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 Alternative Medicine
In The News Blog
Womens
Health Naturally Blog
6 Tips to Reduce the Stress Hormone, Cortisol
Author: Caroline MacDougall
If you listen to the range of complaints that people suffer from coffee
drinking, you can’t help but wonder how can coffee have so many toxic
effects on the body?
When I began marketing Teeccino in 1995, I
collected from our early customers a list of symptoms relieved from
quitting coffee that was extraordinary in its variety and diversity. I
thought the reason coffee hadn’t been targeted for its health
consequences, unlike tobacco, was that its effects couldn’t be
specifically pinpointed like cancer of the lungs caused by smoking.
I was wrong. Stephen Cherniske in 1998 published his landmark book, Caffeine Blues, that attributed the effects of caffeine to its stimulation of the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, the body’s foremost stress hormone. After the publication of Caffeine Blues,
studies about cortisol, its relationship to caffeine, and the long term
consequences of elevated cortisol to one’s health proved Cherniske’s
theories to be absolutely correct. The recent publication of The
Cortisol Connection by Shawn Talbott, PH.D., provides an even stronger
picture of what happens in the body when you live awash in cortisol.
I’d like to share with you the 7 foremost effects that
caffeine and the elevation of cortisol trigger in your body. Best of
all, you’ll find 6 tips on the easiest ways to reduce cortisol that are
designed to help you create the conditions to promote optimal health.
“Fight or Flight”; The Body’s Stress Response: Both Cherniske
and Talbott explain that cortisol is a necessary stress hormone
designed to help you cope with danger by releasing amino acids from the
muscles, glucose from the liver, and fatty acids into the blood stream
to produce a tremendous amount of energy. Sadly, since we lack the
inclination in modern life to react to the stress hormones by
physically burning them up in intense physical activity, the elevated
hormones continue to stimulate the release of even more stress
hormones. Due to our sedentary lifestyle, we are usually drinking that
cup of coffee while sitting at a desk or in our car and the
caffeine-driven cortisol jolt aggravates our state of stress in a day
already filled with stressful events.
Aging and Catabolic Metabolism: Elevated stress hormones puts
the body in what both Cherniske and Talbott call a “catabolic” state
where there is widespread tissue destruction, muscle loss, bone loss,
immune system depression and brain shrinkage! As the body ages, high
levels of cortisol production increases and coupled with low levels of
DHEA, testosterone and estrogen, the loss of cartilage, bone and muscle
tissue is accelerated. Many people find they can’t tolerate caffeine
after they turn 40 like they used to when they were 20. At midlife, we
first feel our aging bodies start to complain as DHEA production falls,
cortisol rises, and suddenly, we no longer have the same energy or
endurance we once took for granted.
Weight Gain, Heart Disease, and Diabetes: Chronic long-term
exposure to stress hormones disrupts the body’s metabolism causing
elevated blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and
increased body fat levels due to increased appetite. Stress stimulates
cravings for sweet, calorie dense foods and salty, high carbohydrate
snacks. The combination of high cortisol, low DHEA and low growth
hormone production causes the body to store fat, lose muscle and slow
the metabolic rate. No wonder diets like the Fat Flush Plan tell you to
get off of caffeine in order to lose weight!
Stress makes you burn fewer calories and cortisol can actually
reduce the body’s ability to release fat from its fat stores to use for
energy! Stress hormones cause increased body fat in the abdominal
region, exactly where we don’t need or want it.
Chronic stress can lead the body to ignore the function of insulin.
Insulin resistance develops when the cells fail to respond to the
overproduction of insulin caused by elevated blood sugar due to stress
and diet. The appetite is increased while the body’s ability to burn
fat is decreased. That explains why there are more obese people now
than ever before and why so many people are now developing diabetes.
