With Class Pass, fancy gyms and online websites….there is a plethora of workouts. And it seems that HIIT is all the rage these days. High intensity workouts that get your heart rate up, leave your muscles sore and promise to burn the max amount of calories and fat.
Culture also tells us that the more you workout and exercise…the healthier you will be. I often talk about “appropriate” exercise because more is not more when it comes to movement. And every person has a different exercise threshold. What is appropriate for one person isn’t appropriate for the next person. And even more importantly, what is appropriate for your body in this season of your life might not be appropriate in the next season of your life. What is considered appropriate and healthy movement will depend on other stressors going on in our lives at any point in time.
Exercise is a stressor. And a good one if used appropriately. But it’s still a stressor.
When you exercise, cortisol (stress hormone) levels rise. Cortisol is essential to the body and we do need it – in the case of exercise it helps to repair the tissue damage that accumulates so you can recover and become stronger from the workout/movement. Then cortisol levels return to baseline and the body settles back into homeostasis.
How your body responds to the stressor of exercise and the rate to which it recovers depends heavily on your allostatic load. What’s your allostatic load? Basically it’s the sum of all the crap in your life that causes physical, emotional, and mental stress. Like your boss being a punk, finances being tight, caring for a newborn, lack of sleep, that coffee that wtf spilled all over your shirt…even good things like wedding planning or moving or starting a new career…those all contribute.
Your allostatic load plays an important part in determining how well you’re able to handle and recover from stress – in this case, exercise. If you didn’t get a good night of sleep or if you’re going through a busy season at work and on top of that you’re dealing with emotional stress in one of your relationships. And then you stress about working out or about how much you’re eating or you’re really stressed with how your body looks. Boom. It’s all going to come crashing down and then…
Exercise is not a positive stressor in your life.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, imagine you’re getting a solid 7-8 hours of sleep, feeling comfortable at your job, relationships with friends/spouse/family are in a relatively healthy place, you’re eating well and not surviving on coffee…well, the stress of exercise on your body now looks very different. Assuming you’re not exhausting yourself with workouts every day and you’re enjoying the way you move your body – you will respond very differently to the stress of exercise. Because this is a productive stressor. Productive stressors are short in duration, infrequent, make you feel good, inspire you to be your best self, and add to your life.
Bad, chronic stress on the other hand beats you down, is ongoing, feels exhausting, is burdensome, feels overwhelming, creates anxiety and worry and detracts from you living your best life. You won’t recover well from this kind of stress.
But here is the most important part: everyone responds to stress differently and everyone has a different threshold they can handle. Whether that’s emotional, physical, or mental stress. And that includes stress induced by exercise. Some people can handle a lot more stress and hustle and intensity than others. Example: some people thrive in New York City for 10+ years, running around and being on the go for 16 hours a day and actually thrive (I’m not talking about the “everything’s okay but really I’m dying inside” New Yorker) and other people, like me, simply cannot sustain that pace here in the city without becoming undone. I need slowness and simple commutes and an early bedtime and normal, 40 hour work weeks.
We each have a unique stress sweet spot. What is enough positive stress to inspire you to be your best self and allow you to thrive and contribute to the world? And when is it too much to where you start to deteriorate, feel depleted and lose yourself?
Too much stress aka cortisol and things get whacked out. Self care is vital in order to decrease your allostatic load. And part of that is paying attention to your exercise habits and how they affect your body – which is something we often don’t pay enough attention to. And that can cause some problems.
Inappropriate exercise = elevated cortisol which affects your HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary axis)
Cortisol suppresses GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) which then suppresses the release of LH (luteinzing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) –> when these get suppressed your ovaries are no longer stimulated and your menstrual cycle goes missing and infertility creeps in. Additionally, chronic stress from inappropriate exercise has been shown to decrease estrogen and progesterone levels in women too. Think decreased libido, dry skin, irritability and all kinds of other not fun things.
