Cortisol — The Hormone Everyone’s Talking About
What is Cortisol? A steroid hormone that is released from the adrenal glands during times of stress.
Why is everyone talking about it? Because everyone seems to be stressed/ busy/ tired/ anxious… and every second person has been told they have ‘adrenal fatigue’ (by either themselves, a health professional or the internet!).
Don’t get me wrong, adrenal depletion and cortisol dysregulation are becoming increasingly common… but these labels shouldn’t be carried around like a trophy or dished out to anyone with deadlines.
The bigger questions should always be, how is stress impacting YOU and how do you restore the balance?
What does Cortisol do exactly?
Cortisol is an important stress modulator. We need cortisol so we can physiologically deal with stress.
Ideally, a healthy diurnal cortisol slope should resemble nice high heel shaped curve. This morning cortisol peak, usually peaks between 7-9am, and helps us cope with any stress the day might bring. Unfortunately however, the curve doesn’t look quite like this for everyone… and all sorts of daily patterns can occur.
Ideally, a healthy diurnal cortisol slope should resemble nice high heel shaped curve, peaking in the morning and declining as the day progresses.
Another important fact is that cortisol can’t be stored, which means it has to be made on demand. As soon as your adrenal glands (that sit on top of your kidneys) get a message from the brain (the pituitary gland secretes a hormone called ACTH), they have to make cortisol from scratch, right then and there!
So we don’t want any traffic jams on this super important road between the adrenals and the brain. In my world, traffic jams are all too common and this phenomenon is often referred to as ‘HPA-axis dysregulation’.
Beyond stress and overwhelm, cortisol can be impacted by many things, such as caffeine, excessive fasting, high intensity exercise, low sodium levels, inflammation, systemic acidity and even the pill. Cortisol does not distinguish between physical and emotional stress — and often cortisol imbalances are caused by several factors.
Can Cortisol be measured?
Sure can. Cortisol can be fairly accurately measured through saliva or blood, and although blood tests are convenient and a great starting point, salivary cortisol testing is preferable as it measures the free (or active) hormone.
Why chronic secretion of cortisol is detrimental.
Chronic cortisol secretion is now recognised to be the one of the biggest causes of cognitive decline, because an over-supply of cortisol can impair higher order thinking, creativity, memory and attention.
A recent study of more than 2,000 people, mostly in their 40’s, found those with the highest levels of cortisol performed worse on tests of memory, organisation, visual perception and attention. The link was particularly strong for women and was accompanied by physical changes in the brain. Not great news.
Not only this, the consistent over-production of cortisol has a marked impact on hormones such as testosterone and progesterone (and therefore fertility), digestive capacity, weight, immunity and cardiovascular health to name a few.
So how can you escape the cortisol culture?
1. When someone says,“how are you?”, resist the urge to say ”busy", because what other people might hear is “unavailable/not present/tired”. Instead, you might say “challenged/excited/productive/never a dull moment”. Become very aware of your language and change it up!
2. When you’re feeling rushed or overwhelmed, take 3 DEEP diaphragmatic breaths and choose composure. Doing this will not only help you through a period of overwhelm (physiologically), but is the quickest way to increase the chances of a positive or productive outcome.
3. Schedule in ‘de-loading’ phases (aka down time). Examples include writing, exercising, catching up with friends/family, reading (something other than a screen ideally), going camping, having routine tea breaks, meditation, time in nature, playing with the kids, baking, etc
4. Go easy on the stimulants. The stress response is absolutely exacerbated by eating poorly and relying on caffeine and sugar. The more stimulants you have, the more you feel you need, the more habituated you become, and the less effective stimulants will be. This ultimately means the cycle of fatigue accelerates.
5. Remember, you are mostly busy with what you say YES to, so learn to flex your “no muscle” a little more frequently.
Cortisol levels can also be lowered with adequate sleep, specific herbal medicines, exercise (especially low intensity exercise), socialising and meditation. All the lovely things 😉
Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash
Bottom Line
The capacity to cope with stress (and therefore our cortisol production) boils down to the cumulative impact/stress load of psychological, physiological, environmental and metabolic stressors; as well as our PERCEPTION of it.
There are many things in our lives we cannot control, but we can control how we respond to stress. By reshaping how you think about stress, you can literally change your body’s response (check out Kelly McGonigal’s TED talk if you haven’t already, it’s awesome).
There is zero benefit in stressing yourself out more because you know how bad stress is for you! Do something about it, and if you have something urgent do to, remember… there is always tomorrow.✌😊
Until next time,
Stacey.
*Article also published on Medium.
