[00:00:00] Dr. Taz: If your labs are normal and you've been running around to doctor visit after doctor visit, [00:00:05] and you can't find a real reason why you feel bad. [00:00:10] I have the explanation for you. You are more than likely stuck into what I've been [00:00:15] calling the cortisol loop. That's right. The cortisol loop is this sort of [00:00:20] hum, this vibration, this static that repeats over and [00:00:25] over again impacting how you feel.
[00:00:28] Dr. Taz: Everything from how you [00:00:30] think and focus and concentrate. To the energy that you may have to just make it through your [00:00:35] day, to your exercise recovery, your sleep quality, and at the end of the [00:00:40] day, as that hum gets louder and louder, it eventually [00:00:45] crashes and burns other systems of the body. On this episode of the podcast, we wanna [00:00:50] spend some time talking about cortisol, the cortisol loop, and nervous system [00:00:55] regulation, and why it's so important as oftentimes the [00:01:00] root cause.
[00:01:01] Dr. Taz: Of so many of your different symptoms. Before we dive in, I wanna share [00:01:05] more about Whole Plus because it's truly more than just a clinic. It's a full holistic [00:01:10] health platform. Whole plus combines holistic, integrative and functional medicine care with [00:01:15] education, self-discovery tools, and trusted wellness resources.[00:01:20]
[00:01:20] Dr. Taz: You'll find holistic health content through blogs. This podcast and videos, [00:01:25] personalized quizzes to uncover root causes, and a shop filled with practitioner approved [00:01:30] holistic products. It's designed to support your health in a holistic way, physically, [00:01:35] mentally, and long term. You can explore the full whole plus holistic health [00:01:40] experience@wholeplus.co.
[00:01:42] Dr. Taz: Again, that's HOL ppl, [00:01:45] s.co. It's so interesting for me, right? Because doing holistic medicine and integrative medicine [00:01:50] for all these years, you know, every few years we, you know, find a new [00:01:55] trend or new research or some new finding, and through it all, we've stayed consistent [00:02:00] with a couple of key themes, one of which is that the gut is the foundation of health.
[00:02:04] Dr. Taz: Your hormones are [00:02:05] critical, and your mental health is connected to many other aspects of your health. [00:02:10] But what is becoming explicitly clear? The longer I [00:02:15] practice and the more I do this is I sit with patients over and over again and I [00:02:20] connect the dots on their health. Along with my team, we are seeing clearly how [00:02:25] it's cortisol and the nervous system and the vagal nerve that are [00:02:30] actually driving a lot of the different things we're seeing sort of downstream.[00:02:35]
[00:02:35] Dr. Taz: And this is why a holistic approach to your health matters. Because you can look at the [00:02:40] labs and they can all be quote unquote normal, but they are being driven by this [00:02:45] hum. So what's normal at the end of the day may not be normal for [00:02:50] you. Let's take a second to talk more about cortisol and nervous system [00:02:55] regulation.
[00:02:55] Dr. Taz: You know, some stress is good, right? You know, it gets us outta bed in the morning. It makes us [00:03:00] achieve big things. It puts us on a path of maybe accomplishing a goal, whether [00:03:05] that's, you know, a fitness goal or a food goal, or a family goal, you name it. [00:03:10] But when that goes beyond just a temporary stressor that the [00:03:15] body can acclimate and adapt to, and instead transitions [00:03:20] into a chronic stressor where it's always there.
[00:03:24] Dr. Taz: That becomes [00:03:25] problematic. Physiologically, let's talk about what's happening before you get to [00:03:30] a cortisol loop. Essentially what's happening is we get the stressor right? Lying [00:03:35] in the room, something coming up, a big deadline, something we're scared of, something we're excited [00:03:40] about, right? 'cause stress can be good too.
[00:03:42] Dr. Taz: Well, what happens? Cortisol spikes, we [00:03:45] get that little burst. We have an adrenaline rush. It's time to go do whatever. We get that power, [00:03:50] that energy, but then it should come naturally down again, stabilizing out in [00:03:55] a good, healthy place where we can go about the other duties of our day, whether it's [00:04:00] eating, watching something fascinating on television, having a great [00:04:05] conversation, or even the most important tool of all sleeping deeply and [00:04:10] consistently.
