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“Stress Hormone” Cortisol Linked to Early Toll on Thinking Ability
- tinktank 8y agoWell, that's me done. I live on Cortisol.
- espeed 8y agoI did too a few years back, and it clouds the brain no-doubt. It got to the point where something had to be done, and so I set everything aside and dedicated 6 months to figuring out how to fix it. Read this book: Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey), the professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. I have posted on the effects of sprints several times over the years so rather than repost again, here's a link to the threads: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment&query=espeed%20spark%20sprints https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&date... Running sprints were key, but inflammation due to diet was part of it too (a latent issue not widely discussed, but a factor more common than you might think). I solved that by eliminating certain foods one by one that are known to cause inflammation. Peanuts were one, and eliminating aspartame (diet coke) had a noticeable effect within just a few days (I verified it wasn't the caffeine by adding back tea and coffee, and those had no noticeable effect). Here's some links to the original Harvard and USG research findings on the issues with aspartame and artificial sweeteners/flavors in general, like why it's banned it baby food: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6703802 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6703802
- eganist 8y ago> Brain changes, visible on scans, are also associated with Alzheimer’s precursors Interesting. Since they're speculating a link between cortisol and alzheimer's and there's already established linkages between cortisol and herpes reactivation [1], herpes spreading to the brain in certain vulnerable populations [2], herpes activation in the brain and an amyloid response [3], and a potential mitigation for symptoms by arresting herpes activation [4], I wonder if the cortisol/alzheimer's link might evaporate of the herpes/alzheimer's hypothesis continues to prove out in drug trials? [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469259/ [2] https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30526-9 https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30526-9 [3] https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30526-9 https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30526-9 [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17540094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17540094 -- Substantially reworked the comment given some of the confusion the initial comment seemed to generate. I'm pretty passionate about this angle, as past commentary of mine here might indicate. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17945738 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17945738
- corndoge 8y agothis comment makes no sense
- jacobolus 8y agoThe context is there is a theory that herpes viruses are linked to Alzheimer’s. See e.g. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/21/621908340/researchers-find-herpes-viruses-in-brains-marked-by-alzheimers-disease https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/21/6219083...
- stephengillie 8y agoThere are many theories about the cause of Alzheimer's. Previously on HN: - Alzheimer's is caused by dirty air. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18230932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18230932 - Alzheimer's is caused by lack of sleep. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18228627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18228627 - Alzheimer's is a form of diabetes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4578267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4578267 - Alzheimer's is caused by herpes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18265115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18265115 Also, brain damage is a result of Alzheimer's, not a cause.
- shittyadmin 8y agoHoly shit, I thought you were joking but most of those were in the last 2 weeks.
- eganist 8y agoRight? And if you extrapolate research like the sleep deprivation research further out, it ties in pretty well with the thinking that sleep deprivation keeps the brain from clearing the byproducts of a fight against herpes reactivation. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17945738 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17945738)
- leoh 8y agoDoes anyone know a good way to test cortisol on one's own?
- GiorgioG 8y agoGet a blood test? If you’re in the US and don’t want to have to convince your doctor why you need/want this test, just order it yourself from a place like healthlabs.com - I don’t work for them - I’m a satisfied customer.
- dreamdu5t 8y agoCortisol levels vary all the time... a blood test would only measure cortisol at one point in time.
- krtkush 8y agoThere are cortisol tests which which require you to submit urine sample of the whole day - from morning to evening.
- koolba 8y agoDoes it have to be done in a lab or is there a ph or ketostix like device that could measure it at home?
- dwich 8y agoI don't know of a device that can measure it at home, but there are mail-in saliva cortisol kits from companies like Genova Diagnostics, Labrix, and ZRT Labs. You usually send them several samples collected at specific times throughout the day. They're mostly designed to be ordered by a healthcare professional, but you can get a few of them direct on Amazon, or through companies that order on your behalf (similar to healthlabs.com mentioned above).
