Cortisol is the most underrated and poorly understood hormone. In this article you will learn about this stress hormone and ways to measure and normalize its levels for a happy life.
- The role of the stress hormone cortisol in the body - and how it affects the mind
- Is cortisol good or bad for you?
- What happens when cortisol levels are high? Or too low?
- Common signs and symptoms of excess cortisol
- What is a cortisol belly? How does chronic stress impact your metabolism?
- How do you fix high cortisol?
- How do you check stress hormone levels? Can they be measured reliably?
- What are normal levels of cortisol? When is it highest or lowest?
- How short- or long-term fasting affects cortisol levels?
- How quickly can you balance your hormone levels?
- ...and all other interesting facts about cortisol!
In recent years, the cortisol hormone has received much attention as science realizes that its dysfunction may have many adverse health effects.
Unlike other hormones, people may not experience its health effects immediately. Nonetheless, imbalances in its levels may cause havoc on health.
Adrenal glands produce cortisol in response to stress. Quite it is like better-known peer adrenalin. However, unlike adrenalin, which acts only for a few seconds to minutes, the stress hormone cortisol acts much longer. Adrenalin is secreted in response to acute stress, but cortisol levels increase in response to chronic stress. And unchecked, chronic stress harms health in many ways, as you can read below.
Acute stress response, mainly caused by adrenalin rush, causes a “fight or flight” reaction, which is helpful or even lifesaving. However, cortisol initiates long-term stress responses. But, pressing the alarm button for too long may cause significant harm to the body, causing long-term changes in metabolic and hormonal health.
Thus, it is vital to understand this stress hormone better!
Cortisol function: Its good and bad effects on our body
Cortisol is a steroidal hormone. However, it must not be confused with sex hormones, as their actions are quite different. It is an adrenal hormone mainly produced to counter stress. Thus, it is necessary in small amounts to maintain various body functions.
In normal amounts, it helps maintain blood pressure, and immune responses, help counter inflammation, and maintain protein and carbohydrate metabolism. It is also needed for the normal working of fat tissues.
However, high and low levels are bad for health. Cortisol imbalance impacts negatively both physical and mental well-being.
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Too much cortisol is not essentially related to some physical health conditions. Since, in most people, cortisol levels are only mildly or moderately elevated. It does not cause acute signs.
However, chronically elevated cortisol may ultimately cause many health issues. What is worrisome is that still too many people and sometimes even doctors fail to see the connection between the failing health of individuals and stress hormone levels.
Too low and high stress hormone levels: Addison’s disease and Cushing syndrome
Fortunately, cortisol deficiency is rare. Nonetheless, it may occur in a disease called Addison’s disease. It is a condition characterized by adrenal insufficiency, a rare auto-immune disease condition. If its levels are low, it causes constant fatigue, lack of energy, low mood, loss of appetite, and increased thirst (Addison’s disease-NHS UK, 2018).
On the contrary, cortisol may become highly elevated, causing Cushing syndrome. It is another rare health condition that may cause heart attacks, strokes, increased risk of blood clots, blood pressure, depression, insulin resistance, etc. It mainly occurs due to the extensive use of glucocorticoids like prednisolone, though it may also occur due to pituitary tumors causing high stress hormone production (Cushing’s Syndrome – NIDDK, 2018).
However, in this article, we are interested in a more common condition affecting most people today: chronically elevated cortisol levels in relatively healthy people.
Healthy persons’ high levels of the stress hormone: The main reason
As mentioned, here we are not discussing too much cortisol due to issues like pituitary tumors or medications. We want to discover why many relatively healthy people have elevated cortisol levels.
Chronic emotional stress is the leading cause of elevated cortisol (Lee et al., 2015). However, stress only causes a mild increase in its levels. That is, this increase in cortisol remains undetected in most instances.
However, such a mild increase still causes many ill effects on health in the long run.
How to measure short-term and long-term levels
Measuring cortisol levels in the body is quite challenging. For example, one challenge is that its levels vary significantly during the day.
