What is Cortisol?
Many of us are acquainted with the tainted reputation of cortisol. Cortisol was frequently tarred as the “belly fat builder” or as a major cause of being overweight. Recently, individuals have begun to understand that cortisol is far more complex than previous reports indicated. There is some proof indicating that cortisol levels can be involved in weight regulation in several ways which could make it either a helpful instrument or a future stumbling block for individuals attempting to lose weight. Either way, it’s clear that cortisol isn’t harmful to your attempts to lose weight. Sometimes, hormone replacement therapy in OKC can help you control cortisol and lose weight.
What is the Function of Cortisol?
In the body, your adrenal glands release cortisol when you wake up in the morning and when you are under stress. In wide terms, cortisol controls a few distinct functions in your body, ranging from your immune system to digestion. Most importantly, cortisol controls your metabolism involved with weight loss by making your body unwilling to consolidate circulating glucose into storage. This implies that cortisol tells your body to maintain glucose ready for use to power your body rather than save it for subsequent use. In the brief term, this may imply that greater concentrations of cortisol may safeguard your body from gaining weight. However, it does not imply that cortisol encourages weight loss.
Connection Between Stress and Your Weight
Cortisol helps reduce inflammation, burn body fat into energy, and improve sugar levels. The link between cortisol and weight loss may rely on the person’s present weight, lifestyle, daily calorie intake, and physical activity. Diving a bit deeper into the information and learning more about the concentrations of cortisol in your body can assist empower your attempts to lose weight. People also opt for hormone replacement therapy in OKC to get rid of the weight loss issue.
Cortisol is often associated with weight fluctuation. Both surplus and cortisol deficiency can affect blood sugar concentrations and thyroid function, causing weight fluctuation and low metabolism symptoms. Major stressors that may lead to imbalances in cortisol vary:
- Emotional imbalances
- Inadequate sleep
- Excess sugar and carbohydrate consumption
- Shift schedule
- Frequent skipping or postponed meals
- Severe infections
- Overwork (mental or physical)
- Surgery or traumatic injury
- Excessive practice (particularly endurance)
- Poisonous exposure
Cortisol Connection with Insulin
Cortisol has an intricate connection with the hormone insulin that regulates our blood sugar. When cortisol concentrations rise, our body’s cells can become insulin-resistant. This, in turn, may lead to weight gain, increased blood sugar, and possibly type 2 diabetes. This is known as adrenal exhaustion when the concentrations of cortisol fall excessively. If this happens, blood sugar concentrations may reduce, resulting in hypoglycemia, related to weight loss and low-stress tolerance. Both elevated and low cortisol can also cause low metabolism symptoms such as feeling tired, depressed, cold, and experiencing reduced memory and bad concentration.
Cortisol concentrations also promote ideal hormone output from our thyroid gland to a large extent. Proper thyroid function helps preserve a good metabolism, but elevated and low concentrations of cortisol can weaken the transformation of thyroid hormone from the inactive state to the active one. This can lead to a low thyroid condition, resulting in weight gain and bad metabolism symptoms.
Several trials are accessible to correctly tackle the hormone imbalance. Blood tests for thyroid and blood sugar can help identify any problems that may cause low metabolism symptoms. In addition, through the Adrenal Stress Index (ASI), cortisol concentrations and adrenal function can be correctly evaluated by naturopathic physicians. An ASI exam shows whether your adrenal function is excessive or deficient. Since the symptoms of both extremes imitate each other yet involve very distinct treatments, it is essential to determine the adrenal rhythm of an individual.
Adrenal Stress Index (ASI) Exam
The ASI exam involves taking four samples of saliva over a 24-hour period, which is examined to determine your hormone concentrations throughout the day. Once your adrenal rhythm has been determined, an individualized adrenal balancing therapy plan may be prescribed and may include diet suggestions, lifestyle counseling, and dietary and/or herbal supplementation.
A good hormone replacement therapy in OKC, from Oklahoma Spine & Pain Management, is the best option.
**Disclaimer: This content should not be considered medical advice and does not imply a doctor-patient relationship.
