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Table of Contents
Section 1:
Introduction from Ali and Chris
Section 2:
The Basics
What is Cortisol and Why Lower it?
How Stress Chokeholds The Endocrine System
Section 3:
The Low Cortisol Lifestyle, aka. Lifestyle Optimization for Stress-Free Living
40% Higher Testosterone and -24% Lower Cortisol After 4 Weeks of Resistance
Training
How Listening to Music Can Alter your Hormones and Productivity
How to Optimize your Sleep for Balanced Cortisol Levels
The Surprising Hormonal Effects of Fixing your Posture
Relaxation Exercises and Walking
Alcohol and Marijuana: Two Relaxing Substances that Actually Increase
Cortisol
Are you Drinking Enough Water?
The Quick Action Guide to Low Cortisol Nutrition
Section 4:
Supplementation
Cortisol
Phosphatidylserine
Adaptogenic Herbs
Section 5:
The Cortisol Solution
While cortisol is not an inherently bad hormone (it is necessary for many important
processes in your body) chronically high cortisol levels will wreak havoc on your body,
your brain, and your testosterone levels.
From this point on, when faced with certain decisions and behavioral choices in your
daily life, remember...
Low Cortisol Lifestyle
Make choices that help keep your body in a state of balance and youll be rewarded
with lifelong health and mental clarity.
Its basically the opposite of testosterone, the other side of the coin, and
somewhat of an enemy when youre interested in keeping your
testosterone levels high.
Hence, why everyones telling you to keep your cortisol levels as low as possible.
A statement which is somewhat true, but we also have to remember that cortisol
is not completely useless
Its also the hormone that wakes you up in the morning, its deeply involved in
the muscle glycogen storage/release process, and without cortisol, we would still
be crawling instead of walking.
So a certain baseline is needed for some of the most basic functions of the
human body, and in that manner, cortisol is not that bad, and your body is pretty
good at protecting itself from the negative effects when the levels stay within a
reasonable range.
The problems start when your cortisol levels are elevated for prolonged periods of
time
, a situation not that uncommon for a modern male who eats processed junk,
is deficient in multiple nutrients, and suffers from chronic stress.
In other words, I believe that most of the men on this very planet have got too
much cortisol circulating in their bloodstreams
And those are not good news for your testosterone molecules:
According to a
few studies conducted by an endocrinologist Matthew Hardy
, our
testicles produce this enzyme called 11HSD-1, which protects testosterone from
the destructive effects of cortisol
However, when cortisol is too high, there simply isnt enough of the enzyme
11HSD-1 to counteract the stress hormone, and as a result a lions share of your
freshly produced testosterone molecules will be destroyed before they even leave
the sack.
Not only that, but cortisol and testosterone are both made from pregnenolone
(which the body synthesizes from cholesterol), when cortisol is elevated, it
basically robs the raw building material of T into making a stress hormone,
rather than male sex hormone.
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 cant pay, etc).
Its this kind of chronic stress that keeps stress hormone levels high for
extended periods of time, often leading to detrimental effects on health of
the body and mind. Its also this kind of stress that wreaks havoc in the
endocrine system, and the kind we will be covering in this article.
Obviously those are not the only reasons that can cause fucked-up 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:
c)
In non-military men, chronic stress, and stress-related depression has been
linked to low testosterone production and elevated cortisol levels (
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
).
d)
Surgical stress is no different (be this physical or psychological), it lowers
testosterone levels too, usually the magnitude of the suppression is directly
correlated with the severity of the surgery (
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
).
Bottom line:
Chronic stress (be it physical or psychological) has a tendency to
lower testosterone levels, and this suppressive effect is nearly always
caused by
elevated cortisol production
.
Well, thats a big no at least if you ask the Spanish researchers, who found
out that in newbie trainees, 4 weeks of strength training results in a
significant 40% boost in RESTING testosterone, and -24% drop in RESTING
cortisol.
Here are the details:
In 2006, Andrada et al. from the University of Extremadura
, had 20 male
volunteers (average age 22) with no prior experience with strength training. All
of the subjects were tested and medically examined, so that there was no
possibility of performance enhancing drug use to screw up the results.
