Study says this is the real reason you're not seeing workout results — and it's not 10,000 steps
If you're careful with your diet and exercise regime but still aren't seeing results, there could be something holding you back — and I'm not talking about your daily step count.
Research conducted by Welltech has identified a factor that could mean even the most consistent workout routine may fall short: stress.
In the past year alone, Welltech identified over 474K searches for stress management, and there currently seems to be a disconnect between mental health and its impact on physical performance.
David J. Sautter, a personal trainer and performance specialist who works with Welltech, discusses how stress might disrupt your recovery, increase cortisol levels and affect overall exercise results. Here's what he (and the research) had to say.
What is the research?
Welltech's raw data suggests that over 869K online searches had been made between 2024 and 2025 for topics like: 'Why am I not losing weight despite exercising and eating well?'
Comparing the data across the 50 most populous cities in the UK, they assessed active population and search volume around frustration with exercise progress.
Separately, Welltech compared UK population data with annual search volume for stress management terms. This was designed to show search interest compared to the number of active people per area.
Of the 50, 12 cities were excluded from the results. From this, Welltech published an article to say that while experts don't claim stress is the absolute cause, it is a key contributor, and we're looking down the barrel of over 400K searches for stress management in the past year alone.
Does stress affect exercise performance?
Sautter explains that consistently high levels of stress elevate cortisol, one of the primary fight-or-flight hormones. Over time, this can disrupt the ability to sleep (read: Struggling to sleep after exercise? Experts recommend doing these two things), hinder muscle repair and contribute to performance plateaus and injuries.
'Training isn't just about muscles,' adds Sautter. 'It's about your nervous system. Pushing through a high-intensity workout when you're emotionally drained can backfire. More importantly, if you keep forcing yourself to perform workouts you don't enjoy, then you're setting yourself up to mentally associate exercise with feeling terrible.'
We also know that the stress hormone cortisol can contribute to fat storage, particularly around the stomach, known as "cortisol belly." In turn, this may be associated with metabolic problems long-term, including insulin resistance. When you are stressed, you may also be more likely to eat badly, sleep less, or avoid workouts altogether.
One literature review found that the majority of studies it assessed showed stress can impair physical activity efforts. It concluded that "habitually active" individuals exercise more during stressful periods, whereas those in the beginning stages exercise less. As a result, stress could impact taking up exercise, maintaining a routine, or relapsing.
Remember, exercise is brilliant for supporting your physical and mental health...
According to Sautter, low-intensity exercise can be beneficial when stress levels are high, helping to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
He recommends zone 2 cardio, yoga, swimming, Pilates, or cycling, along with breathing exercises, which are great for shifting the body away from fight-or-flight into rest-and-repair. I personally recommend these 3 breathing exercises for beginners to help you get started.
Remember, exercise is brilliant for supporting your physical and mental health, and when you find a workout routine that works for you, it can help bust stress and boost mood. Physical activity releases endorphins and helps manage cortisol levels, which, in turn, can improve sleep hygiene.
Sautter says that adjusting your routine to how you're feeling or your 'cortisol rhythm' is actually a good thing, rather than just pushing through. 'More training isn't the answer,' he says. 'Smarter training with a focus on healing your nervous system is.'
To help combat this, Welltech created a sweat-stress ratio, a tool that helps assess your current workouts and stress levels and adjust your routine accordingly based on nine personality types.
The ratio looks at stress levels (low, moderate and high) and exercise frequency. For each profile, sports medicine doctor Tetiana Terschenko offers her advice on tailoring your routine.
Bottom line
Removing stress completely from the picture isn't feasible, but you can strike a better balance. If you get that balance right, exercise is fantastic for managing stress long-term.
Welltech recommends adjusting your workout intensity and slowing down if you think you might need to. During high-stress events, low-intensity movement can help. Shifting workouts to earlier in the day can also help energy levels and improve sleep latency (how quickly you fall asleep at night).
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
More from Tom's Guide
What's the best exercise for menopause?