Impaired immune system: Cortisol shrinks the thymus gland - one
of the key immune regulators in the body – and inhibits white blood
cell activity and production. It can actually signal immune-system
cells to shut down and die. Prolonged exposure can cause the same
immune system cells to attack the body’s own tissue leading to
autoimmune system diseases. Initially the immune system may overreact
causing allergies, asthma and various immune system disorders like
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease
and fibromyalgia. Eventually, long-term exposure may lead to immune
system suppression and far more serious diseases caused by the
inactivation of our immune system protection.
Stress inhibits the production and activity of natural killer
cells, known as NK cells, as much as 50%. NK cells are responsible for
identifying and destroying cancer and virus cells. Even more scary,
chronic stress can accelerate the growth of cancer cells in the body as
well as block the body’s ability to fight cancer. It promotes the
synthesis of new blood cells in tumors and accelerates the growth of
some tumors.
Gastrointestinal Problems: We are all familiar with the
heartburn caused by the high acidity of coffee. Moreover, caffeine, by
elevating cortisol, causes energy to be taken away from the
gastrointestinal tract, lowers the production of enzymes needed to
digest food, and reduces the absorption of minerals and nutrients. High
acidity coupled with low mineral levels leads to the development of
osteoporosis.
Additionally, cortisol inhibits the growth of beneficial microflora in
the intestines. These essential bacteria support the immune system,
create B vitamins, and increase the absorption of minerals like
calcium, iron, and magnesium. A decrease in their population results in
more colds, sore throats, headaches, diarrhea, upset stomachs and the
overgrowth of harmful bacteria and fungus like candida.
Since Teeccino helps establish healthy populations of beneficial
microflora via its inulin content, a soluble fiber from chicory root
that is the favorite food of our beneficial intestinal bacteria, it’s
just what a recovering coffee drinker needs!
Mood Swings and Depression: Moodiness, anxiety, and depression
are all consequences of elevated cortisol’s long-term effects on
seratonin and dopamine production. Although stress hormones cause a
temporary increase in short term memory for up to 30 minutes, elevated
cortisol reduces blood flow and glucose delivery to the brain and
interferes with the brain cell’s ability to uptake glucose. It can even
cause brain cells to actually shrink! Couple that with caffeine’s
constriction of blood flow to the brain, reducing oxygen by up to 30%,
and you now understand why caffeine addiction creates debilitating
headaches when you quit caffeine. Studies show that students who study
late on caffeine find their short-term memory fails them on the next
day’s exam.
Fatigue and Insomnia: Cortisol production is naturally high in
the early morning around 8 AM because one of its beneficial functions
is to help you rise and shine for the day. People who chronically
stress their adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol alter their
cortisol concentrations so that cortisol is low in the morning when
they wake up instead of high. Of course they reach for a cup of coffee
to artificially spike their cortisol levels up again. These same people
experience huge cortisol surges at meals causing them to overeat. They
have higher body fat, lower muscle mass, and reduced metabolism so they
burn fewer calories. They don’t sleep well at night because elevated
cortisol levels keep them from entering Stage 4 sleep; the deep rebuild
and repair sleep your body needs for recovery.
Skin Aging and Wrinkling: Last but hardly least, is our
appearance. Caffeine dehydrates the body. So do elevated cortisol
levels. This leads to dehydrated skin and premature wrinkling. Dr.
Nicholas Perricone in his best selling books, The Perricone Prescription and The Wrinkle Cure,
is emphatic about quitting coffee to prevent skin aging. His patients
have shown him the consequences of elevated cortisol levels on skin
aging and wrinkling through both dehydration and the decrease of
collagen and elastin production.
Six Tips To Lowering Your Cortisol Production:
Cherniske and Talbott both emphasize the importance of
increasing our “anabolic” metabolism, the rebuild, repair and restore
cycle, to reverse the consequences of elevated stress hormones and
aging. Cherniske likens the anabolic/catabolic metabolic model to a
seesaw. You want to have the anabolic side of the seesaw up in the air
and the catabolic or breakdown and degeneration side down as low as it
can go. Here are 6 tips that give you the top recommendations to
decrease cortisol levels and thus catabolic metabolism while you
increase anabolic metabolism and experience optimal health.