When the HPA is disrupted, hypothyroidism can also manifest due to stress and elevated levels of cortisol. Keep in mind that inadequate nutrition and poor sleep also affect your HPA. And if your HPA is disrupted for long enough causing decreased hormone levels that can lead to osteopenia or even worse, osteoporosis (side note: there are other causes of bone loss but that’s a whole other post) You need estrogen to absorb calcium and you need adequate calcium (and vitamin D) to maintain strong, healthy bones. And studies show synthetic estrogen by way of birth control does not prevent bone loss. I don’t say that at all to instill fear, but rather empower you with knowledge about how our bodies work so you can better care for your whole self.
Stress comes from a lot of different sources and we will be fighting to maintain a reasonable allostatic load our entire lives. If you feel like you have too much stress going on think of turning on your parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) system and calming your sympathetic (“fight or flight”) system — this is key to lowering stress. Focus on getting back to basics with good self care, eating well (aka enough and getting enough fats/carbs), sleeping well, resting your mind, and doing exercise that isn’t balls to the walls all the time. There’s nothing wrong with a hard workout that feels good and gets the endorphins flowing, but if you already lead a stressful life and that’s your only form of exercise….some quiet and gentle movement along with some deep breathing might be just what you need instead.
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This is such a great reminder for all! This part “everyone responds to stress differently and everyone has a different threshold they can handle.” really resonated with me. Everyone is SO different and it’s important that people don’t compare what other people are doing to what they are doing. What works for you, works for YOU.
Robyn,
I LOVE THIS POST. I’m really one that likes to have facts behind reasoning, so thank you for this post.
I’m like this for everything– lol, so posts like these are really informative for me, because then I can share with myself and others. Could you perhaps do more posts on these? I love your day in the life (WIAW)– those are my favorites, and your relationship posts, but i’ve got to say, these come in close as another fave 🙂
And thanks for being real with us readers! we appreciate it.
Jennie– from Northern VA 🙂
I have a question regarding the scientific/medical parts of this post… I have been struggling with depression, fatigue, anxiety, hair loss, and some other symptoms for a long time, but much worse after having my second maybe a little less than a year ago. I finally went and got my hormone levels tested on antidepressants were not making a difference. My progesterone and thyroid levels were extremely low. However, my cortisol levels looked fine. I am a group fitness instructor and also somewhat of an over exerciser and I had wondered whether the continuous exercise routine had contributed to my hormone levels being off. However, if my cortisol levels are fine, is this an indicator that it is not the exercise causing the problem? And if cortisol levels are continuous exercise routine had contributed to my hormone levels being off. However, if my cortisol levels are fine, is this an indicator that it is not the exercise causing or contributing to the problem? I ask this because I was prescribed some hormonal supplements, but I have yet to see very much change and I was wondering if my exercise routine could potential he be reducing the effectiveness of the treatment. Thanks for your input!!
*that should say second baby, not second maybe! (:
I’m curious to this as well. I’m in the ‘overexerciser’ category, however my cortisol levels are within normal (with looooow everything else).
Me too! Lots of exercise, normal cortisol, low everything else but totally normal weight!
Incredible post. So well explained!
Love this view on exercise – personally, I’ve been working more on “intuitive” exercise – After my most recent marathon cycle, I realized my body craved it’s own schedule of movement – nothing that was set in stone as in a training plan, but more move when I feel like it and how much. Lots of yoga right now, without the feelings like I have to go run x miles. Love your explanation about the hormone cycles, too. So helpful for understanding how stress affects us in so many ways
This made so much sense. I loved learning more about how exercise can be a good stressor or a helpful stressor if the rest of your life is not highly stressful. And the reminder that we all have a different stress load that affects us is so key, because we can’ t be comparing ourselves to each other especially when it comes to how much stress each person can handle.
Hi Robyn, have been reading your blog for several years and just want to thank you for posts like this. A few years ago, I was at my wit’s end wondering why I could not lose weight despite exercising constantly — even when I was running on fumes and having panic attacks from stress. Your blog really helped change my mindset and understanding of how exercise works with stress and hormones, and I am doing so, so much better (physically and mentally) now as a result. Really appreciate that you are talking about this stuff since it seems like no one else is. To your point, our culture tells us that the more workouts we can squeeze in, the better — even though this can be counterproductive to maintaining a healthy weight. So thank you again and rock on!