[00:04:11] Dr. Taz: So as those stressors happen, right, good ones, bad [00:04:15] ones, they accumulate almost like a set of books on a shelf or in a library [00:04:20] and they start to build. And hopefully if you've got a great [00:04:25] regulatory system in place where you know how to manage your food and manage your stress, and you [00:04:30] have sort of the right lifestyle regimens in place, well all those temporary stressors [00:04:35] stay exactly there.
[00:04:36] Dr. Taz: They're temporary. What we in the medical community call acute [00:04:40] stress. But nine times outta 10, the patients I see, and [00:04:45] even within our own families and our friend community, it's not temporary stress, right? [00:04:50] It's chronic. It keeps aggravating, it keeps building, and we don't put the [00:04:55] recovery time into it for the nervous system to feel safe again.
[00:04:59] Dr. Taz: [00:05:00] And this is where the wheels come off. And this is the [00:05:05] cortisol loop that we've got to break. But again, let's stay in the science and the physiology of it for [00:05:10] just a second. Okay, so temporary stressors, cortisol's up, cortisol's back down. Chronic [00:05:15] stressor, cortisol stays elevated. And here's what happens [00:05:20] when you have chronic elevation of cortisol.
[00:05:23] Dr. Taz: First, you don't feel good, [00:05:25] right? And remember feelings or data and emotions matter, but that high cortisol [00:05:30] is impacting that area of the brain that is involved in how we think and [00:05:35] feel, right? The hypothalamus, the pituitary, right? The all of that is [00:05:40] interconnected together. And remember that hypothalamus in the pituitary is [00:05:45] directing two specific pathways in your body.
[00:05:49] Dr. Taz: All your [00:05:50] nervous system hormones, right, and neurotransmitter, serotonin, dopamine, gaba, [00:05:55] all of those are being instructed by this hypothalmic pituitary axis, [00:06:00] and it's being influenced by cortisol. On the other hand, [00:06:05] the influence from your pituitaries on your hormones, right? All the sex hormones, whether it's [00:06:10] estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, your thyroid, insulin, and those very much [00:06:15] play a role into everything from energy to brain health, [00:06:20] fertility, how we transition through andropause, perimenopause, menopause, and so [00:06:25] much more.
[00:06:26] Dr. Taz: So this hormone, cortisol, temporary stress, are great, up, [00:06:30] down, resolved. We don't have an issue. We're not in a cortisol loop. When we are [00:06:35] chronically experiencing elevated cortisol, hypercortisolism is [00:06:40] what they call it, then that in turn is impacting these other two critical components of [00:06:45] our health. But here's the next step in that whole pathway.[00:06:50]
[00:06:50] Dr. Taz: After that cortisol stays elevated for too long of a period of time. Guess what [00:06:55] happens next? It crashes. So we go from high cortisol and [00:07:00] after a certain amount of time when we stay in the cortisol loop for too long, we [00:07:05] go into a low cortisol state. And when we go into a low cortisol state, [00:07:10] then again, we are trying to do things to get that energy back, right, to [00:07:15] feel safe again.
[00:07:16] Dr. Taz: So that's where we may reach for sugar or carbohydrates [00:07:20] or fatty foods, or we may binge drink, right? Alcohol, [00:07:25] drugs, all the darkness that's out there. Or we may simply self-destruct [00:07:30] because we don't have the capacity to do what it takes to get out of this loop. [00:07:35] So we go from high cortisol to low cortisol, and all [00:07:40] of that is happening over the span of time.
[00:07:42] Dr. Taz: It's not something that happens in a day [00:07:45] or a month or even a year. It's usually years that are piling [00:07:50] on each other one after another until a decade passes, maybe two. [00:07:55] And then the next step in this loop is chronic [00:08:00] disease. So much so that scientists today are recognizing over and over [00:08:05] again how disease is really rooted in this cortisol loop.
