I heard the Davos crew was only about a 50% show this year. This is excellent news and a perfect way to kick off my rejection of the “great” reset with my cortisol reset. Suck it Soros. Suck it Schwab. You’ll never own my joy.
I don’t want anyone to get thrown off by the optimism and cheer you might glean from this post. I’m still sarcastic and salty and ready to drop F-Bombs at the drop of a hat.
Toward the close of 2022, I was feeling pretty meh about the general situation, for multiple reasons that I discussed here. I left off with a commitment to do what I can to affect my little slice of the world. Here’s what I said, in case you missed it:
In addition to extending grace before judgement or assumption whenever possible, my focus moving into the new year will be on what I can do to impact my little slice of the world. My reach is not far nor wide, but the depth I am wiling to dive cannot be overstated. I don’t need to read more papers or studies to prove what I’m seeing with my own eyes.
Cardiac events are happening.
Clotting is a problematic factor in multiple ways.
Explosive cancers are happening.
General immune function is subpar.
Cortisol levels are generally elevated.
What can I actually do?
Study up, bitch. So that’s where I’m headed.
The vaccine is in billions of people, including many people that I love.
How can I help them?
That’s my focus.
That was, and is, my commitment to my people. After much consideration, I have focused my energy on cortisol and nitric oxide, and I’ll tell you why, momentarily.
But first, a story…
At my studio, my partner and I assess many people. We have an assessment tool, the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) that looks at basic human movement patterns. We describe it as the vowel sounds of human movement. So…very basic. It is quite good at highlighting compensatory patterns (some might say weaknesses, although we avoid this verbiage), which in turn, helps us determine our starting place for each client. We are always trying to go as far upstream as possible.
For example, if someone comes in complaining of an ankle that is inhibiting their tennis game, we almost never begin by doing ankle exercises. Because ankle weakness almost never begins with the ankle. We could certainly treat the ankle but we would most likely not address the underlying cause. It is very nearly always an issue up the chain; perhaps at the knee - which is almost never the culprit either. With regularity, knee issues come from the hip - often the medial glute. This is an example, of course, and not always the case. However, this basic pattern is so frequent that if I were on some weird show that made me determine a strategy for an ankle or knee issue, sight unseen, I would go with medial glute…and I’d probably be relatively successful.
The other factor is that humans are largely the same (which is the premise of my argument against diversity and woke culture, but that is for another post). In my determination, I would consider that humans in western cultures have very similar day to day physicality. They sit. A lot. Driving, computers, smart phones, etc, etc. Sedentary physicality and western habits down train many things, medial glute in this case. Many westerners try to counteract excessive sitting with excessive exercise. And these things don’t average neatly the way math does. If you sit for 6 hours/day, you cannot aggressively exercise and expect a good outcome. It doesn’t balance out. A couch potato that goes balls to the wall at Crossfit almost never ends up fit and healthy. But that’s what people do. And it’s often what they are advised to do by myriad sources; doctors, television, Instagram, etc. And then they end up in my studio…or at the doctor…or PT. You know what else happens on the unsuccessful merry go round chasing health under pressure that I just described?
Elevated cortisol.
You know what else elevates cortisol? Pandemics.
You know what’s bad for a host of healthy functions?
Prolonged elevated cortisol levels.
Anyway, my long winded point is that this is what I do. I look at people and their patterns.
All day. Every day.
I observe their movement patterns. And their emotional ones. I hear how it’s going. Jabbed or not. Awake or woke. I watch the patterns.
I know this is a round about way to explain how I’ve come to focusing on cortisol and nitric oxide, and I appreciate your patience. I’m always looking for the most basic way to help people that will have the broadest downstream effect. It’s akin to fixing an issue at the top of a geometry proof and thus fixing all of the subsequent mistakes.
After a ridiculous amount of research and reading, I have concluded that where my little conspiracy ass can infiltrate the proof is by setting my sights on cortisol and nitric oxide.
Reminder that I am not qualified in any way, shape, or form to provide any advice, specifically of the medical variety. So you should absolutely do your own research, talk to your doc, you know, all the things. I’m just an unlicensed nerd, nerding out.
