Why are we stressed and how can we change it? Two experts debunk the myth of cortisol as the enemy

Who hasn’t heard that we live intoxicated with cortisol? Thousands of videos on social networks alert us the stress hormone par excellence. As the famous psychiatrist Marian Rojas would explain, it is a substance that your body secretes when it perceives a threat, real or imaginary, and which allows you to survive, react And go ahead.

Gets you out of bed

“Though he resembles the villain himself, cortisol is needed in the body: to get out of bed, for example. In the morning, it’s high, when we start the day”, explain the researcher Richard Mackenzie (Edgehill, 1968) and the journalist Peter Walker (Edinburgh, 1978), authors of Much more than cortisol (Ed. Diane).

A book where both, specialized on the subject, reveal from scientific studies and personal cases How Stress Hormones Are Linked to Insulin Spikesinfluence our health and well-being, and what we can do about it. For them, focusing on a single marker or hormone is not helpful. Furthermore, he was too simplistic. “Cortisol is just the tip of the iceberg,” they say. “But anyone can go on Instagram, say something simplistic about cortisol, and everyone believes it,” they add.

No more stress hormones

Under normal conditions, a person produces less than 10 milligrams of cortisol per dayjust over ten million of your body mass, the experts write in the book. However, with regard to our health, even our vital destiny, its importance far exceeds its weight. “It’s a pretty powerful hormone, it produces a lot of responses. And when it goes out of whack, so do our biorhythms,” says Mackenzie. But it’s not the only one.

“We have the secretinalthough not officially a stress hormone, can influence the endocrine system. In one study, it was found to be between three and six times higher in a group of army cadets going on a long march. The other hormone is adrenaline, is part of the automatic biological response when your body interprets that you are facing a threat.

The genetics that condition us

You have surely seen, when faced with the same event, how two people can react in very different ways. The authors point out how many studies have shown that mother exhibition Continually elevated cortisol levels during pregnancy tends to make the boy or girl less able to manage the different physiological manifestations of stress when they reach adulthood. “Many studies have observed consequences in children of parents involved in wars, but something this extreme is not necessary: ​​poverty or life difficulties also have similar effects,” explains Walker, for whom stress is inevitable and therefore we should shift the blame.

“The baby’s initial environment is even more determining, because it takes several months to form. a circadian rhythm for cortisol, which will not be supplemented until the child is four years old. There is no doubt that all of these circumstances are beyond the mother’s control! To send a message of hope, I like pediatrician and psychiatrist Winnicott’s idea of ​​the good enough mother, because the perfect one does not exist. We should try to be as good parents as possible and not blame ourselves or stigmatize anyone. It’s just a biological fact,” Mackenzie adds.

HIIT and stress

The research gathered by the authors in the book shows how, even among elite top athletes, the shorter the interval between training sessions, The more pronounced the increase in cortisol. But this does not necessarily have to be bad, they point out. “In 99% of people, physical exercise provokes a very positive response. HIIT increases heart rate, improves cardiovascular functioning and can have benefits on the mitochondria but also on the use of fats after having practiced it,” explains the researcher.

Walker emphasizes that it is important to listen to the body and mind. “It all depends on the context. extremes are never good: If a person only does high-intensity exercise and is constantly stressed, this will take a toll on their health and will have more difficulty calming down after exercise. » And he gives some advice: “If you can integrate physical activity into your day, in a way that it gives you time instead of depriving you of it, the better. For example, I go to work by bike: I get there faster than by bus. Making it part of your routine takes the pressure off.

Diet and blood sugar spikes

THE war for nutrition This is not a conflict that will be resolved in the short term, as we see between carnivores and vegans. After the demonization of fats, it is now time for the turn of carbohydrates. “THE extreme diets They can stress the body more than the sugar they are trying to avoid. There is some evidence that low carbohydrate intake can have a negative effect on blood sugar control. Even if you think you’re eating less sugar, the body interprets it as stress and tells the liver to generate other sources of energy to produce sugar, even destroying muscles. So restricting a macronutrient can be negative,” explains Mackenzie, for whom the relationship is very complex.

“Stress can cause less healthy behaviorswhich affects weight and can in turn cause more stress. “There is clearly a connection between what we eat and the hormones our bodies produce,” he says.

hormetic stressors

THE hormesis It is a phenomenon in which a small dose of stress produces a positive effect on the body, whereas a high dose would be harmful. Some examples are physical exercise, intermittent fasting, exposure to cold and heat… “At the cardiovascular or metabolic level, they can be useful. For example, a cold water bath can improve metabolic health, help generate brown adipose tissue and have benefits, but the link with longevity is not yet fully proven”, explains the researcher, who gives more thermal examples.

“A consequence of modern lifestyle is that we live in highly thermoregulated spaces: heating in winter, air conditioning in summer… and this can contribute to obesity, according to a recent study. It’s a small factor, but it can be important,” Mackenzie points out.

Conclusions

One of the great messages of the book is that Paradoxically, worrying about stress can create stress. Walker says that in researching the writing, he observed how in modern history it has always been said that we live in extremely stressful times. However, “in the Victorian era, some argued that communicating by telegraph or high-speed train was also too stressful. Everything must be considered in context.” From a social point of view, each person has a lifestyle and the reality is that stress is inevitable.

“There are people who have several jobs, who take care of children or parents… A major mistake is to focus only on a single marker like cortisol. Human beings want simple answers to complex problems, This is why blaming something is the way out. But we still know very little about the human body. In the next ten years we will know a lot more and we will see that there are many other relevant hormones and interactions,” Mackenzie reflects. It is more important to reduce stress or recognize it in our daily lives and implement practices to reduce it if possible, explains the researcher. “It has real consequences, which is why some tools and “Modern panic doesn’t help.”

1. You don’t have to feel guilty about stress. ““It is something imposed by factors beyond our control, and our response to stress is also largely determined by things beyond our control, such as our childhood,” the authors say.
2. If you are stressed, Don’t think about “fighting it” with to-do lists. “It’s not about not doing these 10 things to combat stress. Try to implement changes, yes, but first recognize that you are stressed. Being aware of this can be very powerful,” they say.
3. We are not the first stressed generationnor will we be the last. “Stress is not new. A balanced approach to life, away from extremes, is always helpful, because we cannot always keep stress to a minimum. There is no magic supplement, even if ashwagandha and rhodiola rosea are in fashion, that can balance our hormonal health,” the experts conclude.

What small change will you make today to manage your stress?