Cortisol can be released into the body and can cause a number of things to become abnormal. Here are just 3 of the things that cause cortisol release:
1. Fight or flight response. This response was given to our cave man ancestors and released down to us. It served it's purpose in order to get us to respond to an immediate crisis, like having a lion chase us so we would run. In today's day and time we trigger our fight or flight response all the time. It can get triggered in traffic, an argument with a co-worker, listening to others talk about the news or politics, even reading social media. Too much cortisol released into our system can cause weight gain. Cortisol loves to party with fat cells and that party takes place in the spot you hold the most fat.
2. Hormonal imbalance. Cortisol tends to be released in large quantities due to menopause or hormonal imbalances in the body like a thyroid imbalance. My friend wrote an awesome book called Thyroid First Aid Kit. This book is great and full of tips for anyone having hormone imbalance or thyroid disease.
3. Slow and steady state exercise over a period of time longer than 20 minutes. Once you enter into slow and steady state exercise your body starts to release more cortisol. It’s not that training in general does not increase cortisol levels; it does. However, prolonged cardio sessions elevate cortisol for far longer periods of time than shorter, more intense training. This result makes it easier to overload the adrenal glands, stress out the body, and increase body fat.
Next blog post will be about how to prevent elevated cortisol states so you can keep the body in a normal metabolism state. Click Here to read that now.
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