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Cortisol: Friend or Foe?

I recently read a book about cortisol.
Here’s my key takeaway:

𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵: 𝗪𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹! 😲 

We only ever associate it with stress and fat gain.
I've been guilty of this too.

Making sure I don't work out too long at the gym because I was warned:
"After x amount of training time, cortisol will kick in"

RUN... here comes the cortisol...😱 

Just the mere mention of cortisol invokes fear.

Which leads to a stress response...

Which leads to more cortisol...

A vicious cycle!

Here are 3 things that I learned about cortisol from the book:

1️⃣ The good side of cortisol 💪 
It's essential for our body's response to stress, kickstarting our fight-or-flight mode.

It kept our ancient ancestors alive running from those saber-toothed tigers!

2️⃣ It's way more than just “stress” 😎 
Cortisol helps manage blood sugar, our sleep-wake cycle, metabolism, blood pressure and reduces inflammation.

Who knew?

3️⃣ Balance is key ⚖️
Just like everything.
Too much or too little cortisol?
Problems arise.

It's all about keeping it in check.

Embrace cortisol but be kind to your body!

Cortisol only does what it does to protect us, but the stressors of modern life are triggering our ancient survival instincts relentlessly.

We have advanced so quickly that evolution couldn’t keep up!

Better sleep hygiene and some stress management skills will go a long way to calm us the f**k down!

P.S. The book was called “Cortisol: The Master Hormone”

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See you next time!

Paul

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