After I finished the "Walking is Your Superpower" newsletter, I was confident that it was my favorite. Until I wrote this one.
Working in the world of health professions, I like to think that I am up to date on all of the current health and fitness fads. Cortisol levels are currently getting a lot of hype in the hormone health world. This was a topic that I knew about, but hadn't given too much thought until lately. Understanding cortisol is important, but after putting this together, I think understanding the natural effects we have on it might be even more important. Today's world feeds into chronic stress and chronically high cortisol levels. It is perfectly normal (and super important!) to have increased cortisol levels in periods of stress, but it is not normal (or healthy!!) to have chronically high cortisol levels. Knowing some of our lifestyle choices that feed into this, can only help you balance your levels, body and possibly even eliminate other symptoms.
Cortisol and Stress
Cortisol is an essential hormone that effects almost every organ in your body. It is one of our body's stress hormones, and even considered the main one. So how does it work? When the brain is notified of stress, a chain reaction is put into play causing the release of cortisol. Cortisol then acts to increase heart rate and blood pressure for more alertness to respond to the stress. It also creates an increased in glucose to the blood stream to give you a burst of energy. It further acts to suppress non- essential functions such as digestion and reproduction (hello constipation, IBS and period problems) in order to direct all of your body's resources to the act on the stress. Amazing. Especially when life was a little simpler and we just needed to run from a tiger or fire. Unfortunately, today there are many more stressors, and constant stressors, that can kick this response system into constant over drive.
Other Functions of Cortisol
Cortisol also helps to control your body's use of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, otherwise known as your metabolism. It helps to regulate your blood sugar levels. When these are low, cortisol helps to elevate them.
Cortisol helps to control our sleep wake cycle by spiking when you first get up and then slowly decreasing throughout the day. Normal cortisol levels are highest in the morning, between 6-8am.
Inflammation & Immunity
In short bursts, cortisol helps to suppress inflammation which then helps to improve immunity. When your body is accustomed to having constantly high levels of cortisol, it can negatively effect your immunity and actually weaken your immune system.
Signs of High Cortisol Levels
Most of these symptoms can be attributed to many things, but they can also be a sign of high cortisol levels. They include weight gain, acne, fatigue, irritability, hair loss, muscle weakness, difficulties sleeping, and headaches.
High cortisol levels are sometimes specifically linked to a problem with the adrenal or pituitary glands, but there are many other reasons that these levels can be elevated. Pregnancy, malnutrition, medications, diet, stress, and lifestyle can all impact cortisol levels.
While some of these are out of our control, there are many day to day lifestyle changes you can make to help naturally lower cortisol levels.
Light Exposure
This is one of the biggest contributors to higher cortisol levels; especially at night, but also one the easiest to address. Cortisol regulates our sleep/wake cycle by peaking in the morning and then decreasing in the evening. When you get too much artificial light exposure later in the day and evening, it can lead to increased cortisol production at night. Melatonin naturally peaks at night, and if it cortisol levels are too high it will lower melatonin. Dimming lights, limiting screen time, using blue ray blocking glasses will help.
Shift Out of Fight or Flight
Eat. Consistently and Routinely
Constantly skipping meals or not eating enough will shift your body to use cortisol to increase blood sugar, causing levels to spike. Use food to fuel your body and maintain blood sugar levels and take pressure off of cortisol. Start your day by eating within 30 minutes of waking, and continuing to eat balanced meals with proteins and carbohydrates regularly through out the day.
What is your daily rhythm? Are you living at an unattainable pace?
Some people get addicted to living in flight or fight - constantly having something to do, somewhere to go, to-do lists, visual/audio stimulation, etc. You can begin to crave the rush from your stress response (increased alertness, boost of energy). Ask yourself, what pace are you living at? Are you constantly rushing? Are you present? Can you just do nothing? Does that make you uncomfortable?
How Much is Too Much?
The average person takes in the 74 gigabits of information per day (!!!), or the equivalent of 16 movies. It is similar to reading 100,000 words ( the same as reading 174 newspapers daily) and averages to about 82 hours per week. Just typing this makes me feel guilty for participating in that information overload. Having all of this access to information is wonderful, but also overwhelms our nervous system. It puts more stress on us to weed through what we see, to determine if it is even true, helpful to us or just creating more stress and feelings of overwhelm. Prioritize what (and how much) you are taking in.
Apply these questions to all areas of your life: daily activities, recreational time, screen time, podcasts, health and wellness information, world news, television, etc.
Ask Yourself These Questions
(and be Honest!!)
What is working?
What do you enjoy?
What adds stress?
What is actually helping you?
What can you do without?
What do you have control over?
Do you have clear boundaries?
Help regulate your nervous system
No screens first thing
Daily journaling
Gratitude practices
Simplify your daily life
Simplify health practices
Get outdoors
Gentle exercise (Yin Yoga, Waking)
With all of the information that is coming at us, taking time to "unplug" is more important than ever.
How Do You Measure Cortisol Levels?
You can measure your cortisol with a blood or urine test. One of the most common is the DUTCH test, which is a Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones. This is thought to be one of the more accurate markers of cortisol.
To Test, or not to Test?
If you think your cortisol levels are elevated, there is a good chance that they are. We know our bodies, and our limits. Testing can confirm this, but can also be expensive, time consuming and overwhelming. If you aren't concerned about something more serious going on, and are interested in a more natural route, try the suggestions above. Chances are by incorporating even 1-2 of these, you can start to change some of your symptoms, and most likely improve other imbalances in your life (sleep, digestions, energy, period health).
On the Flip Side...
We need cortisol! And sometimes levels can actually be low. You can use some of these tools to help give you a boost.
Need a cortisol boost in the morning? Get outside! Natural sunlight (without sunglasses) during sunrise will naturally boost your cortisol. Doing this again in the afternoon will aide the afternoon peak. Can't get outside? Sit near a window where you can get sunlight or use artificial lights to help boost you.
Final Thoughts...
I hope that this has been a helpful, and not overwhelming read! Doing the research for this enforced some of what I already know, but was also eye opening to other areas. It made me consider how many podcasts am I listening to (can I walk the dog and just be in nature?) and also understand the underlying process of why I get hangry to name a few!