After the medical examination, each of the volunteers were given a 4-week sub
maximal strength training routine, which was to be conducted on three days of
the week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). All the sessions were to be
conducted at 12pm, and the use of any nutritional supplement during the
4-week period was forbidden.
behind-neck press
leg press
bicep curls
tricep pull-downs
NOTE:
All of the exercises were done in 3 sets of 10 reps, with 3 min recovery
in-between the sets, and with a weight that was 70-75% of the trainees one-rep
max (1-RM).
After a month with the program above, the results speak for themselves:
even
though right after the exercise there was acute reductions in T (likely because
resistance training makes muscle cells absorb more androgens from the blood,
and as a result the testosterone level goes down for a while), there was a
statistically significant 40% increase in resting testosterone, and a -24%
decrease in resting cortisol (the primary stress hormone).
Did those findings have any impact on the amount of music I consume?
Hell no. In fact, Im writing this chapter with music playing on the background. I
do most of my work while listening to music
In a
study from England
, it was found out that listening to background
music significantly raised efficiency in a series of experiments involving
repetitive-work.
Multiple other studies on the subject have shown that background music
can be used to improve cognitive functions and productivity (
study
,
study
,
study
).
Aside from being a good tool for increased productivity, listening to music
can greatly reduce the stress hormone; cortisol
(
study
,
study
,
study
).
A
large review study investigating over 400 studies on music
, led by Professor
Daniel J. Levitin, found out that music can be so strong stress-reliever that it
Few tips:
If the music is too loud, productivity will suffer, keep it as background noise
when working.
During work involving writing or speaking, instrumental music is
recommended (lyrics distract the process).
Heavy-metal music and heavy ass weight lifting go hand-in-hand.
The best stress-relieving music is something that includes sounds from nature.
Video game music is awesome for productivity, since its designed to enhance
the experience without distracting the player (I often write with
this as
background noise
).
Sleeping more is not only good for stress reduction, as its also one of the best
ways to increase your natural testosterone production
Melatonin. This is the hormone that your pineal gland secretes to make
you sleep, thus its called the sleep hormone.
You can supplement with it
,
and few studies also show that it may boost testosterone levels via
inhibiting the aromatase enzyme.
Sleep in a cold room and be naked if you can. Firstly because cold room
will mimic the natural sleeping habitat of the human body (we were meant
to sleep outside), and secondly because the testicles need to be a tad bit
colder than the basal body temperature is, for optimal functioning (thats
why they hang in a pouch outside the body and thats also why cold
showers and loose boxers increase testosterone).
Dont watch bright electronic displays before you hit the sack, as the blue
light in most electronic screens will impair pineal glands ability to
produce melatonin (I use a software called
f.lux
, which automatically dims
the screen and reduces blue light when its getting close to bedtime).
Consume some simple carbs hour or two before hitting the bed, as this will
increase your insulin production, making you energetic for a brief moment,
but then your insulin will crash which makes you fall into sleep more
easily.
Consume some high quality protein before hitting the bed, as certain
amino acids such as L-tryptophan will increase melatonin production in
the brain, thus also improves sleep quality.
For example a baboon might express his power by holding his breath which
causes his chest to expand. Whereas a successful business man or a boss can
cross his fingers behind his head and lean back on a chair to open up showing
that he isnt afraid of taking space and is in control.
Insecurity and weakness can also be seen through body language. Actions such
as restless legs and fingers, closing up to a small space, crossing arms, not
making eye contact, and hunched up posture all show that youre scared, weak,
and not in control.
Its all in our evolution, these models are somewhat hard coded into our brains,
and we often do these things without noticing it ourselves.
But could showing powerful alpha body language actually make us more
powerful and confident? And could weak body language really make you more
weaker and inferior?
Thats what
this study
from Cuddy et al. examined:
They had 24 test subjects who gave their baseline saliva hormones to the
researchers and then were randomly assigned to groups where they would do
either power-poses or low-power-poses. (poses used in the study shown
below).
Each subject held the pose for 2 minutes and then the researchers again tested
their salivary hormones to see if there was anything different going on
secretion. It did, just 15 minutes of ARPT nearly halved salivary cortisol levels.
d) In
this Japanese study
, 280 subjects were assigned to walk in either a city, or a
forest. Surprisingly, the participants who walked in the forest & nature, had
significantly lower salivary cortisol levels than their peers who did the same
amount of walking in a city.
So even though you might feel relaxed, your body is actually responding to these
substances with a stress-response.
c)
Theres also some evidence that growth hormone levels get suppressed in the
state of dehydration (
study
,
study
), which is just another reason to drink plenty
of water during exercise!