[00:08:09] Dr. Taz: And the [00:08:10] sooner and the earlier we can sink our teeth into it, the more we can [00:08:15] turn all of this around. And so I wanna make sure you have this visual. I literally [00:08:20] want you to see a loop in your mind, in your mind's eye, and see sort of this [00:08:25] spinning from an acute stressor, right? Something good, something bad, [00:08:30] that cortisol is going up, it comes back down.
[00:08:32] Dr. Taz: I. But that acute stressor now [00:08:35] becoming a chronic stress response. We even have a name for it actually. We have a [00:08:40] diagnosis for it, chronic inflammatory response syndrome, or cs. We see that [00:08:45] all the time in clinic, and as that cortisol is now elevated, right? It's eating [00:08:50] everything up. It's impacting the gut.
[00:08:52] Dr. Taz: It's eating up your nutrients. It eats up magnesium, [00:08:55] your B vitamins, your vitamin D, your Omega-3 fats, your protein. It wants more and more and [00:09:00] more. It's insatiable. And when it can't be fed, [00:09:05] it starts crashing every other system. Your hormones, your [00:09:10] neurotransmitters, your gut health, your brain health, and so much more.
[00:09:14] Dr. Taz: [00:09:15] And then you become low cortisol. And then since there are [00:09:20] no more reserves to take, right, the monster stolen everything. You start [00:09:25] to develop disease. All right, let's look at the science behind this for just a second, because there's so much, and I [00:09:30] don't wanna bore you with a ton of it, but I think it's relevant and it's important, especially when we're [00:09:35] talking about evidence-based holistic medicine.
[00:09:37] Dr. Taz: This is an article or journal from Cells in [00:09:40] 2023 published, and it talks about some of the neurological diseases that we [00:09:45] see in practice today, and we have worked with so many patients on, moreover, here's a direct [00:09:50] quote. Chronic stress is closely linked to the progression of [00:09:55] neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, [00:10:00] driven by excessive cortisol production and HPA access dysregulation, [00:10:05] HPA Hypothalmic pituitary axis.
[00:10:07] Dr. Taz: Along with [00:10:10] neuroinflammation in the central nervous system. We've been talking about neuroinflammation for [00:10:15] a really long time in our practices at Whole Plus, but here we've got the research [00:10:20] finally saying and showing what we've been seeing in the exam room. [00:10:25] The relationship. Furthermore, still quoting the relationship between cortisol [00:10:30] dysregulation and major depressive disorder is complex [00:10:35] characterized by HPA, access, hyperactivity, and chronic inflammation.
[00:10:39] Dr. Taz: [00:10:40] Lastly, chronic pain is associated with abnormal cortisol patterns [00:10:45] that heightened pain, sensitivity, and susceptibility. [00:10:50] Understanding these multifaceted mechanisms and their effects is essential, and they offer insights into [00:10:55] interventions to really help, uh, sort of allay or mitigate the role of chronic [00:11:00] stress and cortisol dysregulation in these conditions.
[00:11:03] Dr. Taz: Do you guys know how many patients [00:11:05] we've seen with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and diseases like a LS, [00:11:10] that essentially were triggered by a cortisol response? This is a pattern that we've seen [00:11:15] over and over again. And while treatments today focus often on the disease process [00:11:20] itself, they don't connect it back to the cortisol loop.
[00:11:23] Dr. Taz: We have got to be thinking about the [00:11:25] cortisol loop when it comes to chronic disease. There's also a really [00:11:30] interesting differentiation between men and women, uh, when it comes to cortisol. In fact, they [00:11:35] describe this as not so much about high cortisol and low cortisol, but [00:11:40] more about cortisol.
[00:11:41] Dr. Taz: Hyperresponsiveness, meaning men and women have different. [00:11:45] Cortisol Hyperresponsive states. In one particular study we talk about. [00:11:50] Uh, this is actually from the journal Stress published in 2020. [00:11:55] Women have smaller cortisol responses to psychological stressors than men do, and [00:12:00] women actually taking hormonal contraceptives have smaller responses than [00:12:05] women that are not on any sort of oral contraceptive.