I am starting this little Cortisol Rest Group. It’ll be live and in person here in Atlanta, but I’m also going to offer it virtually simultaneously. It’ll be a hybrid. It’s how I did my work during the pandemic. People who were comfortable doing so, came in person; people who weren’t, came online. All at the same time. It works. So I decided to open this group up to my virtual community. If you are interested, just let me know in the comments. This group will meet for one hour every week, for six weeks (although you are welcome to come as many times as you’d like). A personal time commitment of at least 10 minutes/day is also required.
I have boiled the pertinent info on cortisol and nitric oxide down to small, manageable, easily understandable chunks. So that you can understand these systems and how they work. I will introduce and explain many different techniques for reducing your cortisol, from breathing techniques and meditation to vibrational sound therapy; infrared light to tapping. We will look at nitric oxide, what it is, what it does, and how you can take advantage of it. A most important inclusion with all of these tools will be a focus on habits; how they are formed, and how they are maintained.
Group meets:
Tuesdays @ 1:30pm, Wednesdays @ 4:30pm, and Thursdays @ 6am (all EST)
I wasn’t planning on pitching that right then, but it just sort of came out, so let me know if you’re interested. Now, back to regularly scheduled programming…
Why you should give a fuck about cortisol:
If your entire life is high-stress and always in high gear, your body may constantly pump out cortisol. "This has several negative effects," says Dr. Mawri.
Increased blood sugar levels. Insulin typically helps the cells convert glucose to energy. As your pancreas struggles to keep up with the high demand for insulin, glucose levels in your blood remain high and your cells don’t get the sugar they need to perform at their best.
Weight gain. As your cells are crying out for energy, your body may send signals to the brain that you are hungry and need to eat. Studies have demonstrated a direct association between cortisol levels and calorie intake in populations of women. False hunger signals can lead you to crave high-calorie foods, overeat and thus gain weight. Unused glucose in the blood is eventually stored as body fat.
Suppressed immune system. Cortisol’s positive action to reduce inflammation in the body can turn against you if your levels are too high for too long. The elevated levels may actually suppress your immune system. You could be more susceptible to colds and contagious illnesses. Your risk of cancer and autoimmune diseases increases and you may develop food allergies.
Digestive problems. When your body reacts to a threat, it shuts down other less critical functions, such as digestion. If the high-stress level is constant, your digestive tract can’t digest or absorb food well. It’s no coincidence that ulcers occur during stressful times and people with colitis or irritable bowel syndrome report better symptom control when they get their stress under control.
Heart disease. Constricted arteries and high blood pressure can lead to blood vessel damage and plaque buildup in your arteries. They could be setting the stage for a heart attack or stroke.
What about Nitric Oxide (NO)?
Nitric oxide (NO) has long been known as endothelium-derived relaxing factor. It is a vasodilator, modulating vascular tone, blood pressure and hemodynamics, a role exploited by nitrate donor therapy for angina, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and erectile dysfunction. In addition, its powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic actions are antiatherogenic with antiatherothrombotic impact. NO signaling modulates skeletal muscle and myocardial contractility and metabolism and is intimately linked with insulin signaling. Vascular and muscle NO signaling coordinate skeletal muscle and myocardial energy demand with supply and are critical for both carbohydrate and fatty acid total-body homeostasis. NO signaling in mitochondria underlies much of NO’s metabolic effect, which, at low physiologic levels, links cellular energy demand with mitochondrial energy supply, while beneficially affecting mitochondrial oxidative stress and calcium handling.
So that’s my jam right now. I’m putting my time, energy, and attention into something that feels joyful and helpful. I’ll still keep my finger on the pulse of the giant depopulation event that seems to bring enormous waves of terribleness with every passing week. I just have to be putting energy into actively fighting the darkness with light and love, even if I’m dropping F bombs along the way 😜.
Suck it evil.
Aloha and mahalo for your posts. I'm from Hawaii, albeit white, and just found out that the woke crowd says we can't use those words anymore, so like your F-bombs, I'm gonna use them whenever possible!
Thanks for the post! We can do a lot. I think just speaking out is doing something. Each time we do, and cause them to pause and think, or burn calories with ad hominem attacks to discard, it's a win.