DailyOM: You've created many courses for DailyOM. Why did you decide to create a course about cortisol?
Sadie: I'm a huge advocate of staying healthy at any age, and very few things can wreck our health faster than cortisol. It hurts my heart to know that so many people are overproducing this stress hormone on a daily basis. Around 75 percent of American adults say their health is being impacted by stress. Cortisol is often the culprit behind why people feel chronically exhausted, have brain fog, don't sleep well, gain weight, and this list goes on.
Regular workouts and even meditations often won't lower cortisol as well as we'd like. Cortisol is catabolic, which means it tears down muscles, so if you're overproducing while exercising, workouts don't work as well. And meditation without specific breath and movement is not near as effective as it could be. This all adds up to a vicious cycle where people get stressed, and they don't have the energy to figure out how to correct it. Cortisol starts to win the battle.
DailyOM: That sounds terrible! It often seems like life is designed to stress us out. Please tell us there's something that can be done.
Sadie: Let me shine a ray of light onto this situation. There is a lot we can do to combat cortisol when it starts to overproduce in our bodies, creating a flood of destructive hormones that I call "cortisol dumping." Cortisol itself isn't a bad thing. It's a necessary hormone that helps regulate weight, appetite, body metabolism, blood pressure, and glucose, but too much can cause a myriad of issues.
What most people do when they get stressed is just take the cortisol hit. They put their head down and try to endure it. The problem with this is, they're letting cortisol wreak havoc on their bodies. Instead, I invite people to course-correct cortisol in the moment or on the day, rather than waiting until they're totally burnt out. The best thing to do whenever cortisol arises is to immediately counter it with a cortisol rescue practice. And this can be done in just a few minutes — or just a few breaths.
DailyOM: What's a cortisol rescue practice?
Sadie: A cortisol rescue practice is a powerful stress-blocking plan that I designed from my scientific background and research. It blends together some of the most powerful cortisol control techniques people can employ any time they feel stressed out. For example, in my program, there's not just meditation alone. We use meditation plus progressive relaxation, plus a breath technique proven to immediately restore your body to your rest-and-digest, calmer state, instead of the fight or flight state that a cortisol spike can cause.
There's not just movement, but body-brain retraining somatic movements meant to stimulate the vagus nerve, which can combat cortisol and bring you into a state of calm awareness instead of anxiety or aggression. We don't just do yoga. We employ yoga that uses various breathing and postures to heal and connect the belly-brain axis to help people digest and debloat. There are workouts — short, efficient HIIT (high intensity interval training) practices. They are still challenging but they incorporate mindful breathing, based on yoga postures and mindset prompts to make sure students are working out without burning out — or dumping too much cortisol.
DailyOM: Does working out with HIIT have the potential to release more cortisol?
Sadie: That's a great question! Remember, some cortisol is a good thing. It helps us stay awake, keep focused, and power through our workouts and daily tasks. And new, credible research tells us that working out a little more intensely — not aggressively, just in a way that challenges the person — can actually produce cortisol in a way that makes them less stressed, long after the workout.
Knowing how to move, do yoga, meditate, and work out in ways that take advantage of good cortisol while reducing bad cortisol is the trick. Luckily, I've put together 10-minute guided sessions that people can use, so they don't have to worry about it. I've got them covered.
DailyOM: What's an important takeaway you want people to get from your course?
Sadie: I know that stress destroys bodies and lives. I saw it happen to my close family member, and I was following along that same track until I learned to manage my stress. I turned my body and my health around. I couldn't save the person I loved from the stress-related illness that ultimately took them from me, so I've made it my mission to help myself and as many other people as I can.
My main message to anyone reading is this: You are not at the mercy of life and stress, and you don't have to let stress hormones get the best of you. Our lives are often saturated with stressful encounters and thoughts. We have many responsibilities and agreements. Let's be honest — life can be a real challenge at times. But if we allow fear, which is the source of stress, to lead the way, we set ourselves up for exhaustion, depression, anxiety, inflammation, less movement, and more pain, and then eventually, we become less mobile. We call this "aging," but really, it can be a lack of the right types of movement, stress release, and self-care.
I made this program to address all the areas we need to focus on so that we can have a happier, more centered, spacious life with a strong, flexible, relaxed body and peaceful mind that's resilient to stress and knows how to handle it when it shows up. These sessions are all that's needed for a holistic renewal of body and mind — and to rescue people from the ravages of stress. I'm excited for everyone to find out just how powerful these simple practices can be!
DailyOM: Sadie, we share your excitement and can't wait for people to learn your cortisol rescue techniques. This course is filled with your passion, your wisdom, and your energy. People who dive into this course will find relief and happiness after just 10-minutes of activity — what an incredible gift you are sharing. Until next time, be well.
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