Ep#217 CORTISOL CRISIS: Chronic stress, health and aging
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[00:00:00] Hi everyone. My name's Dex Randall, and this is the Burnout to Leadership Podcast where I teach professionals to recover from burnout and get back to passion and reward at work.

[00:00:22] Hello, my friends. Welcome to today's show, Cortisol Crisis: Chronic stress, health and aging.

[00:00:31] I talk a lot about stress on this podcast, and I talked about anxiety last episode, and today we're going to go deeper into chronic stress and the slow corrosion it causes when you ignore it.

[00:00:44] Even if you feel fine right now, listen carefully.

[00:00:48] This is not about how you feel today so much as who you become in 10 years time.

[00:00:54] Today, we'll cover what chronic stress really does to humans through cortisol. We'll talk about the short term and long term brain and body effects of that, the disease states caused by stress and how to interrupt your stress patterns most importantly, and protect your future health.

[00:01:14] Cortisol Crisis sounds to me like a meme for the way that we live.

[00:01:19] It's that jolt of survival chemistry, when the next urgent project lands and your boss announces another restructure. It's the doom scrolling spiral, ping-ponging from one cortisol spike to the next for hours. The collective mental health fallout, anxiety, panic, depression, addiction, eating disorders, attention dysregulation.

[00:01:45] It's the silent physical toll on metabolism, immunity, heart health, aging, and longevity.

[00:01:54] And I gotta say chronic stress bit me hard. I was a fit healthy CTO, high performer, disciplined driven, and I had a heart attack at 55 when I was burning out. I didn't see it coming. Most of my clients look very healthy too, until you look below the surface.

[00:02:15] Chronic stress is now baked into modern life. Workplace pressures rise, speed accelerates, recovery disappears In many industries, burnout rate, burnout rates approach 70%. So here's the uncomfortable truth. Chronic stress becomes normal, habitual. Your nervous system adapts to perceived constant threat, so hypervigilance becomes a default state.

[00:02:48] That is when damage compounds in your brain, in your heart, your sleep, your relationships, and your judgment. So whether you're a student just starting college, a mid-career high performer, or a senior leader planning retirement, this episode is for you. Ignore chronic stress at your peril. I suggest you take action now to protect your health, vitality, work, performance, and family long into the future.

[00:03:21] Because here's a fact, the body is not designed to stay in survival mode continuously. If you're not sure how you are going, here are some of the warning signs to look out for. You might have fatigue, but your brain still won't switch off. Non-res and sleep. Waking in dread sugar or soul cravings and energy crashes, belly fat, frequent illness, and slow recovery, hormone disruption, gut problems, hypervigilance, short fuse or emotional numbness, loss of drive and motivation, overwhelmed from small tasks.

[00:04:06] Sluggish memory and decision making. Fragmented attention and concentration, reduced creativity and problem solving. So if some of that sounds like you, you are welcome to join My Leadership Without Burnout Coaching Program to reverse chronic stress and all of the things that I've just mentioned and restore full performance.

[00:04:29] You can see the link for that in the show notes.

[00:04:31] But now, let's review what happens to the brain and the body under normal stress, chronic stress, and then long-term stress. So very briefly, here are some of the mechanics.

[00:04:48] I will get into some specific terms you may not know, but I will include my references in the show notes in case you want to look them up.

[00:04:56] Okay, so NORMAL STRESS, this is where the amygdala detects danger, real or imagined, and it signals to the hypothalamus, which releases stress hormones like adrenaline, insulin, and in particular cortisol into the bloodstream. And this affects blood sugar, which in turn affects metabolism and abdominal fat. It affects energy use, sharpens focus and it affects the immune system, inflammation, tissue repair, along with a bunch of other stuff like sleep, sex, connection, mood, growth. So when all of that's happening, that hormone rush and all the effects of that are preparing you for fight or flight.

[00:05:42] Normally what happens is then you will fight or flee, and that will discharge the energy and the hormone buildup in that process so that after the emergency, your system will reregulate back to the parasympathetic state homeostasis, this is the rest and repair state. It should normally flick back to that after a normal stressor has passed, because you've dealt with it.

[00:06:10] So that's the cycle of normal stress that helps us deal with normal everyday threats, under normal conditions, and then it naturally resets itself.

[00:06:19] Okay, now let's look at CHRONIC STRESS. This is where you have a prolonged or stuck stress response. There's no reset. It stays on, resulting in a dysregulated nervous system.

[00:06:33] So here's what happens. Over time with chronic stress, your hippocampus shrinks, so this affects learning memory and emotional regulation. Insomnia worsens stress, so then you have more fatigue and it lowers emotional resilience. Your prefrontal cortex, the cognitive brain, becomes less active because it goes offline in fight or flight.