- krtkush 8y agoI was given a big plastic jar with a certain kind of acid in it. Had to pee straight into the jar the whole day. Next day, the jar had to be handed over to the lab.
- leptoniscool 8y agoAny food that can lower cortisol?
- hammock 8y agoWhole 30, and anything that promotes a healthy gut. Also lots of sleep
- dleslie 8y agoSleep is awesome. It's key to so much for our bodies, and yet we so easily neglect it.
- abledon 8y agoI’ve incorporated a grounded carbon leatherette under myself when I sleep — a bit skeptical of it at first but I really feel it in the morning — totally relaxed . After going into the biology , we’re full of conductive fascial planes , acting as compartments for different organ areas , kinda cool Edit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/#!po=0.454545 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/#!po=0....
- hammock 8y agoSomewhere you recommend I can read more about this?
- abledon 8y agoThe Mat came with a book called ‘earthing’ I cringed at first reading it but there’s some cool science in it. Interesting parts on Native American healing traditions. It’s got pretty good reviews https://www.amazon.com/Earthing-Most-Important-Health-Discovery/dp/1591202833 https://www.amazon.com/Earthing-Most-Important-Health-Discov...
- sb23 8y agoAre you joking? This is about as legitimate as the copper balance bracelets that are only good for parting gullible people with their cash. Maybe placebo is making you feel more relaxed, or maybe your mattress is not firm enough and having a leather mat firms it up just enough for your back to feel better.
- ckdarby 8y agoInstagram. It is that simple, instagram is straight up cancer, well, actually most social networks but the current major cancer is Instagram. My GF is glued to her phone. The amount of circle jerking that happens with women and social media is utterly crazy. Bring this up as the article mentions it seems to be higher in women and when I looked around in day to day life I see more women glued to instagram than men (Don't have stats to back it up). I wouldn't be surprised if they found a link between this and users who use social networks more as well. Edit: Maybe "circle jerk" wasn't the right phrase to use...
- darawk 8y agoWomen seem uniquely vulnerable to this thing somehow. With only a few exceptions, all of the women under 45 that I know basically can't tear themselves away from IG. This is true across IQ and socioeconomic bands in my own anecdotal experience.
- polotics 8y agoCare to consider there may be some selection bias here?
- darawk 8y agoIt's certainly a possibility. Have you noticed a different pattern?
- drb91 8y agoAll the women and men in my life manage to quarantine their phone use to their personal time. I have a tough time imagining you spending time with a friend where they just ignore you to spend time on IG. If they do, that’s likely a reflection of you.
- darawk 8y agoSure, when people are actively spending time with me they're usually not on their phone. But you have no awareness of how people you know spend the rest of their time? I'm around my friends during lots of times where we're not actively spending time together.
- bsenftner 8y agoPretty light article. For those thinking they have too much stress, run it off. Our systems treat stress the same way it did back when stress meant fight for survival. The body needs one to exert at a high cardio rate during and after stress. That is our natural response. Not backing stress with a sweat inducing release is what causes all these negatives.
- mistermann 8y agoThis sounds like good advice but is it theoretical or is it actually backed by science?
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoIt's pretty well proven that reduced stress is one of the (many) benefits of regular exercise
- espeed 8y agoI linked to some of the key research findings in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307333 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307333
- matwood 8y agoExactly, exercise (and I would add diet). Exercise and diet help many of the common health problems. Hard time sleeping? Exercise and diet. Too much stress? Exercise and diet. Body composition problems? Exercise and diet. Everyone should strive to exercise every day.
- User23 8y agoMore garbage tier science reporting portraying a single metric as somehow being an overwhelming determiner of health. If you want to be healthy it's easy, just do the following: Eat fresh foods. Get aerobic exercise. Get resistance exercise. Get enough sleep. Abstain from drugs and alcohol, or at least partake temperately. Have good genes and a healthy developmental environment. Those last two are on one's parents, not oneself.
- stephengillie 8y ago"Health" "News" is neither healthy nor news.
