Stress And Testosterone: How To Reduce Stress and Cortisol Hormone

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20 ways to reduce cortisol - https://umzu.com/blogs/hormones/reduce-cortisol-and-improve-testosterone-naturally

Short-term stress, where a quick challenge (a fight for example) arises and the body reacts to that with a burst of stress hormones (glucocorticoids), which makes you more alert and focused to tackle the stressor. This kind of stress is often not detrimental to health and has no long-term effects in the body. Many experts believe that short bouts of manageable stress (ie: small daily challenges) can in fact be a healthy thing to have.

Long-term stress, where the challenge is something that goes on for a long period of time (for example: a demanding boss that gives you work related tasks that feel unbearable, or a debt that you simply can’t pay, etc). It’s this kind of chronic stress that keeps cortisol hormone levels high for extended periods of time, often leading to detrimental effects on health of the body and mind. It’s also this kind of stress that wrecks havoc in the endocrine system, and the kind we will be covering in this article.

So, short-term stress can be a good thing to have.

Long-term stress on the other hand, why it’s so unhealthy? And how does it affect your hormonal health?

Long-Term Stress and Testosterone: Stress Management 101 so you're not so stressed out

There are two major reasons as to why chronic long-term stress hammers testosterone production.

Firstly, the principal stress steroid hormone; cortisol, which is released from the adrenal cortex during times of prolonged stress, has a direct testosterone suppressing effect inside the hypothalamus and testicular leydig cells.

Secondly, the synthesis of cortisol requires cholesterol, a molecule that is also needed in the biosynthesis of testosterone. When cortisol levels skyrocket during stress, more of this essential building block goes towards creating cortisol.

Obviously those are not the only reasons that can cause low T levels during prolonged stress. As a guy who battled with some serious work-related stress few years ago, I can guarantee you that increased alcohol consumption, messed up sleep quality, poor diet, lack of exercise, and depression can (and more than likely will) contribute to the stress induced reduction in testosterone.

The research on how long-term stress (both physical and mental) alters testosterone levels is rather cruel:

In multiple animal studies, it has been noted that nearly all kinds of long-term stressors (surgical stress, noise stress, immobilization stress, oxidative stress, chronic stress, etc) can significantly lower testosterone levels in various species (489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 501). In pretty much all of these studies, the suppression of testosterone goes hand-in-hand with the increase in cortisol, and the reduction in testosterone is not caused by increased exertion, but through decreased production.

How can you combat this chronically high stress then? Try some of the tricks below.

Meditation and relaxation exercises have been very effective at lowering cortisol and increasing testosterone levels in multiple human studies (521, 522, 523)

Just simply walking in nature (forest walking, hiking, etc), has been linked to significantly lowered cortisol levels in Japanese test subjects. (524)

Adaptogenic herbs (Rhodiola Rosea, Ashwagandha, Shilajit, etc) have a really good track-record at lowering cortisol, while simultaneously increasing testosterone.

Vitamin C has been shown to reduce the secretion of cortisol during stress, and it also has the ability to relieve the damaging effects of the stress hormone.

Increased duration of sleep has a significant cortisol suppressing effect in stressed subjects. (525) However, restful sleep is not always that easy to achieve during chronic stress.

Exercise is often recommended as a “stress-reliever” but it’s important to remember that high-intensity exercise can also skyrocket the already elevated cortisol levels. (526) So stick to something light if you’re under chronic stress.

Just a simple posture-hack can increase testosterone levels by 20%, while lowering cortisol by -25%, in less than two minutes. This has been proven in a human study conducted by the Harvard University.
(527) We will discuss this technique in this book, in the chapter on body language.

Carbohydrate consumption has been shown to significantly reduce cortisol levels (528, 529, 530), whereas low-carb dieters often have high serum cortisol. The take home message? Don’t eat low-carb when you’re under stress.

Chronic stress is a real testosterone killer, and if you’re under “real stress” (as in something that truly fucking crumbles you) I don’t even have to tell you that, you can feel it yourself.

Chronic stress really hammers your testosterone production, the quicker you can get rid of it, the better.

Видео Stress And Testosterone: How To Reduce Stress and Cortisol Hormone канала Christopher Walker