Cortisol is an important hormone in the body – it wakes us up in the morning, gives us energy throughout the day and tapers off at night to allow melatonin to take over. That being said, when you have too much cortisol it can start to affect your health (especially your hormones, your gut, and your thyroid). I recently shared some signs you may be running on stress hormones and now I’m going to share how we can start to heal.
1. Prioritize your gut health

Your gut and your brain are in constant communication—and the health of one impacts the health of the other. Stress and anxiety can trigger symptoms in the gut (hello, nervous poops), GI inflammation sends signals to the brain and has been linked to mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression. Add fermented foods into your diet, these are packed with microbes that help to strengthen your gut microbiome.  Supplement with a probiotic (I use @Seed). Focus on eating a variety of fruits & veggies. Research has shown a strong relationship between a healthy gut microbiome — all the microbes living in your gut — and improved mental health. Therefore, consuming foods to support a healthy gut may help reduce stress, anxiety, and improve your overall health

2. Fill your plate with real, whole foods

What you eat can impact cortisol for better or worse. While I truly believe you should be able to enjoy all foods, it is important to be mindful of what you are eating & the role it is playing in your health. There are no “good” or “bad” foods but there are foods that make you feel your best while others may not. Pay attention to how what you eat makes you feel and use that to your advantage. Added sugars and processed foods are known to raise cortisol levels so make sure you are eating those in moderation.Â

3. Get adequate sleep

Sleep is one of the most important things when it comes to your health. If you aren’t getting adequate, quality sleep you aren’t allowing your body to heal and repair. Chronic sleep issues such as obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, or shift work have been associated with higher cortisol. Further more, if you are a night shift worker you are more likely to have higher cortisol levels. Here are some things you can do to make sure you’re getting the quality sleep you need:Â

  • Create a bedtime routine – having a consistent routine before bed can actually signal to your body that it’s time to start winding down. (reading a book, skincare routine, stretching, etc). It is also important that you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.Â
  • No screens (or lights) 2 hours before bed – the light from screens really messes with our melatonin levels. This is because our body thinks since it is getting light exposure that it’s still daytime and it doesn’t start producing melatonin. Buy salt lamps, warm light night lights, or a casper self dimming light and only keep those on before bed. You can even swap out the light bulb in your lamp to a red light.Â
  •  Sleep in a cold, dark room. It’s been said that colder rooms equals less time to fall asleep and a deeper sleep so you can wake feeling refreshed.
4. Limit caffeine

Don’t hate me for this one but it’s important. First, never drink coffee on an empty stomach – cortisol is highest upon waking and adding in coffee (a stimulant) increases your stress hormones even more. The increase in cortisol also causes a blood sugar spike. It is extremely hard to balance your blood sugar throughout the day if you spike it first thing in the morning. Instead eat it with or after having a balanced breakfast with protein, fats, and fiber. You can also make a blood sugar balancing coffee by adding in collagen and full fat coconut milk (oat milk is a no go here because it is high carb and will actually spike the blood sugar even more).Â

5. Balance your blood sugar

Blood sugar balance impacts EVERYTHING. Prioritizing blood sugar balance is one of the best things you can do for your health no matter what your goals may be. Blood sugar (glucose) is our bodies main fuel source. It determines our energy, our hunger hormones, our focus, how we burn fat in our body, and so much more. determines our energy, our hunger hormones, our focus, how we burn fat in our body, and so much more. When we consume carbohydrates, they break down by the body and turn into sugar (aka glucose), which then enters the blood stream. Whether its bread, fruit or ice cream, it turns to glucose.  We need glucose but the amount matters.  The key is to balance the amount we consume and the speed of absorption into our body. Balancing our blood sugar leads to more energy, a stable mood, better nights sleep, less anxiety, headaches (or migraines), etc. It also directly impacts your hormone balance – which is extremely important.Â

6. Avoid overexercisingÂ

Exercise regularly can be a great tool when it comes to managing stress and promoting good health, which can help lower cortisol. However, too much exercise (especially high impact) can have the opposite effect and will actually increase cortisol in the body. For women you also need to think about your cycle – during your luteal & menstrual phase your metabolism speeds up and you naturally burn more calories. However, intense exercise works against your body by pumping out extra cortisol. Excess cortisol leads to fat storage and muscle wasting. One last thing to consider, skip your fasted workouts. As we know from the caffeine bullet point, cortisol is highest in the morning. Ff you then add further stress to the system by training at a high intensity without any fuel, you can cause cortisol to become chronically high which in turn can block the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, impacting the production of sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, important for a number of functions in the body. Fasted workouts may work for men but for women it can be extremely damaging for our hormones.Â

7. Spend time outside

I don’t know about you but the moment I step outside and get some fresh air, I always feel a million times better. Something about being out in nature has a calming effect on the mind. Bonus if you get outside and get moving! Taking a long walk can be extremely therapeutic and is a great way to clear your mind (and boost your energy).Â

8. Practice breathing exercises

Taking deep belly breaths is a simple and easy stress reduction technique that you can do anywhere and anytime. I used to sit in my car before training every morning and do 5-10 deep belly breaths to help stimulate my parasympathetic nervous system and reduce cortisol. Start your day with breaths, take them before a big meeting, or take them after someone does something to frustrate you. Literally anytime you feel your cortisol raising stop and BREATH.Â

10. Stop scrolling in the morning

How you start your will impact the rest of your day for better or worse. When you wake up and the first thing you do is scroll through social media or the news you are instantly triggering your limbic system, which deals with emotional responses – good or bad. The constant alert of new posts and updates on social media activates the human body’s fight or flight limbic system in a way that resembles being on alert for predators. This state of alertness causes stress and releases the stress hormone cortisol. On top of that depending on the content you are consuming (whether it be negative comments, comparing yourself to others, etc) it could simply be feeding your brains stress response by bombarding it with negativity, prompting it to release cortisol and keep you on edge. Having this extra release of cortisol first thing in the morning when cortisol is already high can be a problem. On top of that – mindset is everything. If you start the day in a negative mindset you are more likely to have a crappy day than if you were to start the day turning inward and thinking positive thoughts, journaling, etc.Â

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I hope these tips were helpful! As someone who has been there (and is still prioritizing these things) I truly believe that lowering your cortisol makes a huge difference in overall health. Reach out if you need extra support with this!