The Hormone Cure

yoga lowered cortisol and raised mood,

Treatment protocol: I self-prescribed a softgel of fish oil (4,000 mg/day), phosphatidylserine (400 mg/day), and rhodiola. I started meditating twenty minutes per day five days a week.

Taken with gingko, rhodiola has been shown to lower cortisol and improve exercise endurance in men by increasing oxygen consumption and preventing fatigue. Rhodiola has been shown to be an effective treatment for depression. Personally, because I tend toward high cortisol, particularly in the morning, I take rhodiola at a dose of 200 mg once or twice per day.

been shown to reduce evening cortisol and stress-related eating, but only in overweight and obese women. Relora also reduces anxiety in premenopausal women. Dosage is 250 mg three times daily.

recommend the amount used in the randomized trial: 300 mg twice per day.

right thumb, and inhale through your left nostril while counting slowly to ten. Then hold your breath for a count of ten. Notice the sensations in your lower lungs and soft belly, particularly as you reach the higher numbers. Sit up straight, but keep your core soft. Move your right ring finger to cover your left nostril, release your thumb to uncover your right nostril, and exhale through your right nostril for a slow count to ten. Then inhale through your right nostril, and hold for a count to ten. Is the movement of air through the right nostril as smooth as it was through the left? Move your thumb back to cover your right nostril and exhale through your left. Repeat for three more rounds. Do this in traffic, on line at the grocery store, whenever you need a serenity boost.

The technique involves sitting on the floor and covering one nostril while breathing through the other. Cover your right nostril with your

Alternate-nostril breathing does four lovely things: lowers your pulse, reduces your blood pressure, raises the efficiency of your breathing, and, astonishingly, raises your ability to solve problems.75

mindfulness was shown to reduce stress and abdominal fat in overweight and obese women.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).