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<\/a>The reason?\u00a0 It\u2019s a hormone called cortisol.\u00a0 This trouble-making hormone was designed for your good.\u00a0 If you are in danger, cortisol gives you the extra energy to run faster or fight harder in order to escape with your life.\u00a0 It does that by releasing energy in the form of glucose into your bloodstream.\u00a0 It also instructs your organs to slow down in their work so all energy can be diverted to the muscles and brain.<\/p>\nBut what happens if you are not running or fighting — just stressing?\u00a0 You still get the glucose dump.\u00a0 As we have seen before, a load of sugar in the bloodstream calls for a heavy dose of insulin from the pancreas.\u00a0 The insulin delivers the message \u201cstore up the fat.\u201d\u00a0 Your body gets the message and slows down to save the fuel.\u00a0 Your organs slow to a crawl because they mistakenly think that you need to use your energy to run or fight.<\/p>\n
Too much cortisol for too long not only builds up a layer of fat, especially around your abdomen. It also can cause health problems, like Cushing\u2019s Syndrome. This cluster condition causes all kinds of dangerous symptoms, like weight gain, depression, high blood pressure, and diabetes.<\/p>\n
So how can you deal with this metabolism drag? Exercise helps.\u00a0 You will feel better, as you divert that glucose into it\u2019s intended use — running.\u00a0 Exercise has been proved over and over to work better for easing depression than any of the depression medications on the market.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, though, the best plan is to deal with the stress itself.\u00a0 Take a look at your life.\u00a0 What is stressing you out?\u00a0 Is it temporary?\u00a0 If you have a deadline looming, or a problem at work, you may just need to focus on giving your body some extra care until it passes.<\/p>\n
But if you have chronic stress, maybe you need to make some changes. Identify the stressors and decide how you can eliminate them.\u00a0 Maybe you can\u2019t get rid of the people causing you stress, but you can change how you react to them.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth putting some effort and some prayer into learning to cope.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness, trusting in God\u2019s goodness and sovereignty, and walking by faith. These are all essential parts of the Christian life.\u00a0 All will help overcome worry and stress.<\/p>\n
And here is a verse to help you along:\u00a0 \u201cCasting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 I Peter 5:7. \u00a0 If you are God\u2019s child, you don\u2019t have to bear the stress and cares of life alone.\u00a0 You can trust Him to help, because He truly cares!<\/p>\nEating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n
Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stress. It\u2019s a part of our lives.\u00a0 People give us problems.\u00a0 We have money worries.\u00a0 Our schedules are too busy.\u00a0 It\u2019s not pleasant. Now we know from numerous studies that stress not only takes its toll on your nerves. It slows your metabolism and makes you fatter. The reason?\u00a0 It\u2019s a hormone called cortisol.\u00a0 This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[368,121,86,439,306],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-cortisol","tag-forgiveness","tag-hormones","tag-metabolism","tag-stress"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>The reason?\u00a0 It\u2019s a hormone called cortisol.\u00a0 This trouble-making hormone was designed for your good.\u00a0 If you are in danger, cortisol gives you the extra energy to run faster or fight harder in order to escape with your life.\u00a0 It does that by releasing energy in the form of glucose into your bloodstream.\u00a0 It also instructs your organs to slow down in their work so all energy can be diverted to the muscles and brain.<\/p>\n