When people reach middle age, it seems inevitable that they will gradually move towards a greasy body. There are both subjective and objective reasons for this. But in the final analysis, it is caused by the decline of human hormone levels. The decline in hormone levels combined with a poor lifestyle makes the hormone levels worse, and it also exacerbates the production of various physical problems. Not only obesity, but the signs of many chronic diseases also mostly start in middle age. Among the many hormones, insulin and cortisol are the hormones most affected by lifestyle and the hormones that have the most obvious effects on obesity and chronic diseases. Today’s topic, let’s talk about how insulin and cortisol make your body oilier day by day, and how to improve this disadvantage.
After reading this article, you will gain the following four aspects:
Why is it easier for modern middle-aged people Insulin resistance
Cortisol seems to be useless?
Insulin + cortisol = greasy body
3 simple actionable suggestions please try to improve
Why modern middle-aged people are more prone to insulin resistance
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Insulin is a hypoglycemic hormone in the human body. Its well-known function is to help glucose in the blood enter human cells and provide energy for our daily activities. Simply put, it is the amount of sugar that maintains the body’s blood.
Insulin resistance
When our daily intake of food is inhaled and digested Converted into glucose, through the action of insulin, or used as energy, or stored as muscle glycogen and liver glycogen, or stored as fat, under normal circumstances, through the daily consumption of the human body, it will be in a balanced state. But in real life, because there are too many refined carbohydrates, desserts, high-sugar drinks and other high-calorie foods, the pancreas releases a large amount of insulin to process blood sugar. Over time, the target cells of our tissues become less sensitive to insulin. In other words, the ability of insulin to open target cells and let glucose in the blood enter the target cells is reduced, a state we call insulin resistance.
Meanwhile, type 2 diabetes develops when blood sugar gets too high and insulin can’t handle it. In this process, it is also accompanied by a large accumulation of fat. When insulin resistance occurs, it means that the body will release more insulin. High insulin levels make a fat-synthesizing enzyme in the body particularly active. This enzyme is called lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and its main job is to synthesize fat. Therefore, when insulin levels are high, the body is more prone to fat synthesis.
Why is it said that people are more likely to develop insulin resistance in middle age?
People are middle-aged, busy with work, eat well, socialize, and sedentary for a long time. Normal state, therefore, the body will be more prone to insulin resistance, and then obesity, type 2 diabetes and other physical complications. In addition, abnormal insulin levels can affect thyroid hormones, bone health, and the immune system. It is no exaggeration to say that insulin is the number one hormone in the human body. Men are more likely to be obese and to develop diabetes than women because women have good estrogen levels that positively affect insulin.
Cortisol seems to be useless?
Cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone,” is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands.
Cortisol good or bad?
When it comes to cortisol, it seems that everyone has a bad hormone level, but like most hormones , although cortisol has more negative proportions in real life, it also has a positive side. Cortisol is a hormone that is only produced during stressful situations and is responsible for regulating many of our body’s functions. When a person faces stress or danger, cortisol is secreted in large quantities. Stress exists in all aspects of our lives. You should not unilaterally interpret stress as just work, life and daily stress. In fact, you stand up from a chair, give a speech on stage, and perform daily exercise, all of which create a state of stress on the body.
Stress is divided into acute and chronic stress. When acute stress occurs, cortisol plays a more active role, the body’s oxygen uptake increases, and the blood vessels of the target muscles dilate, so as to deliver more oxygen and energy substances, so that the body can supply sufficient energy and preparedness to respond to the outside world. Without the acute effect of cortisol, you’d be stuck there with a silly pestle. It’s cortisol that allows your body to recruit energy, and of course, burn body fat to deal with the stressful situation of the moment.
chronic stress cortisol
But if it’s chronic stress, sorry. Cortisol will lead to an increase in body fat, because the feedback system of the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis will be damaged, cortisol will constantly require the body to provide energy, blood sugar is at a high level, and blood sugar High levels will require continuous insulin secretion. As chronic stress continues to increase, insulin resistance will gradually develop. At the same time, cortisol will also make leptin, as the name implies, the hormone that makes you thin, and resist. At the same time, the leptin feedback mechanism is also damaged and cannot be effective. Create a feeling of satiety, which makes you more inclined to eat. This is why people like to compensate their bodies with food when they are under chronic stress. Not only that, but cortisol also affects thyroid hormone levels and slows down metabolism, leading to inflammation in the body, resulting in a lower metabolic rate.
