In the midst of our chaotic lives, we often find ourselves grappling with various stressors, be they financial or psychological, and these stressors can significantly impact our health.
Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone that our adrenal glands produce and release.
It helps regulate our body's response to stress, which is why it is also known as the stress hormone. Cortisol is an essential hormone that affects almost every organ and tissue in your body. It plays many significant roles, including:
- Regulating your body’s stress response.
- It helps control your body’s use of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, or your metabolism.
- Suppressing inflammation.
- Regulating blood pressure.
- Regulating blood sugar.
- It helps control your sleep-wake cycle.
However, it has many important effects and functions throughout your body aside from regulating your body’s stress response. It is also important to remember that, biologically speaking, there are different kinds of stress, including:
Acute stress: An acute stress disorder (ASD) is a short-term mental health condition that happens within one month of a traumatic experience.
Chronic stress: A chronic stress disorder is characterised by a continuous feeling of stress that, if left untreated, can negatively impact your health.
Traumatic stress: It is a psychological disorder that may occur in people who have been in a traumatic situation or witnessed one. Your body releases cortisol when you experience any of these types of stress.
How does cortisol affect our body?
Almost all tissues in your body have glucocorticoid receptors. Because of this, cortisol can affect nearly every organ system in your body, including:
- The nervous system
- The immune system
- The cardiovascular system
- The reproductive system
- The respiratory system
- The musculoskeletal system
- The integumentary system
How to control cortisol levels
There are several everyday things you can do to try to lower your cortisol levels and keep them in optimal ranges, including:
- Get quality sleep
- Exercise regularly
- Limit to stress and stressful thinking patterns
- Practice meditation
- Enjoy yourself and laugh
Conclusion
Cortisol is an essential hormone that impacts several aspects of our body. While there are several things we can do to limit our stress, listed below are a couple to help you with it:
- Adapting a good daily exercise routine helps us manage cortisol levels.
- Doing regular meditations helps a lot to control cortisol levels.
- Keeping yourself in a good and joyous mood helps control cortisol levels.
