we ever get anything done? We’re all the time, being distracted by people trying to get our attention in some form or another and are often holding down jobs in which we’re under immense pressure to reach deadlines. What this leads to is a release of cortisol on a consistent bases. Chronic levels of cortisol work against testosterone production in a big way.  Cortisol breaks down muscle tissue tissue (meaning testosterone levels drop), leads to fat gain and insulin resistance.  Since your heart is a muscle, chronic levels of cortisol can harm your heart function and other vital organs.

We’ve all heard that stress is one of the most harmful emotions we can experience – when we consistently feel it, and this is why. It also creates a very acidic environment in the body – exactly what we don’t want. When an acidic environment is created in the body, this harms everything and leads to the breakdown of bone mass as the calcium from the bones is extracted to neutralise the effects of the acid. The pH of our body needs to be slightly alkaline and chronic levels of cortisol harm that. A great way to create a more alkaline environment is to consume copious amounts of greens. They alkalise the body.

Here’s a quote from Mark’s Daily Apple on Cortisol and Testosterone:

I would be remiss if I failed to mention testosterone’s chief antagonist: cortisol. Cortisol, as you know, is one of the stress, fight-or-flight hormones. It kept us alive and our wits about us under short-term life-or-death situations for much of our evolution. Unfortunately, when cortisol is constantly elevated – as it often is in the sleep-deprived and chronically-stressed – testosterone is muted. Cortisol is catabolic (breaks tissue down), while testosterone is anabolic. Excessive levels of cortisol produce insulin resistance, fat gain, and muscle wasting, while testosterone promotes muscular hypertrophy and lean mass gains. Cortisol contributes to metabolic syndrome, while testosterone helps alleviate it.

Ironically, serum testosterone status seems to predict the cortisol response of people faced with victory or defeat. High T men and women who “lost” released more cortisol, the stress hormone; when they “won,” less cortisol was released. Low T folks’ cortisol changes did not depend on winning or losing. I guess that’s a downside to high T levels, technically, but it’s to be expected. I’m reminded of the Jimmy Cliff classic, “The bigger they come, the harder they fall”.

Read more on Marks Daily Apple

So what are the best ways to release stress? According to Tony Schwartz who wrote The Power Of Full Engagement, aerobic exercise is the no.1 method for emotional renewal. When have you ever worked out and not felt better afterwards? Whenever I feel overwhelmed (I try not to use the word stress, as stress is actually a code word for fear) I go for a run or work out. I feel better within minutes. What’s your mechanism when you feel stressed or overwhelmed? Most highly successful people I know, work out first thing before they start their day – and one reason for this, is that you release the stress that builds up consistently in our lives. It’s also an excellent way to stimulate the mind for productivity, creativity, focus and concentration, stimulates the creation of new brain cells (neurogenesis) and helps us learn and remember (neuroplasticity). Click here to discover lots of other benefits exercise has on your brain.

Yoga and meditation are also brilliant ways to release stress. Sleep is also essential to limit chronic levels of cortisol. In fact, breathing consciously for 2-3 minutes using the bottom of your lungs is a way to instantly change your state. We tend to breathe very shallowly using onto the tops of our lungs when most the most important capillaries are towards the bottom section.

How do you release stress from your life? Click here to Download an ebook I wrote called The Truth About Exercise. Click Here to Download

 

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