Middle-aged obesity, old and young, various daily work and family pressure increase, cortisol has become your abdomen Another important factor in obesity. As mentioned above, whether it is insulin or cortisol, it will indirectly affect our body’s thyroid hormone, which in turn controls the body’s metabolic level. Losing fat can be especially difficult if your thyroid is underactive.
insulin + cortisol = greasy body
When high insulin is combined with high cortisol at the same time, Then fat storage becomes easier and fat burning becomes more difficult. In real life, it is the body concentric obesity caused by poor diet structure and daily chronic stress. Usually, fat is concentrated in the abdominal area. Women are relatively better because of body fat and estrogen, but men experience a combination of high insulin and high cortisol with a big belly button almost without exception. From a physiological point of view, middle-aged greasy is really not easy to avoid. Of course, then again, insulin problems don’t come from carbs, and cortisol doesn’t all come from stress. Hormone itself is not good or bad, it is the incorrect living habits that will cause such a body. Therefore, a good life and good habits will have a good figure.
Simple 3 Actionable Suggestions Please Try to Improve
First, Diet
Maybe for the vast majority of middle-aged people, diet is largely uncontrolled for a variety of reasons. But try your best to manage your diet according to the following principles.
Choose clean, fresh and healthy food, and try to avoid highly processed ingredients and takeaways. If you choose takeout, you should avoid greasy and high-sugar cooking practices.
Eat three meals a day regularly. In the choice of staple food, try to use whole grains and whole grains as the main food, and reduce the chance of ingesting fine carbohydrates such as noodles, steamed bread and rice.
Obese people are mostly high-quality protein, vegetables and fruits have a small proportion in the entire diet, so please don’t miss any opportunity to eat preferential protein and vegetables when eating. As for fruits, the right amount is good, two fist-sized fruits a day are just right, and fruits with high vitamin C content are preferred. Sufficient vitamin C is beneficial to reduce cortisol in the body. For the collagen that women love, vitamin C is also an essential substance for the synthesis of collagen.
Each meal is 7 minutes full and eat slowly. The types of food should also be as diverse as possible to avoid being too single, and the diet should be as balanced as possible.
Second, exercise
Eat clean, fresh and healthy everyday Food, a regular routine and a good mood, even if you don’t exercise I don’t think your body will be bad. Taking a step back, many middle-aged people in our daily life may not be able to exercise regularly, so please avoid sitting for a long time and moving less. Sedentary behavior itself can actually induce insulin resistance, try to get up and move every 20 minutes. And if you can incorporate exercise into your life, the effect of reducing belly fat and improving physical fitness will be more obvious. When we exercise, the body will stimulate the secretion of catecholamine hormones, and the level of these hormones will effectively hydrolyze abdominal fat, coupled with the diet, the efficiency of fat loss will be higher. The higher the exercise intensity, the greater the secretion of catecholamines.
But it should also be noted that high-intensity exercise should not last too long, with the increase of time intensity and time extension , the secretion of cortisol also increases. Some friends like to exercise in the morning, and the morning time period is the time period when the cortisol in the human body is relatively high, so if you exercise in the morning, please choose low-intensity exercise. At the same time, pay attention to nutritional supplements after exercise, which will effectively reduce the level of cortisol produced by exercise. If you start exercising from a sedentaryPlease pay more attention to the movement mode and quality and gradually increase the exercise intensity. After all, safety is the first priority.
Third, stress relief and sleep quality
Pressure is always present , How to deal with stress is the homework that adults should learn. Talking with friends, transferring stressors and facing stress positively, and working hard with a more positive attitude may play a more positive role in relieving stress. And a good night’s sleep can be effective in reducing stress levels. When we are in the process of sleep, the levels of various hormones in the body will be adjusted to the optimal level to varying degrees, such as reducing excessive cortisol, insulin, leptin and growth hormone are all adjusted to the best state. Sleep plays a powerful role. How to have a good night’s sleep is actually a very simple method, which is to avoid playing electronic products half an hour before going to bed, take a hot bath or bubble feet, drink a glass of milk, go to bed early and 5 or 6 hours before going to bed Not eating irritating food or drinks, etc., will not work in the first three or two days, but if you stick to it, I believe your sleep quality will definitely improve. At the same time, insulin and cortisol levels are significantly improved, and naturally, body shape changes.
Write at the end
It is indeed not easy for people to reach middle age. But then again, life doesn’t seem to be easy at any stage. But we should always maintain an excellent lifestyle to face the difficulties of life. Before the age of 35, a good body is likely to depend on genes and heredity, and after the age of 35, it is more dependent on a good lifestyle. Only in this way, your body will be particularly energetic, and your life will be more quality. The harder you work, the luckier you get, everyone cheers and encourages each other.