5 Health Effects of Cortisol

Stress is no joke.

That’s because the stress hormone *cortisol* has a ripple effect on just about every aspect of physical and mental health, like…

🔥 Immune Function

Cortisol keeps inflammation in check, but too much can lower the body’s ability to fight off infections and illness.

🍪 Blood Sugar

Cortisol increases blood sugar (to help us respond to stress), but this can lead to insulin resistance and blood sugar issues over time.

👖 Belly Fat

Chronically elevated cortisol leads to weight gain—particularly around the middle.

💩 Bloating & Digestion

The gut is our second brain and responds to stress hormones too!

❣️ Emotional Health

Cortisol can contribute to anxiety, restlessness, apathy, and other mood changes.

So, what can we do?

This is one of the most significant root causes of health issues in so many of my clients. What we do is look at what is actually happening with cortisol and come up with a plan to bring it back to a healthy and natural rhythm.

👀 Watch for my next post. I’ll be sharing some surprising things that spike cortisol levels.

Do You Know Your Cortisol Pattern?

Did you know the stress hormone cortisol follows a 24-hour rhythm?

The pattern helps you feel alert in the morning and calm at night, like this:

☀️Cortisol peaks within 30 minutes of waking to kickstart the body for the day.

⛅ Levels decline throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

🌙 Cortisol is lowest at midnight to allow for restful sleep.

But if stress or lifestyle disrupt this natural rhythm…

⬆️ Cortisol can be persistently high, making you anxious or sleepless.

⬇️ Cortisol can be persistently low, making you fatigued and moody.

🔃 Cortisol can be flipped, making you feel tired in the morning and wired at night.

Cortisol is a “stress hormone,” but it also influences metabolism, weight, inflammation, blood pressure, brain function, mood, and SO. MUCH. MORE.

I think it’s worth paying attention to cortisol and doing everything we can to get it back to balance.

Do you agree?

Like this post if you want to see more posts about how to support your cortisol rhythm and stop letting stress rule your health 🙌

Interested in testing your cortisol levels? Schedule an initial visit with us to get started! 😍

Stress Hormones: What You Need to Know.

What your body does with stress 👇

I think we can all agree that the holiday season is one of the most stressful times of year.

Maybe you have a *sense* that it affects your health, but do you actually know why or how?

If you want to train your body to be more resilient to stress (so it doesn’t have so much control over your life), it helps to understand stress hormones.

So let’s start there.

There are 2 hormones to know:

Cortisol & Adrenaline (also called Epinephrine). Here are the differences:

1️⃣ Adrenaline is released rapidly as an immediate response to stress, whereas cortisol is released in a daily rhythm regulated by the brain & the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

2️⃣ Adrenaline has fast effects to activate the body when in danger (think “fight or flight!”) Cortisol has slower effects that are not as obvious to track.

3️⃣ Whereas adrenaline increases the heart rate and can make you feel anxious during intense moments, cortisol has longer-term health effects related to metabolism, sleep, brain, and mood.

Cortisol is so central to the stress cycle that I’ll be sharing more about it and what we can do to balance it in upcoming posts.

Like if you found this helpful ❤️ and message me for help.