[00:12:08] Dr. Taz: Cortisol secretion [00:12:10] undergoes substantial daily variation. Remember, cortisol is elevated in the morning, has lower [00:12:15] levels in the afternoon, and these differences are com are accompanied by our [00:12:20] response to stress. So just think about women, for example, right? If cortisol is on [00:12:25] a up and down, right high in the morning, low as you go throughout the day, which it's supposed to, and it's supposed to [00:12:30] bottom out at night.
[00:12:30] Dr. Taz: So we get a good night's sleep. So you add that cortisol variation [00:12:35] into our hormonal variation, right? Where we have cycles of estrogen and [00:12:40] progesterone into a circadian rhythm, right? So now we have all these different rhythms adding [00:12:45] up as a part of this cortisol loop, talking to an influencing one another.[00:12:50]
[00:12:50] Dr. Taz: Women are in a different position when it comes to cortisol [00:12:55] hyperresponsiveness, for example. When our estrogen is in a good place, [00:13:00] we may have better cortisol hyperresponsiveness rather than when our [00:13:05] estrogen is depleted or progesterone is depleted, for example, than we have [00:13:10] may. We may have more issues there.
[00:13:12] Dr. Taz: Women on HRT experience a similar [00:13:15] phenomenon. Their stress bandwidth changes depending on what's happening with their [00:13:20] hormone replacement therapy. And women undergoing IVF or IUI or any [00:13:25] of these treatments will experience the same shifts. So when it comes to [00:13:30] women, part of the cortisol loop is their hormone ecosystem and hormone [00:13:35] balance and how it plays into this overall equation.
[00:13:38] Dr. Taz: But we can't take men [00:13:40] out from it completely because men are protected with testosterone levels as long as [00:13:45] that testosterone stays in the right zone. Right? We've done lots of talks on [00:13:50] hormones before, lots of episodes on hormones, you know, on this podcast and outside of it. [00:13:55] But again, everything has to be in a sweet spot.
[00:13:57] Dr. Taz: So when men are in that sweet spot of [00:14:00] testosterone. Their cortisol is manageable, but the minute they fall too [00:14:05] low or the minute they fall too high, they enter the cortisol loop in a very [00:14:10] different way and their bandwidth goes down as well. So all of us [00:14:15] are dealing with the cortisol loop, even our children today.[00:14:20]
[00:14:20] Dr. Taz: Because children today no longer just have temporary stressors. They have chronic [00:14:25] stressors from food quality, from the environment, from blue light, and from so [00:14:30] many different things they're getting exposed to day in and day out. So this is a universal conversation. [00:14:35] So children are now entering this cortisol loop even faster or [00:14:40] earlier than what we entered in the past.
[00:14:42] Dr. Taz: And it's the reason why everyone's [00:14:45] like, why the infertility, why the cancer at an early age? Why the [00:14:50] obesity? This is the reason why everyone is entering this cortisol loop [00:14:55] earlier and earlier and earlier, shifting disease manifestation [00:15:00] downward. What we used to see at 40, we now see at 30 what we used to see at 50, [00:15:05] we now see at 40 and so on.
[00:15:07] Dr. Taz: So this is why I used to say [00:15:10] for so long that the gut is the root of your health, and I still believe that, but I [00:15:15] feel like we can't talk about anything now. Without talking about this in particular. [00:15:20] So let's break down what we can actually do about this particular [00:15:25] phenomenon. So if we are trying to break this cycle, right, if we're trying to disrupt it a [00:15:30] hundred percent, there are a couple of things we need to be aware of that are sort of subheadings when we [00:15:35] think about the cortisol loop.
[00:15:36] Dr. Taz: And those include understanding where your gut health [00:15:40] is, where your hormone health is, and where your brain health is. And we wanna [00:15:45] tie it to some of the most common symptoms that we see over and over that are [00:15:50] indications that you a cortisol loop. So let's start with you first. If you are [00:15:55] experiencing fatigue of any kind, right?
[00:15:57] Dr. Taz: You're tired, or what was easy to do is now [00:16:00] taking a heroic effort. Number one, sign that you're in some kind of cortisol loop. [00:16:05] A second one is you cannot think. You cannot focus. You cannot process [00:16:10] information the way you once were able to. You have some level of brain fog or [00:16:15] a DD or a DHD. You might be, you guessed it in a cortisol loop.