3 reasons you're not building strength in the gym
Forget push-ups — according to a scientist, these are the only two upper-body exercises you'll ever need
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
One in four US adults with diabetes used a GLP-1 drug last year, survey finds
By Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) -More than one in four U.S. adults with diabetes used one of the injectable medicines that target the GLP-1 protein last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The wildly popular and effective GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro from Eli Lilly and Ozempic from Novo Nordisk are approved in the United States for treating type 2 diabetes. They are sold as Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively, for weight loss and are being tested for other conditions. Use of the injectable drugs was highest among adults with diabetes aged 50–64 at 33.3%, reflecting the more significant disease burden in this group, the report said. A quarter or 25.3% of adults with diabetes aged 18 to 34 reported using a GLP-1 drug, while the adoption rate was 20.8% among those 65 and older. The data are from a nationally representative annual survey of U.S. adults aged 18 and older that was conducted in person and with follow-up by phone in 2024. In 2024, for the first time, participants in the annual survey who had diabetes were asked if they were using the Lilly or Novo blockbusters or other GLP-1 drugs to lower blood sugar or lose weight. The drugs mimic the activity of a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels, slows digestion and helps people feel full for longer. Drugmakers Lilly and Novo have faced criticism about the cost of the treatments, which carry a list price of about $1,000 for a month's supply. Roughly 31% of survey participants who reported using insulin also reported using GLP-1 drugs, as did about 28% of patients who were using oral drugs to control their blood sugar, according to the report, indicating that these treatments are being integrated into combination regimens. Hispanic adults with diabetes had the highest rate of GLP-1 use, at 31.3%, followed by Black non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic adults, at 26.5% and 26.2%, respectively, the survey found. Only 12.1% of Asian non-Hispanic adults with diabetes used the drugs, which may reflect disparities in access or adoption of the therapies. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Southampton-born author to release book on nature's chemistry
A Southampton author is set to release his latest book with the Royal Society of Chemistry. Born and bred in the city, Dr Michael Freemantle's book, Nature's Amazing Chemistry, will be released next week. The science writer said: "The book is aimed at the general reader who is intrigued by the chemistry of our existence and the planet we live on." To purchase the book, visit Amazon at READ MORE: Mock the Week comedian to perform at The Point in Eastleigh Talking about the book, he added: "The chapters in this book sketch examples of my own fascination with nature's awesome chemistry. "They cover an eclectic and fairly random choice of topics, often triggered by curiosity, for example, while out walking, watching TV documentaries, reading the scientific literature – or by just looking out of my study window at the world outside." Michael went to King Edwards VI School in Hill Lane and is an ardent Saints supporter.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The worst drinks for microplastic contamination revealed
Microplastics are all around us – in the air we breathe, in seas and rivers, they're found in the guts of sharks, and inside growing plants. They're also inside humans, too: in our blood, accumulating in our brains, and even in our testicles. So it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that one of the key means of entering the body is through the fluids we drink. Previous studies have established that microplastics are present in both tap water and bottled water, but new research has revealed that hot drinks may be an even bigger source of microplastics than was previously realised. A research team at the University of Birmingham tested 155 common soft drinks, including hot and cold drinks, for microplastics to get a picture of average human exposure through a realistic spectrum of daily drinks available in one country. The study, believed to be the first of its kind, found the highest concentrations of microplastics were in hot tea and hot coffee. The study also tested iced tea and coffee for microplastics, but found significantly less, suggesting the high temperatures and processes used for making hot drinks contribute to the levels of microplastics which end up in the product. The team assessed 31 different types of drinks in total from popular UK brands, all bought from supermarkets and coffee shops in 2024. These included hot and iced coffee, hot and iced tea, juices, energy drinks, and soft drinks. The samples were filtered, and then microplastic counts were determined through microscope imaging. Cold drinks were filtered immediately, while hot drinks were allowed to cool for 30 minutes before analysis. Hot tea in disposable cups contained the highest level of microplastics (MPs), averaging 22MPs per cup, compared to 14MPs per cup for glass cups. More expensive teabags leached the greatest amount of plastic, the study found, averaging 24 to 30MPs per cup. Similarly, the research team said that for hot coffee, their findings "strongly suggest that the disposable cup material is a primary source of [microplastics] in our hot coffee samples'. As not all samples were cup-sized, the team expressed their overall findings in microplastics per litre. Hot tea: 49 to 81 MPs per litre Hot coffee: 29 to 57 MPs per litre Iced tea: 24 to 38 MPs per litre Iced coffee: 31 to 43 MPs per litre Fruit juice: 19 to 41 MPs per litre Energy drinks: 14 to 36 MPs per litre Soft drinks: 13 to 21 MPs per litre The authors said their study "proves for the first time that assessment of exposure via drinking water only may substantially underestimate the risk" posed to humans by higher microplastics prevalence in other drinks. The same team published research in 2024, revealing the average microplastics concentration in tap water (24 to 56 MP per litre) was 'statistically indistinguishable" from that in bottled water (26 to 48 MP per litre). Professor Mohamed Abdallah from the University of Birmingham, who was one of the lead authors of the new research, told The Independent: "We noted that a lot of research in the microplastics sphere is focusing on drinking water – tap water, bottled water – and we've also released a paper from the UK on water. But we realised that people don't only drink water during their day. You drink tea, coffee, juices... "We found a ubiquitous presence of microplastics in all the cold and hot drinks we looked at. Which is pretty alarming, and from a scientific point of view suggests we should not only be looking at water, we should be more comprehensive in our research because other sources are substantial." He added: "We're consuming millions of teas and coffees every morning so it's something to definitely look at. There should definitely be legislative action from the government and also from international organisations to limit human exposure to microplastics … they're everywhere." The authors said the new research "serves as a critical step towards better understanding of the extent of MPs exposure under real-life scenarios, and advocates for more comprehensive studies for accurate risk assessment of MPs intake via dietary sources, to enable broader environmental and public health interventions".