- drtse4 8y agoThat fbclid appended to the url.
- Raphmedia 8y agoHey at least now it's public and not hidden somewhere deep in Facebook's shadow profiles code.
- csr86 8y agoI never believed that stress could be harmful. It seemed "mental" issue rather than "real" physical problem. Until I got blinded by stress! Excess stress hormone can even damage your eyes, its called central serous retinopathy... My central vision is gone and have hard time reading, I cant continue my career as programmer anymore. Its surprising how damaging excess cortisol can be to a person
- erikb 8y agowtf. You do know that people die from too much stress, right?
- csr86 8y agoYes, I had heard, but mostly about depression or burnout. While those are bad, person usually recovers to back to normal, so I was not that afraid being super-stressed. I had never heard it can damage your eyes permanently. It is not very common, but can happen.
- rv-de 8y agoWhen I am super-(dis)stressed then my mental constitution is best characterized by a constant high level of fear. Which is unsettling by itself and will give me a strong urge to leave this situation. From that angle I find it surprising that it seems that being super-stressed didn't seem to bother you on its own. Was it a eustress experience for you that felt good?
- csr86 8y agoOf course, I didn't like being super-stressed, but I was not afraid/aware of what it could do to me. It was difficult to get rid of some of the biggest stressors... Biggest one has been chronic pain, for which doctors cannot do much. Another was the project at work, which was technologically "almost possible", but could never meet what the customer was expecting.
- ivanhoe 8y ago
- abainbridge 8y agoAsthmatics might be interested to know that many of the long-term treatments use molecules based on cortisol. Check out the similarity of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budesonide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budesonide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beclometasone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beclometasone This is because one of the effects of cortisol is to suppress immune response. And, just a thought, there was news recently that the incidence of Alzheimer's was reduced in people on long-term anti-viral drugs. The hypothesis being that Alzheimer's is partially caused by a virus. High cortisol levels (or their related asthma treatment molecules) would reduce immune response and therefore we could predict today's result from the previous one. I've probably over simplified the situation.
- rhexs 8y agoMan, allergists might actually have to do some real science soon instead of coasting on diphenhydramine, prednisone, selling shots, and various other remedies that haven't changed since 1955. Oh yeah, forgot monoclonal antibodies, the new, ungodly expensive series of IV drugs that have amazingly awful side-effects. Can't wait to see what those do to bodies 10-50 years down the line.
- vfc1 8y agoCompanies that have work environments that induce a lot of stress in their employees should pay more to society as opposed to companies that have low stress working environments, probably under the form of a tax of some sort. It is clearer than ever at this point that high stress causes employees to underperform, and develop chronic physical and mental illnesses. These diseases will end getting paid by society under one form or another, either by paying unemployment to burned out employees, paying the treatment of chronic illnesses, mental health care, etc. So nothing fairer that companies that chew people alive and spit them out to become more socially accountable for what they are doing. Not to mention the huge impact that this has on the stressed employee kids and family, by having to deal with a chronically stressed parent. These companies are sometimes killing people, literally. They should not be allowed to continue to get away with it like its 1980.
- jatsign 8y agoHow would you measure it?
- fogetti 8y agoRetention rate might be indicative and/or correlated with stress level. But I am pretty sure there are other ways too.
- nyghtly 8y agoWhen using retention rate as a metric, it might also be important to include the reason for leaving as a factor. For example, software engineers at tech giants might typically leave because they're bored, whereas employees in the Amazon warehouse might leave because they're burnt out and overworked.
- sattoshi 8y agoOutright measuring cortisol levels would be nearly fool-proof.
- 8y ago
- TazeTSchnitzel 8y agoThis is one way in which the effects of poverty and social exclusion compound. Poor people are of course more stressed.
- chiefalchemist 8y agoNot to get off topic, but this is further proof that poverty is more than a financial condition.
- bobx11 8y agoWhile I may agree with you, didn’t the article say people were relatively well off?