[00:16:19] Dr. Taz: [00:16:20] If you are starting to see belly fat or belly fat is coming and going, [00:16:25] you're in a cortisol loop. 'cause that chronic stress response is [00:16:30] signaling your liver and your insulin to store fat. You're in a cortisol loop, [00:16:35] all the different hormonal symptoms, early PMS, [00:16:40] perimenopause, menopause, having trouble getting pregnant again.
[00:16:43] Dr. Taz: These are all signs that you may [00:16:45] be swimming in this cortisol loop. And last but certainly not [00:16:50] least, are all the diseases of inflammation, right? The skin flares, the autoimmune [00:16:55] flares, joint pain, muscle weakness. You might be in a cortisol loop if you're listening [00:17:00] to this and thinking, I know something is often my body, but [00:17:05] I don't know where to start.
[00:17:06] Dr. Taz: This is for you. That's why I created the [00:17:10] circle. The circle is my private community where I and my team focus on understanding [00:17:15] your body from hormones and stress to metabolic health and longevity with [00:17:20] real life guidance that you can actually use. This is about clarity and [00:17:25] consistency and support beyond the exam room, and maybe outside of all the [00:17:30] different appointments and experts that you've been running around to.
[00:17:33] Dr. Taz: You can try the circle with a [00:17:35] one month trial using the promo code podcast@wholeplus.co [00:17:40] back slash circle. Again, that's whole plus HOL [00:17:45] ppls.co/circle. Alright, let's jump back into the episode. So, so [00:17:50] many symptoms that we see day in and day out in practice are tied [00:17:55] back to this physiology around cortisol, how it started out high, how it [00:18:00] dropped down to being low, how there's more cortisol hyperresponsiveness, and how people [00:18:05] simply cannot find their way out of it.
[00:18:08] Dr. Taz: So if you are nodding your head as you're [00:18:10] listening or watching, you know, this particular episode and you're like, oh my God, that's me, and that's me too, [00:18:15] and you're not really sure where to go or what to do about it, this is the [00:18:20] part of the podcast where we're gonna try to, to really kind of help you track, [00:18:25] first of all, and secondly, maybe walk away with three or four things that you know you [00:18:30] can sink your teeth into to pull yourself out of this.
[00:18:33] Dr. Taz: Okay, so [00:18:35] again, I talked about the symptoms that may match you being in a cortisol loop. They're actually [00:18:40] trackers. If you needed more data, that could help you as well. And I think I've talked about this before, but [00:18:45] for example, looking at your blood sugar and the stability of your blood sugar is one way.
[00:18:49] Dr. Taz: If [00:18:50] your blood sugar is very unstable, if it's going up and down and all over the place, again, that's [00:18:55] a sign of cortisol dysfunction. If your HRV or your heart rate variability is low, [00:19:00] if it's below about 40, you may have cortisol dysfunction, and that's something to look [00:19:05] into as a root cause of any of the symptoms that you might be experiencing.
[00:19:09] Dr. Taz: If you've [00:19:10] got the 3:00 AM wake up, that's another one, and you can tie that now to the quality of [00:19:15] your sleep. So if you're not getting 90 minutes of deep sleep and 90 minutes of REM sleep, [00:19:20] again, you may be in a cortisol loop. So this is tactical stuff, [00:19:25] whether it's from symptoms or trackers that you can start to look at, to arrive at [00:19:30] this conclusion on your own, before you even enter maybe one of our clinics or anywhere [00:19:35] where we are testing cortisol along with the other markers of the immune system, inflammation, [00:19:40] hormones, and so much more.
[00:19:41] Dr. Taz: And remember, if you are looking at lab values for [00:19:45] cortisol, you wanna look at morning values, ideally saliva or first morning blood [00:19:50] values that are gonna help you to understand kind of what your body is doing with this. And [00:19:55] oftentimes we'll pair that cortisol value with the DHEA or D-H-E-A-S, which is another [00:20:00] adrenal marker that helps us to understand what's happening with cortisol.
