Excess levels of the stress hormone cortisol can destroy your performance gains.
It has a catabolic effect on your muscle tissue unlike anabolic hormones like GH and IGF-1. It also has a knock on effect on your sleep, your metabolism and even your immune system.
If you’re trying to improve your physical and mental performance, it’s essential to keep your cortisol levels as low as you can - we’re going to look at 3 highly effective ways to keep cortisol levels low.
Hot & Cold Therapy
Hot and cold therapy is one of the most tried and tested ways to reduce your cortisol levels.
Start with an ice baths to trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response and stimulate the vagus nerve. This releases neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, which lower anxiety and reduce cortisol levels. Cold exposure also helps regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which directly controls cortisol production, leading to reduced stress responses.
Then, getting into a sauna which increases blood flow and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Heat also encourages the release of endorphins, which are natural mood enhancers, further helping to reduce stress and cortisol levels.
By regularly alternating between hot and cold therapies, you can help balance the nervous system, promoting overall lower cortisol and better stress management.
Diet
Diet is one of the easiest and most effective ways to keep your cortisol levels low. In a study titled ‘Associations between Sleep, Cortisol Regulation, and Diet: Possible Implications for the Risk of Alzheimer Disease’ researchers studied the links between cortisol and the diet in relation to the risk of Alzheimer Disease.
One of the key findings was that diets high in refined sugar, salt, animal proteins and fats with a low intake of fruits and vegetables resulted in disruptions to our natural cortisol releases, heightening the cortisol response. Whereas the mediterranean diet characterized as being predominantly plant-based foods (i.e., vegetables, fruits, olive oil, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts, and seeds) and fish and a low intake of processed foods, dairy products, red meat, and vegetable oils resulted in lower levels of cortisol, inflammation and oxidative stress.
Interestingly, this study also identified a number of specific dietary interventions that can reduce cortisol levels including:
- Flax seeds (specifically Linola 989, the strain with the highest content of lignan)
- Magnesium (500mg p/day)
- Creatine (5g p/day)
Breathing and Meditation
In a study entitled ‘The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults’ researchers took 40 participants and split them into two groups of 20.
The first 20 were given intensive training on diaphragmatic breathing techniques and followed an 8 week program while the other did not. They then tested salivary cortisol levels in both groups and the results were remarkable.
The group that practiced diaphragmatic breathing had significantly lower cortisol levels than the other group. This can be attributed to a number of factors but namely that by slowing down the breathing process it forces the body in a more calm and relaxed state.
There was another very notable result from this study, namely that the group who practiced diaphragmatic breathing saw a significant increase in their ability to concentrate and stay on task vs the group that did not. This demonstrates that the benefits from breathing and meditation goes beyond just a reduction in stress.
