Cortisol is most commonly known as the ‘stress hormone’. However, it plays a much more significant role in the body. In this article, we explore how Cortisol impacts the body and how you can manage your Cortisol levels.
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland. It plays a vital role in several body functions, such as:
It is important to note that Cortisol levels naturally fluctuate during the day, as it is a key hormone to help us wake up in the morning. That means we typically experience higher levels early in the day, slowly decreasing as the day progresses.
What Cortisol is most known for is its role in the body’s stress response. When we are confronted with a stressful situation - be it traffic, a dreaded email or, in prehistoric times, a sabre-toothed tiger. In these situations, Cortisol helps to increase blood sugar levels, suppress the immune system, and increase the heart rate. Cortisol is essentially helping us to get into a flight or fight mode to respond appropriately to stress.
Elevated Cortisol levels can be desirable for short periods, such as when we wake up or need to respond to a stressful situation. If we, however, experience consistently high cortisol levels, it can negatively impact various aspects of our health and wellbeing. For example, elevated Cortisol levels can harm the cardiovascular system as well as contribute to difficulties with weight management.
While the effects of too much Cortisol are more prominent in the public’s eye, it is also possible to have undesirably low Cortisol levels. Insufficient Cortisol levels may cause several symptoms, such as for example weakness, fatigue, weight loss or dizziness.
Once you are aware that your Cortisol levels are in an unhealthy state, a health professional can provide you with personal guidance on how to manage them. However, Cortisol levels can be positively affected by:
Cortisol is much more than the ‘stress hormone’. It plays a vital role in how our body functions, and short periods of higher cortisol levels tend to be desirable. Cortisol levels that are either too high or too low over an extended period, however, can cause negative effects on our health and wellbeing.
Understanding Cortisol, stress and its effects on the body enables you to take action and improve your overall health now and into the future. The WellBeing Test analyses cortisol and other 24 biomarkers to provide actionable insights into the core health areas of energy, sleep, stress, inflammation, fitness and body fat composition.
In the spirit of reconciliation Drop Bio Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.