Episode #151: “Cortisol: The Misunderstood Stress Hormone” with Dr. Carla DiGirolamo

We hear a lot about cortisol, the “stress hormone,” on social media today. Cortisol has turn into a buzz phrase within the well being and health trade—a part of a cautionary story used to warn girls away from intense bouts of train they age.

From fear-mongering posts about the way it’s ruining your well being to questionable recommendation from “hormone coaches” promoting expensive dietary supplements and restrictive diets—it may be onerous to separate truth from fiction.

That’s why we introduced in the skilled, Dr. Carla DiGirolamo—a Board Licensed Obstetrician/Gynecologist, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Menopause Society Licensed Practitioner, and health fanatic (to not point out a CrossFit coach and authorized diet coach). She’s spent her profession serving to lively girls—from puberty to menopause—optimize their psychological and bodily efficiency. Yep, she’s principally a rockstar in terms of understanding hormones and training high-performing girls.

This week’s episode of The Match Bottomed Ladies Podcast is all about cortisol—the misunderstood “stress hormone” everybody likes to hate. We’re chopping by way of the noise, debunking myths, and exploring how cortisol performs a important function in your well being, health, and total resilience. Collectively, Dr. Carla and I deal with the dialog all of us want to listen to about cortisol, girls’s well being, and the reality behind these viral hormone claims.

Critically, this week’s episode is one for the books. 

Right here’s why we’re obsessive about this episode:

Dr. Carla’s analogy of cortisol because the trombone in a a lot bigger orchestra will fully change the way in which you consider hormones, stress, and well being. (Spoiler alert: it’s not all about cortisol!) She additionally dives into sensible methods to dial down stress, recuperate higher, and keep sturdy as you age.

Actual Speak: Restoration Issues

Restoration isn’t only a checkbox after a exercise—it’s the place enchancment really occurs. Whether or not it’s dialing in your diet, prioritizing sleep, or lastly studying to like your cool-down routine, restoration helps you keep resilient and prepared on your subsequent problem.

Don’t skip this one if…

✅ You’ve been freaked out by cortisol content material on social media.

✅ You wish to know the way to be stronger (and more healthy) as you age.

✅ You’re interested by how hormones influence your stress and efficiency.

Tune in now to listen to Dr. Carla’s unbelievable insights and sensible recommendation!

👉 Listen to the Full Episode Here

👉 Watch the episode on YouTube

What You’ll Study in This Episode:

• Cortisol isn’t the villain—it’s important for all times and health. It’s the hormone that helps you deal with challenges, whether or not that’s a troublesome exercise or life stress. Nonetheless, it’s all about returning your stress response system to baseline after activation.
• Cease worrying about “spiking your cortisol.” You want cortisol to be conscious of outdoors stressors with the intention to survive. As a substitute, begin specializing in returning your stress response system to baseline frequently by way of confirmed down-regulation methods like meditation, leisure walks, light or stress-free yoga.
• Burnout isn’t attributable to cortisol—it’s attributable to persistent stress. Dr. Carla shares the way to deal with what’s triggering your elevated stress reasonably than blaming cortisol itself.
• Why growing older modifications the sport. Restoration will get trickier as girls age attributable to modifications in resilience and hormonal shifts, however correct restoration methods can hold you thriving. Power coaching, diet, and conscious restoration are extra necessary than ever.
• The boundaries of hormone testing. Single snapshots from blood exams may be deceptive! Dr. Carla explains why you’ll want to give attention to the larger image of your well being.
• Beneath-fueling = underperforming. Beneath-eating can really be an enormous reason behind persistent inside stress and elevated cortisol ranges. Diet fuels your physique for exercises and restoration.

About Dr. Carla DiGirolamo

Dr. Carla DiGirolamo is a double Board-Licensed Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist specializing in caring for lively and high-performing girls from puberty by way of menopause. Dr. Carla accomplished her residency coaching in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brown College Medical Faculty/Girls and Infants’ Hospital and Reproductive Endocrinology fellowship coaching on the Massachusetts Basic Hospital at Harvard Medical Faculty.

Dr. Carla has 20 years of expertise as a fertility specialist and extra lately as a Menopause Society Licensed Practitioner. She can also be an endocrine advisor for Wild Well being and Everlasting Life. She has been featured in Boston Journal’s High Docs within the Boston space for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Dr. Carla has been featured in a number of podcasts and speakerships at varied occasions discussing the physiology of the hormonal modifications of menopause, hormone remedy, and optimizing bodily efficiency in elite and avid leisure feminine athletes. Dr Carla can also be the creator of a number of programs together with the “Menopause Health Specialist” course with MedFit Classroom, and the “Sturdy” and” Navigate Menopause” programs with Feisty Media.  

Dr. Carla has been within the health trade her complete life as a leisure athlete and for greater than a decade as a health skilled with credentials as a CrossFit Degree 1 Coach and Licensed Diet Coach.  As a pioneer in Girls’s Efficiency Endocrinology, she focuses on optimizing psychological and bodily efficiency in girls in high-performance professions and feminine athletes of all ages. 

Dr. Carla has a weblog by way of Substack referred to as “Athletic Growing old”. https://www.athleticaging.blog/  and her second publication “Efficiency Edge” https://www.performanceedge.blog/  launched in February 2023

Observe Dr. Carla

Web site: https://www.drcarlad.com/

Fb: https://www.facebook.com/carla.digirolamo.14

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_carla_d/

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-digirolamo-0109b8103/

Sponsor Shoutout

This episode was dropped at you by Miles to Go Athletics. Take our app-based coaching group for a two-week no obligation test drive here.

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Do you assume cortisol is your enemy? Assume once more. –Alison