[00:20:04] Dr. Taz: [00:20:05] So there's so many different ways to track, but when we go back to the fact that so many [00:20:10] people are already here, even our children, even our elders and [00:20:15] everybody in between, and we really need a targeted way to help unwind this, [00:20:20] then we've gotta think about the body. In a holistic way, using that [00:20:25] sort of five body analogy that I talk about over and over again, where you have a physical [00:20:30] body, an emotional body, a mental body, right, a sort of community body, and a [00:20:35] spiritual or energetic body.
[00:20:36] Dr. Taz: And while that might sound woo woo. To many of you, [00:20:40] right? We know today we've got the research showing how our [00:20:45] emotions and our physicality are interconnected. How energetically emotions live in a [00:20:50] certain place in the body, and how all of that works together to determine if we're [00:20:55] gonna stop the hum or the static when you have a cortisol loop, [00:21:00] or if we're gonna allow it to perpetuate to a sound and an amplification.
[00:21:04] Dr. Taz: [00:21:05] Where it takes over the whole body, right? So these are the things to be thinking about when we want you to [00:21:10] have an understanding of how cortisol is impacting your overall health [00:21:15] and ultimately leading to chronic disease. So let's start with maybe some things you can [00:21:20] do, right? Because we want, we wanna be hopeful and optimistic, not just all gloom and doom.
[00:21:24] Dr. Taz: [00:21:25] So I'm gonna narrow it down to probably three key areas that will [00:21:30] help cortisol. Kind of find its healthy place and at the same time [00:21:35] help you to reregulate your nervous system. 'cause nervous system regulation is all [00:21:40] about teaching the body all five bodies, that it's safe, that there's a [00:21:45] space for quiet and for healing.
[00:21:47] Dr. Taz: And if the nervous system doesn't get that [00:21:50] cortisol will never get back to that stable level where it's high in the morning and [00:21:55] then gently falls as the day progresses. So let's talk about this for a [00:22:00] second, because the nervous system and nervous system regulation is related to [00:22:05] cortisol and to your vagus nerve, which in turn communicates with the organ that I [00:22:10] keep coming back to, which is the gut.
[00:22:12] Dr. Taz: So there's a gut vagal [00:22:15] response that's very critical and helping your body regulate safety and [00:22:20] regulate its response to cortisol. So really reestablishing that [00:22:25] gut vagal safety or that vagal tone is looking more deeply at the [00:22:30] digestive process and making sure you're still feeding it with foods that help you function, right?
[00:22:34] Dr. Taz: [00:22:35] So consistent blood sugar foods, foods that are low in refined sugar processed [00:22:40] foods. You guys have heard this stuff before. You're probably rolling your eyes right now, but [00:22:45] here's what I want you to take away. If you are stuck in a cortisol loop. We have to [00:22:50] have consistency of eating 'cause eating is rhythmic and anytime we take a [00:22:55] rhythm away, we influence cortisol's ability to disrupt our health.[00:23:00]
[00:23:00] Dr. Taz: So eat consistently. If there's nothing else that you can do, eat roughly every [00:23:05] four hours, keeping about a 12 hour fast, that allows blood sugar to [00:23:10] reestablish stability. Secondly, when it comes to the gut and thinking about [00:23:15] gut health overall, make sure you're choosing more foods that are [00:23:20] clean and whole, versus foods that are packaged or processed.
[00:23:23] Dr. Taz: Bottom line, it helps the [00:23:25] microbiome, it helps gut bacteria, it helps you to get the nutrients you need. [00:23:30] And next when you're in this cortisol loop, things like gut motility or how [00:23:35] well the body can move food through the gut gets impacted. So use [00:23:40] digestive enzymes to help you break those foods down a little bit more effectively.[00:23:45]
[00:23:45] Dr. Taz: And if you can get quiet and like really narrow down that the gut [00:23:50] is really where you're having the most issues when it comes to the cortisol [00:23:55] equation, let's support it more, right? This is where we've started adding in things like [00:24:00] peptides, like BPC or PDA or KPV to support the. [00:24:05] We add in amino acids like glutamine, for example, to support a [00:24:10] healthy gut lining.
