Cortisol and Weight Gain

"Cortisol and weight gain are another
relationship that is not very well known."

It has become more well known, in the recent decade due to products created to reduce its effects. But there is still more that needs to be known about cortisol if we are to keep our general health.

Cortisol is one of the stress hormones. It is secreted during times of stress. That is any kind of stress: Mental, emotional or physical. Over time, when this hormone is released consistently, it causes fat to be stored on your body, specifically your belly. There are other negative things this hormone does to not only sabotage your weight loss but also cause a host of other unwanted physical problems.

Cortisol and Belly Fat

Cortisol and belly fat are almost always going to be found together. When trying to find the constant common denominator between successful weight loss and unsuccessful weight loss, hormone imbalances were a constant. Especially Cortisol.

Cortisol - Fight or Flight

Cortisol is one of the hormones that is released to help us deal with a fight or flight response. As such, it is called the “stress hormone.”

In the short term, it helps prepare the body for the effects of stress. In that sense it does burn fat ... in the short-term.

Remains in the Blood

There is another trait of cortisol and that is that it remains in blood for a long time. Adrenaline, for example which is also produced and released from the adrenal cortex, is metabolized relatively quickly in relation to cortisol. This is an important point to know when losing weight through restoration of hormone balance.

However, with continual stress, cortisol will cause fat to be stored. Especially belly fat. There are other negative effects of excess cortisol.

Let’s Take a Trip and Discover All Cortisol Lane
Here are some of the things excess cortisol does:

Breaks Down Muscle

Cortisol breaks muscle down and uses it for protein which is broken down into sugar for energy. So your metabolism starts to use your muscle for fuel, specifically your thigh muscles. You will also see the arm muscles looking atrophied.¹

Creates Belly Fat

Because fat in the midsection contain the greatest amount of cortisol receptors², fat is created and stored in the midsection.³ So you get belly fat, love handles, and inability to fit into clothes through the midsection. You will see a pendulous abdomen and a sagging abdomen.

It moves fat from storage depots and relocate it to fat cell deposits deep in the abdomen.⁴

Creates Sour Stomach

Increased stomach acidity and “sour stomach”⁵

Buffalo Hump

A buffalo hump or a fat pad on the back and below the neck also forms.^6,7 The accumulation of adipose tissue in the dorsocervical region, commonly referred to as “buffalo hump”, is a typical finding in patients with glucocorticoid excess.

Moon Face

There is fat accumulation on the face. There is extra facial hair for both men and women. The eyes and face get puffy as well and a double chin develops.⁸

Raised Insulin

Excited adrenals and their respective hormones will release blood sugar to provide quick energy for physical activity.⁹ But since you are not active there is just a lot more sugar in the blood, which releases insulin¹⁰ - which is a fat-storing hormone.

For women is can be aesthetically devastating: receding hairline as in male-pattern baldness is also a result, excess acne during menstruation, atrophy of breasts and a deepening voice.

Muscle Cramps

Excessive adrenal hormones will also cause a depletion of potassium, which then causes the inability to absorb calcium into the muscles and bones. Over the short-term, this lack of calcium in the muscles causes cramps and inability to relax muscles. Over the long term, lack of calcium absorption will result in osteoporosis.¹¹

Because calcium is the mineral the muscle uses to elongate and relax, muscles¹² just do not recover after exercise as well.

Constricting Blood Vessels

Then there is tightening of blood vessels. Part of the function of adrenal hormones is the contraction and relaxation of blood vessels. When there is not enough adrenaline, a very important blood vessel called the coronary artery can get too tight and not relax which then leads to the tightening of the chest and chest pains.¹³

Water Retention

Due to the decrease in potassium, the hydration balance becomes unhinged. As I explained in the previous sections, hydration is a matter of mineral balance. Specifically, sodium and potassium. When potassium is decreased there is an imbalanced amount of sodium. This imbalance of excess sodium will cause water retention¹⁴ and all the other problems associated with excess sodium.

Since there is too little potassium, hypertension starts to develop (one of the symptoms of potassium deficiency). The blood cells also get engorged. Even to the point where they cannot fit into the small capillaries.

To reduce this, your body will cause increased urination. The excess salt starts to be eliminated this way.

The person also starts to simply feel dehydrated but drinking water actually makes them feel MORE dehydrated. The increase in thirst will cause you to drink more water but because there is a mineral deficiency, water does not hydrate the cells and drives what salt there is out of the body.

Cravings for Salt

The imbalance of the fluids in the body now causes a craving for salt and sharp cheese.¹⁵ Cheese balls are about as addictive as crack.

As a further result of the potassium-sodium imbalance, part of the chain reaction involves the inability to absorb calcium. The calcium, since it is not absorbed and used by the muscles and bones is urinated out and/or deposited on the organs. You will also find in these cases, bursitis, heel spurs, arthritis, tendonitis, arteriosclerosis, calcium deposits in the kidneys, and twitching of the muscles.

