The checklist
These are the things he names on this episode. None of it is a diagnosis and several have other causes. Count the ones that sound like you.
- You do not sleep through, or you sleep and wake up unrepaired
- Weight sitting around the middle, whatever the scale says
- A good diet that stopped working, especially next to a husband losing weight easily
- Thyroid symptoms with a test that reads normal
- Blood pressure creeping up
- Catching every bug that goes around
- Memory not as sharp as it was
- Feeling tense at night, like the engine is still running
Sleep that never repairs anything
Start with the shape of the day, because that is what has gone wrong.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427When your cortisol levels are high and they should be higher in the morning and down to almost zero at night, but a lot of people have high cortisol all the time, and that isn't good at all.
High at night is not just uncomfortable. It is your body sitting in the wrong mode. There are two, he says: fight or flight, or rest and digest. Repair only happens in the second one, and the self cleaning oven, as he calls it, does not switch on unless you are asleep.
Then the loop, in seven words.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427When you don't sleep, your cortisol goes up.
Weight that sits around the middle
This is the sign women bring him most, and the piece of research he quotes for it explains why it lands there and not somewhere else.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427Belly fat cells, listen to this, found mainly deep in the abdominal wall, have four times more cortisol receptors than other fat cells.
Four times more receptors means the fat around your middle is listening to cortisol harder than fat anywhere else. Add poor sleep and he puts it bluntly.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427Prolonged lack of sleep activates cortisol, fat storing, and you'll become a fat storing machine.
He also brings up the complaint he hears from women doing everything right while the man in the house drops weight easily.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427Remember, cortisol affects you much differently than a man.
"You can't out supplement a bad diet. You can't out exercise a bad diet."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427A thyroid slowing to a crawl
If your thyroid symptoms keep coming back with a normal test, this is the connection he draws.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427This is a study that I quote, but I'm telling you ladies, where cortisol affects you in a lot of ways, it slows your thyroid to a crawl.
Which is why he never treats the thyroid as a standalone. The longer version is here: the thyroid never acts on its own.
Progesterone robbed
The other hormone effect he singles out for women is the one that sets off the rest.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427Well, when cortisol's high for a prolonged period, it robs your progesterone.
His chain runs progesterone down, estrogen dominance, thyroid slowing, weight gain around the midsection. All connected, in his words, which is why chasing one of them alone tends to disappoint.
Blood sugar and blood pressure
Two more that show up on a routine visit and get treated as their own problems.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1427And this is a study increase in cortisol changes insulin sensitivity.
Less sensitive to insulin is insulin resistance, and he points out this happens on the cortisol side independent of what you ate that day. Blood pressure gets the same treatment: if you are not sleeping properly, he says, it goes up.
He also cites a study on sleep changing the makeup of the gut microbiome, which he ties back to weight. More on the gut side of this in why some people bloat.
What to do about the score
He does not give a threshold, so here is what he actually recommends, in his order.
- Food first. You cannot out sleep, out supplement or out exercise a bad diet, and he says it three ways.
- Then sleep. Seven to nine hours, eight being the sweet spot. A cool room, a dark room or a mask, a regular bedtime, and the blue light off early enough to let melatonin come.
- Daylight. Get in the sun, even on a cold clear day, because that is what sets the other end of the rhythm.
- Exercise, but not late. High intensity work close to bed pushes cortisol up when you want it coming down.
- A nap counts. If the night was bad, twenty or thirty minutes in the day still gets the repair going.
Common questions
What are the symptoms of high cortisol in women over 60?
Broken sleep, weight around the middle, a thyroid that has slowed down, progesterone dropping, blood pressure creeping up and picking up every bug going around. Dr. Martin treats sleep as the first one to ask about.
Why is cortisol belly fat different?
He cites research showing belly fat cells deep in the abdominal wall carry four times more cortisol receptors than other fat cells, so that is where the hormone does its storing.
Can high cortisol affect my thyroid?
He says it slows your thyroid to a crawl when it stays high for a long time, and that it robs progesterone on the way, which leads to estrogen dominance. He never looks at the thyroid on its own.
How much sleep does he want?
Seven to nine hours, with eight as the sweet spot, in a cool dark room. He says a daytime nap still counts if the night went badly.
Read next: Cortisol And Belly Fat After 60 and Chronic Fatigue In Women Over 60: The Adrenals.
Run the checklist
Cortisol Control Formula came out of his own clinic. He says he tried the ingredients on their own first, and it was the combination that worked.
60-day money-back guarantee.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
