Since cortisol is catabolic – breaks down molecules – it can inhibit protein synthesis, which means your body will find it harder to build muscle.“Cortisol can also accelerate the breakdown of protein into amino acids and sugar, which means that you start to use muscle as an <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/more-energy/eat-for-more-energy-9689">energy source </a>,”

How Cortisol effects muscle growth?

Life getting on top of you? It could be killing your gains

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Not only does cortisol <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/what-to-do-in-the-morning-june-2015">get you out of bed in the morning </a>by regulating your wake and sleep cycles, this ‘stress hormone’ manages <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/drop-your-high-blood-pressure-in-2-months-with-blueberries">blood pressure </a>, reduces <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/superfoods/top-ten-inflammation-fighters-230061">inflammation </a>, boosts blood sugar, and controls protein, fat and carb stores. So far, so useful.

If it wasn’t for cortisol’s ‘fight or flight’ response, early humans would’ve been nothing more than ready meals for prehistoric predators… however. Our environment and its stressors have changed dramatically since then (see many dinosaurs around here, do ya?), yet <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/brits-spend-27-days-a-year-micro-stressing-but-why">our hard-wired ‘survival’ instinct has remained pretty much the same </a>. And this is where the problem lies.

When you’re about to give a presentation, miss your flight, or argue with your family, your body reacts as if you’re about to be mauled by a bear – shutting down certain bodily functions, including your digestive, reproductive and immune systems, to ensure your survival in that moment.

“Our bodies think we’re in survival mode all the time,” explains Tony McCarthy, co-founder of Truth Gym, London. “Unfortunately, this can make it very difficult to lose weight through traditional diet and exercise advice – <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/fast-tips/600-calories-cut-9735">drop calories </a>and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/symptoms-treatment/am-I-addicted-to-exercise">train harder </a>– because they create more stress for the body.”

Chronic stress is bad news for your fitness goals, whether you’re trying to <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/burn-fat/calculations-to-lose-10kg">shed a few pounds </a>or <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/watch-move-shape-shred-your-way-to-better-health">get shredded </a>. Not to mention the impact it has on your mental health.

Four ways cortisol can mess with your physique – and how to fight back

Cortisol sits within a <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/hack-your-hormones-bust-your-gut-and-burn-more-fat">class of hormones </a>called ‘glucocorticoids’, which increase blood glucose levels, explains Kim Ingleby, founder of Energised Performance and an Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Trainer. It promotes the metabolism of <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/why-carbs-are-the-most-important-of-macros">carbohydrates </a>, <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/16-kinds-of-protein-that-help-you-lose-weight">protein </a>and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/is-fat-good-for-me-now">fats </a>and taps into your existing stores to free up energy during severe periods of stress.

With energy levels raging, and no way of burning it off – because you’re at your desk rather than in a jungle – your body releases (energy-storing) insulin in an attempt to calm things down. Cortisol reacts by dumping most of the energy as <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/how-to-get-rid-of-belly-fat">dangerous visceral fat </a>. For this reason, being chronically stressed can fast track you to a <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/destroy-your-belly-fat-with-this-simple-action-plan">swollen belly </a>, even if you <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/muscle-recovery-menu-june-2015">eat like an athlete </a>.

“Short periods of stress can be beneficial for performance, focus and motivation, but prolonged or overly high levels can have a detrimental effect on our health,” says Ingleby. “Stress can happen so often we don’t even notice it after a while, it becomes our normal state.”

Cortisol is a steroid hormone, and all steroids directly <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/is-it-possible-to-re-wire-your-appetite">stimulate appetite </a>, explains Dr Leon Creaney, a consultant in Sport & Exercise Medicine at The Manchester Institute of Health & Performance, operated by HCA Healthcare UK.

<a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/the-truth-about-fat-and-sugar-is-finally-explained">Fat and sugar </a>trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, which causes pleasure, “so people eat to counteract the negative feelings that come with stress”. Stress also takes the driving seat when it comes to <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/foods-that-science-says-are-unhealthy-and-overused">food choices </a>and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/the-mh-guide-to-portion-control-made-easy">portion control </a>. In fact, it affects our brains in a similar way to <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/drink-recipes/what-happens-when-im-drunk">alcohol </a>, says Uxshely Chotai at The Food Psychology Clinic.

“When we’re stressed or tired, our prefrontal cortex – the part of our brain that makes conscious choices for us – stops working as effectively,” she explains. “We’re no longer able to consciously control our food choices, and we have less willpower to <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/the-5-sinister-reasons-you-overeat">resist the urge to overeat foods </a>we wouldn’t otherwise choose to eat.”

