WHERE ARE YOU? HEALTHY? SYNDROME X?
This is the range for your cortisol:
Healthy Functioning --------------------------------------------------- Syndrome X
Where are you?
__ Overweight?
__ Fat around mid-section?
__ Tired or exhausted?
__ Don't sleep well?
__ Sugar craving?
__ Needing a "hit" from excitement, smoking, shock?
__ Stressed alot?
__ Very busy?
__ High blood pressure?
__ Insulin resistance: __ beginning; __ mid; __ diabetic?
__ Shrunken thymus gland?
__ Enlarged adrenal gland?
Healthy functioning is zero of these factors.
CORTISOL IS GREAT!
It kicks off adrenaline when we need energy to fight or flee, a vital function for survival. This creates a feeling of excitement and feeling great. It produces energy by stimulating the release of fats, glucose, and amino acids.
It helps to control, in normal doses, excessive inflamation, blood pressure, and maintain connective tissue - along with a sense of well-being. In its normal 24 hour cycle, the highest levels are early morning, decreasing gradually from there to its low at midnight.
BUT TOO MUCH KILLS!
When we are under prolonged stress (firing off the fight or flight signals) we create too much cortisol in an uncontrolled flow resulting in the progression through the Stages Of Stress (see detail in Effects of Stress) to cardiac problems, diabetic/insulin problems, quicker aging, more cancer, being overweight, memory loss, bone loss, immune system decline, depression etc. and etc. - it creates a form of relative death while still alive.
The body's emergency storage of fat around the midsection causes an incredible amount of toxic releases, poisoning the body. That's what unregulated cortisol can set up, as the excess sugars are converted to fat (for future emergencies in caveman days). This must not be allowed as it kills!
MANAGING CORTISOL
Since cortisol is a result of firing off the danger signal and since it is what sets us up for fight/flight, we would follow the Rx For Stress , which essentially is the opposite of fight/flight, with its emphasis on peace, pacing, and rest.