[00:07:00] So that impairs decision making, impulse control, concentration, attention, problem solving, all your higher cognitive functions. Then your amygdala becomes overactive, so you have heightened fear, more constant fear, more constant irritability and alertness. This is when we get re-triggered all the time and we can never quite seem to relax.

[00:07:26] Neuroplasticity will be reduced, so it's going to be harder to accept change, to break old habits that aren't supporting you, or form new ones, and to recover from emotional setbacks. Then your hormones, you are going to have less serotonin and less dopamine. So that means you've got less motivation, happiness, calm and reward, but you'll at the same time have more anxiety, sadness, loss of pleasure, fear, and irritability.

[00:08:00] It'll affect your heart too. It strains, the cardiovascular system, increasing blood pressure and the risk of heart disease. Your heart rate will also stay higher for longer, and that slows recovery after stress, but also physical exertion.

[00:08:16] Then there's your gut-brain axis, this is the vagus nerve is affected, so it slows digestion, which might result in stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, IBS, bloating, acid reflux, reduced digestive efficiency, your stomach won't process very well. It's worth noticing that chronically high cortisol contributes to leaky gut, which you may be familiar with. So this allows more toxins into the bloodstream from the gut, which causes inflammation and lowers immunity.

[00:08:54] Of course it releases all of those into the brain. This is the blood brain barrier, leaky brain. So this exacerbates some of the brain issues we've already mentioned, and microplastics are a pretty good example of this, with up to seven grams, that's the same as the plastic content in a little plastic teaspoon. You've got up to seven grams in your brain right now.

[00:09:20] And interestingly, since dementia is one of the long-term risks of chronic stress, people with dementia have more microplastics in their brains than people without.

[00:09:31] Okay, so that's chronic stress.

[00:09:33] Now, let's go on to LONG-TERM STRESS. So this is where. The stress has become habitual. Chronic stress has become even more prolonged, and then you get a habitually dysregulated nervous system, so then it gets inflammation.

[00:09:50] Inflammation is increased when your nervous system is pinged on, and that contributes to heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, autoimmune disease, and it also exacerbates aging, makes weight management more difficult. It affects mobility, brain function, lifestyle related disease, thyroid metabolism, immune response fatigue, and blood sugar control.

[00:10:23] It accelerates cellular aging, by shortening telomeres. These are the protective ends of chromosomes, and that leads to basically faster biological wear and tear. And this happens throughout the body, and there's a big signifier of rapid aging as well as heart disease and cancer risk.

[00:10:45] Oxidative stress, which relates to cell and tissue damage, particularly in neurodegenerative aging diseases, maybe how the telomeres shorten in the first place. So there's quite a bit going on there.

[00:11:03] If that's happening, then you've got a dysregulated nervous system. When you've got a dysregulated nervous system, you're going to be in a hyperarousal, arousal, so you'll be flooded with anxiety, overwhelm and irritability, or you'll be in hypoarousal, where you'll become numb, disconnected, fatigued. Elevated cortisol, when it's rushing around your system, disrupts your brain chemistry. Permanently if you let it go on. It slows digestion. It weakens immunity, it creates brain inflammation and contributes to neurodegenerative disease, increasing anxiety and depression.

[00:11:43] And the roots of dysregulated nervous systems often traced back to early life experiences, such as Big T Trauma. So that includes things like abuse, violence, neglect addiction, parental divorce, mental illness. Or it can be just the consequence of childhood attachment issues, emotional micro injuries, this is small T trauma, or any other hurtful experience (such as being bullied at school, struggling with self-esteem, friendships that come to an end, and things like that), that have not been processed or fully healed.

[00:12:20] In Adulthood, a dysregulated nervous system can be heightened by ongoing high pressure environments and experiences such as intimate relationship disruption. I think a lot of us could relate to, even just to those last two things based on our work life and our home life.

[00:12:38] So looking then at the proven effects of ongoing stress.

[00:12:41] While excess cortisol can affect any process in the body, these diseases are specifically linked to chronic stress: cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, particularly IBS, that affects up to 70% of people according to a Harvard study, cancer, autoimmune conditions, insomnia, depression for which workplace stress increases the risk by 80%, anxiety, obviously, Alzheimer's, neuroinflammation, and other neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, diabetes, obesity, headaches, et cetera. They're the headliners.

[00:13:30] So what I think is important to notice is that negative life experiences associated with PTSD or chronic stress change brain circuitry over time and increase the risk of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. That's the pathway.

[00:13:50] Stress can also, of course, lead to unhealthy behaviors such as overeating, over drinking, smoking, et cetera, which also contribute to disease.

[00:13:59] Why am I sharing all of this?