Muscle-Tension

The lack of muscle relaxation will also make it hard for a person to relax and sleep. The sleep/awake rhythms get skewed. It is difficult to get to sleep and have deep sleep. You will have tiredness during the day and wakefulness during the night. This is simply because adrenal hormones are produced to help you counter something stressful and prepare your body for action. This, combined with tense muscles makes it a recipe for insomnia.

Immune system

Cortisol can weaken the activity of the immune system.^16,17,18,19

Collagen

In studies, it was found that loss of collagen from skin, caused by cortisol, is ten times greater than loss from any other tissue.^20,21,22,23

In the past, when the Growth Hormone was discovered as an important hormone to help people, the solution was to increase it. But now it is seen that cortisol, in excess, and in constant stimulation undoes all that growth hormone does. So the problem is not insufficient GH, it is too much Cortisol.

Forgetfulness and Poor Memory

Studies have also shown that excessive and constantly high levels of cortisol reduce memory.²⁷

From My Experience

These are things I saw happening with people who had excess cortisol.

Frequent Urination

There is frequent urination especially at night.

Constant Fatigue

There is sometimes a constant fatigue and a manifestation of a person dragging around. They look washed out and drained. This is constant now. They also have brain fog. It is hard to think and remember simple things during the afternoon.

Out of Breath

The person is out of breath while climbing stairs when there is no reason they should be. They work out and are not physically debilitated yet they experience being out of breath doing simple physical activities.

Weaker Hips and Thighs

Hips and thighs become weaker as a result of this. Things like getting up and down from a chair or walking up stairs is hard now. The glutes and thighs are the densest muscles in the body. Thus they become the first target for muscle breakdown. You will notice that some people have large midsections but thin legs and arms.

Sleepy In The Afternoon

In the afternoon they feel sleepy.

Excessive Worry And Impatience

Then there is excessive worry and impatience. There is constant fidgeting and twitching. This is very exhausting to the individual (and to the people around them). This exhaustion leads to the need for stimulants.

Increased Digestive Sensitivity

There is increased sensitivity to foods and food combinations.

Weak Thigh Muscles

Excess cortisol makes your thigh muscles weak making it harder to climb stairs or get up from a chair.

Other than that it is a joy!

How do I Reduce Cortisol levels?

Get enough sleep!

At least 7 hours of deep sleep. Don’t drink caffeine in the afternoon or stop drinking caffeine totally.

Sleep earlier rather than wake up later. Staying up later and being tired is what causes the cortisol in the first place. Sleeping after this defeats the purpose. Sleeping earlier before your body is stressed, eliminates the cortisol in the first place.

Eat Breakfast

Have protein and water rich carbohydrates for breakfast. This is the point where cortisol levels are highest, other than during intense exercise and intense stress. By eating carbohydrates, it stimulates insulin which mitigates cortisol! Insulin is also the hormone that gets glucose and protein into the muscle cells, but only when the cells are receptive to it. There are only two times when the muscle cells are highly receptive to insulin: After sleep and right after intense exercise.

By not eating breakfast, you cause more cortisol to be released, you have a sugar crash in the afternoon that you do not recover from, you destroy your lean muscle, you increase belly fat and just all around feel crappy.

Reducing Sugar

Sugar and the insulin swings are stressful on your body. When insulin takes your blood sugar away, you cells starve. That is stressful.

Don’t Let Yourself Get hungry

Hunger is stress. Organize so that you have a snack or something to eat at least every 3 hours.

Remove or Reduce Any Stimulants

This may be hard. Your adrenals could be so weak and your fitness levels could be so low that quitting all stimulants would be debilitating.

Exercise Correctly

Exercise at the right intensity. If you do not exercise at all, start but do not start with anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise produces cortisol. (Don’t worry; there is a way to handle this to your benefit). Aerobic exercise, kept within or under your fitness level, will “train” your nervous system to use fat rather than sugar for energy. That is the main thing we have to do.

Reduce Sources of Stress in Your Life

Reduce other types of stress in your life. I think this is obvious. Getting more organized, and saying no to things that overload your system emotionally, physically and mentally. Doing the above will help greatly with the reduction of stress in your life.

