Exploring the stress-muscle connection, practical ways to maintain your muscle, Austin recap, and more!!

I wanted to find a way to create a deeper connection with my followers and provide more insights into the content I share on other platforms. I'm excited to give you all a closer, more personal look into my world—sharing insights from my life, my research, and work.

⬇️ What To Expect from First Touch 013⬇️

• 🥊 The Stress and Muscle Connection

• 💪 How to Maintain Healthy Muscle Mass

• 🤍 Austin Meetup Recap

One of the best indicators of longevity is muscle mass.

In fact, of all the biomarkers we can measure, few are as consistently predictive of long-term survival as muscle mass.

Low muscle mass, a condition known as sarcopenia, is often thought of as primarily affecting the elderly. As we age, muscle mass decreases. This decline typically begins in the 30s and accelerates after age 60. If left unaddressed, it can lead to frailty, impaired immunity, slower recovery from illness, and increased risk of death.

• A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that higher muscle mass index was associated with lower all-cause mortality in older adults, independent of fat mass and other health factors.

• Research from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicated that individuals with low muscle mass had a higher risk of mortality, regardless of their BMI category.

Whenever we talk about muscle mass, the conversation is centered on exercise and protein intake.

But I believe one of the main reasons muscle mass is such a strong indicator of longevity is because it indirectly reflects the balance of cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone.

Cortisol is a catabolic, meaning it breaks down tissues rather than building them. Its main job is to mobilize energy reserves when the body experiences stress. This stress can be mental, physical, or biochemical. This could be anything from emotional strain to toxin exposure, nutrient deficiencies, infections, or drops in blood sugar.

When stress occurs, cortisol levels rise to make sure cells have enough immediate energy to manage the threat. It does this largely by raising blood sugar—and in fact, cortisol's chemical classification, "glucocorticoid," reflects this (gluco = glucose, corticoid = steroid hormone).

The body always needs a baseline level of glucose because certain tissues, like the brain, red blood cells, and parts of the kidney and retina, cannot function without it. Once the body has depleted its available carbohydrates (dietary or stored glycogen), cortisol triggers a process called gluconeogenesis.

Gluconeogenesis means “making new glucose.” It’s a metabolic process that takes non-carbohydrate sources, primarily proteins, and converts them into glucose in the liver. Because the body can’t convert fat into glucose, it needs to break down lean muscle tissue to convert amino acids to glucose.

In other words, under chronic stress and insufficient nutrition, the body cannibalizes its own muscle to survive.

While gluconeogenesis is a critical survival mechanism in the short term, it becomes damaging when activated chronically. Over a lifetime, the damage from continuous muscle breakdown can compound. Cortisol tends to increase with age, which may be why we see sarcopenia in older populations.

So, maintaining muscle mass signals that the body has been under relatively lower chronic stress, has better hormone balance, and has been able to preserve one of its most valuable biological reserves. Muscle reflects far more than physical strength.

So, what can we do to optimize muscle mass and prevent tissue breakdown?

To truly preserve muscle and prevent tissue breakdown, we have to keep stress low.

The body doesn’t build or lose muscle at random. It’s not something that suddenly happens when we hit a certain age. It’s the result of patterns: years of stress, poor sleep, skipped meals, blood sugar crashes, inflammation.

When cortisol is elevated over time, that wear and tear shows up in our tissue.

You can eat perfectly and train consistently, but if cortisol is calling the shots, your body will keep losing what you’re trying to protect. 

A few strategies to support muscle mass: 

Eat enough carbohydrates. Most people think of protein when they think about muscle. But to avoid cortisol secretion, we have to maintain blood sugar levels. Drops in blood sugar trigger a spike in cortisol to correct the deficit. So when carbohydrates are eaten consistently throughout the day, blood sugar stabilizes and the body stays in a more anabolic, muscle-preserving state.

It’s also important to note that the body can’t directly use protein as energy. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, amino acids from protein aren’t designed to directly make ATP (energy) —they’re meant for building and repair.

So to preserve lean tissue and allow dietary protein to do its real job, we need to provide an energy source. Supplying the body with glucose prevents the need for gluconeogenesis and ensures that protein is spared and instead is used where it’s needed most: recovery, growth, and maintenance of muscle mass. We need both dietary protein and carbs.

