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espressoBump t1_j4fykmu wrote

Does this also relate to cortisol being released? Like when an athlete hits their maximum for the day their body starts producing the stress hormone in excess (over the body's threshold). Since the body gets better at oxidation over time does that also mean they increase the amount of time before cortisol is in excess in the body?

EDIT: I don't know the process well so I'm trying to word it correctly. As one exercises, you release cortisol. I'm assuming your body releases more into the bloodstream as you exercise, or the body gets worse at releasing it out of the body (through oxidation?). This paper is about overtime, but I'm wondering how this affects a marathon runner daily. I heard after about ~40min-1hr your body hits high cortisol levels and it negatively affects the ahtlete (it causes "stress"). So do Marathon runners and other athletes who run a lot like baseball and tennis players, increase that threshold so they can play for hours?

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letmeinmannnnn t1_j4g5vqr wrote

Zone 2 training has many health and mitochondrial benefits

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Brokenspokes68 t1_j4h3ai8 wrote

Interesting how most studies of exercise shows it has positive effects. It's almost as if we weren't meant to sit on our assess 16 hours a day.

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Archy99 t1_j4ih1g3 wrote

Replying to espressoBump (#1,367,208)

You seem mistaken on the role of cortisol in the body. I realise there is a lot of confusing information out there that can lead to such a misunderstanding.

Cortisol does not "cause stress".

Cortisol is a metabolic hormone, it's primary function is to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis in the liver. The increase in cortisol while doing exercise is quite healthy and beneficial as it means the individual won't suddenly have to stop due to low blood sugar.

The reason cortisol is sometimes referred to a stress-hormone is that it is also a feed-forward hormone - in two ways. The first is that there is a daily cycle - it is low while we sleep and spikes in the morning to give us a boost, to deal with the spike of activity in the morning when we get up. Secondly the level of cortisol in circulation will increase when an individual anticipates a need for higher activity levels (and thus metabolic demand) in the near future. If the individual actually needed that spike in blood sugar due to increased activity then this is quite beneficial (at least in the short term).

However, this increased cortisol can sometimes lead to problems (including weight gain and risk of type 2 diabetes) if an individual constantly anticipates or experiences problems ("stress") over long periods of time without cessation.

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Cherimoose t1_j4jqrkm wrote

Just to clarify - they're saying the oxidative damage produced by exercise is cancelled out by antioxidants, not that those antioxidants benefit the rest of the body.

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