Like all hormones, cortisol plays a crucial role in your mental and physical health. Unfortunately, today’s lifestyles lead to severe imbalances in cortisol rhythms, which contribute to body fat gain, cognitive dysfunction, muscle loss, and much more.



Many health and fitness experts vilify cortisol. Some ignore its effects on your health.



In this article, I hope to clarify how it works and what you can do to manage it so you remain healthy, lean, and strong.



What is cortisol?



Practitioners often call cortisol your “stress hormone.” But such a nickname does a disservice to this hormone, which is crucial for your health, and important during times of stress and emergency.



When functioning normally, your adrenal glands secrete cortisol according to a circadian rhythm, which energizes your body during the day and helps it fall asleep at night.



Also, stress stimulates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, ultimately causing your adrenal glands to secrete cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. This is why cortisol is so often called your stress hormone.



In healthy people, cortisol:




alters the metabolism of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in favor of quick energy



reduces inflammation



increases blood pressure



increases blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides



controls your sleep/wake cycle



increases energy during times of stress




With disease and chronic stress, cortisol becomes destructive.



Stress and your circadian rhythm control cortisol levels more than anything else.



Stress and the HPA Access



Your nervous system functions between two extremes: sympathetic and parasympathetic.



Your sympathetic system, also known as your “fight or flight” system, sounds the alarm when you’re in danger. In addition to releasing cortisol, you also release adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase alertness, focus, energy, and reflexes.



Your sympathetic nervous system also shuts down anything that isn’t necessary for survival, such as digestion, your immune system, and your ability to sleep.



At the other extreme, your parasympathetic nervous system helps you relax, recover, digest food, sleep, and remain calm. More often than not, when people want to improve their mental health, they look for supplements or essential oils that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.



Each person naturally operates at some point between the two extremes. You can probably think of a few friends who seem frantic all of the time and others who you’ve never seen rattled.



Living for too long in either extreme leads to problems.



Cortisol is part of a larger system of stress management. Focusing only on cortisol, if stress is a problem, addresses only one piece of a larger problem. This is why certain supplements like “cortisol blockers” don’t work. They do nothing to impact adrenaline or noradrenaline, which are also secreted during stressful events.



Short-term stress, such as passing a test, an intense strength training session, or dealing with a cyberbully help you grow stronger, provided the stressor stops, and you’re able to rest and recover.



I need to stress this point because our society has grown progressively fearful of “stress,” to the point that a Facebook outage or an off-putting comment becomes a self-induced catastrophe. During such situations, you’re better off with a little suckituptitude so you can more easily handle a similar situation the next time.



Cortisol and Circadian Rhythm



Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland measure cortisol levels in your blood, which vary throughout a 24-hour cycle.



In a healthy person, levels quickly rise for the first 30-45 minutes after waking up, called the cortisol awakening response (CAR). The increased hormone levels help energize you physically and mentally.



As the day progresses, levels fall, reaching a low point as you go to bed.



Your cortisol rhythm is supposed to move in concert with your circadian rhyt...