Combating Elevated Cortisol & Histamine Resulting From Jogging & Sprinting

[Constatine]

Hmm... I will have to alter my runs to have more sprinting than jogging, and definitely read more into the methods of other athletes, historically and in current times. Sprinting gets exhausting, but feels good at the end. That must be the cortisol and serotonin too. I was wondering if there's anything specific you would take immediately after such a HIIT workout.

I wouldn't worry too much about lowering cortisol or serotonin right after a workout. Just getting plenty of carbs and protein after working out is all you really need to do. Serotonin and cortisol surely spike during workouts (as workouts is a stressor) but its mostly the endorphins that lead to the feel good reactions at the end of workouts.

 

[maillol]

This guy makes some interesting points. He's talking about weight lifting but he makes the point that cortisol is triggered when glucose is needed so to help prevent this you should take in plenty of carbs before a workout.

 

[maillol]

Just came across this study https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-pdf/64/5/778/23157565/778.pdf

Preexercise meal composition alters plasma large neutral
amino acid responses during exercise and recovery13

It suggests eating a pre-exercise meal with a low ratio of tryptophan to other amino acids to limit the exercise induced increase in serotonin. The best performer in this study was corn cereal.

 

[GreekDemiGod]

Just wanted to say, that anyone who can do 100 pull-ups in a workout, in a few sets, must have impressive strength.
At my best shape ever, I could do like 3,4 sets x 12 bodyweight pull-ups.

 

[maillol]

Yeah I didn't clock that. 100 pull-ups is insane.

 

[GuideYourHealth]

You can use an adaptogen like Maca Root to balance your cortisol levels. I actually HAD to because my cortisol levels were too high, it works like a charm.

Hello Ray Peat community.

I am seeking advice on how to prevent elevated stress as a result of exercise, such as jogging at the track, sprinting, and calisthenics on the pull up bar, in an effort to safely lose body fat and build strength. I came to the conclusion that cortisol and histamine must be contributing to my symptoms post exercise after performing the same exercises for 4-5 months during summer. I lost about 15 pounds, mostly fat, and some hair.

My exercise takes place in the afternoon and lasts about 30-45 minutes, in sunlight. I load up on about 20-30 grams of carbs, preferably sugars, and caffeine, prior to hitting the track always. My calisthenics involves about 100-150 pull-ups, and 100 push-ups, 2-3x a week. Track involved jogging/sprinting up to 5km, 3-4x a week.

Post exercise, I take cyproheptadine to stop histamine and serotonin, and regenerate with about 60 grams of carbs.

Observations during exercise:
Itching head/scalp - most likely a result of histamine levels rising?
Dark circles under eyes, especially during an intense run/workout - do not know why, loss of oxygenated blood?

Observations during 4-5 months exercise:
Fat loss, about 15 pounds
Hair loss - why? an indication of high cortisol?
Elevated testosterone, increased strength capacity

Observations after stopping exercise, during winter:
Hair loss has stopped

Has anyone had good results with other supplementation, such as the kind from idealabs? What about foods before exercising?


Your advice is greatly appreciated, and may benefit others.

 

[Ableton]

Just wanted to say, that anyone who can do 100 pull-ups in a workout, in a few sets, must have impressive strength.
At my best shape ever, I could do like 3,4 sets x 12 bodyweight pull-ups.

depends on how far your hands are together, hence how you do pull ups

i similarly do sets of around 12 when my hands are far apart (back more involved), and i do 20 plus when they are close together (biceps more involved)

 

[Spartan300]

I am telling you what I witnessed in working with a professional team/teams for 8 years.

In my experience, all of my athletes were previously eating starch because that’s what they were told to do from previous generations. Once they started eliminating starch, not only did they have more energy, but all of them stop losing muscle during the season and I had many that gained 5-8lbs of muscle during the season in a high lactic acid sport (hockey).

In terms of recovery, when they started eliminating starch and replacing with fruit, many went from sleeping 3-5 hours a night to sleeping 7-9 hours per night. So in terms of recovery, it appeared that this trade off was working.

Now, with all that said, I fully believe that many athletes/people can do fine or even well on starch. In this person’s cases, he said that he was trying to lower cortisol and histamine after workouts. From everything I’ve learned through my experiences and Peat’s research, it seems that there are a lot of reasonings that starchy foods have a higher chance of causing elevated levels of the stress response due to endotoxin and polysaccharides.

This is how I came to the reasoning in response to this post.

Hi @Velve921 One thing that I have not tried seriously is elimination of starch. More sleep, energy & muscle sounds good & I think digestion might be the key here. Did the athletes you refer to just substitute a piece of fruit for starch at meals?

Just looking for how do this on a practical level to ensure meeting calorie needs etc. Also any thoughts on which fruits worked best? Thanks.

 

[Elize]

HIT > Introduction

Look at the foodlists

A lot of information about Histamine related conditions.
Magnesium citrate liberator of Mast Cell activation.. Carbonate is ok.
I also have a problem with carbs but have some to keep weight up
I have low cortisol not high may be why magnesium is an issue with me

 

[Ableton]

HIT > Introduction

Magnesium citrate liberator of Mast Cell activation

Where did you get that from? I am taking that stuff. Guess I will have to switch since I do have allergic reactions

 

[Dr.Winston O'Boogie]

Theanine Completely Abolishes The Cortisol Response To Stress In Humans

 

[Velve921]

Hi @Velve921 One thing that I have not tried seriously is elimination of starch. More sleep, energy & muscle sounds good & I think digestion might be the key here. Did the athletes you refer to just substitute a piece of fruit for starch at meals?

Just looking for how do this on a practical level to ensure meeting calorie needs etc. Also any thoughts on which fruits worked best? Thanks.

Many of them would always start with switching pasta, rice, and/or white potato with...

sweet potato and fruit at their pre game and post game meals. The sweet potato made a huge difference for the majority.

Popular fruits were oranges, bananas, and berries (by their choice).

So this is the interesting thing, fruits they chose do not always work well with everybody, but generally speaking, most reported a huge differences from simply switching starch for fruit.

Ice cream became a huge pre bedtime favorite... especially after games.

 

[AlexR]

I’m not sure if this has been said yet, but you should stop mouth breathing during exercise if you are. I had terrible hay fever where I would have an allergic reaction for days after a 30 minute jog and ever since doing buteyko I have had no issues with allergies at all.

 

[Spartan300]

Thanks @Velve921 When I've attempted less starch previously I felt I ran out of fuel quickly and needed to eat more often. I'll see how it goes.

 

[Elize]

HIT > Introduction

Look at downloads and click on food lists. Histamine liberators and foods/medication fillers are showing.

 

[Velve921]

Thanks @Velve921 When I've attempted less starch previously I felt I ran out of fuel quickly and needed to eat more often. I'll see how it goes.

I’ve had the same response as well. I eat between 4000-4500 kcals a day. I used to only eat around 2000 a day when I did the opposite. So I have to fuel more but it’s worth it for the emotional response.