How Cortisol and Chronic Stress Are Ruining Your Health

Are you excited at the prospect of going back to your pre-coronavirus lockdown life? Or does the idea of running around from place to place again fill you with dread and anxiety?

For many people, it’s a mixed bag of emotions. As much as we might be looking forward to finally getting a proper haircut, lots of moms I talk to say that the crazy lifestyle they lived before the virus was simply not sustainable.

We’ve all had a giant moment to step back and take a look at our lives, and as we get back to something resembling our old rhythm, it’s the perfect time to make some changes.

You might not be able to avoid everything on your to-do list, but those days of burning the candle at both ends and trying to survive on coffee after yet another night of four hours of sleep are definitely something you should leave in the past.

You already know that feeling stressed is unpleasant, and you might have suspected your body doesn’t like it, either, but I think if you take a moment to learn just how bad it truly is for you physically, you’ll be inspired to find a better way.

What is cortisol?

Let’s start with a quick vocabulary lesson. You’re here because you care about your health, and I’m guessing you’ve already heard the term cortisol – and it probably went hand in hand with stress, which is one of the main causes of high cortisol.

Cortisol is really just a more scientific way of saying “stress hormone”. Made by your adrenal glands, it’s used by the cells in your body for functions like reducing inflammation, regulating your metabolism, forming memories, and regulating blood sugar.

Your body needs some cortisol to stay healthy. But when too much of it builds up, watch out!

Fight-or-flight mode was only meant to be temporary

When confronted with danger, our cortisol spikes as we go into fight-or-flight mode, but that’s just our body signaling to the brain that it’s time to be ready to take care of the problem.

When this happens, your sympathetic nervous system gets to work, flooding your body with hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to raise your heart rate, alertness, and breathing so you’re in fighting shape. 

Once the danger has passed, your cortisol levels go back down and everything should be fine – at least in theory.

Hundreds of years ago, people faced genuinely perilous situations on the regular, and our bodies were adept at switching out of fight-or-flight mode once we were out of the woods, so to speak.

But now, unfortunately, we are constantly in that mode and our cortisol levels are sky high pretty much around the clock.

Your body’s response to stress might help you stay on top of your game during an important presentation or give you extra-sharp focus when you’re driving in a downpour, but once it passes a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts impacting your mood and health.

How stress harms your health 

Even when we’re not dealing with work or family-related stress, we might be adding to the problem without realizing it.

Think about it: how do you spend most of your “me” time? (I can hear you laughing, and I know most of us don’t get much of it, but bear with me,)

Do you put on some calming music and look out your window at trees?

Or are you scrolling through social media on your phone, getting worked up about the controversy du jour? Perhaps you’re watching a horror movie or crime series on Netflix that gets your heart rate up a little?

It might seem harmless, but being in this constant state of stress can wreak havoc on your health in many ways. Here are just a few examples.

·         It suppresses your immune system: Cortisol tries to reduce inflammation, but when your levels are high for an extended period, it can actually have the opposite effect, making you more susceptible to colds and other contagious illnesses. It can even raise your risk of cancer and autoimmune illness. The other effects of stress are no walk in the park, but I have to say this is my #1 reason to avoid it!

·         It can cause weight gain: Just what we all needed is another way to make the number on the scale go up, right? But that’s what stress can do to you. When you’re in fight-or-flight mode and your body thinks it needs energy, it tells your brain you need to eat. Studies have shown a direct link between cortisol levels and calorie intake in women, and these fake hunger signals make us crave calorific food.

·         It can cause digestive problems: When your body perceives threats, it devotes all its energy to fighting them off and shuts down functions it deems less critical, like digestion. (Thanks, body.) When you have extended stress, your digestive tract will struggle to digest or absorb food, leading to problems like irritable bowel syndrome and colitis – which can improve a lot when you get your stress back under control.

·         It can raise your heart disease risk: Have you ever joked that you’re so stressed you’re going to have a heart attack? Well, the threat is real. The constricted arteries and high blood pressure that come with high cortisol can cause a buildup of plaque and blood vessel damage that pave the way for a stroke or heart attack.

How can you reduce your cortisol levels?

The good news is that there are lots of ways you can reduce cortisol levels in your body. I could devote a whole article to that topic alone.

In fact, I have devoted a whole article to it and it will be up on the blog next Tuesday.

But I’ll drop a little spoiler here: getting adequate sleep, exercising (but not too much!), meditating, praying, going for walks in nature, listening to relaxing music, and eating healthy foods like fruits can all make a big difference.

See you next week!