When stress weighs you down, the tendency may be to overindulge in alcohol or comfort foods, veg out in front of the TV or hide out under the blankets.
An athletic person might even opt for a long run.
But fitness experts say there is a better bet for quicker stress-busting results: explosive interval training with periods of rest meshed in.
Extended workout sessions aren’t as effective at immediately managing pressure as targeted, intense bursts of activity which can improve your mood within minutes, fitness experts say.
Knowing that a 30-minute workout nets more positive results than an hour-long or more session should be good news, as lack of time is the No. 1 excuse people use for not doing the healthy things they know will help manage their stress, including exercising and eating well.
More than 50 percent of people said they were living with moderate and high levels of stress, with money (76 percent), work (70 percent) and the economy (65 percent) as the main causes, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2010 “Stress in America” study. More than 1,000 adults ages 18 and older participated in the annual online study, including 100 adults who were parents of children then ages 8 t0 17.
Nearly half of adults reported that job stability was a source of stress last year. The study also suggested a new connection between overweight children and stress.
“Even before the stress of tax time hit, people have been worried about getting laid off, being unemployed or having to change their lifestyle because they were forced to settle for a job that wasn’t paying them what they made in the past,” says Richard Ruiz, owner and trainer of STAC (Strength Training and Athletic Conditioning) Fitness center in Greenwood Village.
Ruiz teaches his clients how to “reprogram” their bodies so they can respond to stress. The key is using high-intensity bursts of activity and movement similar to boot camp training to rid the body of harmful hormones that flood it during a crisis.
When people argue with relatives, worry about job loss, get stuck in traffic or scramble to meet deadlines, the adrenal glands secrete cortisol, a steroid hormone that helps the body deal with the so-called fight-or-flight situations.
Manage cortisol levels
At first, the cortisol provides a needed boost to adapt to a stressful situation. Cortisol levels are highest between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. to rev the body up for daily activities. Then the levels flatten out right before bedtime to ease us into sleep.
But during continual bouts of stress, cortisol begins to eat away at muscle protein, weaken the immune system and causing the body to hold on to fat to sustain itself. That leads to illness and thwarts weight- loss efforts by sabotaging metabolism.
“Cortisol is detrimental because it forces your body to hold on to fat, slow down our metabolism and cannibalize muscle mass,” Ruiz said. “People don’t realize that not managing their stress is the reason can’t get healthy or leaner despite their efforts.
Ruiz recommends that his clients combat and expel cortisol with a boost in human growth hormone that surges during frequent, short bursts of anaerobic training alternated with periods of rest.
Aerobic exercise like running releases “feel-good” endorphins that serve as stress busters. But people can overdo cardiovascular workouts, experts say. Doing aerobic activity for longer than 45 minutes causes cortisol levels in the bloodstream to rise.
The same thing happens when athletes weight train for longer than 60 minutes, forcing the body to go from building muscle to breaking it down and eating away at muscle cells.
In contrast, sprinting with gaps in between runs to recover, circuit weight training, agility drills or movements like lunges and squats release HGH and endorphins to eliminate discomfort associated with muscular tension.
To help client Gino Pellegrini retrain his body to manage stress through exercise, Ruiz designed a workout combining boxing with bouts of jumping rope and weight training.
Pellegrini owns a design company that builds tradeshow exhibits for high-profile companies like Lockheed Martin and Procter and Gamble.
“The work is so demanding because you are on deadline all the time and constantly on the road,” says Pellegrini, 42. “You have to provide customer service at the highest level every day, working 2 4/7, morning and night. I was not physically or mentally right to live up to the demands of the work. I was suffocating.”
Pellegrini started out booking only 30-minute sessions with Ruiz.
“I would show up there at 12:30 and not really be focused,” he said. “I would have to stop, look at the floor and really force myself to release all the anger and frustration hitting that bag.”
Even though the workouts were intense and Pellegrini admits he sometimes hated going, “You feel tired and good because of feeling like you did something good for you.”
Dianne Bailey, owner of the Conditioning Classroom in Centennial, stresses the importance of not just releasing cortisol but allowing the body time to recover, as well. Human growth hormone is created when we sleep and relax, replacing vitamins and nutrients, and muscle mass lost during duress.
“High, intense bursts of energy followed by recovery teach your body how to utilize stress,” says Bailey, a certified strength and conditioning specialist.
For example, in her kickboxing classes, she directs students to perform intervals of pounding on the bag and then lower the intensity by punching in the air.
Some home remedies
If you aren’t able to get to the gym, Bailey suggests using a weighted medicine ball while performing squats or side-to-side lunges. Sets of jumping jacks, marching or running-in-place or jumping rope for 60 seconds, followed by intervals of wall sits, chair push-ups or couch dips give the same results.
“If you repeat those motions in at least three sets of 10, it just takes seven minutes and you’ve quickly used up that energy and can now recover,” Bailey says.
Eating a well-balanced diet with healthy snacks sprinkled throughout the day is also a good idea. Skipping meals and eating irregularly increases cortisol levels, while too many carbohydrates releases extra cortisol and causes insulin spikes.
Consistent sleep combats the stress hormone, as well.
Since cortisol increases the heart rate and places stress on blood vessel walls, deep breathing or stretching exercises are tension busters, as well, Ruiz adds. Both increase energy levels by ramping up blood flow and relaxing tight muscles.
Pick the activity that works best for you, or follow up a boot camp workout with some meditation for a double tap approach to nixing stress.
“I’ve actually had clients start to stress out over which method they should be using to manage their stress,” Ruiz says. “The pressure becomes this never-ending cycle until I can work with people long enough to find out which method is most effective for them.”
Sheba R. Wheeler: 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com
