It is now known that stress can actually stop you losing weight, especially around your middle. Stress can cause your body to secrete high
levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body's
"flight or fight" response to your stress. Stress can be either psychological (mental
and emotional) or physical. By reducing
the stress you can help reduce cortisol
levels and so lose weight.
It is now known that stress can actually stop you losing weight, especially around your middle. Stress can cause your body to secrete high
levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body's
"flight or fight" response to stress.
Stress can be either psychological (mental and emotional) or physical.
Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually
important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system, and many other functions. Cortisol can be good in small amounts but
high levels can lead to an increase in
abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase
your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels.
High levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density,
leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down
your metabolic rate, and it can increase your blood pressure along with other
problems.
Each of you will react differently to stress; some of you
will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce
less. It has been found that those of
you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular, carbohydrates.
What you need to do to combat producing too much cortisol is
to learn ways to relax and also to maybe change your lifestyle.
Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways by exercising,
meditation, yoga or breathing to start with.
Maybe one of the easiest and simplest ways is breathing. Gently breathing in through the nose, gently
expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose
pulling in your abdomen at the same time do this. Whilst breathing out the air you need to
focus on that breath. After several breaths,
in and out you should start to feel yourself relax. You need to practice doing this exercise a
few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end. You can also practice this when you are
feeling stressed or when things are getting on top of you. Just a few minutes can slow your body down
and help it to feel relax.
Lifestyle changes can be like changing your eating habits
for a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more
efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed. Also looking after your body will help your
body to cope with stresses that you come across during your day.
Therefore, if you are exercising frequently and eating
properly but still not losing any weight especially from around the middle then
maybe you are suffering from high levels of cortisol caused by stress. Look at ways to solve the problem and
hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your
middle.Try it excellent weight loss program!
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