
We hear a lot about cortisol, the “stress hormone,” on social media lately. Cortisol has change into a buzz phrase within the well being and health business—a part of a cautionary story used to warn ladies away from intense bouts of train they age.
From fear-mongering posts about the way it’s ruining your well being to questionable recommendation from “hormone coaches” promoting dear dietary supplements and restrictive diets—it may be laborious to separate truth from fiction.
That’s why we introduced in the skilled, Dr. Carla DiGirolamo—a Board Licensed Obstetrician/Gynecologist, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Menopause Society Licensed Practitioner, and health fanatic (to not point out a CrossFit coach and authorized vitamin coach). She’s spent her profession serving to lively ladies—from puberty to menopause—optimize their psychological and bodily efficiency. Yep, she’s principally a rockstar in terms of understanding hormones and training high-performing ladies.
This week’s episode of The Match Bottomed Women Podcast is all about cortisol—the misunderstood “stress hormone” everybody likes to hate. We’re reducing by means of the noise, debunking myths, and exploring how cortisol performs a essential position in your well being, health, and total resilience. Collectively, Dr. Carla and I sort out the dialog all of us want to listen to about cortisol, ladies’s well being, and the reality behind these viral hormone claims.
Significantly, this week’s episode is one for the books.

Right here’s why we’re obsessive about this episode:
Dr. Carla’s analogy of cortisol because the trombone in a a lot bigger orchestra will utterly change the way in which you consider hormones, stress, and well being. (Spoiler alert: it’s not all about cortisol!) She additionally dives into sensible methods to dial down stress, get better higher, and keep sturdy as you age.
Actual Speak: Restoration Issues
Restoration isn’t only a checkbox after a exercise—it’s the place enchancment truly occurs. Whether or not it’s dialing in your vitamin, prioritizing sleep, or lastly studying to like your cool-down routine, restoration helps you keep resilient and prepared on your subsequent problem.
Don’t skip this one if…
✅ You’ve been freaked out by cortisol content material on social media.
✅ You wish to know tips on how to be stronger (and more healthy) as you age.
✅ You’re inquisitive about how hormones affect your stress and efficiency.
Tune in now to listen to Dr. Carla’s unimaginable insights and sensible recommendation!
👉 Listen to the Full Episode Right here
👉 Watch the episode on YouTube
What You’ll Be taught in This Episode:
- Cortisol isn’t the villain—it’s important for all times and health. It’s the hormone that helps you sort out challenges, whether or not that’s a tricky exercise or life stress. Nevertheless, it’s all about returning your stress response system to baseline after activation.
- Cease worrying about “spiking your cortisol.” You want cortisol to be aware of outdoors stressors so as to survive. As a substitute, begin specializing in returning your stress response system to baseline usually by means of confirmed down-regulation methods like meditation, leisure walks, light or stress-free yoga.
- Burnout isn’t attributable to cortisol—it’s attributable to power stress. Dr. Carla shares tips on how to tackle what’s triggering your elevated stress fairly than blaming cortisol itself.
- Why getting older adjustments the sport. Restoration will get trickier as ladies age as a result of adjustments in resilience and hormonal shifts, however correct restoration methods can hold you thriving. Energy coaching, vitamin, and aware restoration are extra necessary than ever.
- The bounds of hormone testing. Single snapshots from blood exams might be deceptive! Dr. Carla explains why you must give attention to the larger image of your well being.
- Below-fueling = underperforming. Below-eating can truly be a giant reason for persistent inner stress and elevated cortisol ranges. Vitamin fuels your physique for exercises and restoration.
About Dr. Carla DiGirolamo
Dr. Carla DiGirolamo is a double Board-Licensed Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist specializing in caring for lively and high-performing ladies from puberty by means of menopause. Dr. Carla accomplished her residency coaching in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brown College Medical Faculty/Ladies and Infants’ Hospital and Reproductive Endocrinology fellowship coaching on the Massachusetts Common Hospital at Harvard Medical Faculty.
Dr. Carla has 20 years of expertise as a fertility specialist and extra just lately as a Menopause Society Licensed Practitioner. She can also be an endocrine guide for Wild Well being and Everlasting Life. She has been featured in Boston Journal’s Prime Docs within the Boston space for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Dr. Carla has been featured in a number of podcasts and speakerships at varied occasions discussing the physiology of the hormonal adjustments of menopause, hormone remedy, and optimizing bodily efficiency in elite and avid leisure feminine athletes. Dr Carla can also be the writer of a number of programs together with the “Menopause Health Specialist” course with MedFit Classroom, and the “Robust” and” Navigate Menopause” programs with Feisty Media.
Dr. Carla has been within the health business her complete life as a leisure athlete and for greater than a decade as a health skilled with credentials as a CrossFit Degree 1 Coach and Licensed Vitamin Coach. As a pioneer in Ladies’s Efficiency Endocrinology, she makes a speciality of optimizing psychological and bodily efficiency in ladies in high-performance professions and feminine athletes of all ages.
Dr. Carla has a weblog by means of Substack referred to as “Athletic Getting old”. https://www.athleticaging.weblog/ and her second publication “Efficiency Edge” https://www.performanceedge.weblog/ launched in February 2023
Observe Dr. Carla
Web site: https://www.drcarlad.com/
Fb: https://www.fb.com/carla.digirolamo.14
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_carla_d/
Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-digirolamo-0109b8103/
Sponsor Shoutout
This episode was dropped at you by Miles to Go Athletics. Take our app-based coaching neighborhood for a two-week no obligation take a look at drive right here.
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Do you assume cortisol is your enemy? Suppose once more. –Alison