Cortisol reducer

Cortisol is the ‘stress hormone’ which is created because of stress and is responsible for increasing your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The cortisol hormone also reduces your immune responses. While it’s important to have some cortisol in your body, it’s a lot better if you don’t have too much of it. High cortisol levels may not be wanted but they do occur, especially when dieting. This may not be a terrible thing but for some it is.

There are two downsides to a high cortisol level while dieting. The first one would be that it can cause muscle loss. While this may not be a huge issue for some, it may affect others more. As well, those who are dieting will have an increase of visceral fat mass from the cortisol hormone. You won’t notice stomach fat increasing as your diet continues to work but if you start cheating the diet and fall off your plan, the first place you start to pack fat onto is your stomach.

Muscle Loss from High Cortisol Levels
If you’re looking to add muscle mass to your body then you probably want to make sure you don’t ever have a high cortisol level. Steroid users generally use androgens that have anti-cortisol properties in order to remove the possibility of increasing your cortisol level. However, steroid use is obviously not advocated by most professionals and it shouldn’t even be considered.

If you’re looking to minimize the amount of muscle loss while dieting (with the intent of fat loss), it’s recommended to at least consider using a cortisol reducer. If you have a lot of fat to lose then you’re likely going to lose quite a bit of muscle mass while burning off the fat, so for most people reading this, a cortisol reducer is likely not too important.

What Does the Cortisol Reducer do?
A cortisol reducer (also known as a cortisol blocker) works to almost completely eliminate the cortisol hormone. Not only are you eliminating the hormone and its negative effects on dieting but you would also be eliminating stress as well. Some doctors say that using a cortisol reducer isn’t a good idea but other doctors will say that there has been a connection between high cortisol levels and obesity.

There haven’t been any extensive studies done so it’s impossible to say whether using a cortisol reducer will guarantee you great results or not. However, there are natural cortisol reducers which you may want to consider. Here are the three main natural cortisol reducers:

A Change of Lifestyle – lowering your cortisol level may be as simple as changing your lifestyle. However, it really isn’t that simple to change your lifestyle, but it could be the answer. You will have to look at possible situations and aspects of your day to day life that may cause cortisol to be produced. Look at stressful situations and how you react to certain events that occur in your life. If you can think of those stressful events as something else, such as a learning experience, it may help to decrease the cortisol production.

Vitamins – taking vitamin C can do wonders for your health. Not only is it a way to help strengthen your immune system but it can also work as a cortisol reducer. Vitamin C can also work to block the negative effects that the cortisol hormone may have on you. Vitamin C will help by decreasing your blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Herbs – valerian root, ginseng, holy basil, and St. John’s wort have all shown characteristics that signify the ability to reduce cortisol production and lower your cortisol levels. You may want to look into each of these specifically and consider including these to be used as natural cortisol reducers.

Ultimately, you should visit your doctor for more advice on whether you should use a cortisol reducer or not. If you find the need to lower your cortisol levels then you might want to start with natural methods. Sometimes, there may also be a need for using alternatives; however you will need a professional’s opinion in order to make that decision.

Last updated on Nov 4th, 2009 and filed under Endocrine System. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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