1. Eliminate caffeine from your diet. It’s
the quickest way to reduce cortisol production and elevate the
production of DHEA, the leading anabolic youth hormone. 200 mg of
caffeine (one 12 oz mug of coffee) increases blood cortisol levels by
30% in one hour! Cortisol can remain elevated for up to 18 hours in the
blood. This is the easiest step to decrease your catabolic metabolism
and increase your anabolic metabolism.
2. Sleep deeper and longer. The average 50
year old has nighttime cortisol levels more than 30 times higher than
the average 30 year old. Try taking melatonin, a natural hormone
produced at night that helps regulate sleep/wake cycles, before going
to sleep to boost your own melatonin production that also decreases
with age. I prefer Source Natural Sublingual Melatonin and I always
take it on trips to recover from jet lag. You may not need it every
night, but if you are waking up in the middle of the night or too early
in the morning, melatonin can help you sleep deeper and lengthen your
sleep cycle. If you get sleepy during the day even though you had
plenty of rest, back off the melatonin for a while. It’s a sign you are
getting too much.
3. Exercise regularly to build muscle mass
and increase brain output of serotonin and dopamine, brain chemicals
that reduce anxiety and depression. Cherniske recommends DHEA to
shorten the adaptation period when out-of-shape muscles and
cardiovascular system discourage people from continuing to exercise
before they get in shape. DHEA also accelerates the building of muscle
mass and increases the feeling of being strong and energetic.
4. Keep your blood sugar stable. Avoid sugar
in the diet and refined carbohydrates to keep from spiking your insulin
production. Eat frequent small meals balanced in protein, complex
carbohydrates and good fats like olive oil and flax seed oil. Diets
rich in complex carbohydrates keep cortisol levels lower than low
carbohydrate diets. Keep well hydrated – dehydration puts the body in
stress and raises cortisol levels. Keep pure water by your bed and
drink it when you first wake up and before you go to sleep.
5. Take anti-stress supplements like B
vitamins, minerals like calcium, magnesium, chromium and zinc, and
antioxidants like vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, grape seed extract, and
Co Q 10. Adaptogen herbs like ginseng, astragalus, eleuthero,
schizandra, rhodiola and ashwagandha help the body cope with the side
effects of stress and rebalance the metabolism. These supplement and
herbs will not only lower cortisol levels but they will also help you
decrease the effects of stress on the body by boosting the immune
system.
6. Meditate or listen to relaxation tapes that
promote the production of alpha (focused alertness) and theta (relaxed)
brain waves. Avoid jolting alarm clocks that take you from delta waves
(deep sleep) to beta waves (agitated and anxious) and stimulants like
caffeine that promote beta waves while suppressing alpha and theta
waves.
For a deeper exploration of the role of cortisol and the
consequences of long-term elevation of stress hormones in the body,
read
The Cortisol Connection by Shawn Talbott and
The Metabolic Plan by Stephen Cherniske. Get more information about ordering the books here.
Teeccino Caffé, Inc.
Herbal Coffee Site
Here's Our Official Definition of "Herbal Coffee"
Herbal coffee is a blend of herbs, nuts, fruits and grains that are roasted,
ground and brewed just like coffee. Dark, rich, and full-bodied, Teeccino
brings you all the satisfaction of a robust brew with no caffeine reaction.
Teeccino tastes mildly sweet from dates and figs, but only has 15 calories per
cup! Teeccino contains 65mg of potassium to give your body a natural energy
lift and 365mg of inulin to enhance your digestion and improve your
elimination.
Teeccino Caffé, Inc.
P. O. Box 42259
Santa Barbara, CA 93140
Toll Free: 800-498-3434
Customers outside of the USA & Canada,
please call: 805-966-0999
Fax: 805-966-0522
Email: info@teeccino.com
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These statements have NOT
been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
These products are
not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any
disease.
It is advised to
always seek
the advice from your family holistic physician before starting
any new herbal or nutritional program.
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