by Ross Edgley

After a busy week and an overly social Friday night I’ve decided my Saturday shall be a day of rest and recuperation. And so I have set up camp on my sofa with the TV remote and become deeply engrossed in a wild life documentary (there was nothing else on.) As I watched the lion chase his dinner the narrator made the excellent point that, “animals eat out of necessity or survival whereas us humans often eat for indulgence.” Hence why there are no sweet shops or pubs on the Serengeti I guess. You see animals, even in their primitive state, realise that too much of a good thing is bad for you whether that is alcohol, sweets or cortisol. The first two are pretty obvious but allow me to explain the latter:

Produced by the body’s adrenal glands, cortisol belongs to the category of hormones known as glucocortioids (the name refers to their ability to increase blood glucose levels) and plays a key role in the bodies flight or fight response. When faced with a potentially dangerous or stressful situation the body releases cortisol which in turn increases the flow of glucose, protein and fat out of the muscle tissue and into the blood stream thus increasing ‘energy’ ensuring the body is physically ready for the task at hand.

What is more cortisol is also involved in the:

-         Proper glucose metabolism

-         Regulation of blood pressure

-         Insulin release for blood sugar maintenance

-         Immune function

-         Inflammatory response

Now you are probably sitting there now thinking to yourself, ‘this cortisol lark sounds swell, I think my body needs more of that bad boy” but you would be wrong… you see, you probably like women with long legs…. But I bet you wouldn’t want a girlfriend who looks like she was permanently walking around on stilts if you see what I mean…too much of a good thing is bad. 

One person who agrees with me is Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) American physician, endocrinologist and surgeon who discovered Cushing's syndrome or hypercortisolism as it is also known, an endocrine disorder caused by high levels of cortisol in the blood. It is reported prolonged high levels of cortisol in the blood will:

-         Lower the immune system

-         Slow down your thinking

-         Create blood sugar imbalances

-         Raise your blood pressure

-         Weaken muscle tissue

-         Decrease bone density

And more importantly for Sixpacknow.com visitors it will:

-         Increase fat in the stomach areas

Now of course hypercortisolism highlights the extreme effects of having too much cortisol in the bloodstream however heed Mr Cushing’s words and if you begin to become too stressed do something that relaxes you or better yet release some of the feel good hormone; serotonin (the opposite to cortisol) into that body of yours by laughing. And courtesy of my IT technician mate who has nothing better to do at work, here is one of his recent joke emails…enjoy

Quasimodo a.k.a the hunchback of Notre Dame, was ringing the bells one day when he fell out of the tower and unfortunately to his death : ( was a most tragic day for the townsfolk however auditions must be held to find a new bell ringer. People came from far and wide however no one could ring the bells as good as Quasimodo. After an exhausting week of auditions the priest was about to give up trying, when a man approached with no arms. Not wanting to hurt the mans feelings by asking how he was going to ring the bells with no arms the priest merely told him to show him what he’s got. The man took a few steps back, looked at the bells and then charged at them…hitting them with his face. The bells rung and made some beautiful music…it was fantastic. The priest said, “that was amazing, I can’t believe it… could you show us again please” the man obliged, took a few steps back and charged at the bells again, but this time he lost his footing and he too fell to his death. The priest was horrified, he went running down the stairs where there was a crowd of people around the body….the priest said, “oh no…he was amazing, a great bell ringer, did anyone know who he was or anyone know his name” Then one man came forward from the crowd and said…. “no but his face rings a bell.”

Much Love

More from Ross: Sunday Mornings; Mankind’s way of preventing obesity!

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