Tough Week? This Workout Is Best To Reduce Stress, Trainers Say
Many things threaten to spike your cortisol throughout the day, but your workout doesn’t have to be one of them. Low-cortisol workouts are low-impact, low-intensity exercises that allow you to get active while keeping the stress hormone at bay.
“Even though exercise is healthy for us, it is a stressor to all of our systems and more intense energy-expensive exercise is a bigger stressor than lower intensity exercise,” says Rachelle Reed, PhD, an exercise scientist based in Athens, GA. If you’re going through a period of high stress, you might want to use exercise as a chance to give yourself a break. Instead of doing a HIIT workout, you can opt for something like Pilates. You’re still getting stronger, you’re just doing it in a way that is gentler on your body, or working smarter and not harder, as Shenika King, CPT, a trainer at Chelsea Piers Fitness, puts it.
There are a lot of benefits to a low-cortisol workout, like an improved mood and better sleep quality, according to Reed. Plus, limiting the stress on your body caused by exercise can mean easier recovery, adds King. You just don’t want to only do so-called low-cortisol activities, they say.
“One of my worries as an exercise scientist when trends like this take off is that people who think they have high cortisol might not actually have it and are limiting the amount of exercise they're doing because of it,” says Reed. More intense exercises that get your heart rate up more are still important, as are workouts that put a little more stress on your muscles to make sure you’re getting the full benefits you need.
Here’s what you need to know about how—and when—you should be incorporating low-cortisol workouts into your routine.
Meet the experts: Rachelle Reed, PhD, is an exercise scientist based in Athens, GA. Karen Tang, MD, is a doctor and owner of Thrive Gynecology in Bryn Mawr, PA. Shenika King, CPT, is a personal trainer and instructor at Chelsea Piers Fitness in New York, NY.
What is cortisol and how does it impact your body?
Cortisol is a naturally occurring hormone that plays a role in metabolism, immune function, sleep, and regulating blood sugar and pressure. But it’s known best as the “stress hormone.” It’s produced in the adrenal glands by your kidneys and released by the pituitary glands in your brain, meaning there’s a little bit of mind-body connection with it.
For most people, spikes in cortisol are natural—whether they’re caused by exercise, a stressful work day, or being chased by a bear—but they come back down, says Karen Tang, MD, a doctor and owner of Thrive Gynecology. They’re normal and not a threat to your health. “We always have some cortisol in our body,” she says. “It's constantly fluctuating, and that's what it's meant to do.”
But, if your cortisol is consistently or chronically high, you might have a condition like Cushing Syndrome, which is characterized by having elevated levels of cortisol which can be caused by issues with adrenal glands or steroid medications. Signs of Cushing Syndrome include changes in physical appearance, like a puffy face, fat deposits on the back, or extreme stretch marks, and other symptoms like high blood pressure, muscle loss, or irregular periods. In this case, you’ll want to see a doctor for testing rather than start adjusting your exercise regimen.
Chronically high cortisol levels might also lead to anxiety, depression, headaches, muscle tension and pain, weight gain, and trouble falling asleep, adds Reed, but this wouldn’t be caused solely based on the workouts you choose.
You can check your cortisol levels with labs (either through a direct-to-consumer company or with your doctor) if you’re looking for more info, but it might not give you as much insight as you’d think. Hormone levels, especially cortisol, fluctuate frequently, says Dr. Tang. It’s likely you’d get a normal result and it wouldn’t give you a full picture.
The Cortisol-Workout Connection
One thing about exercise: It increases cortisol in the moment. This is simply because it’s a stressor on your body. But, by the time you get to the end of your cool-down, cortisol should be naturally regulating itself to a normal resting rate. In general, regular physical activity as a whole helps manage stress and how you react to it, says Dr. Tang. Plus, not all exercise is created equally. High-impact and high-intensity exercise like HIIT workouts or heavy strength training will elicit more of this hormone while lower-intensity exercises like yoga are more cortisol-friendly.
