Stress and the Effects of High Cortisol On Your Body

(Tina Dawson/ VM Med) — When your body reacts to something it perceives as a threat, it produces cortisol, a hormone that is know as the “stress hormone”. Cortisol provides a short-term burst of energy by increasing your blood sugar and metabolism. Your adrenal glands (the glands on top of your kidneys) make and release the hormone cortisol into your bloodstream to protect you.

Our stress reaction, known as the fight-or-flight response, exists to keep us on high alert in a dangerous situation. Dr. Andy Franklyn-Miller, a sports and exercise medicine physician, refers to cortisol as your “body’s built-in alarm system.” 

Cortisol’s presence is not only normal in our bodies, it is essential. But problems begin to arise when that alarm system stays switched on, keeping our bodies in fight or flight, creating feelings of fear or worry even in non-threatening situations. 

The Effects of High Cortisol

The bodies stress reaction is important as it serves many functions, including decreasing inflammation, regulating how your body uses glucose (sugar) for energy, regulating blood pressure, and supporting your sleep cycle. It’s only when your body starts repeatedly responding to chronic stress that it can lead to persistently high cortisol levels, creating a long-term active response. This constant release of cortisol can be the source of major health issues. Some impacts include:

• Chronic anxiety
• Depression
• Memory and concentration problems
• Increased blood pressure
• Digestive issues
• Weakened immune system
• Hormone imbalances

These unintended side effects of high cortisol are why it’s important to pay attention to your stress levels and find healthy ways of mitigating them.

How The Body Responds to Chronic Stress

Not everyone reacts the same way to stress. Some people are more resilient, and some have a lower tolerance. It can often depend on people’s genetics, their social upbringing, and their coping mechanisms. Regardless of each person’s individual reactions, physiologically we’re all predisposed to respond to stress in a few familiar ways. Some of the most common effects of chronic stress read like a list of modern-day ailments. 

• Irritabilty
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Abdominal fat commonly known as “cortisol belly,” 
• Diarrhea, bloating and constipation
• Irregular periods
• Erectile dysfunction
• Tension and pain in the neck and/or jaw
• Hair loss

How Cortisol Levels Can Affect Sleep

Most people have lower cortisol levels in the evening when they go to sleep and have peak levels in the morning right before they wake up. This makes it obvious that cortisol plays a major role in helping control your sleep-wake cycle and overall circadian rhythm.

Excess cortisol can take a toll on your health and is one of the predominant ways that both the quality and duration of your sleep can be affected.

Aside from doing everything you can to reduce your stress levels, diet can also play an important role. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables are believed to promote the healthy cortisol production rhythms needed for a good night’s sleep. Magnesium-rich foods such as spinach, pumpkin seeds, and almonds also support relaxation and better sleep.

Cortisol, Chronic Stress, and Inflammation

Does cortisol cause inflammation? It’s complicated.

While chronic inflammation is an essential component of chronic diseases, “the pathway from stress to inflammation to disease isn’t always clear,” according to medical researchers.

However, chronic stress leads to low-level inflammation. Chronic illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and even cardiovascular disease are often linked to stress.

Consuming anti-inflammatory foods and increasing healthy fats, like Omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish, salmon, and sardines, may lower inflammation and stress hormones. Lifestyle changes like more exercise, quitting smoking, and reducing alcohol are also steps in the right direction.

Holiday Stress and Mental Health

The Holidays can be both the happiest and the most stressful and triggering period of the year. It’s time spent with family members and loved ones at home, celebrating, gathering to eat together and relaxing from the daily routines of work and chores.

But it’s also a very stressful time of year as people rush to cross off items on their never-ending to-do lists, deal with chaotic shopping, and inflated expectations of holiday cheer. The Holidays can also be a conflicted and sad time, as many must cope with the ambivalence of family rifts, loneliness, and the stress of credit card expenses. It’s easy to see why your cortisol levels can shoot through the roof.

Protecting your mental health by knowing your limits — both financial and emotional — guarding your peace, taking time to recover and rest, as well as keeping expectations realistic, can go a long way towards reducing holiday stress and the spiking cortisol levels that accompany it.

Best Coping Mechanisms to Combat Stress

Some of the best ways to tackle stress levels are obvious.

• Exercise more
• Eat healthier
• Quit or limit smoking, drinking and all stimulants
• Get more and better-quality sleep
• Seek out a therapist or a mental health professional
• Set boundaries and stick to them
• Establish a support system for yourself
• Practice relaxation

At the end of the day, there are no quick fixes to regulating your stress levels. It often requires an orchestrated and purposeful plan that tackles both your physical and mental well-being. It’s a gradual process that requires commitment to a better overall lifestyle.

Try and consume anti-inflammatory foods: whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Avoid high-sugar snacks, refined carbs, and processed foods, known to spike blood sugar and stress hormone levels. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which may interfere with sleep, making cortisol regulation harder.

One more finding that might surprise some: studies suggest that crying may help lower stress levels by actively removing cortisol from the body through tears.

Benefits of Stress Management

There are as many ways to release stress as there are reasons to cause it. People wanting to reduce their stress levels should be open to trying them all. The necessary lifestyle changes need to take place before you can see any noticeable difference, physically and mentally.

Studies suggest that stress management interventions like mindfulness and relaxation interventions are effective in changing cortisol levels in healthy adults. Again, there are no quick fixes. People should take the time to try a variety of methods and see what works for them. Yoga, essential oils, aromatherapy and stress relief meditation are all options worth exploring.

VM Med Thyroid Center

Cortisol levels play a role in hormone function, and the clinic’s thyroid centre may be helpful if there are hormone imbalance concerns. Your thyroid is one of the endocrine glands which make hormones to regulate physiological functions in your body. The thyroid gland manufactures thyroid hormone, which regulates the rate at which your body carries out its necessary functions.

VM Med’s Thyroid Centre offers patients excellent and timely care. Our team supports every aspect of our patients’ thyroid health throughout the course of their lives. We offer a welcoming environment and specialized counselling and treatments on a wide range of issues.

For more information on your screening, you can read our extensive archive of VM Med blogs, including How Thyroid Issues Can Impact Mental Health and How The Thyroid Impacts Women, Hormones, and Menstruation.

Still have questions? Book a consultation with our experts.