(A few of my fav carb sources are fruit, orange juice, rice, potatoes, sourdough, honey,a and maple syrup. 🍒)

Eat enough protein. Protein provides the raw materials (amino acids) needed to build and maintain muscle. As we age, we become less efficient at using protein to stimulate muscle growth, a phenomenon known as anabolic resistance. This means we need not only adequate protein intake, but also consistent, high-quality sources spaced throughout the day. Some of my favorite sources are eggs, dairy, meat, fish, and collagen-rich foods.

Make sure DHEA levels are balanced. One of the key functions of DHEA, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, is to act as a natural antagonist to cortisol. While cortisol breaks down muscle tissue during catabolic states, DHEA promotes anabolic repair, supports protein synthesis, and helps the body recover from physical and metabolic stress.

In lab tests, DHEA-to-cortisol ratio is often measured and considered a key indicator of stress, resilience, recovery capacity, and biological aging.

DHEA levels peak in early adulthood and gradually decline with age. Chronic illness, overtraining, poor sleep, and long-term psychological stress can accelerate this drop. Supporting healthy DHEA levels through quality sleep, regular sunlight exposure, moderate exercise, blood sugar stability, and stress management can help maintain levels. In some cases, low-dose DHEA supplementation may be helpful, but it should be used only at physiological levels (levels the body naturally produces). Raena offers a 5 mg or 10 mg option.

Creatine. Creatine is a compound derived from amino acids that helps preserve muscle mass.

In the muscle, it binds with phosphate to form phosphocreatine, an energy reserve that helps regenerate ATP (energy). This becomes critical during short bursts of activity, such as resistance training, which sends a strong anabolic signal to preserve lean tissue. The more phosphocreatine your muscles can store, the better they perform under pressure, and the better they resist fatigue and catabolism.

Creatine also helps minimize protein degradation, improve cellular hydration (which helps maintain muscle volume), and buffer metabolic stress. Studies have shown it enhances mitochondrial efficiency, reduces oxidative stress, and lowers inflammatory markers, all of which support muscle integrity and recovery.

Researchers have consistently found that creatine monohydrate supplementation can help maintain or even increase muscle mass, particularly in older adults, those recovering from illness or injury, and individuals facing conditions like sarcopenia or cachexia.

For supplementation: https://perfectlyhealthy.com/products/creatine

Make sure testosterone levels are balanced. Testosterone promotes muscle growth by increasing protein synthesis, enlarging muscle fibers, and reducing tissue breakdown. Men naturally have higher levels than women, which helps explain their greater muscle mass and faster recovery from physical exertion. But women need testosterone too.

When testosterone is low, the body becomes more prone to muscle breakdown, fatigue, and insulin resistance. It also struggles to counteract the catabolic effects of cortisol.

To maintain healthy testosterone, the body needs consistent cues of strength and safety. This includes resistance training (even 2–3 sessions a week), quality sleep, and stable blood sugar. Nutrients like zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, cholesterol, and saturated fat are also essential building blocks for testosterone production.

Weight training and exercise. Muscle atrophy also happens with disuse. The body is efficient, and if a tissue isn’t being used, it’s slowly dismantled. To prevent muscle loss, we need to give the body a reason to keep it. Resistance training, even at low intensity, activates the pathways that tell muscle to grow, repair, and stay active. Strength training also helps regulate blood sugar, improve insulin sensitivity, and support mitochondrial energy production—all of which are crucial for keeping muscle intact. Just 2 to 4 sessions a week of resistance training can prevent atrophy. I personally like to lift weights a few times a week to maintain my muscle mass. :)

Austin Meetup Recap!

Last week I visited Austin for the Beljanski Integrative Cancer Conference.

It was an honor to speak at the conference and receive an award from the best integrative cancer in the USA.

I don’t take moments like this lightly. It means a lot to be recognized, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share my work— with the hope that it makes a difference for patients, families, and the future of integrative cancer care.

To learn more about the Beljanski Foundation you can visit here: https://www.beljanski.org/ 🤍

On Sunday, I also had the opportunity to meet up with some of my followers from Instagram!

Thank you to everyone who showed up. It meant so much to me; I loved getting to meet you all and connect in person after so many conversations online.

I share information on social media to make what I’ve learned available to those who need it. But meeting in person and hearing your stories reminded me why this work matters.

I’m so grateful for this community, and for the time we got to share.

(Thank you, also, to our sponsors who brought snacks for the meetup (Pure Jerky Co / Quinton Minerals ) and to Mayan (@mindfulmayan) who led us in meditation!)

Hoping to meet more of you soon!🫶 

Love ❤️,

Dr. C