Cortisol-the mother hormone and why it may be affecting your health
The most common hormone problem we see today is cortisol imbalance. Modern life is filled with chronic stress. And this can be both mental and emotional stress like work performance, family dynamics, financial issues, anger, social isolation, and resentment, but also physiological stress created by poor diet, lack of sleep, being sedentary, toxin exposure, & chronic infections.
Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands which are small kidney-shaped glands on top of our kidneys. It is a master hormone having an effect on almost every cell in our body. It regulates our metabolism, sleep, heart rate, blood pressure, sugar control, immune response, and thyroid function. It affects our hormone balance, sex drive, reproduction, bone health, digestion, and brain function. It is responsible also for our stress response, increasing in times of stress to keep our body safe from acute threats by increasing our heart rate, blood sugar, and blood pressure. This is the “Flight or Fight” response like when we need to run away from a burning building. Cortisol is normally released by our body in a diurnal pattern being highest in the morning and then slowly tapering as the day progresses reaching its lowest at midnight. This allows our body to release melatonin which promotes sleep and rest.
When we are under unrelenting chronic stress our cortisol levels remain high, with our body's nervous system on constant high alert. Our bodies shut down the production of our other hormones to support cortisol production. In addition, it tramps down our thyroid function and our digestion to preserve the main functions of high alert. It makes our body convert stored energy to increase sugar for our “fight” response and increases our blood pressure and heart rate. Over time of chronic stress, our body will store calories as fat and we can gain weight.
As you can see cortisol has a massive effect on all of our body's systems so it is no surprise that when we have a chronically elevated level we can develop multiple symptoms. These include anxiety, hyper-vigilance, racing mind, sweats, overwhelm, irritability, sleep problems, sugar cravings, poor concentration, memory issues, lack of willpower, weight gain, racing heart, lack of sex drive, rashes, allergies, and food reactions. It can cause many stomach symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, fatigue after eating, upper belly discomfort, and a “leaky gut’. Chronic elevation of cortisol can lead to high blood pressure, elevated sugar, insulin resistance, diabetes, osteoporosis, infertility, PCOS, high cholesterol, and thyroiditis. Research also indicates that it causes premature aging.
Chronic elevation of cortisol over time can lead to low cortisol levels as the body is not able to keep up with the demand. This can lead to symptoms of extreme fatigue and exhaustion that can be debilitating often worse in the am despite sleeping a lot, frequent colds/infections, depression, irritability, slowed thinking, low motivation or ambition, decrease stress tolerance, allergies, muscle weakness, joint pain, and aches, salt cravings, lightheadedness when standing, low blood sugar symptoms of irritability and shakiness between meals.
The good news is that treating the root cause of cortisol imbalance is possible and can lead to improved health.
