Feeling stressed is never fun. It affects everyone’s bodies differently but comes from the same hormone — cortisol. Understanding and controlling cortisol levels could help you retain more control over your comprehensive health. Learn all about the hormone to start improving your quality of life today.
What Is Cortisol?
Cortisol is a stress hormone synthesized from cholesterol in your adrenal glands. You might think it’s harmful because it makes you feel stressed, but it’s crucial for bodily functions. Learning to work alongside your cortisol production by managing it effectively helps people seeking long-term stress relief.
What Does Cortisol Do?
The human body uses cortisol in multiple ways when it flows through your bloodstream, including the following:
- Metabolising glucose
- Reducing inflammation
- Managing blood pressure
All these factors help you survive stressful or dangerous situations. Burning glucose gives you energy for fighting or fleeing danger. Maintaining blood pressure when you feel stressed means you won’t experience a sudden drop that makes you pass out. Cortisol can be helpful, but it’s also manageable when it’s not.
Cortisol Levels and Your Body
Numerous factors may influence your cortisol levels when you’re not in life-or-death situations. Consider if any occur in your life to determine how often your cortisol production spikes and how your body might function on a daily basis.
Your Circadian Rhythm
Everyone has a circadian rhythm. It’s how the brain maintains your daily cortisol production and energy cycle. The average sleep-wake cycle lasts around 24 hours but can get thrown out of sync. If you’re not sleeping well, your body may struggle to manage your cortisol production because it’s unsure where your system should be in that cycle.
Your Blood Sugar
Your blood sugar increases with your sugar intake. It’s how your body uses and stores the energy in your diet, but that changes with your cortisol production. Feeling stressed boosts your cortisol levels, making your body more insulin-resistant because it focuses on giving you instant energy for your survival. Remaining insulin-resistant long term puts you at a higher risk of diabetes complications.
Your Brain
If you’re in a life-or-death situation, your brain only wants you to survive. It sets all other functions aside to help you live, but you don’t need that if you feel stressed in your typical daily life. High cortisol production causes cognitive impairment when people can’t get it under control.
Tips for Controlling Cortisol
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Understanding your stress hormones is the first step in supporting your comprehensive health. Controlling cortisol comes next. Once you make a few lifestyle adjustments, you’ll get back in charge of your stress.
1. Ask for Help
Life’s challenges will always induce some level of unease. If you’re used to handling everything alone, try lowering your cortisol by asking for help.
Maybe a family member or friend could help you drive your kids to after-school activities. A co-worker could shoulder some of the responsibility of that big project you’re managing. Even the smallest amounts of help will ease the pressure adding to your overall stress.
2. Improve Your Sleep Routine
Your body might produce cortisol more efficiently if your circadian rhythm gets its full 24-hour cycle back. Avoid electronics right before bed since the light makes falling asleep difficult with bright visual stimulation. You could also eat dinner a bit earlier, find a more comfortable temperature for your bedroom or get a new pillow. You’ll likely fall asleep and stay that way throughout each night.
3. Develop Stress-Response Tools
Unfortunately, stress is an undeniable part of life. Controlling cortisol sometimes means developing stress-response tools you’ll use in real time. Acute breathing techniques significantly reduce cortisol readings during tense experiences. Follow a video to learn how breath control could become your favorite stress-fighting tool.
You could also build a supportive community with your friends or family members. If you can vent to someone who listens and offers help when you need it, you may relieve the mental tension causing the increase in your cortisol production.Â
4. Eat Healthier Food
Your diet influences your health, including your typical cortisol levels. While making other lifestyle adjustments, try adding more nutrients to your diet. Research shows that omega-3s minimize cortisol spikes during actively stressful moments if they’re already in your system before that stressor begins. Have fun trying new recipes with ingredients featuring your target nutrients, like fatty fish or plants.
5. Talk With Your Doctor
Chat with your doctor if you’re working on lifestyle habits and feel your stress is still high. You may have naturally elevated cortisol levels due to overactive adrenal glands. This can occur if your family history includes numerous loved ones who also had cortisol challenges.
Your doctor could point you toward the most effective lifestyle updates for your needs. They may also prescribe medication to target your adrenal glands in addition to the changes you’ve made at home.Â
Manage Your Hormones With Confidence
Understanding and controlling cortisol is possible. Learning more about how cortisol production works, what affects it and how you can help yourself will result in the most effective, stress-reducing treatment options. You’ll quickly gain more control over your hormones and your mental health just by trying something new.
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