Stress could cancel out all your progress in the gym! Find out why.
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:16 Causes of high cortisol
0:35 How stress destroys your muscles
3:23 How to counter the effects of stress on your muscles
3:56 Share your success story!
In this video, we're going to talk about why stress destroys your muscles.
When you go through chronic stress, your cortisol level increases, causing many changes in your body.
High cortisol increases the catabolic effect on muscles, meaning your muscle proteins break down faster. High cortisol also decreases the anabolic effect on muscles, meaning your body can't build more muscle efficiently.
The most common causes of high cortisol are:
• Stress
• Prednisone
• Tumors
When your cortisol is high, your body turns muscle into amino acids, which boosts the production of glucose in your liver. This is known as gluconeogenesis.
Essentially, your body turns muscle proteins into sugar when you have high cortisol. This primarily affects the thigh and gluteal muscles.
This whole process is a survival mechanism. Your body is trying to preserve glucose to use as fuel for your brain.
Typically, muscle tissue is not used for fuel. However, in a survival state, your body will use muscle to provide fuel for the brain.
Stress also causes…
• Suppression of glucose uptake
• Utilization of glucose
• Glycogen synthesis
The question is, what can you do to counter the effects of stress on your muscles?
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
