A blog to help you optimize your full-body and life performance

As competitive fitness athletes, our drive to perform at our best runs deep. We choose to do the same workouts, in groups, at the same time. We time ourselves, write our scores on a whiteboard, and compare them to our classmates'. As “exercise racers," we embrace this, so much so, that we're often poked fun at for it. But this competitiveness is why we love the sport so much. It pushes us to places we never thought we could reach and allows us to do things we could never have imagined ourselves doing. It drives us to be better every day – right up until it doesn’t.

Sleeping through your alarm. Showing up unprepared to a presentation. Forgetting an important birthday. Getting stressed out just reading? I can relate. But by making my InsideTracker goal ‘Reduce Stress,’ tracking certain biomarkers, and making some lifestyle changes, I’ve been able to find relaxation, mindfulness, and balance in my fast-paced daily life. 

No one can deny that the feeling of fall can’t be beat. With temperatures finally going down and the prospect of apple picking right around the corner, it’s hard not to love the season. For some, though, the winding down of summer can also be a stressful time. Whether it be going back to school, the end of vacation, or changes at work as everyone returns from break and buckles down, fall introduces disruptions for most people that can throw off even the most resolute nutrition and wellness routines, and trigger weight gain.

A great way to decrease stress and control your weight and eating during times of transition is through mindful meditation. Although we at InsideTracker have found the research on weight loss to be too limited to make mindful meditation an official recommendation, we believe that it has great potential to help, and we are keeping a close eye on this exciting, developing field.

Just breathe. Chances are, you've heard that advice before. Chances also are, you're not doing it correctly. Whether you're involved in competitive sports and looking to maximize your performance, or just looking to feel better and more focused throughout your workday, breathing properly can help.

Joe DI, Director of Sport at Spartan Race, returns as our guest blogger for the third installment in a series of posts featuring his training expertise. This time, Joe discusses why breathing has become a focus of the performance world, why he ensures his athletes and coaches practice it, and how he integrates proper approaches to breathing into their routines in a practical way. In fact, studies have shown that diaphragmatic breathing can help workplace stress by reducing cortisol levels¹. 

Challenge yourself to follow Joe's guidance and focus on breathing the right way to improve your life, both on the field and off...

Being stressed out is a 21st century trend. If you're not stressed, you must be doing something wrong, right? If you're sleep-deprived, over-trained, and constantly busy, then you are deemed “super(wo)man.” Right? Well, that's wrong. When did this become the norm, and why do we think we can keep charging full speed ahead?

While we may tell ourselves that more is better, it is important to check in and see if our bodies can tolerate the way we are living. Ever been tired, but once you hit the bed you're suddenly wired? What about having a full night’s rest and waking up exhausted? This is not normal, despite the fact that many people experience such feelings. And we shouldn't trudge through life this way. Our stress hormone, cortisol, is a key component in these patterns, and it's important to understand what we are looking for when it comes to stress.

There’s no hiding it. We are stressed. If our users are representative of the U.S. population, we have a serious stress problem on our hands. From traffic and finances, to marital spats and annoying coworkers—we are feeling the pressure. 

Our personality types might even predispose us to go over the edge. Type A personalities may be beneficial for success in the business world, but a constant loop of every bad decision or thing you forgot to say for the past 20 years isn’t helpful, and it’s taking a toll on your health. We’ve found a supplement that might help! While it can’t change your circumstances or your personality, it can help your body deal with the stress a bit better.

How old are you?

Yes, that title is accurate. 

No, it’s not part of a cheap marketing gimmick or get-young-and-skinny scheme. I won’t be asking you to fork over cash for a bottle of dubious pills or useless bags of tea.

But it did make you stop and look, right? 

The current market interest for sleep tracking devices is exploding, and that bodes well for the wearable manufacturers. Sleep tracking is nothing new, but it is growing because consumers are better educated on the value of sleep to the brain and body. But probably also because we are an affluent, self-centered society. We all want data selfies, not just selfies. And we want to know what we look like when we sleep, even if all we see is a bunch of numbers.

We get a lot of questions about the uses of whey protein. As a result, we did some nitty-gritty research on how this protein can potentially impact levels of the 30 blood biomarkers that InsideTracker monitors. In this first blog post of a three-part series, we will explain research examining how the consumption of whey protein may be a valuable intervention in reducing chronic stress by regulating levels of cortisol and serotonin.

Before we do that, we will define what chronic stress actually is and then look at the chemical structures and physiological functions of whey protein, cortisol, and serotonin. Continue reading below to see the research and learn how InsideTracker can both monitor your biomarkers and provide you with well-researched interventions to get them to optimal levels.