The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind

by John Coates

Sports scientists and medical doctors know that our catabolic mechanisms, such as cortisol-producing cells, must be kept on a short leash. To repeat, a catabolic hormone is one that breaks down energy stores, such as muscle, for immediate use. Cortisol, as mentioned, is thus crucial in supplying us with energy when we mount an all-out physical or mental effort, but it is in many ways too powerful, and should be administered sparingly. By breaking down muscles and converting them into immediately usable forms of energy, cortisol in effect strip-mines our body for nutrients. If it is not turned off quickly, after a few days, a couple of weeks at the most, our body begins to disintegrate under its caustic influence. We come to suffer, as surveyed in the previous chapter, a broad range of physical ailments, as well as anxiety and a tendency to view events as threats rather than challenges.