The Negative Effects of Stress and Cortisol on Your Body
In the world we're living in today we're more stressed than ever before. Driving around town you'll see people yelling and cursing at other people in their cars just because somebody is driving a little too slow.
Josh Schlottman is a Napa personal trainer in the beautiful Napa Valley. He also runs a Napa Boot camp where he helps many of Napa's most energetic people get into the best shape of their lives. For more information please visit http://www.TrainerJosh.com
Relationships and kids are driving the parents crazy as well as everybody around them. People are stuck at jobs for 40 hours a week that they hate with people they hate. If we don't start to reduce or stress and cortisol levels then we will continue to put on fat as our bodies go into adrenal fatigue.
Stress can be found in other less known places such as in overtraining, pollution, climate and bad nutrition. As our bodies become stressed our adrenal glands which sit on the top of our kidneys release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is the fight or flight hormone that quickly allows us to stay on the top of our game in case of nearby danger.
Unfortunately we don't have much of a threat around us as our ancient ancestors once did and as our adrenal glands keep shooting out cortisol they'll eventually become more and more fatigued and will put our bodies in a hormonal chaos. Some of the effects of adrenal fatigue from stress include insomnia, weight gain and decreased sex drive. But all hope is not lost, here are some things you can do to turn the page on your stress.
1. Get your nutrition under control quickly. Nobody can expect their body to be healthy when they're feeding it garbage or the stuff they're not supposed to be eating. Find out your metabolic typing diet and start eating healthier to ensure your body is receiving the proper fuel to live strong.
2. Start exercising more. This may sound obvious but there are some keys to success with this one especially if you are really stressed out and are in adrenal fatigue. Start by going for walks either by yourself or with your dog and don't start up some crazy hard exercise program. This will only make things worse as your body is already in a state of disrepair, start slow and then gradually build up the intensity.
3. Reduce stress. I know this one sounds a lot harder than what it really is but if you decide to start taking time for yourself then you'll find your stress levels will go down dramatically. Start doing some daily meditations, do some yoga and/or tai chi and try taking a quick power nap in the afternoon. You don't have to fall asleep for an hour for the nap but just taking a quick 15-minute time out in your car with your eyes close and no noise can do wonders.
4. Get enough rest and recovery. This means going to bed at a decent hour like 10:00pm or 10:30pm and not midnight or later. This is because our bodies start the recovery process around 10:00pm and if we don't go to bed until later our bodies won't go through the proper rest and recovery process that it's designed to do. Even if you get 8 hours of sleep by going to bed at 2:00am and waking up at 10:00am your body is still thrown off and you'll still be tired the next day.
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