Generally, cortisol levels are highest in the morning when waking and fall throughout the day until they reach their lowest levels around midnight. However, too high of cortisol can be an indicator that our body is running at a higher state of stress than we'd like. There are a multitude of factors that relate to elevated cortisol levels such as poor sleep quality, day-to-day stressors from work or life situations, increased exercise, not consuming enough calories throughout the day, dehydration, excessive intake of caffeine, hormone imbalances and more.
Sometimes we may not feel stressed, but our body is internally in a constant state of stress. This can show up in various ways such as inability to fall asleep, extreme fatigue in the middle of the day, acne, GI disfunction such as bloating, gas or diarrhea, easily irritated, constant muscle soreness after exercise, and more.
There are many ways we can help lower our cortisol and we should implement these practices into our routine daily. The key with lowering cortisol is to make sure you are putting your body in a parasympathetic (calming) state. Aim to do this every day for 30 minutes to an hour. This can be as simple as sitting outside with a morning coffee or tea or going on a walk while listening to a podcast. Little actions each day make a big difference for our health in the long run.
We have a full cortisol maintenance plan on your Vessel app with different exercises and tasks you can perform daily in order to lower and stabilize cortisol levels. If you are interested, I would be happy to help walk you through this plan and show you how to set reminders so you can create daily habits of performing these calming exercises.
Be mindful and take time to slow-down throughout the day. Also, during times of stress or feelings of anxiety, try to smile or think of something that makes you smile - studies show that doing this can elicit physiological effects in the body that actually help to reduce stress and improve cortisol levels. Moreover, aim to eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of fruits & vegetables (high sugar intake is associated with less than optimal cortisol levels), sleep well (at least 7-9 hours per night), exercise, and remember to have fun (garden, walk, laugh).
There are also certain foods that can help lower cortisol including dark chocolate, fruits, black or green tea, probiotics & probiotic-rich foods, water (dehydration increases cortisol), and fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids DHA & EPA. Also, low vitamin C and magnesium levels can contribute to high cortisol, so ensuring that you get enough of these nutrients is vital.
This article has been authored by Mikaela Frame and peer reviewed by Lauren Lehmkuhl and Sinead Adedipe.
I have high cortisol, but do not feel very stressed. Why is that?