Over time, chronic stress damages your cells, making them resistant to insulin. This sends your hunger hormones out of whack, <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/how-many-calories-will-give-you-diabetes">warping your brain's ‘stop eating’ signals </a>. Before you know it, you’re halfway through a multipack of Mars bars and still feel hungry. Unsurprisingly, this ‘insulin resistance’ is linked to an increased risk of <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/5-early-warning-signs-of-diabetes">type 2 diabetes </a>and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/the-truth-about-obesity">obesity </a>.

The solution: Swerve <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/coffee-or-green-tea-which-is-better">caffeine </a>, alcohol and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/are-you-addicted-to-sugar">sugar </a>, and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/if-a-protein-diet-leaves-you-hungry-try-adding-these">don’t wait until you’re ravenous to eat </a>. Make <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/a-beginners-guide-to-meal-prep">meal prep </a>your greatest asset and you’ll sail through the 3pm slump without reaching for the biscuit tin.

3. Stress affects your recovery time and makes you more susceptible to injury

Whenever you do <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/fitness/cardio-exercise/how-to-increase-your-vo2-max">aerobic </a>exercise or <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/the-beginners-guide-to-lifting-weights">lift weights </a>, you create microscopic tears in your muscle fibres, explains Chris Magee, head of yoga at London gym Another Space. During recovery, your body repairs the damage, <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/fast/five-shortcuts-to-rapid-muscle-growth">making your muscles bigger and stronger </a>.

However, high levels of cortisol leads to “prolonged muscle tension, reduced blood flow and a build-up of lactic acid,” he says, making your muscles “less elastic, and limited in their movement and growth.”

‘Hang on,’ you say. ‘Isn’t cortisol a powerful anti-inflammatory?’ Well, yes, but some inflammation is necessary to <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/6-ways-to-speed-up-muscle-recovery">promote healing </a>, advises Dr Creaney. “Therefore, high levels of stress are likely to blunt the adaptive response to training.”

That’s not all. When there are chronically high levels of cortisol whirling around your system, your body releases less white blood platelet cells, which are essential for your <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/give-your-immune-system-a-booster">immune system </a>. “This makes our recovery less efficient and ultimately lowers our immunity, making us even more <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/how-dogs-boost-your-immune-system">susceptible to getting ill </a>,” warns McCarthy.

The solution: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/lose-weight/healthy-delicious/eat-to-strengthen-your-immune-system">Good nutrition </a>, <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/the-complete-guide-to-sport-supplements">supplements </a>, and quality rest and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/living/sleep-8-hours-for-a-bulletproof-body">sleep </a>will rebalance the excess cortisol and give your body a boost, advises Ingleby.

4. Stress can make building muscle harder

Since cortisol is catabolic – breaks down molecules – it can inhibit protein synthesis, which means your body will find it harder to build muscle, says McCarthy.

“Cortisol can also accelerate the breakdown of protein into amino acids and sugar, which means that you start to use muscle as an <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/more-energy/eat-for-more-energy-9689">energy source </a>,” he says. Hardly ideal.

The solution: Training increases cortisol levels, so make sure you <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/7-surprising-sources-of-protein-that-arent-meat-or-dairy">fill up post-workout </a>. “Stop the body from eating the muscle you worked so hard for,” says McCarthy, “<a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/food-nutrition/sorry-but-that-protein-shake-probably-wont-get-you-jacked">add in some fast-releasing carbs and protein </a>to help recovery.”

Understand that some stress is normal and try and use it to your advantage, says Keith McNiven, founder of London-based personal training company <a href="https://rightpathfitness.co.uk/">Right Path Fitness </a>.

“See it as a motivation boost and do some physical activity to make use of the extra glucose,” he suggests. “Recognise potential stressors in your life, whether that’s your job, your commute or where you live, and do what you can to minimise their impact on you.

Above all, the key is to be aware – mentally and physically – when you have tipped into excessive stress, and plan <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/the-ultimate-recovery-tool-doesnt-involve-moving-a-muscle">recovery phases </a>, says Ingleby.

“Balance high intensity events with good sleep, nutrition, relaxation, social conversations and fun,” says Ingleby. “Walk, adventure, <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/healthy/how-social-media-is-making-you-fat">switch off digital </a>, and find a positive purpose and passion.”

How stress sabotages muscle building and weightloss goals

How Cortisol effects muscle growth?

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