Satisfaction by Berns Gregory

Author:Berns, Gregory [Berns, Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2010-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

7

Running High

The cortisol high didn’t last long. By nine o’clock, I was crashed out in a sweaty, tired heap, not unlike my kids, who, just four hours earlier, had bounded up to meet me. The dinner that seemed so wonderful remained lodged in my stomach. I diagnosed myself as having all the symptoms of a mild case of adrenal insufficiency: nausea, fatigue, and weakness. Not so different from a hangover.

The next day, Mike ran the salivary cortisol assays. For three hours following ingestion, my cortisol levels were raised to ten to twenty times what is normal for that time of day. Mike’s workout—without the benefit of artificial elevation—was almost as impressive, resulting in cortisol levels five to ten times higher than normal. Considering that I took the daily amount of secreted cortisol in one dose, and that cortisol has a half-life of a few hours, my values were about as expected.1

Enlightening as my experience was, it is not a viable path to activities that would prove satisfying in the long run. A catabolic steroid, cortisol has degenerative effects on several body systems. Patients with conditions that require the long-term use of steroids like hydrocortisone suffer a panoply of side effects, including weight gain, gastrointestinal bleeding, diabetes, hypertension, and bone loss. But as Mike’s workout demonstrated, there are other ways to release cortisol besides consuming it orally.

Any stressor, especially a physical one, results in the release of cortisol. The biochemical interaction of cortisol and dopamine in the striatum suggests that these two chemicals are involved in the achievement of satisfaction, perhaps even transcendence. Alone, neither compound can provide a state resembling satisfaction. Dopamine may be associated with transient euphoria, but you need cortisol to get that satisfying feeling. And because cortisol is released most effectively by stressful situations, the road to satisfying experiences must necessarily pass through the terrain of discomfort.

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