Post your workout today

[shavenferret]

SvennoJ said:

shavenferret said:

Does fasting reduce stress?  yes, no, probably somewhat depending.  Ultimately though, i expect it to help more as weight is lost.  As they say, Rome wasn't built in just one day.  During the short term ( like a day or whatever) fasting increases cortisol.  But after that, cortisol drops and you start getting more of the "spiritual" effects of increased realization, closeness to a higher power, etc etc etc.  Fasting can also help decrease weight and inflammation, both of which increase cortisol.  As your organs start feeling better, your cortisol can drop.  

Your parasympathetic nervous system gets stronger with fasting.  This is the "brakes" of your central nervous system, or the rest and digest phase.  So that in itself, should decrease cortisol and help you sleep better. 

I feel a bit more stressed right now, but also things like memory, clarity, and motivation (the emobiment of dopamine i guess) are better today...... i'm also much calmer.  So it's a mixed bag.  I expect cortisol to decrease after i lose say 10 pounds or so because everything (like liver/heart/kidneys, mitochondria, etc) will all work better.  This fasting stuff should help with that. 

And stress is the reason why i'm cutting back on cardio and increasing things like yoga, weights, and kettlebell training.  But excessive cardio can jack up that cortisol, and cortisol gets higher as we age so eventually we'll have to figure out some way to keep that in control.  

Interesting.

That's kind of a contradiction for me, as I find endurance cardio stress relieving. Hence going for a long run to alleviate stress. But if it increases cortisol, maybe that's why I have trouble sleeping lol. I'm 51 as well, getting older.

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/4-things-to-know-about-cortisol-and-stress.h00-159703068.html

Seems it's good as well, depends on the mindset according to that link.


My 'problem' is, exercise has become part of my ocd. It's great to stay healthy but if I skip a day I get anxious / miserable which continues to build up. Another motivation to do the exercise albeit not a nice one. ocd as motivator. It made me great at my job, also nearly took me out :/

Here are some articles that i found, the most likely thing to increase cortisol too much is excessive cardio, such as more than 150 miles on your bike every week.  Also, low intensity workouts are good as well, such as yoga or tai chi.  I do the StrongFirst kind of kb workouts and avoiding excessive cortisol is a big thing with them.  Pavel said in his recent video on Huberman lab that excessive cortisol sucks and that the anti-glycolytic training that he has popularized is meant to avoid that.  He doesn't want you to be overly exhausted all the time from a workout.  So made up a bunch of EMOM stuff and has its practicioners to do that for 15 or 20 minutes.  I'm sure you get enough carbs since you do a lot endurance stuff, and carbohydrates help avoid cortisol.  Caffeine can increase it by a large amount as well.  I can't drink coffee any more, so had to ditch that.  I do other stuff, but coffee isn't good for me anymore so i've given that up.  

https://coactivehealth.uk/articles/training-advice/are-you-doing-too-much-cardio/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/health/cortisol-weight-wellness/index.html