Heres a simple and cheap long-term solution for you to get the most out of
your exercise sessions with nothing less than W-A-T-E-R
Get yourself a plastic-free bottle (I use two of
these
myself). Why not
plastic? Because soft plastics leak xenoestrogens to the water.
Preferably also get some sort of
tap-water filtration system
to filter out
chlorine
and
fluoride
from the godly liquid that is, water.
Go exercise and remember to drink a lot. When someone asks whats in
your fancy metal bottle, tell them its your secret anabolic liquid.
Enjoy your slightly increased anabolism, and watch with pride as your
fellow gym rats try to figure out what kind of anabolic fusion matrix is
hidden in your gym bottle.
This is simply because when you lower your calories, you make your body
deprived of energy, aka. starved. This causes bodily stress in various ways, and
results in increased cortisol secretion.Lowering calories is A MUST if your goal
is to lose weight, so yes, your cortisol levels will increase when dieting, you can
however keep this increase minimal with a deficit that is not more than
-10-20%
Thats about it for low-cortisol nutrition, really, its that stupidly simple.
Section 4: Supplementation
Phosphatidylserine
Phosphatidylserine
(PS) is a naturally occurring phospholipid that exists in
the cell membranes of all species. In simple words, its a type of fat that can
be found in every cell membrane of the human body that also contains the
mineral phosphorus.
Roughly 60 grams of phosphatidylserine can be found in human brain, testes,
lungs, muscle tissue, kidneys, liver, and blood plasma. About 50% of the PS in
the body exists in neural tissue.
Because nearly 50% of the phosphatidylserine exists in neural tissue, its also
believed that the phospholipid has a brain function improving effect. In other
words, its believed to be a nootropic (smart drug)
And research supports this belief, as several human studies have found out
that phosphatidylserine improves cognitive function, attention, working
memory, processing speed, processing accuracy, and general memory
(
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
)
Not to mention that PS is also known for reducing stress, fatigue, ADHD
symptoms, and cognitive decline (
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
,
study
).
So, phosphatidylserine clearly has some benefits as a brain booster and I
guess we can easily call it a well researched nootropic
However cognitive stuff is not all that this lipid has been researched for:
There are two very interesting facts about phosphatidylserine that could
make it a potential testosterone booster
Firstly, its a message sender between the cells, which means that it could
also improve the signals that come from hormones.
Secondly, it protects cells (think leydig) from oxidative damage (brains and
testicles contain the most of phosphatidylserine in the body).
Not only is great for the brain, it seems to also be great for guys who exercise
after all scientist often use the testosterone to cortisol ratio as a measure
to see how effectively the body can build lean muscle mass.
Adaptogenic Herbs
There are few herbal compounds that have been shown in studies to be
particularly effective against high cortisol levels.
One of these is Ashwagandha:
c)
This human study
d)
This double-blind, randomized, controlled, placebo study
and found out that on average their subjects cortisol levels dropped by 14% and
that their HDL cholesterol levels increased by 17,3%.
Those two above are not the only adaptogenic, stress-reducing herbs, a simple
Googling will give you plenty of more, with a lot of potent supplements backed
up by science.
All of these things are within our everyday control to manipulate and optimize,
however we seldom take the time to learn how, or actually execute on what we learn.
So we're limited.
Today I'm going to propose a novel way to eliminate certain limitations, to unlock a
higher level of performance in your life. I am going to shed some light on an effective
way to synthetically and/or naturally (yes, you can do this all with herbs and
vitamins/minerals) "upgrade" your cognitive and physical performance - increase
memory capacity, focus, energy, muscular strength, endurance, and muscular power.
You ever hear about that 35 year old Wall Street Banker who has a heart attack?
Yep,
chronically elevated cortisol.
How about the seemingly super healthy 40 year old marathoner who suddenly goes
into cardiac arrest and dies during a race?
Again,
chronically elevated cortisol levels
over years.
Cortisol can save you.
Or cortisol can kill you.
And its incredibly important that you understand that simple truth - controlling your
cortisol levels is paramount to living a healthy, thriving life!
Your body manifests these symptoms with elevated cortisol levels for a reason.
Cortisol is catabolic.