- chiefalchemist 8y agoI was speaking about stress. The fact that chronic stress has negative impact on decision making, etc. To your point, if stress effects the relatively well off, imagine what happens to those are struggling to get by.
- dfxm12 8y agoIf this is worth exploring, do it right: make an experiment and actually measure these things. Imagining is not science, and we shouldn't make decisions on things we've merely imagined.
- dTal 8y agoKind of a weird smackdown. Are we not allowed to make observations on Hacker News until we've backed them up with a peer-reviewed study?
- dfxm12 8y agoWhen drawing conclusions, like "stress effects those struggling to get by worse than the relatively well off", I would always err on the side of evidence over imagination. Imagining something isn't even an observation.
- albedoa 8y agoThat is a mischaracterization of the comment you responded to. He was appealing for another commenter to imagine the impact of stress on one who is struggling economically given what we know about the effects of stress. We don't have to set up a peer-reviewed study to do that. We can both imagine and yield to evidence.
- bitL 8y agoFor anyone coping with huge amount of stress, try the following: - deep breathing for a minute (should significantly reduce cortisol) - take sauna (proper hot/cold cycles)
- germinalphrase 8y agoSpecifically focus on “belly breathing” as low in your diaphragm as possible. Slow belly breathing is proven to reduce emotional arousal.
- renjimen 8y agoI second the sauna! A great way to switch off after work.
- matwood 8y ago> - deep breathing for a minute (should significantly reduce cortisol) If true, this shows that there is a controllable mental component to stress. First step is recognizing when you are stressed. A mental technique I use is to pretend I'm outside my body watching my response. This helps me put things in perspective and calm down. A technology thing I use is my Apple Watch. It alerts me if my heart rate goes up without also moving like I would for exercise. It's a quick reminder to stop, relax. I rarely get alerts from the AW anymore, because I've become attuned to recognizing when stress is oncoming and I can take measures to calm down. My final technique is exercise every single day. I tend to workout right when I wake up, but if life gets in the way I sometimes do not get to it until later. But, it is an exceptional day if I miss a workout.
- sunshinelackof 8y agoI think consistent exercise is extremely important as well. And it should be right sort of exercise. I found yoga to be a key activity. It leaves you alone with yourself, no one to compete with. You eventually have to succumb yourself and just exist. There are some varieties of yoga like ashtanga which in my opinion is best for this.
- bad_user 8y agoStress has a lot of damaging effects in our body. For example it also causes high blood sugar, because it puts your body in a fight or flight mode. High blood sugar gives rise to higher insulin levels, which inhibits leptin and gives you insulin resistance and thus you can develop symptoms of the metabolic syndrome, if not full blown T2 diabetes. Cortisol is also correlated with high levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone. This is why if you're stressed ... you can develop diabetes, heart disease, obesity and who knows what else. Stress is an evolved tactic to escape short term dangers. But humans are not designed to be stressed all the time. I have a close friend that developed diabetes following a period of high stress due to his small business going broke. Take care of your health first. And sleep 8 hours per day.
- greendestiny_re 8y agoI recently ghostwrote a sizable text on diabetes, with one part dedicated to cortisol. In short, cortisol is secreted due to a real or _perceived_ threat, meaning that by framing everything around us as challenges we avoid activating the HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) axis that normally works during danger. Rats put in stressful situations showed a propensity to gorge on sweet and fatty food (cookies), since they impacted the brain just as much as natural endorphins; the rats were trying to calm themselves down after stress. The literature is monumental, one study is here [PDF]: https://www.medicinasistemica.it/doc/biblioteca/Stress,%20eating%20and%20the%20reward%20system.pdf https://www.medicinasistemica.it/doc/biblioteca/Stress,%20ea... There are no threats, only challenges.
- technobabble 8y agoThank you for linking to the text.
- tomca32 8y agoAs a pretty stressed out T1, this sounds like some excellent advice to me. Thank you for this, I will definitely give it a read.
- gdubs 8y agoIs this why I eat crappy food when I’m under the weather?
