Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Effect of Stress

Stress is unfortunately not something we can avoid in our lives but how we deal with it can make a huge difference on how our body functions.  Many people don't know that stress can sabotage our weight loss efforts and keep us from burning fat.  There are a vast number of ways stress can hurt our body but we will focus on the effect it has on weight loss. 


When we are under stress our body produces a hormone by the name of cortisol.  Our body doesn't like cortisol so it must try to eliminate it as quickly as possible.  Cortisol in our system weakens our immune system, increases blood pressure, reduces collagen, and counteracts insulin.  I could go into great detail to expand on each one of these effects however our purpose here is to understand how stress is hurting our metabolism.  

When we are under stress our body goes into a fight or flight response.  During this phase our body doesn't care about burning calories and fat.  The only thing that matters in this phase is survival.  Our system doesn't care about weight loss, reproduction, growth, or what TV show we are going to watch later.  This is an important yet often overlooked aspect of developing a great physique. 

So what can we do?  Well fortunately there are many ways to reduce stress such as cardio, yoga, listening to music, and so on.  Whatever way works for you is fine.  If you feel that you are becoming stressed out during the day take a few moments to relax.  This will have a profound effect on your body along with some of the dietary methods we will discuss later. 

Relax, 

Vai




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