Why it's Probably Not Cortisol's Fault

Why it’s probably not cortisol's fault… 

The blame game is one we are not unaccustomed to playing as human beings. We love a scapegoat, always have and probably always will. It’s easier that way. We deal with enough bombardment on a day-to-day and any way to lessen our burden of things we are responsible for, we will more than likely take it. 

The flavour of the month is cortisol, and the blame has been growing momentum amongst health influencers. But is it even true? Is cortisol the reason why you have stubborn belly fat? Let’s find out… 

If you’re unaware, Cortisol is a hormone that works in harmony with insulin (another hormone) to control our stress response to lifestyle factors and blood sugar levels, playing a key role in energy regulation (amongst several other functions). Essentially, if we’re being chased by a large jungle cat, we need a lot of energy, very quickly, to be able to get away. 

If stress is elevated or blood sugar is too low, cortisol will rise to restore balance, pulling glucose into the bloodstream for immediate use and decreasing insulin sensitivity. When the threat is deemed safe, insulin rises to return the glucose in the blood to be stored in the cells for later use. 

Cortisol can also provide the body with energy in times of stress by breaking down fat stores and muscle mass to provide enough glucose when there’s not enough present glucose. Essentially, it will get what it wants, one way or another. Remember, we are in danger. Muscle breakdown is a small price to pay for getting away with your life! 

Cortisol can also modulate appetite, increase cravings, and shift metabolism. We don’t know when we’re hungry or when we’re full, and nor should we during times of immediate danger; that’s distracting! But when it’s chronic stress and not immediate danger, it means our signals are permanently interrupted. Not so helpful...

The thing is, we need a stress response. Stressors don’t just come in the form of a 60-hour work week or a child who can’t sleep. They come from exercise, sport, the food we eat, driving in traffic, socialising, and rescuing a lost dog. Without a stress response, we become far less responsive, and we become far less adaptive to stress.

Researchers have found that when athletes utilised cortisol-inhibiting supplements and pharmaceuticals, it blunted the incredibly necessary stress adaptation response by the body to exercise.

So why isn’t it cortisol again? Cortisol is a response. A perfectly natural, necessary response by our body to stressors. Blaming a single mechanism for the shortcomings of our body fat percentage is putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm. Sure, Cortisol is responsible for the physiological responses within our bodies, but what is it responding to? Our own chronically elevated stress and our inability to regulate it. Our cortisol is high because we are consistently putting ourselves into stressful situations. 

Instead of trying to control the necessary physiological response, why don’t we address the reason it is responding in the first place? Address the cause of the stress. Not the fact that we are responding to it. Look at your job, your work/life balance, your family set up, your friendship group, your lifestyle, the food you eat, and how active you are. 

Now, that sounds simple, but I’m certainly not saying it’s easy. Addressing the root cause is going to be a lot harder than trying to control our own cortisol, but it’s going to be a hell of a lot more effective.

Focus on sleep quality, nutrition, recovery from training, psychosocial stress, and circadian alignment. We have a great meta-analysis showing that stress-management interventions (like diet improvement, meditation and psychology) do affect cortisol metrics.

If you want to know more about cortisol, then reach out! If you want to learn how to best manage your stress through dietary and lifestyle changes, then also reach out! 

You know where we are :) 

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