[00:24:11] Dr. Taz: And sometimes you do need some supportive probiotics as well to [00:24:15] really help seal up those gut junctions so that the body can start getting the nutrients it [00:24:20] needs. And I would pair all of that gut strategy with a nutrient [00:24:25] strategy to rebuild the body so cortisol can quiet down, [00:24:30] and that's gonna be your beam vitamins, your magnesium, and your healthy fats, and again, amino [00:24:35] acids and trying to get those through food.
[00:24:36] Dr. Taz: For sure, but also those are the core [00:24:40] supplements that your body might need. A good B vitamin or a B multi, as I call it, [00:24:45] a magnesium, ideally a magnesium chelate, or a glycinate. And last but not [00:24:50] least, an Omega-3 that's gonna help support the body. Along with, you know, [00:24:55] increased consumption of fats like MCT, fats and olive oil, all of those are [00:25:00] going to help you in a cortisol equation.
[00:25:02] Dr. Taz: No long fasting, no crazy [00:25:05] diets, no restrictive eating. All of that just makes the cortisol loop [00:25:10] worse. So this gut diet cellular component is something that we all can do [00:25:15] and you can do no matter where you are, and you can implement for your children as well, or even for your [00:25:20] seniors or your partners. So that's probably like ground zero, right?
[00:25:24] Dr. Taz: Or or [00:25:25] starting point, whatever we wanna call it, home base for really dealing with the cortisol [00:25:30] loop and then adding the nutrients into support. The next place I would go is [00:25:35] really thinking through how you can reregulate that vagus nerve or your [00:25:40] vagal tone and looking, this is where lifestyle matters guys, and looking at [00:25:45] how we lay our lives out.
[00:25:47] Dr. Taz: Right. I run what some [00:25:50] people say when they follow me an exhausting lifestyle, right? They're always like, I dunno how you do it. I don't [00:25:55] know where, how you're in one city versus another, sitting and doing all these different things. But guys, I [00:26:00] am deliberate and I am insistent on protecting [00:26:05] my energy when I am not doing these things.
[00:26:07] Dr. Taz: I checked out just this last Saturday [00:26:10] for probably four hours. I was not available to my family or to anybody [00:26:15] else. I needed to recover from the stress I had experienced that week. So [00:26:20] what did that look like for me, just to give a personal story? Well, it looked like going and getting a massage, getting a [00:26:25] facial, you know, doing acupuncture, going in my sauna, right?
[00:26:28] Dr. Taz: All of these [00:26:30] things that forced my nervous system to calm down. And the daily [00:26:35] practices matter too. This is where micro habits make a macro difference. [00:26:40] The 10 minutes of meditation in the morning or night, the 10 minutes of movement throughout the day, the [00:26:45] 10 minutes of just thinking about your food and planning it all add up to a [00:26:50] lifetime of healthy habits.
[00:26:51] Dr. Taz: But most importantly in this context, over [00:26:55] time, 'cause everything accumulates over time, it breaks the cortisol loop [00:27:00] and it starts to make you feel alive again. And moving [00:27:05] on from building a lifestyle, right? And when we build that lifestyle, I want you to apply that [00:27:10] five body approach to it again, right?
[00:27:11] Dr. Taz: So it's not just about the chemistry, which we keep coming back to over and [00:27:15] over again. And it's not just about how you structure your day, which is all very important, [00:27:20] but it's even about some of the things that you might not be paying attention to. Does [00:27:25] your home have a high cortisol rhythm or too much cortisol?
[00:27:28] Dr. Taz: Hyperresponsiveness? [00:27:30] Are there peaceful areas or quiet areas? Are you in an environment where you can [00:27:35] relax? Are your relationships cortisol balancing or cortisol [00:27:40] provoking? Those are all questions to ask yourself if you really wanna be on a [00:27:45] healing journey. Right, because breaking the loop or breaking the cortisol [00:27:50] cycle is not something that's gonna happen with one supplement or [00:27:55] one medication, or one hormone or one thing to do.