Additionally, its levels in the blood or body fluids are not a good indicator of its levels, as this stress hormone binds with other body proteins.
To make things more challenging, it has a short half-life of little more than an hour (Lee et al., 2015; Thau et al., 2023).
Therefore, to accurately know if cortisol is high or low, one must measure its levels at least twice a day –once in the morning and a second time later in the day or the evening. It is worth knowing that its levels are higher in the morning and lower in the evening (Mohd Azmi et al., 2021).
What are normal, high and low cortisol levels?
Normal levels are:
- Morning levels: 10 to 20 micrograms per deciliter (mcg/dL)
- Evening levels: 3 to 10 mcg/dL
How fasting affects cortisol levels?
The production of cortisol by adrenal glands is linked to metabolism, e.g., sugar levels. However, the links are complex and still need to be fully understood by scientists. Some studies also show how short- or long-term fasting impacts cortisol production. So, is fasting good or bad if your stress hormone levels are too high?
According to several studies, the body regulates the sleep-wake cycle by pumping cortisol in the mornings. Very long overnight fasting may disrupt the body’s natural fluctuations in cortisol levels. And during very long-term fasting, cortisol levels may increase as the body is forced to handle its energy levels without food. Your body must do its best to maintain blood sugar levels and provide energy despite fasting. This may cause your body excess stress, a.k.a. increase your stress hormone levels.
But short-term fasting doesn’t affect similarly. Some studies suggest that short-term fasting (voluntary short breaks from eating or drinking) may not adversely affect cortisol levels, or it may decrease cortisol levels slightly. Generally, for metabolism, it’s important to have 3-4-hour-long breaks between eating so the stomach can rest. So, these small “relaxation sessions” for the stomach may also efficiently balance your stress hormone levels.
Methods for testing stress hormone levels
There are multiple ways of measuring its levels, like the blood test. However, the more accessible way is using a saliva test. Many salivary cortisol testing kits are available, and they can be used at home (Inder et al., 2012).
Another method that may be more reliable in some instances is a cortisol urine test. For the test, 24-hour urine samples are collected. Thus, the test becomes more reliable as it provides the day’s average of stress hormone.
However, chronic stress is a long-term problem. Blood and saliva tests may be suitable for measuring short-term cortisol elevation levels but are prone to errors.
For example, during the testing day person may have increased cortisol levels or, on the contrary, a decline in cortisol levels for some reason.
Therefore, researchers are now developing a better way to understand chronic stress. They are developing a method to understand long-term cortisol levels by using hair samples. A hair test for cortisol levels is among the best tests for measuring long-term hormone levels (Stalder & Kirschbaum, 2012; Wosu et al., 2013).
Signs and symptoms of high cortisol levels
Blood, saliva, urine, and hair tests are good but imperfect. Moreover, there are individual sensitivities. Studies suggest that some individuals are more susceptible to stress or cortisol than others. This can be understood by knowing the signs and symptoms of high cortisol levels (e.g. research van der Valk et al., 2018).
Besides visible signs and symptoms (see below), high cortisol levels lower immunity, make people prone to infections, causes high blood pressure and blood sugar, and increase the risk of heart attacks.
Visible effects of chronically high stress hormone levels in the body
Increased obesity risk: Obesity is already a significant problem in developed nations. However, cortisol weight gain may contribute to obesity. It increases appetite in some, causes an increase in bad cholesterol, and causes a decline in good or HDL cholesterol. Those with high cortisol are more likely to have central obesity, meaning a large waist size, also called a cortisol belly (Fraser et al., 1999). However, simultaneously, a person may have slimmer arms and legs.
Skin changes: Some skin changes may be particularly good for identifying high cortisol levels, like dark patches, facial acne, facial hair growth, thinning of the skin that readily gets bruised, and purple stretch marks on the belly, breast, hips, and thighs (Stratakis, 2016).
Muscle and bone weakness: In the long run, high cortisol levels cause muscle wasting and fat accumulation. It also causes weaker bones.
How quickly can you lower cortisol?
