How yoga plausibly lowers cortisol
Explore the relationship between yoga, cortisol and the body's stress response with Paula Malloy
One of many health benefits of yoga is its ability to help with cortisol recovery.
Notice I’ve used the word recovery here. This is intentional.
I’ll explain more: Cortisol isn’t the ‘bad’ or an unwanted hormone in the body.
Cortisol has got a terrible reputation over the last few years as being harmful, especially for midlife and those in perimenopause / menopause, however we do need some cortisol in our bodies.
What is cortisol and why we need it?
Cortisol is a steroid hormone your body uses to mobilise the resources it needs for action such as waking up in the morning. A morning peak of cortisol is natural and healthy, its release at this time is the signal for the body to become alert and wake up. More specifically, cortisol responds to your stresses. Be it physiological stress like illness, injury, cardio, weight training, processed food, over exercising or trauma.
Psychological stress such as work, mental overload, general life stress or anxiety, cortisol is necessary in the body in the right doses and specific instances for short periods of time to help get us through the difficulties. The complete avoidance of stress for the entirety of our lives isn’t humanly possible , and remembering we do need to apply good stressors to our body by the way of exercise / weight lifting / cardio vascular work to keep healthy and for this we need some cortisol.
So where does cortisol become troublesome?
Cortisol can cause issues when the body is stuck in a constant state of stress, thefeeling of keeping going / doing / overdoing / hormonal changes. The hormone release becomes over-active as it rises to the occasion to keep flooding the body with cortisol to help you deal with the stressors in hand. (Clever smart body sends you what you need)
However, with this constant flooding, we might start to see changes such as weight gain, poor sleep, a weakened immune system, mood changes, high blood pressure and blood sugar, muscle weakness, digestive issues, brain fog and low sex drive to name a few.
If all we ever know is the ‘on’ mode, stress mode and ‘doing’ response without learning to reset after stressful periods, this is when Cortisol can become an issue. It’s important to note that some cortisol spikes are hormonally driven. During perimenopause, declining oestrogen levels and fluctuating stress hormones can contribute to elevated cortisol. This is an important stage of life to consult a medical professional, who can help manage unhelpful hormonal fluctuations and reduce associated side effects.
What’s the answer?
The ideal is that we learn to rise and then reset after stress with adequate recovery fromcortisol! If there is not adequate recovery from our cortisol hormone, then the body can get into a cycle of up regulating and over release to keep us going, hence we stay wired, ‘on’ and ‘doing’ but more often than not, are tired with it, hence the phrase, wired but tired.
This is where the magic of yoga steps in.
How yoga plausibly lowers cortisol!
Research is showing for those looking for a non-pharmaceutical cortisol reset,
prioritising recovery in body and mind through the stretch movements, breath work
and meditation allows the individual’s body to positively respond to the over-active
cortisol they maybe holding.
There are many large-scale reviews with consistent statistical findings that have a
significant association between yoga and a reduction in the stress hormone cortisol.
This is exciting, as science is backing what yogis have know for years.
The research indicates that yoga has a positive effect on the body's stress response
system and the strongest evidence for a cortisol-reducing effects comes from
meditative, slow breath-focused yoga
practices, especially in populations experiencing
high levels of stress.
Peer-reviewed studies and meta-analyses show
that yoga consistently decreases cortisol
levels, our body's primary stress hormone. Of
course, while the exact statistics vary by study,
significant cortisol drops have been observed
after just one yoga session and multi-week yoga
programs.
Paulas Yoga courses will be back In September, if you’re looking to start yoga or develop your practise there is something for everyone.
A 10 week Beginners Yoga Course - Starting Wednesday 2nd September - 19:30-20:30
A 6 week Slow down Yoga & Meditation - Starting Monday 7th September - 19:30-20:30