What is Cortisol?

Lately, cortisol has been getting a lot of bad publicity; both well deserved and undeserved. Cortisol is a hormone released from your adrenal glands which sit on top of your kidneys. In healthy individuals cortisol levels in the body are highest in the morning and lowest at midnight. This natural rhythm in cortisol levels prepares us for the challenges of the day and for sleep at night.

Cortisol is also released when we feel threatened which is also known as the Fight-or-Flight-Response. The best modern day example of this, would be, you’re walking along outside on a peaceful day only to be confronted by a large menacing dog running toward you.

Cortisol prepares you to either flee the dog or stand your ground and prepare for the attack. It does this by increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, increasing glucose production to fuel your muscles, decreasing digestion and enhancing your senses.

This response was particularly useful for the prehistoric man fleeing from or standing his ground from such straightforward threats as a saber-tooth tiger. The response quickly resolved itself in physical action and cortisol levels returned rapidly to normal.

However, modern man is confronted with more ambiguous and prolonged threats: traffic jams, hassles at home and work, financial difficulties. Under these circumstances cortisol raises it’s ugly head through prolonged elevated levels that has no physical outlet.

Negative Health Effects of High Levels of Cortisol:

Prolonged elevation of cortisol can lead to a variety of debilitating conditions. This would only stand to reason if it is (1) increasing blood sugar levels, think diabetes, (2) increasing blood pressure, think hypertension and (3) decreasing digestion, think indigestion.

The list doesn’t end there: osteoporosis, shrinkage of the memory center in the brain, depression, immune system impairment, loss of skin elasticity and muscle tone, lowering of other essential hormones like testosterone.

Cortisol’s most notorious claim to fame is its association with the accumulation of fat in the abdomen. You know the unsightly pot belly common to middle-age-stressed-out-men.

This type of fat deposition is considered the most deleterious to health leading to Metabolic X Syndrome (more about this in a future article).There are a variety of enterprises in the supplement arena that are trying to cash in on cortisol reducing products (see below).

Actions You Can Take to Keep Cortisol In Check:

This may sound bleedingly obvious but anything that reduces your stress levels will lead to controlling cortisol. These would be things like getting adequate rest and nutrition.

While exercise increases cortisol this is in accord with a more “natural” function; namely to fuel the muscles and increase your heart rate. Moderate exercise in the long term acts to reduce stress.

Of course, techniques like yoga, breath exercises, walking in the country, massage all reduce stress and cortisol.

While caffeine increases cortisol, I would be remiss to recommend skipping your morning joe; which has been shown to have numerous health benefits.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, cortisol levels follow a natural biological rhythm, highest in morning-lowest at night. Just don’t have caffeine at night when cortisol levels are lowest.

On the other hand consumption of black tea has been associated with reducing cortisol.

As mentioned earlier, the craze for a lean body and the association of high cortisol levels with belly fat has led to a boom in supplements touted to block cortisol.

The Federal Trade Commission charged the manufactures of one such product, CortiSlim, with making false claims of weight loss and ordered the company to pay millions of dollars in product refunds and to stop making weight loss claims.

This product contains phosphatidlyserine (PS) and has shown mixed results as a cortisol blocker.

Other supplements touted to reduce cortisol are magnesium, the adaptogenic herbs like Rhodiola and ginseng.

I think one thing we can all get behind for stress reduction is a good laugh!

Finally cortisol levels can be measured by a test kit using your spit. The sample is then sent by mail for testing.