Cortisol, more than your STRESS hormone!
What is a hormone anyway?
Hormones are the actually the managers of your body. They are chemical messenger substances. They control processes, transmit messages from one cell to another, and determine how you feel, function and recover. Without hormones, you would have no energy, no focus, no functioning immune system, and no healthy digestion or sleep. They are produced by glands in your body, such as your thyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands. Just one drop of a hormone in your blood can have a major effect. So hormones are neither good nor bad - it's all about timing, balance and sensitivity. The hormonal process flows from the brain (the hyptothalamus) to the rest of the body. This includes happiness hormones like serotonin, but also hormones related to food (ghrelin, leptin and insulin) and, of course, the "stress" hormone: cortisol.
What is cortisol?
Cortisol is one of the best known hormones, and is often mentioned in the same breath as stress. It is mainly produced in your adrenal glands and helps you cope with acute stress situations. In prehistoric times, cortisol helped you survive: it made you alert, gave you quick energy and suppressed processes that were not essential at the time, such as digestion or reproduction. Useful when you had to flee from a predator. But in the modern world, it's often not a lion that stresses you out, but your mailbox, money worries or a bad night's sleep.
What does cortisol do?
Cortisol plays an important role in releasing energy. It helps keep your blood sugar stable and allows you to react quickly in stressful situations. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory, helps maintain your blood pressure and makes your body use fats, proteins and carbohydrates more efficiently. Cortisol also supports your alertness and focus, especially in the morning. So it is an important hormone that helps you stay sharp - as long as it is not active for too long or too often.
How does the daily cycle of cortisol work?
Cortisol follows a natural rhythm in a healthy body. In the early morning, levels rise and peak sometime between six and nine o'clock. This makes you awake and alert. During the day, it gradually drops, allowing your body to relax toward evening. By evening it is low, allowing melatonin, your sleep hormone, to do its job. At night, cortisol stays low unless something goes wrong - for example, if you wake up in the middle of the night because of restlessness, light or low blood sugar.
Morning (between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.) - peak in cortisol. You wake up and alert.
Afternoon - it drops slowly.
Evening - cortisol is low, allowing melatonin (your sleep hormone) to go up.
Night - cortisol stays low unless you are startled awake at night or not sleeping well.
This natural cycle is called the cortisol rhythm, and it is crucial to your energy balance.
How does excess cortisol occur?
Excess cortisol occurs when your body continuously receives signals that stress is present. These can be physical stressors, such as lack of sleep, not eating enough or overtraining, but also mental pressures, such as deadlines, relational tensions or perfectionism. Your body doesn't distinguish between a life-threatening situation or a full inbox. Anything you experience as "stress" sets the cortisol factory in motion. If this goes on too long, your system becomes overloaded. Your cortisol stays high when it really should be dropping - and there are consequences.
You can recognize this in yourself if you can check off the following points.
- Difficulty falling asleep or waking up at night and not getting back to sleep
- Nonstop on your phone during other tasks, constantly distracted, difficulty completing tasks and staying on the couch for the longest time
- Extreme sugar cravings, craving for unhealthy foods, belly fat, bad skin or frequent bloating
- Brainfog, poor concentration, dejected and depressed feelings
- Often not quite fit, feeling sick, irregular menstruation, low libido
What are the consequences of chronically high cortisol?
When cortisol remains elevated for long periods of time, your entire system becomes unbalanced. Your sleep deteriorates, you are tired more often but still agitated, you gain weight around your belly while not even snacking anymore, your memory falters and you suffer from brain fog. Your resistance goes down, you recover slower and muscle building becomes more difficult. Other hormones also get disrupted: your testosterone drops, your thyroid slows down and your estrogen balance can shift. In short, you feel exhausted, irritable and no longer yourself. The body is then in survival mode.
How do you bring cortisol back down?
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to rebalance your cortisol. The basics start with rest and recovery. Getting enough sleep is essential - preferably at set times and in a dark, cool bedroom. Breathing exercises help calm your nervous system, as does walking in nature or going offline for a while. Also, make sure your diet is stable: no crash diets or long periods without food. Reduce caffeine, especially in the afternoon. And learn to handle mental pressure better: set limits, say no more often, and schedule moments without performance. You don't always have to be "on. You are not a robot. Even athletes know: you don't get stronger from training, but from recovery.
Concrete approaches for yourself
- Sunlight in the first hour of every day
- Every day same time to bed and out with sunrise
- Taking a break every hour (without distractions)
- First & last 2 hours of the day without screens
- Quitting sugar, alcohol, drugs and coffee
- Focus on nutrition from mother nature (grass-fed meat, bone broth, wild fish, eggs, raw fermented dairy and fruits & vegetables from the season)
- Breath work & yin yoga
- Massages & sauna
- Walking in the forest (!!!)
In conclusion
Cortisol is a wonderful hormone that helps you perform, be sharp and survive. But it needs a chance to wind down in time. It's all about rhythm. About recovery. And about listening to your body's signals. Because if you really want to live like an athlete, then you know: peaks are okay - as long as you also learn to go down.
P.s want to learn more about hormonal health. Then be sure to read my book 'work like an athlete'.