High Cortisol Levels and Weight Gain - Stress

Stress raises the cortisol levels in the body. And high cortisol levels often lead to weight gain. We'll take a look at the connection between high cortisol levels and weight gain, can stress cause weight gain and how to overcome stress in order to lose weight in this article. Let's begin.

Roles of cortisol in the body
Cortisol is often linked closely to stress, but in reality it holds several essential functions in the body. The adrenal glands release cortisol to assist in the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system and many other roles. Simply speaking, cortisol is beneficial in low quantities but high cortisol levels may result in an increase of abdominal fat or weight gain, which contribute to heart attacks, strokes and can raise the amount of bad cholesterol and reduce the production of good cholesterol in the body as well.

Moreover, excessive amount of cortisol may reduce bone density, contributing to osteoporosis and deprivation of muscle masses, and in turn decelerate one metabolic rate. It also may accelerate the blood pressure together with other problems.

Can stress cause weight gain?
Every individual responses differently to stress; some will release more cortisol to a specific situation of stress while others do not affected. In addition, high levels of cortisol often cause the affected individual to eat more food, especially carbohydrates. And this eventually will cause weight gain.

In order to prevent your body from releasing excess amount of cortisol, you must find a suitable some way to help you relax and also try to change your lifestyle or learn to live a healthy lifestyle.

Exercising, mediation, yoga, or breathing will help to relax your body and mind.

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Now, here's is a practical way to help you reduce stress thus avoid weight gain triggered by stress and high cortisol levels:
Breathing is probably one of the easiest and simplest ways to get into relaxation state. Breathing exercise can be performed by softly breathing in through the nose, softly expanding your abdomen and then softly discharging the air through your nose while drawing in your abdomen. Whilst expelling the air you must focus on that breath. After a few breaths in and out you should begin to feel yourself relax. As a start, you can practice this breathing a couple of minutes a day and building up to five minutes in the end. It'll help too when you are feeling stressed or when everything seemed to be out of you control. It only take a few minutes to calm down your emotion and help you to feel relax.

For a healthier lifestyle, you may need to change your habits, such as eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you don't get stressed easily. All these changes will certainly assist your body in dealing with stresses that you face during your day.

Finally, stress do cause weight gain. Thus, if you are working out regularly and dieting properly but still not losing any weight particularly from around the abdominal then maybe your source of weight gain is 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 abdominal.