When it is elevated over time, it will consistently allocate bodily resources away from
higher level processes like cognition, sexual health, and vitality and well-being over
to base level processes like storing body fat and breaking down muscle tissue.
Remember, your body doesnt understand that your stress is coming from your
commute or your boss.
To it,
stress is stress
.
It reacts the same way it did to truly important threats thousands of years ago, only in
our modern age, the threats that trigger cortisol elevation are different...
They are mostly psychological and environmental.
Youre not being chased down by a lion, youre instead having to deal with that
horrible 2 hour commute to and from work every day.
So over years and years, your cortisol levels stay high, eventually breaking down your
ability to function at a higher level with cognitive, physical, and psychological
processes.
Once you identify the main issue(s), you need to come up with a plan to alleviate the
effect that issue is having on your life.
This plan might be a simple fix, and it may be a long process. Either way, you need to
do it.
But heres the problem: most of us suffer from nearly ALL of these issues, and many of
them can be very difficult to get rid of.
For example, we cannot just quit our job.
We cannot just leave a troubled marriage.
We cannot just wish we had higher testosterone levels.
We cannot get rid of all the smog in our city, or all the crazy drivers on our commute.
So
what are we supposed to do in these kinds of scenarios
??
Well look deeper into the exact ingredients in a minute, but first I want to talk about
the specific benefits of supplementing with the right nootropics...
Here Are Just Some Of The Benefits You Can Get By Adding A Powerful Nootropic
Supplement Stack To Your Regular Health Regimen:
Phosphatidylserine
, one of the main components in CORTIGON, is even
shown to
lessen symptoms connected to ADHD and has become the safe choice of many parents
who dont want to subject their children to unnatural alternatives.
http://nootriment.com/phosphatidylserine-for-adhd/
Enjoy Better Moods
Theres a lot of talk these days about your mood being a choice, and in many cases
mindset is the key to your problems. But another big factor is your bodys chemical
activity. You can tell yourself you want to feel better all day, but its hard to feel good
when your physiology is suffering. CORTIGON can help.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11842886
What is it About
Cortigon
That Can Do So Much to Make You More Prepared for
Anything the World Throws At You?
CORTIGON is All-natural
The way we see it, it makes little sense to enhance your mental and physical
functioning and combat modern threats by depending on some harsh, unnatural
compound.
Too many nootropics leave you worse than they find you. That is not a sustainable
long-term solution.
The natural ingredients in this supplement work extremely well together and provide
a solution that can be taken every single day (unlike most other nootropics) without
burning you out.
CORTIGON Helps You Think Better
There are many studies showing the nutrients packed into
CORTIGON
can improve
the way you think.
In the stress-filled modern lifestyle, one of the most common causes and indicators of
hormonal imbalance is high cortisol. Cortisol and testosterone act antithetically,
therefore a lower cortisol level often means a higher testosterone level.
As you can see, natural nootropics can be a super-effective, and safe, way to eliminate
cortisol stress quickly along with a myriad other potent benefits.
All-natural nootropics really are the holy grail of human supplementation for
performance enhancement.
They help you get rid of those limitations by solving the problem right at the source:
your brain.
So at this point youre probably curious about this stack of nootropics weve
developed for
CORTIGON
.
Id love to show you under the hood so to speak...
This is one of the most incredible ingredient combinations to hit the market in
decades...
Oh, and
dont forget that phosphatidylserine has an FDA approved health claim.
This
is very rare among nootropics or any other supplements you buy online.
And on top of this extremely potent PS + Choline + Inositol, w
e added three additional
supplemental POWERHOUSE ingredients
to
amplify
the effectiveness of every serving.
1. Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract
is an all-natural nootropic and adaptogenic herbal
compound that has been shown to decrease cortisol levels, decrease prolactin
levels (prolactin is a pesky hormone that inhibits testosterone production and
lowers libido), and enhance cognitive functioning.
2. DHA
is an omega 3 fatty acid that is a primary structural component of the
human brain, cerebral cortex, sperm, skin, testicles, and retina. Regular DHA
supplementation supports optimized brain development and protects
neurological function. Omega 3 supplementation in combination with
nootropics like PS and Choline has been shown to reliably amplify the cognitive
enhancing effect!
3. L-Carnitine
is a natural compound (made in the human body and safe for
supplementation) that is able to alleviate the effects of aging and disease on
mitochondria, while increasing the mitochondrias ability to burn fat.
Taken together,
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