Cortisol is the hormone produced in your body when you are stressed.

Occasional stress is not a problem, but a long-term overdose of cortisol, however, disrupts many processes in your body, including self-healing. It is also almost impossible to lose weight if there is a lot of cortisol circulating in your body. In particular, you may then suffer from a persistent “swimming band.” So it’s important for your health to keep this hormone in check a bit. Guest blogger Barbara Havenith of the Boxmeer Women’s Clinic gives you nine valuable tips.

Do you keep cortisol in check?

Cortisol is a stress hormone, just like adrenaline. This hormone is produced by the adrenal glands when you are stressed. Traditionally, it means that there is danger that you should flee from or fight against. Cortisol then ensures that the energy stored in your body’s cells is quickly made available to properly carry out this response to stress.
Today, stress is of a different order: stress over unpaid bills, stress due to work, relationship stress, insufficient sleep, excessive exercise, eating junk food and drinking too little. Every time your body experiences stress, your adrenal glands produce cortisol.

Chronic excess cortisol is bad news for your health

Chronically elevated cortisol levels are exceptionally bad for your health. This problem is associated with hormone imbalance, elevated blood sugar levels, cardiovascular disease, elevated cholesterol levels, and also adrenal exhaustion. An additional annoying problem is the storage of fat around your waist.

However, cortisol is not only made during danger and stress, your adrenal glands make cortisol throughout the day in a day and night rhythm. The highest level of cortisol is reached early in the morning, just when you need to get out of bed. Traditionally, it makes your body and mind awake and alert. At the moment of awakening, you have to look for food. In the primal situation, this required us to enter a “dangerous” environment; looking for food, you might encounter predators or a snake or poisonous spider. Then it was important to be able to react alertly right away, otherwise you yourself became food.

Get your cortisol back into the right day-night rhythm

Over the course of the day, your cortisol level should get lower and lower, until the lowest level is reached around 10 pm. Your body and mind are prepared for rest and finally for a refreshing sleep. A disturbed cortisol day curve may be associated with difficulty falling asleep and/or difficulty sleeping through.

There are many ways to get your cortisol levels back into the proper day-night rhythm. Here are the eight most important pieces of advice you can start working on today.

Tip 1 Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Good nutrition consists mostly of vegetables (300-500 grams per day) and fruits (2-4 pieces per day). Avoid fast carbohydrates. Fast carbs rush your blood sugar up quickly. These are found in processed foods (anything in a package, bag or under a lid) that often have added sugar. Note that sugar is rarely listed as sugar on the package, much more often you will find descriptions such as sucrose, natural fruit sugar, corn syrup, fructose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, dextrose, modified corn starch and the like. Foods made from refined (wheat) flour also cause your blood sugar levels to rise quickly.

Protein-rich foods have the opposite effect. Eggs and nuts are therefore good to eat; they satiate you longer than foods rich in carbohydrates.

Tip 2 Make use of body-mind techniques

Mindfulness, yoga, breathing techniques, meditation, grounding exercises, visualizations: they are all good for reducing stress reactions. Breathing techniques do not require you to interrupt your daily activities; you can do it at your desk or on the road in your car.

Tip 3 Reduce your amount of caffeine

Reduce your amount of caffeine. Too much caffeine (in coffee, cola and energy drinks) and other stimulants such as theine (in black and green tea) stimulate the production of cortisol in the adrenal glands. It is not a good idea to wake up in the morning with several espressos or with several mugs of coffee, nor to stay on your feet with the help of coffee, tea or energy drinks. Drink a maximum of 2 cups of caffeinated beverages per day, and do not drink them after 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

Tip 4 Don’t overtrain

A good workout should last no longer than three quarters of an hour. If a workout lasts longer than an hour, your testosterone levels will start to drop and your cortisol levels will rise. A short intensive strength training session of 15 minutes can be better than an hour of jogging. Do not train more than two days in a row, do not start another workout until your body has recovered from the previous one.

Tip 5 Seek the sun and outdoors during the day

Sufficient (sun) light during the day can help improve your day-night rhythm. A healthy day-night rhythm is accompanied by a normal cortisol rhythm. Provide tempered light in the evening to help get your melatonin production going. Especially avoid the blue light emitted by screens, smartphones and tablets.

Tip 6 Get enough sleep

On average, people need eight hours of sleep per night; between seven and nine hours per night is normal. Long-term sleep less than 6 ½ hours per night means you are preying on your body and adrenals. If your work consists of irregular shifts, make sure you have a darkened room to mimic a normal day-night rhythm as much as possible.

Tip 7 Foods that help stabilize your cortisol levels

  • Vitamins B5, C and folic acid help stabilize your cortisol levels. Use foods rich in these vitamins: indeed fruits and vegetables!
  • Omega 3 fatty acids, these are found in fatty fish. Plant sources of omega 3 fatty acids include walnuts, flaxseed oil and rapeseed oil. Krill oil is also possible.
  • Dark chocolate. Chocolate on doctor’s prescription! Do choose the purest chocolate possible, more than 80% comes close.
  • Reduce your amount of alcohol to no more than 3 glasses of alcoholic beverages per week.
  • Quit smoking. Contrary to what many smokers think they feel, smoking does not lower your stress level. Smokers experience slightly less stressed and agitated feeling at the time of smoking, but between cigarettes their cortisol levels are much higher than non-smokers.

Tip 8 Supplements that help normalize your cortisol levels

Vitamin C, phosphatidylserine, rhodiola, glutamine and ginseng can lower your cortisol levels. This is equally true for vitamin B5 and folic acid. Herbal preparations such as tulsi (holy basil) and magnolia have been attributed similar effects. On the contrary, if you suffer from excessively low cortisol levels (adrenal exhaustion), licorice root extract can be employed

Tip 9 Above all, cuddle more as well

No, this is not a joke. Cuddling produces the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone that regulates cortisol. So more oxytocin is great against too much stress. I prescribe to stressed people these days that they should cuddle at least eight times a day. This frequency has really been studied: women at least 20 seconds, men at least 30 seconds to a minute. Of course, in the absence of a person to cuddle with, a poochy pet works just fine, too. A wonderful massage also works well. And of course, you can also put your BOB (Battery Operated Boyfriend, or your vibrator) to work, which also makes you produce oxytocin!

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Barbara Havenith | Women’s Physician