Quote Originally Posted by evil monkey View Post
thanks for the post, have to re read it again too.

cortisol plays a big part in weight training as well, when you do heavy exercise, cortisol kicks in after about 45 or so minutes. One of cortisols things is its 'muscle wasting' (think this applies to burn patients more tho). I think the survival idea is that muscle is expensive for the body to upkeep, so if you remove muscle, you reduce the amount of food you need to survive.

*edit, just thought, that makes sense in a wierd sort of way. weight training stresses the body. your body thinks its about to have to prepare itself for survival. so it reacts with cortisol in 45 minutes. actually i think this is why they say weights sessions should be kept to under an hour"*

I have a feeling that the 'weakness' or pins n needles sensation is the effect of cortisol. not entirely sure.

there are a couple of supplements in the weight training community that reduce cortisol (one is HMB but not sure i'd want to mention them given the variety of meds), actually one of the main things that keeps it low is low intensity exercise (walking, swimming, easy cycling). but one big thing that reduces cortisol actually is plain appropriate food in the diet that creates a smooth insulin response, fruit and muesli (insulin is one of the most anabolic chemicals in the body)

vit c like said is good to, and lots of places say you really can't get enough fish oil (think how healthy eskimos are), I take 3-4 capsules some days, I've read that bodybuilders can take 10 of these things per day, and slam back fish like nuts (almonds are good too)

Potassium may be good as well, you can get in in tablets, or bananas
Thanks for this. Not quite sure I understand it all though.
Why would we want to reduce our cortisol? Isn't that what we need to calm us down and neutralise the adrenaline? Wouldn't we rather want to reduce adrenaline or try to control the production of it?
I heard bananas are good - apparently for the potassium as you say. I can't remember what it does but it's good for anxiety sufferers they say.
I know from experience that exercise definitely helps with anxiety. I like to think that it's using up all that excess adrenaline I've produced. Is that right? Anyway, I always feel calmer when I've done something that at least produces some sweat.