Work Less Stressful than Home? Yes, Says Cortisol Testing

It’s funny… but if you ask most Americans which is more stressful work or home, work always gets the nod. But not so, says the British newspaper reporting on a study done by a California researcher, Arlie Hochschild.

She was curious why employees at Fortune 500 companies did not take advantage of flex time, part time, maternity leave and other family-friendly benefits. It seems many of us see work as an escape from family problems. In fact, 20% of those she interviewed said they felt more supported and appreciated at work.

Then, Penn State researchers took up Hochschild’s work and recruited 122 men and women, most with ‘good’ jobs (not minimum wage, with salaries between $35K and 75K) and used saliva testing (a la www.i-calq.com and www.MySanyx.com) to measure cortisol levels.

As reported in www.bizpsycho.com/tag/cortisol/: “Over a 3-day period each participant gave a saliva sample which was tested for the level of cortisol, a stress hormone.  Each participant was also asked 6 times a day how happy they felt and how much stress they were under. The researchers found that cortisol levels, a biological marker of stress, were significantly lower at work than at home, indicating lower levels of stress at work.

“Although this goes against the idea that work is stressful it supports the fact that people who work have better levels of mental and physical health than people who don’t work.”

According to Peak Biometric Research, the manufacturers of Sanyx, the physician-created ‘Stress Mitigating Compound’ designed to limit the effects of excess cortisol, “We’ve gotten a lot of anecdotal evidence from Sanyx users who test their cortisol levels with the i-calQ smartphone app (www.i-calQ.com). They say their cortisol is higher on weekends when we suppose they’re spending more time at home.”

Stress and resulting excess cortisol have been called the new American health epidemic. That may seem like an exaggeration, but when we see research like this, it makes you wonder if calling it an epidemic is pretty accurate.

Too Much Cortisol/Stress Means Not Enough Sex... Particularly for Women

Stress is not good for your sex life. But before you think it’s all about stress ruining the mood, researchers are saying that it’s more about the way your body handles stress, this according to the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Not surprisingly, cortisol levels play a role.

In a recent study, a sample of women were divided into two groups — a high-stress and average-stress — then measured their levels of arousal while they watched an erotic video.

The women in the high-stress group showed lower levels of genital arousal, higher levels of distraction, and higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which researchers hypothesize contributed to decreased physical arousal.

In other words, when your brain is preoccupied with stressful thoughts your below-the-belt area isn't primed to operate at peak performance.

Again, too much cortisol, not enough sexual arousal. Ironically, the best way to improve sexual arousal is to get some action. According to experts, having an orgasm is a great way to relieve stress.

Again, I think we all knew that.

Sanyx 101: Manage Stress and Cortisol for Heart Health

We all know that stress can cause a laundry list of health problems… mental and physical. Your hair can fall out, for example; your sleep patterns can be disrupted; your appetite can increase along with your waistline.

A recent study from The Netherlands showed that increased cortisol in the hair samples of older men and women was indicative of cardiovascular health. Essentially, higher cortisol and stress levels – can greatly increase your chance at sustaining future heart disease.

Over three months, researchers used scalp hair analysis to identify patterns in levels of cortisol in roughly 300 seniors aged 65 - 85. They found that those with elevated cortisol levels over a period of time were more likely to be at risk for cardiovascular disease, and they also were more likely to have a history of stroke, diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, and coronary heart disease.

"Because scalp hair can capture information about how cortisol levels have changed over time, hair analysis gives us a better tool for evaluating that risk,” said study co-author Laura Manenschijn, MD.

Bottom line: elevated cortisol levels show a strong link to cardiovascular disease.

And while the study was not related to lowering cortisol levels, it seems to follow that doing so, through the use of supplements like Sanyx, could have a positive effect on heart health, among other things.