Last week, I discussed how ongoing stress at work or at home can result in prolonged elevated levels of the hormone “cortisol” in your body.

The results of this hormone remaining elevated over the long term can have serious effects on your health. As a continuation of last week’s article, this week I will list these negative effects in detail.

WEIGHT GAIN

Repeated elevation of cortisol levels can lead to weight gain. This weight gain can occur primarily around the deep organs and glands.

This type of fat, called visceral fat, is much more detrimental to your health than fat stored just under the skin, called subcutaneous fat.

A second way in which cortisol can cause weight gain is to do with the ineffectiveness of insulin when cortisol levels are elevated.

Insulin is supposed to move glucose from the blood to the cells of your body so they can use the glucose for energy.

If insulin function is suppressed, then the cells of the body are not getting the energy they need to function normally. When this happens, your body thinks it is hungry and your brain signals you to eat.

This leads to overeating and any unused calories you eat are converted to fat and stored right where you least want it.

HIGH BLOOD SUGAR

As mentioned in the above paragraph, consistently elevated levels of cortisol results in consistently elevated levels of blood glucose (sugar).

As well, the cortisol prevents insulin from removing this glucose from the blood. Thus, the theory is that this situation increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

IMMUNE SYSTEM SUPPRESSION

Cortisol functions to reduce inflammation in the body in case you are actually injured during this period of flight or flight behavior.

This isn’t a bad thing. However, if it happens over the long term, these efforts to reduce inflammation also suppress the immune system.

Lifestyle risk factors, such as poor diet and stress, help to keep cortisol levels soaring and results in a highly weakened immune system.

Over the long term, this leads to an increased susceptibility to colds and other illnesses, an increased risk of cancer, a tendency to develop food allergies, an increased risk of an assortment of gastrointestinal issues (because a healthy intestine is dependent on a healthy immune system), and possibly an increased risk of autoimmune diseases.

GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS

Whenever the body is calm and relaxed, such as when you sleep, it can digest and absorb food better, heal itself, and generally recover from whatever ails it.

However, when your body is in a cortisol-flooded, stressed-out situation, digestion and absorption of nutrients is compromised, indigestion and heart burn develops, the mucosal lining of your stomach can become irritated and inflamed, and ulcers can develop.

HEART DISEASE

Elevated levels of cortisol constrict blood vessels and increases blood pressure to enhance the delivery of oxygenated blood to the muscles in preparation for a fight or flight situation.

This cannot happen perpetually. Over time, this arterial constriction and high blood pressure can lead to blood vessel damage and plaque buildup.

This is the perfect scenario for an eventual heart attack. This may explain why stressed-out type A and obsessive personalities are at a significantly greater risk for heart disease than the more relaxed type B personalities.

OTHER ISSUES

And just when this all sounded bad enough, long term stress and elevated cortisol levels may also contribute to insomnia, chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroid disorders, dementia, and depression!