[00:14:01] Because with a large percentage of the population now experiencing chronic stress almost routinely, along with the ensuing mental and physical health problems, people need to know this:

[00:14:14] YOU HAVE THE POWER!. If this applies to you, you can make change, but do it now before the problem escalates. Don't wait until your brain's gone foggy and dementia is creeping in. Or you've had a heart attack.

[00:14:30] One of the best ways I know to regulate anxiety, stress and the nervous system is to prevent burnout or to recover from burnout if you are already in it.

[00:14:41] So if you have chronic stress and need help, come and talk to me. Let's make a plan so your health stays on track, so you stay protected. That's a part of the work that I do with my clients. Restore balance so the body and brain can work as intended.

[00:14:58] Then of course, we expand that into freedom of purpose, connection, money and time. We make room for passion and joy. And when your nervous system is well regulated, a lot of chronic problems fall away, and I really can't see a downside to that.

[00:15:15] So, we've looked at the Cortisol Crisis in our disconnected and fast paced world. The technology rate of change far exceeds our human ability to adapt in evolutionary terms. Biologically, it's an impossible task. Hence many succumb to ongoing anxiety and stress. To the point stress is considered normal and we're all expected to 'suck it up'. A deplorable expression and an impossible instruction to follow once your nervous system is activated. Suppressing our feelings alone, prolongs our stress response, and adds to its toxic payload, not to mention separating us from the support of others.

[00:16:00] This is the Attention Deficit Generation, yet another important cause of stress.

[00:16:07] Not much of a fun picture, but if that's happening, how can we reverse the trend?

[00:16:12] I'll talk now about what you can do at work to reverse that trend and then after that, what you can do for yourself today and every day that will help you personally.

[00:16:21] So I think the headline is, at work (without needing to change your company or your job), is you need to learn to set boundaries and set them routinely; manage your schedules better; and eliminate perfectionism, procrastination; say no to work that isn't yours; manage your priorities better; depersonalize feedback from other people so it doesn't trigger your system; stop work at the end of the day and banish work from your off hours.

[00:16:55] While you were listening to that, I imagine you might think those are impossible, but they're not. In fact, my clients learn skills to overcome each of those problems that I've mentioned. They learn these skills and many more to help them reregulate.

[00:17:11] In fact, in other episodes in the podcast, I've given you best practice tools and techniques to solve for yourself each of those problems I've just mentioned. So please search for the one that you need in the podcast and practice the techniques that you hear there. That's a start. 

[00:17:30] And again, for personal help, getting back to your best, you're welcome to join my Leadership Without Burnout coaching program, to reverse chronic stress and restore full performance. You can see the link for that in the show notes.

[00:17:43] Okay. We talked just very briefly about work, and I've given you some resources for that.

[00:17:48] Now, let's talk about resetting your nervous system personally.

[00:17:51] First, let's talk about resetting your cortisol levels directly, since cortisol is one of the prime targets here.

[00:17:59] Cortisol naturally peaks when you wake up. This is part of your circadian rhythm, of your sleep cycle. So there's a couple of things you can do early in the morning that will help you keep your cortisol in check.

[00:18:13] So number one, the Morning Signal. Get a bit of daylight into your eyes, not artificial light, daylight, and do a little bit of gentle movement, both of those within 30 to 60 minutes of waking. Because this is going to reset your cortisol curve for the day.

[00:18:31] Number two, Eat Early. Eat protein and carbs in the first hour after waking because it sends a signal to your brain that you're not in a famine, there's no war going on. We're okay.

[00:18:43] And number three, Caffeine Timing. Delay it 60 to 90 minutes after waking, because this prevents that fake energy crash cycle.

[00:18:53] Second, when you feel stressed at any time of day, use some of the following techniques to regulate your nervous system back to parasympathetic or rest and repair mode. You can do these real time.

[00:19:07] So first of all, of course you've heard it before, take a little bit of EXERCISE because exercise helps regulate cortisol and increase your endorphins. And endorphins relieve stress and pain and they lift mood and energy. What's not to like? You might do something as simple as walking quietly for a minute around the office or wherever you are. Breathing slowly and deeply. So this is slowing the body down. Turn your mind away for a moment from what's stressing you and bring your attention inside, to your breath and your body with the intention to slow down and support calm. Because when your nervous system is overactive, this will allow it a moment to settle.

[00:19:55] You can also try TALKING. Not random talking, but when you can freely share your troubles with a trusted other, someone whose nervous system isn't on fire, who will listen sympathetically and patiently without judging or trying to fix the problem. Release, relaxation and acceptance will naturally follow.

[00:20:18] And of course, if it's somebody you are close to, then this is particularly potent If you can also receive a hug. That's a physical level of nervous system reset.

