Exercise
Being active can help reduce some of the detrimental effects of chronic cortisol exposure. Exercise leads to the production of dopamine and serotonin, both of which are "feel-good" antianxiety and antidepression chemicals that are produced in the brain and are responsible for the well-known effect of "runner's high" that can help control the stress response. Researchers at Duke University have shown that exercise (thirty minutes per day, three to four days a week, for four months) can be as effective as prescription antidepressants in relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Researchers at the University of Colorado have conducted several studies that show how exercise can reduce many of the detrimental effects of chronic stress. Regular participation in moderate exercise can reduce body fat, build muscle and bone, improve mental and emotional function, stimulate the immune response, and reduce appetite. The Colorado researchers have also shown that extremes of exercise, such as that undertaken by overtrained endurance athletes, can reverse these benefits by elevating cortisol levels, increasing body fat, interfering with mental and emotional functioning, suppressing immune function, and increasing the risk of injury. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have noted that regular exercise can help patients with extremely elevated cortisol levels (those with a condition known as Cushing's syndrome) prevent many of the metabolic derangements and much of the tissue destruction normally seen during the course of the disease. Stress researchers in Arizona have shown that being more fit is protective against stress and against the age-related rise in cortisol levels. The research findings show that older unfit women had significantly greater cortisol exposure in response to stress compared to young unfit women and older fit women. As expected, higher fitness reduced cortisol levels in both younger and older women and may be one reason why regular exercise helps to protect against many stress-related diseases.
It is important to understand that the exercise component of SENSE is less about burning calories (although that is a nice side benefit) and is intended more as a "metabolic hedge" against cortisol's tendency to reduce the body's metabolic rate. Previous chapters have discussed the roles of cortisol and testosterone in maintaining muscle mass and metabolic rate, but there are some other simple strategies for helping to keep your middle-aged metabolism from covering your midsection in fat—and regular exercise is one way to do that. Remember that metabolic rate starts slowing after about age twenty, so by the age of forty your ability to burn calories has dropped by about 10 percent. To prevent this metabolic drop, three of the most important (and simplest) things you can do include the following:
Never skip breakfast. Doing so can cause your metabolic rate to drop by 5 percent (further reducing your ability to burn calories) until you eat something. (More about nutrition in the next section.)
Lift weights one to two times weekly. Adding a single pound of new muscle to your frame means your body will burn an extra fifty calories every day, equivalent to burning five pounds of pure fat every year. Add five pounds of new muscle and you're looking at an automatic twenty-five-pound fat loss by this time next year.
Drink more water. Drinking just two extra glasses of H2O per day can boost your metabolism by 30 percent. Most of us are slightly dehydrated anyway, which suppresses our metabolic rate, so those extra glasses are really just bringing our metabolic machinery back to optimal function—and accelerating fat loss in the process.
Josh, a real estate agent, husband, and father of four, was a perfect candidate for developing many of the adverse health conditions associated with stress and elevated cortisol levels. Despite knowing that exercise would be a great outlet for his stress, Josh felt that his irregular work schedule (long hours, nights, and weekends) meant that he had no time for a regular exercise program. However, by treating his daily exercise as a "client" and actually scheduling time for it into his agenda, he was finally able to begin adhering to a regular program of jogging and lifting weights three times per week. Through exercise, Josh was able to harness his body's fight-or-flight hormonal system to help reduce stress and balance cortisol levels. The results for Josh have been most noticeable in terms of his energy levels and degree of creativity—both of which have impacted favorably on his real estate practice and his family life.
Good for Josh for managing to wedge a regular exercise regimen into his weekly schedule. But what about you? You may have joined gyms, tried jogging, and spent big bucks on fancy treadmills and stationary cycles that now serve mostly as coat racks—yet nothing seems to stick. (Hints for alternative ways to work some physical activity into your normal daily routine are included in Chapter 9. Additionally, check out the Resources section for books on the topic of exercise.)
by Shawn M Talbott, PhD