I can speak to this personally and have written about it on my blog before, as well. I went through a phase (a long phase) in my life where I believed the only real exercise was exercise that left me sweaty, tired, exhausted and burning hundreds of calories. I would commit myself to this exercise no. matter. what. Even when I was tired. Even when I was hungry and hadn’t had a lot to eat. Even when I had no or little sleep the night before or after working longer hours during the day. I eventually experienced a disrupted cycle, depression, exhaustion and all of the things you have mentioned. It has been such an important lesson to learn that exercise can come in many forms of movement and to know the importance of when your body is crying for REST! Now I ask myself every day what type of movement do I FEEL like doing today? If none of my many options (jogging, walking, yoga, hiking, biking) sound appealing, then I take it as a note that my body needs rest today. I no longer participate in training plans or any type of rigid movement and I feel so much less stressed because of it. Great post and thank you for you insight! (Btw, the landscape in that last photo is to die for!)
Robyn, I love this so much and really needed this today. Amidst being a new mom, marathon training, and launching an new, online business, I’ve been feeling a little bit overwhelmed. Thank you for the reminder and I think I’m going to do some serious thinking about what things I can take off my plate. You are such a great blessing! 🙂
Love this post so much! I too have gone through phases of doing super intense workouts several times a week and honestly it didn’t do much good for me physically or mentally. Ever since moving intuitively and paying attention to whether I was craving yoga or a more intense workout, I began to feel so much better in my body. Great post, I love to learn the science behind it!
“What is appropriate for your body in this season of your life might not be appropriate in the next season of your life.”
This is SO important!
As I move forward in recovery, I know I am not exercising as intensely or as frequently as I used to, but I am slowly realizing that even my current amount of exercise is not sustainable. Even though it’s not “intense” exercise, the compulsion aspect is still lingering and it’s definitely causing me stress and even kept me from sleeping last night as I thought about my workout (interrupting my sleep is NOT okay haha).
Trying to teach myself how to have a good relationship with movement is easier said than done, but I’m constantly reminding myself that actions (or lack thereof in terms of exercise haha) have to come before thoughts do.
Thank you for always knowing just what to say in your blogs – you give me much-needed comfort as I FINALLY take action and give myself a rest.
I love this reminder that we all have different thresholds for stress. I often find myself looking around and wondering why “everyone else” seems to be handling their busy lives so well when I can’t. I’m slowly but surely learning to accept/embrace that I just need a slower pace of life in order to thrive!
Loved this post! It’s such a great reminder that everybody’s different, which includes different stress maximums. I personally think I have a low stress threshold and know I could be better at self-care. Also, It’s so hard to go against the media that’s like “workout as hard as you can…no days off!” so thank you for solidifying the fact that that isn’t right for everybody. I’m just recently learning about the correlation between exercise and cortisol and love getting the chance to learn more from you!
Robyn,
This is a really great post. It is so applicable for me, as I am currently dealing with having my hormone levels tested as well as my estrogen. I do carry conc that a. My struggle with orthorexia over years, in addition to poor sleep and inadequate fueling of my body, have really screwed up my reproduction. It is a bit scary but trusting and praying. It can be a difficult place though to be in our “culture.” Thanks for these words!!
Thank you so much for this post. I feel like you were speaking exactly to me when you wrote this. I just got my hormone levels tested, what would you suggest are “normal” or conversely, what would be some areas for concern?
Awesome post! And so relevant to my life right now. I spent a solid two years on a rigid workout schedule that I had made for myself, 3 days of hiit/weights, 2 Pilates/low impact cardio, 1 rest, and 1 yoga. Everything was fine and dandy, and though I was often quite exhausted and drained, I felt that I needed to keep going with the exercise both to keep my sanity intact and to keep my body shape the same. However my body finally yelled at me when I injured my back lifting a super light weight and realized that okay, maybe I have been going a little too far. Plus it occurred to me that this amount of exercise was absolutely not necessary to maintain my physique. At all. It was something I had convinced myself of and had no basis in truth. So now, I’ve been a lot more low key with my routine. Spontaneous rest days, barre instead of hiit, more Pilates instead of weights. And I’m already feeling worlds more balanced and at peace.
Do you have a post about birth control / why you chose an IUD? I know in a lot of your posts you have said you don’t like the pill because a lot of doctors use it as a quick fix / bandaid.