[00:20:29] Next one. My dead favorite. NO EMOTIONAL ESCAPE. This technique I'm about to share with you, which is one that I teach to my clients, is one of the most powerful levers you can pull to regulate stress in your body and retrain your brain to be less reactive in future.

[00:20:50] So in the moment you feel stress coming up, you're anxious. In that moment, when you're desperate for emotional relief, pause and just tune into yourself. Remain still, but just notice that you are having an urge to escape and run away and do something, check your phone, whatever. Notice your discomfort, and then recognize the thought that's taking you off track.

[00:21:15] For example, my favorite used to be when I sat down to do a task, I would think, "I can't do this", and that would immediately ping anxiety for me. Whatever your thoughts are in the moment that cause you to ping off, the thoughts will probably have little or no truth to them. It would just be anxiety talking.

[00:21:36] Remember, high performers often underestimate their own competence and ability, assuming that other people find work as easy to do as they do. 

[00:21:49] So sit tight. Notice your urge to pick up your phone, or eat, or race away from your desk, but do nothing. Interrupt your urge to escape. That's a super powerful choice.

[00:22:05] Recognize stress. Notice what you are feeling. Name it. "Oh, this is anxiety", or "this is stress", or whatever the dominant emotion may be at the time. Gently accept and feel your feeling. It's just energy passing through your body. It can't hurt you, and feelings will pass in 90 seconds if you let them. When you accept and feel 'em in your body, the feelings have done their job. They can safely pass through and this will release your stress.

[00:22:40] Next one, VAGUS NERVE RESET. Your vagus nerve, which runs from your gut to your brain, regulates your nervous system very quickly. You can reset it in very many ways, typically through the body, but I think the simplest is box breathing, which you may already know. So what happens here is you breathe in for a count of (say) seven, hold the breath for seven, breathe out for seven and then hold it there for seven, and then breathe in again. And if you do this twice or three times, you are signaling to your body that there is safety. You are telling your nervous system that danger has passed and you should feel a relaxation response.

[00:23:25] Of course, there are very many methods to reset your nervous system.

[00:23:29] I've just given you a few examples there, but experiment to find the ones that work best for you.

[00:23:36] It could be singing, meditation, could be boxing, could be playing with your dog. Just have a little experiment and find the one that you like. Then pick that one and make a daily habit of it that you can always use, the moment that anxiety and stress come up. In the moment.

[00:23:55] As you practice resetting your vagus nerve, you're basically increasing vagal tone. It's like muscle tone. You're creating new pathways in your brain, the turn down hypervigilance, and give you enough room to rebalance energy, mood and cognitive function, and you can improve this over time every time you practice.

[00:24:16] It's also quite a good opportunity to reclassify old stress triggers. What do I mean by that? When you can identify the thought that came up, that pings you off into anxiety, ask yourself, did that thought relate to a genuine danger? Or was it actually an old and obsolete one that I could jettison?

[00:24:39] Because later if that obsolete thought pops up again, you can practice a vagal reset and replace that thought with a more supportive one. By which I mean just make up a new thought and offer it to yourself. So if the old thought was, "I'm going to get a thrashing for this", and that's just a memory stemming from your childhood, you could tell yourself that's no longer true and think on purpose, "I'm doing just what I should be doing".

[00:25:08] So practicing any of these reset techniques that I've shared today, you are literally using your brain and body to support habit change in order to protect your own body, your own mind, your own future, and that of those you love.

[00:25:25] One quick word on other healthy habits you might be tempted to take up along the way. I'm all for new healthy habits, and the Internet is full of advice on things like reducing anxiety, improving sleep, yoga, blah, blah, blah. But I don't initially encourage my new clients to force change of habits in areas like nutrition, intensive exercise or radical sleep routine change. In fact, any radical change, too early on.

[00:25:55] Don't do this until you've got your nervous system calmed down. Because if you try, you might find yourself straight into overwhelm. Defeats the purpose.

[00:26:07] In chronic stress and fatigue, the first priority by a mile, must be nervous system regulation.

[00:26:14] When you have established a stable nervous system, that will rebuild the energy you need to support further habit change, and then that's the time to tackle that.

[00:26:23] So that's a real quick tour! That is the Cortisol Crisis in a nutshell.

[00:26:29] If you've heard anything on this episode that's useful to you, I'm very happy.

[00:26:34] For more episodes on anxiety, stress, and supportive habits, search the podcast for those episodes on the topic that interests you. There are far too many episodes to mention here.

[00:26:45] For help finding your way back to your highest performance with a ton less stress, see the coaching link in the show notes.

[00:26:52] Meanwhile, I wish you and your nervous system rest and good health this week, and I will talk to you again next time.