Stress and Training: Use the Science Without Self-Diagnosing
Updated: 23 hours ago
Stress physiology can help explain why training does not happen in isolation. It does not turn a difficult week into a diagnosis of a hormone disorder.
Keep the source clear
Robert Sapolsky's work, including the lecture course Stress and Your Body, explores the stress response in a wider biological and social context. It is useful educational material, not a personalised assessment or a simple list of hormones to optimise.
Look at the whole workload
Work, study, caregiving, illness, travel and training compete for time and recovery. Record what is happening alongside a drop in performance. A manageable response might be a change in session length or demand rather than another supplement.
Separate a mechanism from an outcome
Knowing that cortisol participates in a stress response does not tell you that it is the cause of an individual's symptoms. A blood result, symptom or proposed mechanism needs appropriate interpretation.
Plan with useful boundaries
A coach can help organise training around real constraints. Persistent fatigue, distress or other health concerns may need a clinician or mental-health professional. Exercise is not a substitute for that care.
Use stress science to make the plan more realistic. The practical question is what you can manage and review, rather than whether every demanding day has damaged your biology.
Sources and further reading
Related reading
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Updated November 2026.
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