- greendestiny_re 8y agoThe PDF I linked above shows that taking Naloxone, opiod antagonist, reduces the desire for junk food, meaning it's a literal addiction; trying to just quit cold turkey is just like opiod withdrawal that causes even more stress and binge eating. Exercise helps, but again don't overdo it because you'll be causing more stress. Tai Chi (slow-motion kung fu) has been found to really help, take a look here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927159 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927159 In some patients after 12 weeks of Tai Chi the metabolic syndrome, the dreaded pot belly that occurs because there are abundant cortisol receptors in the abdomen, shrinks or disappears completely.
- Clanan 8y agoI think a huge component of this is the ever-present stigma of mental health and counseling. People who are incredibly stressed and suffering mentally and physically should be able to visit a therapist as easily as they can a doctor. When they don't, or feel like they can't, they lose the chance to learn helpful coping mechanisms and life strategies which can have a drastic impact.
- orasis 8y agoI experienced severe cognitive decline in my 20s from the stress of running a startup. The most alarming part was the loss of vocabulary. I was an avid reader and couldn’t call to mind fairly simple multi-syllablic words. It took 5 years of bumming around in the mountains to heal the damage.
- seandhi 8y agoFor what it’s worth, I had a very similar thing happen to me. I guess I never made the connection until now. After a year, my intellectual curiosity is just starting to return. That you feel repaired gives me hope.
- orasis 8y ago10 years later I’m now operating at 100% but I’m extremely careful to be stress avoidant. For the first 3 years of doing almost nothing productive the progress was quite slow. In retrospect, a couple of high dose psilocybin sessions may have sped up recovery by reprogramming some of my identity that was at the core of the stress.
- RikNieu 8y agoHow do you make a living though? One cannot just 'do nothing productive' and pay rent and bills?
- etatoby 8y agoHoly crap, that's exactly what happened to me! My solution was to say sayonara to everybody and move to Tokyo, to attend a full time Japanese language school, with people generally 10–20 years my juniors. I'm doing good so far, I'm making tons of friends and the school is keeping my mind and my schedule full. (I just picked a random interest and a sufficiently far away place. It could have been cooking or hiking in the Andes, for what matters.) It's too early to say whether I'm recovering. I hope so. I think I'm seeing some color returning to my hair, but it might just be the light.
- endlessvoid94 8y ago
- jpfed 8y agoThe great thing about chronic childhood stress is that it paradoxically lowers cortisol levels later in life. Take that, Alzheimer's!
- vectorEQ 8y agopeople think they can tell others how to reduce stress, this is dumb. stress is personal, and how you deal with it is personal, so self-reflect, and listen to yourself, if you are having the idea you are impacted negativly by your stress. look at it this way: you have so many input bandwidth. stress is the input. any input causes stress, but there is plenty of bandwidth generally to handle this. only when there is too many incomming bandwidth, it can lead to loss / DOS. It's personal what packets you want to handle and which you'd like to drop. this is what you can only decide for yourself. so there is no magic bullet some researcher will invent for you to feel relaxed again. you need to figure that out for yourself. someone can guide you along your way but not tell you the way you should go... if you let people choose for you, this will lead to MORE STRESS
- klvino 8y agoQuestion, why was a Facebook click event (fbclid) query string included in the URL for this article? Did you find the article on Facebook and forget to remove the string, which results in anyone on this site that clicks on the string to be identified to Scientific American's site analytics as having come from a Facebook page, and thus mis-attributing traffic.
- Apaec 8y agoDoes anyone know the relationship between stress and hair loss?
- espeed 8y agoAre you referring to clumps of hair falling out on a woman, or male-pattern baldness?
- mahgnous 8y agoThis been known for a long time, contributes to diabetes/insulin resistance of the brain. Humans not meant to live in the constant chronic stress that they do.
- accnumnplus1 8y agoA relevant podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/burnout-diaries/id1247886202?mt=2 https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/burnout-diaries/id124788...