TV/video Games And Cortisol

[Cirion]

I've heard conflicting info on this. I'm a TV/video game junkie but have a nagging suspicion that both are not helping me with my thyroid recovery due to cortisol release especially when I like violence heavy TV shows generally.

I feel like I am a stimulus junkie in general (aka, running off stress hormones). I get bored easily, and this drives me interest for stimulus.

Anyone else like me? How did you start to find interest in "boring" activities like reading, socializing, etc? I feel like this is the road I need to start going down to start properly healing (while also watching the diet etc).

Now that it's warmer outside I'd like to get into some outdoor activities as well to get some sun, rather than hole up indoors and watch TV all day lol.

Similarly, I feel like the music I tend to like also amps up my stress hormones (heavy metal, "high adrenaline" music) as well. Probably why many power lifters like "intense" music to get them amped before a big lift... and other stress hormone releasing things like snorting ammonia lol...

 

[Luckytype]

I was a competitive gamer more than 15 years ago, its the stress of the competitive act that ellicits the stress response, especially if someone is a fierce competitor. Part of this upper level competition is to keep the negatives at bay but using the "light nerves" that accompany the stress response and use it to your physical benefit.

As far as music and nose torque(ammonia) there is a major portion of this that is conditioned to happen. Sniffing ammonia has obviously some effect physiologically as its used for people who faint, but theres the associative conditioning part too.

I can recall using certain parts of music before big lifts to get fired up, eventually you know when "your part" is coming and your brain and body know it too.

There was a period where i had given up lifting completely to focus on school and work. I was going through old boxes and found my old mp3 player. I sat at my computer and charged it as I was doing an edit on a video for work. First song on the list was a major fire-up song for me. American headcharge "Seamless"

I can recall very distinctly that day, as I had forgotten the order of songs, the first note comes on as the song begins I go from quietly editing a video to goosebumps all over my skin, my heart pounding and literally my eyes closing in onto my computer. It was amazing how much significance my brain put on that song to prepare for what my body was about to do. It was surreal in the moment. I think i rejoined the gym the next week, 4 years later im on RP forums trying to lower my prolactin

So music is definitely involved especially when something "stressful" is associated with it.

 

[Luckytype]

Actually its probably worth noting that with competitive leagues, practicing with a team that is likely in different time zones wreaks havoc on your circadian rhythm seeing as more eastern time zones stay up later to get good practice in with western zones.

I can recall being in college at the time and working, staying up way too late to practice and scrimmage after classes, gyming abusively, working and partying. The body is so resillient in youth...

 

[Cirion]

Competitive gaming is certainly the height of cortisol release. I quit that stuff a long time ago and will never go back. Any single player game can and will increase cortisol, though not to quite as high to a degree. TV shows as well. You end up getting engrossed in it, and there is "stress transference" (dunno technical term for it) from the characters in the show in a stressful situation to you. Similar to how hanging out with a stressed person can make you stressed as well.

 

[energyandstruct]

i was never a gamer but because of being so sick and bedridden decided to start dabbling in it. maybe open world/fantasy stuff would be ok but fps seem to rely on stress hormones since i don't have energy/alertness at baseline

 

[opethfeldt]

I barely ever play video games anymore but I notice that when I do, my skills are dramatically worse than they used to be when I had higher stress hormones. I think in a lot of shooter games, being too calm is detrimental to performance. I think now my body and mind are in too much of a state of indifference to stimuli to excel at these games anymore. That said, I'm hardly torn up by this finding. I find video games to be a horrible waste of time for the most part and tend to be used by people in poor health to substitute for real life achievements.