Stress 🤯

I think we all know that stress isn’t good for us, and yet some stress is unavoidable.

Your job, relationships, family, and finances can all push your stress levels up, but I want to talk about the things that aren’t so obvious.

Cortisol is a hormone that is released when your body is stressed. It has many different effects on the body, including on your metabolism, your blood sugar and your sleep (amongst others).

I want to highlight this because as much as we all know that a calorie deficit is the best way to lose fat, we can see how our behaviours affect our stress, which affect our metabolism.

Let’s start with the beloved “fat-burning” (please note the quotes) HIIT.

High Intensity Interval Training can be effective for improving fitness or getting in a high-calorie workout in a short space of time.

But it is very stressful on the body. Resistance training, with occasional high intensity training, would be better if you are concerned about stress.

Something else I see women doing is sacrificing sleep to make time to train (even worse if it is HIIT), which will result in raised cortisol levels. You might also find it hard to go to sleep in the evening after an intense training session because your cortisol levels are high when they should naturally be lower before going to sleep.

Cortisol is normally highest in the mornings when we wake. And what do most of us do when we wake up?

Coffee. Caffeine raises cortisol levels.

I’ve been keeping my head in the sand about this one, but the more I’m learning about it, the more important I feel it is to raise awareness about the effects it could be having on the body.

Now, before we cancel the morning coffee thoughts, it is probably important to know how to identify signs that your cortisol is too high or too low (yes too low is an issue too).

Some signs of high cortisol include weight gain, facial hair (in females), poor sleep, weak bones, high blood pressure.

Some signs of low cortisol levels include fatigue, poor appetite, unintentional weight loss, low blood pressure.

Recently I have been learning more and more about female hormones, including PCOS and Endometriosis.

Any hormonal imbalances are exasperated by high cortisol levels, which I think is important to note. We see so many women suffering from hormonal issues but doing HIIT workouts and dieting hard.

So what can you do to help regulate your cortisol?

Sleep! If you have any issues with sleep, try to get help or find solutions instead of brushing yourself off as a light sleeper.

Meditation or breathing exercises can help reduce stress by making you more present and breathing deeper with intention.

Exercise, but not too much HIIT or any type of training that constantly has you in that ‘fight or flight’ mode. Even light walks can be great for reducing stress. 

Eat before training. ‘Fasted cardio’ feels like a thing in the past (for me anyway) but sometimes I train fasted purely out of convenience. Eating something small before training can help regulate your cortisol levels in the morning when they are usually highest.

Of course, I am no endocrinologist, so please take my musings with a pinch of salt. If you do feel like you need more specific help, I would advise speaking to a nutritionist who can specialise for you, or else your medical professional.

But if you do feel like you need more direction with your training and nutrition, we still have spaces at the sale price for The Furnace.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhan “Is it affect or effect” O’Hagan