The hormone cortisol – friend or foe

In the morning when You Wake up, do You feel fatigue and stress (especially if You went to bed late)?

Almost every living creature on the planet felt the impact of "biorhythms", and is sensitive to changing the time of day. While artificial light sources have not filled the human life, he only had two "light": by day — sun, night stars and moon.

This created certain rhythms of a man who, despite the change of lighting, still regulate sleep and wakefulness. Today night artificial light breaks the age-old habit of man.

It is less bright than sunlight, but brighter than the light from the moon and stars, and this triggers a cascade of biochemical reactions! Light affects Your skin and eyes, regardless of the source, Your brain and hormonal system thinks it's morning, and in response to light starts to produce cortisol.





When You the look at the screen of TV or computer, You activate the production of cortisol. The release of the hormone cortisol in the blood is one of the oldest reactions that have been inherited from ancestors.

In their lives of stressful situations was not that more, but qualitatively, they were different either attacking an enemy (or animal), or had to escape from a natural disaster, or the situation is forced to engage in confrontation with other dogs. The brain reacted to the stress a chain of specific chemical reactions, which result in blood received a large number of cortisol — a hormone that is responsible for a surge of blood flow to the muscles (so that man could fight or run away), and the outflow of blood from all other systems.

In our days the need for such muscle activation, we hardly have domestic conflicts in the XXI century, mainly settled by peaceful means. However, the reaction remained — each time receiving a signal of stress, the brain instructs the adrenal glands to produce the hormone cortisol, which instantly reduces the activity of the immune system, inhibits cognitive function, slows digestion, but contributes to a more rapid breakdown of proteins and carbohydrates and activates the muscles.

That is why in periods of stress, we can easily pick up the common cold or flu, lose appetite and sleep, rushing from corner to corner and tight to see the light — all the result of the action of the hormone cortisol. And only when the brain receives a signal that the stress has passed, cortisol gradually (using special enzymes) excreted from the blood.

Normal cortisol level begins to rise from 6am, reaches its peak at 12 hours and begins to slowly decrease.



 
After sunset our body begins to produce other hormones: growth hormones and melatonin! The body begins the recovery process. If You don't go to bed until 22:30, You are breaking the cycle of recovery of the organism. So You Wake up "broken". Feeling the stress and tension accumulated during the previous day.

Violation of the cycles of sleep and wakefulness

"Adrenal fatigue" — the result of a violation of the cycles of sleep and wakefulness. Your adrenal glands produce hormones, one of which is cortisol. Chronic stress and addictions such as caffeine, tobacco, coffee, sugar, forcing Your adrenal glands to produce more and more cortisol.

Adrenal fatigue leads to chronic fatigue, headaches, viral and bacterial infections, rapid aging, impaired memory function, and the weakening of Your immune system.

In addition, You constantly depress the nervous system...

  • When You start your day not enough sleep

  • And when You're late for work

  • And when You're in a traffic jam

  • And when You don't have time at work

Moreover, if You do not eat, and after work go to the gym, You produce more cortisol.

Cortisol in humans is needed to maximize the muscular system. By the way, using this property of cortisol, professional athletes (alas, often resorting to banned drugs) are trying to increase their resources and achieve the best results. However, strain and beyond the limit of their capacity, not only the muscles of the arms, legs, and the main muscle of our body — heart, myocardium.

That is why, by the way, in stressful situations, experiencing excitement or anxiety, we literally hear the pounding quickened our hearts. And not always the cardiovascular system is able to withstand prolonged tension. In other words, elevated levels of cortisol in the blood may lead to heart attack, and extremely fast and heavy, ending with the death of a person.

In addition, elevated levels of the hormone cortisol can cause serious damage to the human immune system, until its destruction. Accordingly, in this case, the person who is in a state of great stress for a long time, the risk of Contracting a serious infection, which can also swiftly bring a person to death. As a rule, in these cases, say "he died of grief" or "he burned out at work".

In parallel, the hormone cortisol, which level in the blood "rolls over", has a negative impact on the brain. First and foremost, it begins to destroy the neurons in the hippocampus. This instantly leads to a violation of the human memory. By the way, this explains the fact that often under the influence of extreme stress, people temporarily or permanently lose their memory.

As well as elevated levels of the hormone cortisol inhibits the production so-called hormones of joy and pleasure — serotonin and dopamine. What brings a person into a state of profound depression and emotional often push to suicide.

 

 

Emotional reasons, destroying the harmony of our body

You have to know! The kidneys suddenly never refuse

 

Massage can reduce stress levels!

During the massage the body is a large number of chemical reactions. For example, generating dopamine and serotonin, which in turn reduces cortisol levels. Massage helps your nervous system.

A study conducted at the Medical center in Los Angeles demonstrated that a 45 minute massage reduced patients level of stress hormones. The experiment involved 53 healthy adults. Blood samples were taken before each session and after the massage. The results were astonishing: in most cases, the level of stress hormones was halved! published

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: massage.ru/articles/kortizol-drug-ili-vrag