Understanding How Stress and Cortisol Are Key to Enduring Healthy Weight Loss

Left unchecked and not brought to balance, chronic stress creates a ‘vicious cycle’ of weight gaining effects.

The steroid hormone cortisol is essential for survival situations, but recent realizations in health and medical research find that our nervous and hormonal systems were not meant to have to deal with our unique modern day stresses.

Deep and direct links exist between stress and disease and between stress and weight gain, specifically. Mental conditions like stress and our response to it have physical effects on the entire body. As a result, an entirely new branch of science has recently developed called psychoneuroendocrinology which seeks to look at the close link between the mind (psycho-), the nervous system (neuro-) and the hormonal system (endocrin-) that regulates functions in all areas of the body.

For our adrenal glands to function in balance, this doesn’t mean that cortisol secretions should be chronically high, low or even medium. Instead, what we want is cortisol flux—a highly responsive, finely tuned pattern of cortisol activity that supports our health and stress response.

For cortisol release to be healthy, it must fluctuate in response to not just stress but to relaxation as well. Flat levels of cortisol are not healthy. In other words, cortisol release should be low at night and when relaxed but high during moments of acute stress, exercise, or activities such as meeting a deadline, for example. Cortisol should then recover to baseline levels quickly.

The gastrointestinal system is very sensitive to stress hormones like cortisol. Nausea, heartburn, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, or constipation are manifestations of too high a secretion of many stress hormones.

When cortisol levels remain elevated, the following symptoms may occur:

Conversely, sustained low levels of cortisol may cause weight loss in some instances. Low cortisol can be caused by an underlying condition such as chronic infection or vitamin/mineral deficiency (vitamin D, B12 and iron).

Too little cortisol may also be caused by an imbalance in the pituitary or adrenal glands (Addison's disease). Gradual onset symptoms may include fatigue, dizziness (especially upon standing), weight loss, muscle weakness, mood changes and the darkening of regions of the skin.

Additionally, if our stress response system is forced to stay on hyper-drive long enough, sometimes low cortisol develops then, too.

Symptoms of low cortisol include:

Emotional beings that women are, tend to have more challenges with stress than men. With stress response systems that are more sensitive and vulnerable, women tend to eat more when they’re under stress because stress is emotional for most women.

Diets for weight loss don’t work because they fail to address the hormonal root cause. Nowhere do the diets’ originators talk about stress and cortisol concerning weight. When we’re constantly or even frequently stressed out, we’re probably going to find it difficult to lose weight and keep it off. The more stressed we are, the more weight we gain and the more the body wants to hold on to its fat reserves.

Natural responses to stressful living are binge eating, drinking excessively, making poor food choices and adopting unsuitable dietary habits. It’s a vicious cycle.

Here are some potential organic curative solutions and stress reduction strategies which can lead to enduring weight loss: