The Cortisol Connection, by Shawn Talbott (affiliate links: UK
Everything about stress, all in one place
***
Why is this such a good all-in-one book on stress?
Firstly, because it’s a much less academic book than Sapolsky’s tome Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Secondly, because it has a really readable style, with everything spelled out in just the right amount of detail. Thirdly, because it covers the basics of cortisol daily rhythm. Fourthly, it tries to find ways to help people who aren’t able to help themselves by actually reducing the amount of stress in their lives, which it does by proposing supplements. And finally, because it has something on pretty much everything you could think of relating to stress and how to reduce it’s effects.
***
What you’ll find
Sensibly, the book gets through the main issues quickly, as you’ll see:
1 Stress and your health
In this chapter, Talbott puts forward the basic premise of the book, that we use a short-term stress response that is designed to respond to sudden lion attacks, for constantly worrying about long-term stressors, like mortgage payments. This misuse of the stress response leads to disease and obesity.
2 The science of stress
This short chapter takes us from Selye to the current state of stress research and divides stress into acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term).
3 All about cortisol
This chapter is an excellent breakdown of the way in which cortisol works in the body, of the basic pathways and the daily cortisol rhythm.
4 Stress and disease
In this chunky chapter, Talbott takes us through why and how the disruption to the HPA axis and the consequent alteration to the daily cortisol rhythm causes a variety of problems, including obesity and metabolic syndrome, insomnia, reduced sex drive, reduced immune system function and increased ageing.
5 Counteracting chronic stress
I would skip this chapter, because Talbott covers the key points in better detail later in the book and he talks mostly about nutrition here, which appears to be outside his area of expertise (he follows the old-fashioned, discredited approach of attacking protein and loving carbohydrates). It’s no great loss, because it’s just a short introduction to the next section of the book, which discusses various ways to reduce stress, including nutrition, sleep and various supplements.
6 Dietary supplements to avoid
Talbott explains why we should avoid stimulating supplements like ephedra, guarana or yohimbe and other weight-loss stimulants that increase metabolism.
7 Vitamins for stress
And turning to helpful supplements, Talbott considers the research for how various basic vitamins and minerals can be helpful for reducing the cortisol response. Particular favourites are Vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and the B-group.
8 Cortisol control supplements
Now, Talbott draws on his considerable knowledge of helpful supplements that show promise in reducing cortisol levels. Amusingly, two of the key supplements are tyrosine and BCAAs, both of which are amino acids and therefore proteins, which suggests to me that he just dusted off his high-school textbook for the nutrition section above…
9 Adaptogens
In the same way as in chapter 8 above, Talbott reviews the various possibilities for herbs that may help to moderate the effects of chronic stress. He makes it clear that the ways in which these herbs operate is not fully understood and in some cases there is a lack of Western-style scientific research into their functions. He suggests that we start with vitamins and minerals, then try the cortisol control supplements and finally consider the adaptogens.
10 Relaxation supplements
It would be a poorly-perceived book on stress that didn’t at least consider the supplements that help people relax. In this chapter, Talbott does just that.
11 Metabolic support supplements
In this chapter, Talbott considers a couple of issues that affect people suffering from chronic stress and disrupted HPA axes. Having a disrupted HPA axis leads to insulin resistance, poor immune function and sarcopenia.
So Talbott suggests taking supplements to avoid insulin resistance (why not just go low carb?), enhance immune function and increase muscle mass. Most if not all of the muscle mass improving supplements are covered in more detail and with more study references in The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy.
12 Putting it all together
Finally, Talbott puts his approach into a simple, easy-to-follow plan. He makes the point that our best options are to reduce stress and get more sleep. After that, he notes that good nutrition and some targeted supplementation may help.
***
Sounds great, so you agree with everything it says?
Well, not exactly. I mentioned my amusement about his protein-bashing and carbohydrate-confusion above. In addition, I also disagree with the basic premise that in our modern life, we use a short-term stress response that is designed to respond to sudden lion attacks, for constantly worrying about long-term stressors, like mortgage payments. I think there is some mileage in this idea but I think it is a bit more complicated than that.
Firstly, we can see that baboons and other primates also suffer from the long-term effects of stress. The most commonly affected are beta-males who aren’t able to achieve what they want and have a lack of control and social standing in their groups. The last time I checked, baboons don’t have mortgages.
Secondly, Michael Marmot has shown that we are no different from baboons in that the key issues in our modern life for predicting stress-related mortality are the lack of autonomy and the lack of social interactions. This doesn’t sound like worrying about mortgage repayments to me.
Thirdly, the fight-or-flight reaction and the consequent rise in adrenaline, is different from the HPA axis, and the consequent rise in cortisol. Talbott assumes that one leads inexorably to the other, but we know that in some cases, more fight-or-flight means less cortisol, not more cortisol…
So I think that social animals are hard-wired to have this problem. Anyway, this is tinkering around the edges, really, because it doesn’t matter really why we have the problem, just that we do.
***
So should I get this book? I’m confused
Yes, it’s a great all-in-one book that covers everything in just the right amount of detail. It covers disruption to the HPA axis rather than just talking about high cortisol. And it gives lots of food for thought when it comes to ways to combat the effects of stress.