[00:27:58] Dr. Taz: It's going to be that [00:28:00] consistency of healthy habits that address all the dimensions of your health. [00:28:05] So if we start to break this down and wanna treat the [00:28:10] body and the nervous system and help it understand it's okay, it's safe, [00:28:15] the fires are not there, they're out and really retrain it, then we [00:28:20] have to be very deliberate about where we start and end when it comes to this [00:28:25] cortisol equation.
[00:28:26] Dr. Taz: I think you start with a gut, but you build a healthy [00:28:30] lifestyle. I think you evaluate everything around you. What is [00:28:35] fulfilling and good stress, and what is chronic stress that probably needs to be eliminated [00:28:40] or at least put with some boundaries around it. What are the things you can take that [00:28:45] make you feel better?
[00:28:46] Dr. Taz: And what is the role of hormone replacement therapy or hormone therapy [00:28:50] in general, along with medications, pharmaceuticals, and supplements in breaking the loop. [00:28:55] I wanna give you kind of a linear plan to safety and to [00:29:00] nervous system regulation. I think it's non-negotiable that you start with the [00:29:05] gut. So do the gut work that we laid out.
[00:29:08] Dr. Taz: I think it's non-negotiable that you [00:29:10] provide the body with fuel, especially if it's exhausted. Every single reserve. [00:29:15] It's got to help it manage the cortisol loop. Again, to remind you, that was b, [00:29:20] d magnesium, Omega-3 fats, amino acids, all the things right? [00:29:25] And then I think you move into looking critically at the [00:29:30] things you can bring in into your daily life.
[00:29:32] Dr. Taz: 10 minutes, what is 10 minutes gonna look like for you [00:29:35] a couple times a day? And then from there you move into your lifestyle. What is [00:29:40] present that is causing you chronic stress and start to make some changes there. [00:29:45] Your next step is to go into modality mode where you are allowing [00:29:50] others to help you teach your body to understand safety.
[00:29:54] Dr. Taz: That could look [00:29:55] like acupuncture, massage, craniosacral therapy, energy work. You know, any [00:30:00] of the things being out in nature, you pick, but something that allows the [00:30:05] nervous system to feel safe. That to me is layer one. [00:30:10] And if you're ready to graduate to the next layer, then we start to look at hormones and [00:30:15] where hormone therapy might play a role.
[00:30:17] Dr. Taz: In this equation, we start to look more critically at [00:30:20] inflammation. And do we need to target inflammation a little bit more? We look at the immune system [00:30:25] and immune health. We look at what we can do for better cognitive health, but those are all [00:30:30] layer two. And remember, you shouldn't be going to layer two without walking through [00:30:35] layer one first.
[00:30:37] Dr. Taz: So the cortisol loop. Real [00:30:40] and it's present in all of us, and it's causing a slow, [00:30:45] destructive decay of all aspects of our health at every level. I want us to turn that [00:30:50] around and it's fundamental to the holistic approach. It's a part of where maybe even [00:30:55] personally, I fail sometimes because I can get caught up in whatever's going [00:31:00] on and forget my own advice.
[00:31:02] Dr. Taz: I'm just being honest with you guys. [00:31:05] But I want us all to do better for ourselves and for our families, and for [00:31:10] our health, and for being able to show up in the world the way we're supposed to. [00:31:15] So it's time to get out of the cortisol loop. It's time to understand it, wrangle it, wrestle with [00:31:20] it, acknowledge it as the elephant in the room, and build a healing [00:31:25] plan that works.
[00:31:27] Dr. Taz: All right. I'm gonna stop there because I could probably go on [00:31:30] forever about this particular topic, but on this show, we tackle all aspects [00:31:35] of this, right? But if we're trying to think holistically, we can't put [00:31:40] anything together without thinking about this. All right. I hope you [00:31:45] enjoy this episode. We post new episodes every week.
[00:31:47] Dr. Taz: I'll see you guys next time. Before [00:31:50] you go, take a second to reflect on what stood out for you today. Then if you [00:31:55] can leave a quick review wherever you're listening, it really helps other people [00:32:00] discover Whole Plus and start their own healing journey. And don't forget to follow me on [00:32:05] Instagram at Dr. TAs md.
[00:32:06] Dr. Taz: I love hearing how these episodes are supporting [00:32:10] you.