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16 Little Known Plants + Phytocompounds to Control(!) Your Cortisol Levels | Plus: A Dozen Better-Known Alternatives

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Don't forget: Cortisol is no stressor, it's released to help us cope w/ stress. While I have repeatedly emphasized that the notion of cortisol as the "muscle-catabolic stress hormone" you have to "keep as low as possible" is fundamentally flawed, there are reasons why you may want to control your cortisol levels within what would be considered the circadian normal zone, i.e. high(er) levels of cortisol that get you going upon waking, lower levels of cortisol in the PM and at night to facilitate optimal glucose control, avoid HPTA suppression (=keep normal thyroid, GH, and testosterone/estrogen levels), allow for healthy and recuperative sleep and so on and so forth. If you are physically healthy and not overweight/obese, you are probably able to achieve this goal if you have the following (health) habits: (1) getting enough sleep (6-8h), (2) adhering to fundamental rules of sleep hygiene (same time, same routine, no blue light exposure before and dur...
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Overlooked and Hushed Up?! The 10-20% Performance Gain From Short-Term Glucocorticoid ('Dex', 'Pred' & Co) Use

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Even though their efficacy is still doubted by some doping researchers, the existing evidence leaves little doubt that glucocorticoid doping is as prevalent and efficient as it is risky (Duclos. 2010). If you have read my "all about cortisol"- article from 2013 , you belong to the handpicked elite of fitness enthusiasts, who understand that the glucocorticoid and/or its natural, i.e. cortisone, or artificial, i.e. dexamethasone and prednisone, cousins are not - as many people believe - generally bad for you. Rather than that, the allegedly fat building, muscle burning hormone(s) can, if elevated at the right times and not chronically, help you boost fat loss, strength and overall exercise performance. That's bogus? Well, I know that the vendors of so-called "cortisol-blockers" want to make you believe just that. The effects of the publicly downplayed doping practices in various sports and scientific evidence speak a very different language, though. Chroni...
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Overtrained or in the Zone? Tests & Analyses of Samples of Athletes' Saliva Shall Help Determine Objective Criteria

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Could something as simple as a saliva test tell you if you or your clients are overtraining? I mean, common sense would dictate that cortisol, free T and IL-6 should tell us something. Salivary testosterone, cortisol, and interleukin-6, those are the three parameters Travis Anderson and colleagues had on their list of candidates when they conducted their latest study at the University of North Carolina  (Anderson. 2016). As you will remember from previous articles I wrote about overtraining. The only decently reliable method of seeing it coming is to assess you heart rate variability. On the other hand, athletes who are complaining of general fatigue and decreasing performances in the latter phase of their overtraining, when the symptoms become often almost unbearable, will also show high cortisol, low free testosterone and increased IL-6 levels. If you want to mess with your cortisol rhythm overtraining is exactly what you "need"! Heart Rate Variability (HRV) ...
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Licorice Flavonoid Oil - More Muscle, Less Fat in 16-Week RCT W/ Human Subjects W/ Only 300 mg of LFO per Day

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I know this will disappoint you, but as of now, it seems as if licorice would help you burn the invisible visceral fat, only. That's healthy(-ier) than subcutaneous fat loss, but probably not how you get from lean 15% to ripped 5% body fat. In the fitness industry, licorice doesn't have a good reputation. While many report astonishing benefits of licorice extract when they recover from stimulant abuse, everyone appears to be afraid of their potential detrimental effects on testosterone; effects that are everything but  well-proven (all studies from a single group of scientists, for example, i.e. Armanini, 1999, 2002, 2003 & 2004 and even the latter admit that their initial "results were not confirmed in another study, where the same amounts of licorice did not decrease salivary testosterone values" (Armanini, 2002)... For people with heart problems, the pro-cortisol effect may be an issue and many of the traditional uses, e.g. to reduce abnormal levels of the ...
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