Most athletes are vulnerable to both physical and psychological stress and this, it is well documented, eats away our performance. Those of us who accumulate demanding professional activities, family lives and our sports are particularly prone to stress-related loss of performance and disease.
Last year was a special one in this sense and I was hospitalized for 10 days with a serious case of spondylodiscitis (never to compete again, said the stupid doctors – I’m on my way to my third meet).
So, we decided to give special attention to stress, cortisol and immune supressive conditions (post-meet or otherwise). Rafael Knack, my doctor, prescribed 600-700mg phosphstidyserine/day.
I am sharing some of the promising evidence concerning its effect on stress and performance. I am using 10-12g soy lecithin as PS source for a few weeks already.
Results up to now:
1. Feel calm in spite of no changes in general context (stressors all around, screwed up situations, lazy people, etc)
2. Dieting is more predictable
3. Recovery seems faster
4. Sleep seems bettter
More later!
Since the early nineties, there has been increasing evidence concerning the ability of Phosphatidylserine to blunt cortisol responses to stress. This has special relevance to high performance athletics.
http://storify.com/mariliacoutinho/effects-of-phosphatidylserine-on-cortisol-levels-a