Exercise can help us reduce stress as it encourages the body to release endorphins and, in the long-term, reduces circulating levels of stress hormone cortisol.

The catch-22 is that your cortisol levels actually spike while you’re training, particularly during intense workouts. “Exercise is incredible for our wellbeing, but it is a form of physical stress on the body particularly when done at high intensities or for longer periods of time,” explains exercise physiologist and nutritionist Sarah Liz King.

That’s where some of us might be going wrong. “It’s easy to fall into the ‘more is always better’ mentality, and that’s where high cortisol levels can become a problem.

“Moderate and high-intensity exercise release higher amounts of cortisol, which activates the sympathetic nervous system leading to a ‘fight or flight’ response. While a little bit of cortisol isn’t bad, if too much floats around our body either as a result of too much physical stress from exercise or psychological stress from life, it can have negative impacts on our overall wellbeing,” explains King.

Can ‘cortisol conscious’ workouts help your physical and mental health?