If you’re someone who is chronically stressed or feel like you might be experiencing high levels of cortisol on a particular day, opting for a less intense workout might give your body a chance to relax, says Dr. Tang. Basically, you can select a kind of exercise that won’t add to the stress your body is under.
You wouldn’t want to always avoid more intense workouts, though. “An acute stressor is great for us in many ways,” says Reed. “That’s how we learn to adapt to exercise, which is a stressor.” Getting your heart rate up with more demanding exercise is important for getting the full benefits of working out—from your heart health to building muscle, says Reed. So, maybe do a HIIT workout today and take a walk tomorrow.
How To Do A Low-Cortisol Workout
There’s no one way to do a low-cortisol workout (and not one solid definition either), but if you’re wondering if an activity is truly cortisol-friendly, you can think about two variables: impact and intensity. Walking, swimming, yoga, Pilates, and barre are all examples of low impact forms of exercise. They’re all workouts that are usually gentle on your joints and muscles.
Then, you’ll want to consider the intensity of an exercise. One way to determine how intense your workout might be is to think about it on the Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale. On a scale of one to ten, how hard are you working? If your answer is five or below, your activity is low-intensity, says Reed. You can also use a wearable device that measures heart rate and stick to exercises that keep you below zone three.
King says the key is being intentional with your movement. You can even make some of the same activities low or high cortisol, she says. Strength training, for example, can be made more cortisol-friendly by opting for resistance bands and lighter weights. (BTW, there are also plenty of ways to get low-cortisol activity in outside of a workout, says Reed. Enjoy a walking meeting or take your dog on a long walk. You’ll also see the benefits, she says.)
How To Integrate Low-Cortisol Workouts Into Your Routine
A good fitness plan incorporates both high-intensity and low-intensity workouts, reiterates Reed. You can get strategic and alternate between the two, giving your body time to recover from stress-inducing exercise by sprinkling in low-impact activities.
Schedule accordingly, targeting getting one to two days of each every week. But if you’re going through a particularly stressful week, it’s a-ok to stick with something more low-impact.
You can also alternate between low- and high-cortisol approaches during a workout, says King. If you’re going on a walk on the treadmill, add in intervals of higher and lower intensity. Up the incline for a few minutes, then bring it back down. If you’re on a walk in the park, adjust your pace faster and then slower. This will ensure that even though you’re doing a low-cortisol workout, you’re still challenging and strengthening your body. “You're getting your heart rate up to a certain extent where it's healthy, it's good for your body, and you can get those endorphins, but then you bring it back down to a steady state where it's still low impact and [not as] stressful,” she says. If you’re a barre person like me, it’s why there’s a five-minute cardio burst in every class.
Can low-cortisol workouts help “cortisol face” and “cortisol belly?”
If you were introduced to low-cortisol workouts on TikTok, you were likely also introduced to the terms “cortisol face” and “cortisol belly” along with it. Cortisol face describes a rounder face supposedly caused by too much cortisol and cortisol belly is stubborn belly fat also purportedly caused by excess cortisol.
While you might see changes to your face and body while doing low-cortisol workouts, it likely won’t be because you’re managing the hormone, says Dr. Tang. Exercising can lead to weight loss, which can have an effect on weight in the face and belly, but not primarily because it addresses cortisol levels.
It’s also true that zone two and low-intensity workouts primarily burn fat as fuel, but that isn’t the same thing as losing fat tissue, says Reed. “They might be linked, but it's not as if you only do zone two training, you'll all of a sudden lose a lot of adipose tissue,” says Reed. “That's just not the full story.”
Other Ways To Manage Cortisol And Stress
Beyond your workouts, there are plenty of ways to manage stress (and, therefore, cortisol), including things like mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises, says Dr. Tang. Sleep also plays an important role in regulating cortisol. “It’s all about overall health,” she says. So, you’ll want to do your best to work through stressors in healthy ways and focus on keeping a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
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