References

1. Lockless SW, Zhou M, MacKinnon R.. "Structural and thermodynamic properties of selective ion binding in a K+ channel". Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics, Rockefeller University. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17472437. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
2. Vern S. Cherewatenko, Paul Perry. Master Control. The Stress Cure: A Simple, 7-Step Plan to Help Women Balance Mood, Improve Memory, and Restore Energy. Harper Collins, Inc. Ny, NY. 2003 p.24.
3. Sandle GI, Keir MJ, Record CO (1981). "The effect of hydrocortisone on the transport of water, sodium, and glucose in the jejunum. Perfusion studies in normal subjects and patients with coeliac disease". Scand. J. Gastroenterol. 16 (5): 667–71. PMID 7323700.
4. Sabyasachi Sircar. Body Fluid and Electrolyte Balance. Principles of Medical Physiology. Georg Thieme Verlag; 1 edition (December 12, 2007)Page 393.
5. By Donald W. Pfaff, M. Ian Phillips, Ian M. Phillips, Robert T. Rubin. Hunger For Salt. Principles of hormone behavior relations. Academic Press; 1 edition (October 4, 2004). p.44.
6. Sabyasachi Sircar. Body Fluid and Electrolyte Balance. Principles of Medical Physiology. Georg Thieme Verlag; 1 edition (December 12, 2007) p. 393.
7. Knight, R.P., Jr. Kornfield, D.S. Glaser, G.H. Bondy, P.K. (1955). "Effects of intravenous hydrocortisone on electrolytes of serum and urine in man". J Clin Endocrinol Metab 15 (2): 176–81. PMID 13233328.
8. Palacios R., Sugawara I. (1982). "Hydrocortisone abrogates proliferation of T cells in autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction by rendering the interleukin-2 Producer T cells unresponsive to interleukin-1 and unable to synthesize the T-cell growth factor". Scand J Immunol 15 (1): 25–31. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3083.1982.tb00618.x. PMID 6461917.
9. Houck JC, Sharma VK, Patel YM, Gladner JA (October 1968). "Induction of collagenolytic and proteolytic activities by anti-inflammatory drugs in the skin and fibroblast". Biochem. Pharmacol. 17 (10): 2081–90.
10. JL Sartin, RJ Kemppainen, ES Coleman, B Steele, JC Williams. Cortisol inhibition of growth hormone-releasing hormone-stimulated growth hormone. J Endocrinol (1994) 141: 517-25.
11. Mc Auley MM, Kenny RA, Kirkwood TT, Wilkinson DD, Jones JJ, Miller VM (March 2009). "A Mathematical Model of aging-related and cortisol induced hippocampal dysfunction". BMC Neurosci 10 (1): 26. doi:10.1186/1471-2202-10-26. PMID 19320982.
12. http://www.medicinenet.com/muscle_cramps/page2.htm#2whatare.
13. S. E. Buijk, MD; ; H. A. Bruining, MD, PhD. Vasopressin Deficiency Contributes to the Vasodilation of Septic Shock. Circulation. 1998;98:187.
14. Sandle GI, Keir MJ, Record CO (1981). "The effect of hydrocortisone on the transport of water, sodium, and glucose in the jejunum. Perfusion studies in normal subjects and patients with coeliac disease". Scand. J. Gastroenterol. 16 (5): 667–71.
15. G. M. Besser and P. W. P. Butler. Cortisol Circadian Rhythm. The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 5549 (May 13, 1967), pp. 446-447.
16. Palacios R., Sugawara I. (1982). "Hydrocortisone abrogates proliferation of T cells in autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction by rendering the interleukin-2 Producer T cells unresponsive to interleukin-1 and unable to synthesize the T-cell growth factor". Scand J Immunol 15 (1): 25–31.
17. Besedovsky, H.O.; Del Rey, A.; Sorkin, E. (1984) "Integration of Activated Immune Cell Products in Immune Endocrine Feedback Circuits." p. 200 in Leukocytes and Host Defense Vol. 5 [Oppenheim, J.J.; Jacobs, D.M., eds]. Alan R. Liss, New York.
18. Fairchild SS, Shannon K, Kwan E, Mishell RI (February 1984). "T cell-derived glucosteroid response-modifying factor (GRMFT): a unique lymphokine made by normal T lymphocytes and a T cell hybridoma". J. Immunol. 132 (2): 821–7.
19. Onsrud M, Thorsby E (1981). "Influence of in vivo hydrocortisone on some human blood lymphocyte subpopulations. I. Effect on natural killer cell activity". Scand. J. Immunol. 13 (6): 573–9.
20. Houck JC, Sharma VK, Patel YM, Gladner JA. Induction of collagenolytic and proteolytic activities by anti-inflammatoes this by inhibiting collagen formation, decreasing amino acid uptake by muscle, and inhibiting protein synthesis.
21. Manchester, K.L., “Sites of Hormonal Regulation of Protein Metabolism. p. 229”, Mammalian Protein [Munro, H.N., Ed.]. Academic Press, New York. On p273.
22. Husband AJ, Brandon MR, Lascelles AK (October 1973). "The effect of corticosteroid on absorption and endogenous production of immunoglobulins in calves". Aust J Exp Biol Med Sci 51 (5): 707–10.
23. Posey WC, Nelson HS, Branch B, Pearlman DS (December 1978). "The effects of acute corticosteroid therapy for asthma on serum immunoglobulin levels". J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 62 (6): 340–8.
24. Dinan TG, et al. Lowering Cortisol Enhances Growth Hormone Response to Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone in Healthy Subjects. Acta Physiol Scand 994;151:413.
25. Sartin JL, et al. Cortisol Inhibition of Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone-Stimulated growth Hormone Release from Cultured Sheep Pituitary Cells. J Endocrinol 1994;141:517.
26. Thompson K, et al. Effects of Short-Term Cortisol Infusion on Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone Stimulation of Growth Hormone Release in Sheep. Am J Vet Res 1995;56:1228.
27. Inui A, Asakawa A, Bowers CY, et al. (2004). "Ghrelin, appetite, and gastric motility: the emerging role of the stomach as an endocrine organ". FASEB J. 18 (3): 439–56.

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