Perform Better in Life

Control Your Cortisol to Improve Your Performance

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Meet Our Scientific Advisory Board

Ioana A. Bina, M.D., Ph.D.

Integrative Medicine
Yale Trained Gastroenterologist
Ph.D. in Endocrinology

Prof. Maria Hopman, M.D., Ph.D.

Physiologist
Radboud UMC
300+ Scientific Papers

Prof. Chris McLellan, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Endocrinology
Griffith University
100+ Published Works

Prof. Liesbeth van Rossum, M.D., Ph.D.

Endocrinologist
Erasmus UMC
20+ Research Awards

What Is Cortisol?

Cortisol is the hormone that your body produces when you experience stress. It regulates your flight-or-fight-or-freeze response, which is extremely helpful when your life is at stake. After all, it helps you make lightning-fast decisions to survive.

But in today’s society, chronic stress and overtraining are elevating cortisol levels over longer periods. This can put many crucial functions on “hold,” such as brain and muscle cell repair, and even your digestion and immune systems. Meanwhile, elevated cortisol keeps releasing energy from sugars and fats, even after the urgent need is gone. This can further damage processes in every single cell of your body.

Chronic stress is a contributing cause to muscle weakness, brain fog, ulcers, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, infertility, cancer … the list goes on. It is so urgent, the World Health Organization labeled stress the health epidemic of the 21st century. However, research at Stanford University shows that a mindset change can help. While a stress-is-enhancing (SIE) mindset reduces cortisol, a stress-is-debilitating (SID) mindset increases it.

Improve Athletic Performance by Measuring Your Cortisol

Did You Know Cortisol Is the Best Way to Measure Training Readiness and Avoid Overtraining?

Here’s a surprising fact: Sometimes, training more can actually make you weaker. It sounds counterintuitive, but overtraining makes your muscles shrink and increases the risk of injuries. Sometimes, it’s better to take a break and allow your body to recover. Sometimes, less really is more.

December 8, 2021, 9:33:36 PM

Cortisol and Burnout

How Chronic Stress Leads to Total Exhaustion

We all know how it feels to be stressed. Stress, after all, is part of our everyday lives. It’s that feeling we get whenever we face a new demand and our body goes into high alert. It’s why we often think of stressed people as tense or on edge.

December 8, 2021, 10:02:33 PM

Cortisol and Weight Loss

Here’s Why So Many Diets Fail

It’s like that Greek myth about the man cursed to roll a boulder up a steep hill for eternity. Every time he neared the top, the boulder would roll back down. And he’d have to start all over again.