Cortisol & Making Peace With This Stress Hormone

Cortisol, which you may think of as adrenalin, is a super tricky character.

It is the hormone that mobilises fuel in your body and sharpens you mentally. On one hand, it will get you up a mountain, help you swim for life, get you through your gym workout and help you to be clear and focused at work or during an exam. It is also a key player in digestion, your immune system (fighting off infections), your sex drive and emotional regulation.

On the other hand… it can also play a role in the depression of your other hormones, it can cause chronic inflammation, sugar cravings and cause anxiety. If cortisol levels stay disregulated for too long they will lead to weight gain (or loss, most often gain), disease and declining mental health.

So, you can see why this is a hormone that you want on your side, working for you, not against you. Welcome to the 13th (and final) episode in the harmonising hormones series. This article will give you the tools to understand the symptoms of disregulated cortisol levels and equip you with nutrition, mindset and lifestyle advice to help you get this hormone back in harmony, singing a more comfortable tune of health and vitality.

More on the biology of this hormone (skip if less interested in the science and more interested in the tools).

Cortisol is part of the glucocorticoid family meaning it is involved in raising your glucose. This is in fact the major role of cortisol, to mobilise fuel sources in your body by raising blood sugar, increasing blood pressure and managing inflammation levels.

Your body does release cortisol naturally in a diurnal rhythm, most of it in the earlier part of the day and tapering off towards the end. One of the most primal and basic level systems in our body is the ability to respond to a stressor (be it work demands, a workout or running from a disgruntled animal) by releasing more cortisol to cope with the demands of more fuel to deal with the task at hand. This is what you want.

We perceive stress through various parts of our brain including the amygdala, hypothalamus and hippocampus. You have a hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis (HPA-axis) that regulates this response. In an ideal scenario, the stressor will appear, your hypothalamus will communicate to the pituitary to then pass the message along to your adrenals to send a signal out to the cells which interact with cortisol. Fuel will be mobilised from either your muscle or liver glycogen (first) and then your stored fat (second). Your mind will also sharpen, becoming more alert to the current demands you are under and you will work your way through the stressor, coming back to a comfortable baseline. The cortisol release is meant to signal to the HPA that the situation is under control and no more cortisol need to sent out. Often, the stress does not dissipate.

Imagine this, an alarm goes off (ouch, cortisol spike), you race towards that High Intensity Training class at a gym (more cortisol), rush home, down some cortisol inducing coffee, cram your way into some traffic (cortisol has no chance to let up) and then your job places higher demands on your need for cortisol as you perceive more stress and pressure. This chronic, consistent drop of cortisol will mean elevated blood pressure, heightened anxiety as well as a depressed immune system and depressed levels of other hormones*. Over time you can see how these changes will lead to heart disease, inflammation, infection and poor mental health. This overactivity can also lead to under activity if balance is not achieved as the system becomes taxed, leading to symptoms of both low and high cortisol in a horrific sea-saw. The wired but tired feeling sets in, motivation lapses, sex drive decreases and sleep suffers. Fertility is also seriously harmed by chronic elevation of this hormone.

To top it all off, excess cortisol will age you faster, shortening your telomeres, messing your blood glucose levels and damaging neurons in your brain.

Symptoms of high cortisol: five or more of any of the below from either bucket signal dysregulated cortisol in which case you should seek further testing and support to bring these levels back in balance.

High stress

wired yet tired

unable to wind down befroe bed

difficulty falling or staying asleep

anxiety or nervousness

quick to anger

memory lapse or feeling distracted

sugar cravings

increased abdominal fat

eczema or thin skin

bone loss

high blood sugar

indigestion or GERD

ulcers

difficulty recovering

unexplained pink or purple stretch marks on belly or back

irregular mentral cycles

decreased fertility

Symptoms of low cortisol:

fatigue or burn out

loss of stamina (afternoon crash)

negative affect

easy to cry or melt

decreased problem solving ability

feeling highly stressed or experincing low stress tolerance

insomnia or difficulty staying asleep

Low blood pressure

postural hyper tension (standing up and feeling dizzy)

difficulty fighting infection or coming back from colds, wounds healing

low or unstable blood sugar

salt cravings

nausea, vommiting or constipation

muscle weakness or joint pain

hemorrhoids or varicose veins

irregular or rapid heart beat, history of low thyroid

I would like to seek professional health coaching to work through my stress and cortisol levels

How can you balance and optimise:

Using mindset and lifestyle modifications.

We can’t always control work, traffic or other commitments that can lead to stress. We can control how we respond though, our stress appraisal tactics. Consider this, there are two animals racing through the Savanah, both are releasing cortisol, both have their blood pressure up, both are panting, both are in a state of stress. However, one is the gazelle and one is the lion. Channeling a perception that you are the lion, you have some control and you are capable of the the challenge will do much to decrease your cortisol and help you come back to baseline sooner. Adopting a “I want this challenge” mindset is supremely helpful in circumstances were we are not able to say no or set boundaries. Setting boundaries and saying no, however are great antidotes to the modern lifestyle. This doesn’t just mean saying no to your boss or a work event. It can look like not taking on debt for the fancy car, not feeling like you have anything to prove by spending all your money of clothes and superfluous items. These things we think we need can often become a noose around our neck, sticking us in situations that lead to stress as we endeavour to pay them off.

Using nutrition and supplementation:

Your foundation should be complex grains like rice and oats, lean proteins and whole, fresh, fruits and vegetables.
Both vitamin c (750mg/day) and b vitamins (prioritise 500mg of b5 daily) are important to prioritise when dealing with high cortisol. Potassium (200-300mg/day), iron (14mg/day) and the amino acids tyrosine, lysine and arginine also support a system depleted by stress. So snacking on things like oranges, eggs and throwing a capsicum into your salad alongside some shredded chicken and parmeson cheese will help the cause.
anti-inflammatory omega 3s (aim for 2g/day) will also support your system as stress can lead to inflammation which is a cause of stress’s indirect affects like getting sick. Phosphatidylserine (300-400mg/day) will support your cognition and sleep in times of high stress.
Adaptogens are so called because they help your body ‘adapt’. The best evidence backed adaptogens for stress include maca, rhodiola, ashwaghanda and ginseng (If you have other hormonal imbalances, be careful when using adaptogens as they can have affects on your other hormones). These adaptogens can be mixed into smoothies or even the delicious chocolate balls you see to your left (recipe below!)

Healing Dark Chocolate Cashew Balls

Poking about in the dark when you need specific nutrition advice sucks! Click this button to find out about dedicated nutritionist support for high cortisol

This was the final article in the Harmonising Hormones series. Yes, there are so many variables involved in balancing your hormones and it can feel like a lot to jump on. Let this knowledge and awareness empower, rather than overwhelm you and know that even taking small steps where you can will help you in achieving your best health.

Notes:

*your body will always prioritise cortisol over the other hormones because it is involved in survival. If your body perceive a threat to your life it will not be as concerned maintaining levels of oestrogen, progesterone or testosterone. These hormones will be deemed less necessary in your fight to make it through a stressor.

Share this:

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply