Cortisol is a steroid hormone that your adrenal glands, the endocrine glands on top of your kidneys, produce and release. Cortisol affects several aspects of your body and mainly helps regulate your body's response to stress. We all live in a high-stress society where the average person is exposed to many stressors day in and day out. It is impossible to avoid stress, but it is not impossible to find ways to better manage your stress.
With high stress comes high cortisol levels. High cortisol can cause the body to be in a state of fight or flight mode. This is the body’s way of acclimating to stress, especially if it is exposed to stress for long periods of time. Keeping the body under stress for long periods of time can create chronic stress which can lead to the following symptoms: weight gain, mostly around the midsection and upper back, weight gain and rounding of the face, acne, thinning skin, easy bruising, flushed face, slowed healing, muscle weakness, high blood sugar, and inflammation.
Some stressors that might encourage these high cortisol levels are toxic relationships, toxic workplaces, too much high-intensity exercise, poor stress management techniques, lack of proper sleep, too much screen time, poor self-esteem, and any past life trauma.
While stress is impossible to avoid here are some helpful tips for managing stress and stressful situations better.
Prioritizing your sleep
Sleep should be the number one priority for managing your stress. Sleep is imperative for the body to function properly and it allows you to better perform every day.
Incorporating proper recovery
For individuals who hit the gym on a regular basis incorporating a proper recovery schedule is important to regulating cortisol levels.
Low impact exercise
Low impact exercise is great for helping regulate cortisol levels and ensuring you do not elevate them or stress the body out further.
Daily walks in nature
Spending time in nature is a great way to relieve stress. It can also be a way to get some vitamin d in and regulate your circadian rhythm, better known as your natural wake and sleep cycle.
Engaging in more self-love
The way you talk to yourself truly makes a difference when you are wanting to bring down your cortisol levels. If you are consistently hard on yourself that is just going to create a stressful environment.
Limiting caffeine intake
Caffeine can trigger high cortisol levels, especially when drinking in excess. Being conscious of how much caffeine you consume is important.
Creating boundaries in your relationships and in the workplace
If you are consistently in a stressful environment not only at home but in the workplace as well that is bound to increase cortisol at a rapid pace. By creating boundaries and even cutting off toxic relationships you can relieve a lot of stress from your life!
Breathing and meditation
Incorporating daily breathing techniques and mediation can make a huge difference in cortisol levels, even if it's just 5-10 minutes a day! There are some great free apps out there too that can be super helpful with this.
Proper supplementation
Supplementing with some natural adaptogens can help supplement lifestyle changes that you make and encourage your body to regulate cortisol levels.
Nourishing your body
Nourishing your body properly is key to regulating stress hormones. Depriving your body of nutrients is stressful and can encourage the body to enter fight or flight mode.
In conclusion, stress can come in many forms; physical, mental, and emotional. It is important to be conscious of how you deal with your stress. Creating healthy routines of stress management will help your body be able to deal with stress much better. Going for a run to “clear your mind” is only going to stress the body more. Take into consideration your lifestyle first and then add in supplements where needed. Having cortisol chronically elevated for long periods of time can be detrimental to your health.
