We have all been there and had it coursing through our blood. It doesn’t matter if you are 5 years old or celebrating your 96th birthday. It does not matter if you were just in a car accident or just got a burst of focus and drive to seize the day. If you just finished a maximum effort workout or if you are the maid of honour to a bridezilla. Everyone on earth has met stress in some form and has had cortisol, the stress hormone, coursing through their body with vigour. Like everything in life, too much good can become very bad. Cortisol assists with some very necessary functions in our bodies, which are the Pros of having it, but also can be detrimental to our bodies if the levels are not maintained. These would be the Cons of having it. That being said, there are many ways to help maintain a health balance of cortisol levels and not let yourself become stressed out.
Cortisol (when in balance) can be the type of hormone you would want to take home to meet your family. It does great things for your body, like help keep your glucose levels at a good, comfortable level. While in your blood it has a never-ending competition with insulin. Insulin tries putting glucose into cells to be used as storage or to be used by the cell, while cortisol pulls the glucose back out of the cells to be used as energy for the brain. Aside from helping maintain a healthy balance of blood sugar, Cortisol also acts as an anti-inflammatory in the body, which is especially helpful when working with the immune system. The immune system requires some inflammation to help with the healing process, but if not kept in check, inflammation could get out of hand (Hansen, 2018).
In some species, it has an added responsibility to trigger the start of the birthing process. So, although Cortisol is nicknamed the “Stress Hormone”, it does have some benefits to its functions.
When insulin and cortisol are balanced (as mentioned before), it’s almost like having a fair game of tug-of-war with glucose being the rope – life is good. But then a grizzly bear walks in front of you. You think of the possible outcomes and get stressed. Cortisol then calls reinforcements and the game is no longer fair. Glucose is being pulled into the blood stream much faster than insulin can work (also because insulin production is suppressed), and is being delivered to the large muscles and brain for immediate use so the body can quickly think and move to get itself away from the bear. The bear starts walking the other way and you, being terrified, run as fast as you can back to your vehicle and feel safe since the bear is no longer around. You feel safe. There is no longer a stressor. Cortisol levels decline back to normal and insulin called reinforcements to balance out all the glucose that was pulled into the blood (Aronson, 2009). But insulin has too many reinforcements and too much glucose goes into the blood, so the Hypothalamus (in the brain) sends a signal to the Pituitary Gland (in the brain), which sends a signal to the Adrenal Glands to secrete a bit more cortisol until the blood is back into a state of homeostasis (Sargis, 2015).
Unfortunately, in today’s world, the stressors most people face are not short-term and can not be dealt with right away. They are long-term stressors that last months or even years for some. These stressors include jobs, financial situations, relationships, chronic pains, exams, etc. All of these situations, like the bear, are stressful and therefore release cortisol into the blood. Over a long period of time with the hormone building up in our bodies and not having the physical/mental release from the stress, our bodies and minds get ravaged. As mentioned before, our immune system gets suppressed. Cortisol helps reduce inflammation in the body, but the immune system needs inflammation to help heal itself. Consistently having high cortisol drastically hinders the body’s ability to heal or fight off infections (Aronson, 2009). Blood sugar control, weight gain and diabetes are all linked together when cortisol is heightened. As mentioned before, Cortisol brings glucose into the blood and hinders insulin. This is very similar to the effect of type 2 diabetes – the body stays in a constant insulin resistant state while Cortisol is consistently elevated. As stated by Dina Aronson (2009) “Over time, the pancreas struggles to keep up with the high demand for insulin, glucose levels in the blood remain high, the cells cannot get the sugar they need, and the cycle continues”. As an unfortunate additive, all that unused glucose in the blood gets stored as fat for long term energy. This is even worse for people with obesity. In one study, it suggests that people who are overweight have a constant elevated level of cortisol. However, more research needs to be done to back up those facts (Vigneshwaren, 2018).
There are ways to help maintain a healthy level of cortisol, even people with with a stressed out life, but it takes some lifestyle changes. First on the list is sleep. This may sound like an easy fix, but there are sleep guidelines because its not only the amount of sleep you get, but the quality as well. To get better quality sleep, individuals should exercise. This does not mean intense exercise like CrossFit, but also moderate exercise will also help with sleep quality (examples are yoga or a 30 minute jog). Limiting light exposure before going to bed will also help. When the sun goes down and it gets dark, our body starts naturally producing melatonin to make us sleepy. Staring at a laptop, phone, or television right before bed tricks our body that it is light outside still and delays the production of melatonin (Thorpe, 2017). Next up is caffeine. Those delicious drinks that give us that ‘pick me up’ whenever we need a kick of energy, also gives our Adrenal Glands a kick of energy to really work hard. Another study showed that individuals that ingested caffeine also secreted more cortisol, both in a resting state and in a stressed state. Interestingly enough, this only happened to people new to caffeine. Individuals who have built up a tolerance to caffeine, don’t have their cortisol levels increased as much (Lovallo, 2005). Another way to help maintain cortisol levels are to make sure you are either eating whole, nutrient rich, foods or taking the supplements that are necessary. Which nutrients you ask? Vitamin C, for starters, helps the body process cortisol and aids in the body’s recovery. Magnesium is a calming supplements that is necessary for the body to clear stress. GABA (Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid) helps calm anxiety by lowering the levels of CRH (Corticotropin-Hormone), the hormone needed for Cortisol to be secreted (Powerful Nutrition Strategies, 2018). These are just three on the several supplements that can aid in managing the stress hormone. If an individual is able to eat a well balanced anti-inflammatory diet and has no digestive problems, the supplements would not be necessary.
So there it is. Cortisol may have more of a hidden and complicated dark side than most know, but the good that Cortisol does for our bodies is an absolute must. Meaning that we will have to take the bad with the good, and do whatever we can to help keep that tug-of-war balance as fair as possible by managing it through numerous methods. And as long as that balance is maintained and you don’t run into any bears, you will live a happy life without always being stressed out.