A person may continue to suffer from chronic stress for months or years before realizing the problem. However, this may result in some significant changes in the body and build-up of cortisol. So, can one quickly lower cortisol that has build-up for years?
Well, one can lower it pretty quickly when it comes to body fluids. A stress management session, like meditation or hypnosis, may cause serum cortisol to drop within a few hours. The stress hormone has quite a short half-life; thus, one may see a significant drop in serum cortisol levels in a few hours (Thau et al., 2023).
However, things are more complex, as cortisol may build up in other body tissues.
Its levels in other body tissues will only drop through consistent efforts over the weeks or months. Thus, for example, it may take quite long to get rid of cortisol accumulated in fat tissues (Rask et al., 2002). Of course, clearing it from relatively inert tissues like hair or nails may require months or even years (Stalder & Kirschbaum, 2012).
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Fortunately, one would experience significant health benefits by reducing cortisol levels in the blood and body tissues like adipose tissues. Methods like meditation and hypnosis may provide quick relief from stress with tangible results in a few hours.
However, one would need to continue efforts for a few months to experience maximum health benefits to eliminate cortisol build-up in other tissues.
Most treatments or cortisol-lowering strategies aim not just to lower cortisol levels. One also needs to reverse its impact on body tissues and organs.
Ways to reduce stress hormone levels
Medications have a limited role in reducing chronic stress or cortisol levels. Therefore, it is always good to use natural methods. For example, consider nutrition therapy using vitamin B-complex and minerals like magnesium to increase stress resilience. Nutritional therapy is good for reducing the risk of stress-related disorders (Cuciureanu & Vink, 2011; Young et al., 2019).
One must understand that some people are at an increased risk of stress-related disorders due to specific thinking patterns. Moreover, prolonged stress may cause changes in the brain and alter emotional responses. Thus, one must make significant efforts to reverse these brain changes.
Exercise is another effective way of beating chronic stress or high cortisol levels treatment. Exercise increases the production of intrinsic anti-stress factors like endorphins (Jackson, 2013).
Mindfulness, meditation and hypnosis for reducing stress hormone levels in the body
Similarly, practicing mindfulness and meditation may help by altering specific brain pathways and by helping regulate emotional responses (e.g., read this research).
And as we know, hypnosis can make you relax even deeper. And in hypnotherapy, you can also get the therapeutic benefits of your stress relief session.
As already said, long-term stress causes cortisol accumulation and changes in the brain, like alterations in the amygdala, a brain center that controls stress responses and memory (Hölzel et al., 2010). Therefore, overcoming stress remains challenging for many. Hence, seeking many ways to improve one’s situation is the best.
For example, you can help alter brain functioning through transformational hypnotherapy (=hypnosis combined with therapeutic methods) or, e.g., mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). There are many beneficial mindshifting methods for you to start practicing. For example, MBCT may provide prolonged stress relief and help manage the root cause of stress (Fjorback et al., 2011).
Changing thought patterns and reprogramming the brain are crucial to overcoming chronic stress. Though practicing mindfulness and meditation helps, one of the faster ways to reprogram the brain could be through clinical hypnosis. Studies suggest that even a single clinical hypnosis session may relieve stress and positive changes in blood parameters, including a decline in cortisol levels (Karrasch et al., 2023).
The beneficial and the harmful effects of the stress hormone cortisol
Cortisol is a vital hormone that helps regulate multiple body functions. It plays a particular role in regulating energy levels, blood pressure, immune responses, and metabolism.
It enables the body to counter stress more efficiently.
However, chronic stress often leads to its elevated levels, which may be harmful in many ways causing obesity, skin disorders, mood issues, changes in energy levels, muscle wasting, and more.
Therefore, to stay well, it is vital to maintain normal cortisol levels. You can best achieve this through non-pharmacological means like nutrition therapy, clinical hypnosis, mindfulness exercises, deep meditation, physical exercise, and relaxing yoga.
What are your next steps to balance your hormone levels effectively?
Happy to hear from you!
With Love
Your Coach Kati
Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP Trainer, MSc., Author, Blogger
[email protected]
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