Cortisol, a steroid hormone, is produced and released by the adrenal glands, the endocrine glands on top of our kidneys, to help our body regulate its response to stress. It also gets involved in other of our body’s functions, such as metabolism, inflammation, blood sugar, blood pressure, and sleep.
Cortisol levels will be highest early in the morning ranging from 10 to 20 mcg/dl, but it’s totally normal. However, normal cortisol levels in our body can change related to our daily lifestyle—it’s no surprise that our cortisol levels suddenly increase.
There is no doubt that the high levels of cortisol can cause various serious health problems in our body such as weight gain, chronic disease, lack of energy, impaired immune system, Cushing’s syndrome, and difficulty concentrating.
Sure, you don’t want it to happen, do you? Luckily, there are several ways you can take to lower the high cortisol level in our body and maintain it stable. Okay, let’s find these ways in our post below!
Simple Ways to Lower Cortisol Levels to Reduce Stress
Hypercortisolism, also known as Cushing syndrome, is a condition that occurs when your cortisol level gets high. And it can be caused by some factors, such as:
- Consuming large amounts of corticosteroid medications such as prednisone, dexamethasone, or prednisolone
- Excessive growth of adrenal tissue (hyperplasia) or tumors of the adrenal glands that cause excess production of cortisol
- Tumors, which produce the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), are usually found in your pituitary gland.
- Tumors in other parts of your body, such as your lungs, can also cause high cortisol levels in your body.
If you experience severe Cushing syndrome, you may need to undergo medical treatment to lower your cortisol levels that involves medications and/or surgery. But if your cortisol level is high on the normal threshold, you don’t need to get it; instead, you can do some simple things every day to lower it.
Actually, it’s pretty straightforward to decrease the high cortisol level in our body, but some find it very complicated since it needs consistency and not everyone can do it. If you really want to lower your cortisol level in your body due to health problems you may experience, you can do the following:
1. Get Your Sleep Better
Getting the right amount of sleep is the most effective way to lower your cortisol level, and you can recover from stress. Well, the stress that most people experience is usually associated with a lack of sleep quality. Chronic sleep issues such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, or even working a night shift can trigger a rise in cortisol levels.
If you do not get enough sleep every day, it can result in increased circulating cortisol, which can affect your daily hormone patterns, your energy level, and other health aspects. If you work a night shift and cannot control your sleep schedule, you can still optimize it by changing your sleep schedule to the morning, but it must be of high quality and reduce distractions.
2. Learn a Good Diet
Everyone’s eating patterns will vary, but make sure to meet your body’s needs with balanced nutrition. Feeding your body with foods high in protein, such as meat, chicken breast, fish, and many more, high fiber in plenty of fruits and vegetables, and carbs These provide minerals, vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and probiotics, which can support your mood and immune system.
Nutrition you take into your body can affect the work of cortisol, either for better or for worse. Even though foods can relieve your stress, being mindful of every food you eat. Make sure to limit added sugars and notice saturated fat in your foods and drinks. Unhealthy foods can really raise cortisol levels and put you at high risk for high blood pressure and diabetes. Avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners can be best.
3. Recognize Stressful Thinking
Although it’d be hard, you need to try training yourself to be aware of your physical and mental health so you can recognize stress earlier and prevent it from becoming worse. You can notice stressful thoughts with a strategy that involves mindfulness. As time goes by, you can accept something that disturbs your thoughts without judgment or resistance, letting yourself have the ability to process it.
If you don’t try to manage your stress, it will usually trigger cravings in your body. Craving, the desire to eat something, usually unhealthy, like foods or drinks high in sugar, is usually triggered by stress. When blood sugar is high, fat will accumulate. If it lasts a long time, it will cause several health problems, such as weight gain, heart attack, stroke, etc. That’s why managing your stressful thinking is a must.
4. Exercise Regularly, But Not Too Much
Doing workouts about three times a week is enough, with an average of 30 to 50 minutes per session. Regular exercise that depends on the intensity of exercise can lower cortisol. But note that you shouldn’t exercise too much since it can, in turn, increase the cortisol level in our body. Don’t exercise more than 200 minutes per week.
Intense exercise can increase cortisol levels, but they will decrease a few hours later. Some studies have shown that regular exercise can help reduce stress, improve sleep quality, and improve overall health, so your cortisol level gets low over time.
5. Practice deep breathing
Even though it is a simple technique, taking deep breaths is very hard for some people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Deep and controlled breathing can really help stimulate your “rest and digest” and your parasympathetic nervous system, helping lower cortisol levels.
You can try to breathe deeply for at least five minutes, three to five times per day. If it’s hard, you can get involved in some exercises such as yoga, meditation, tai chi, and qigong, where there is a strong emphasis on breathing and mind-body connection.
6. Enjoy Yourself
Being grateful and loving yourself is something you have to do from now on. If you get used to it, you will live your life full of happiness without any time for overthinking, which can ruin the quality of your life.
If you’re happy, you can laugh without burden. You need to know that laughing can encourage your body to release endorphins and cortisol hormones, so it can automatically reduce stress and increase perceived energy levels.
7. Develop Your Hobby
You may have your interests and passions, but it seems as if you forget them due to stressful and overthinking habits. Doing what you love and participating in fun activities can really increase feelings of well-being, which can lower your cortisol levels.
Whatever hobby you love can divert stressful thoughts to more positive things. A study that involved about 1,399 participants demonstrated that cortisol levels got low in those who regularly engaged in hobbies they really enjoyed.
Taking care of a pet, drawing, gardening, writing a journal, crafting, playing an instrument, or even cooking are some examples of positive hobbies you can do, and these can bring you joy and help you distract from stressful thoughts and situations.
8. Maintain Health Relationship
There is no doubt that relationships have a big influence on half of our lives. The relationship referred to here is not limited to relationships with spouses but also family, friends, and work partners. Having an unhealthy relationship can cause frequent stress that can trigger our body to increase cortisol levels.
9. Take Supplements If Needed
It’s important to note that supplements can be consumed by those of you who are under medical supervision. However, taking supplements does not replace a well-balanced diet. If recommended, it will be better for you to consume magnesium, as it has many clinical uses since it can help regulate cortisol levels in our body.
In addition, you can also consume vitamin B12, C, and folic acid to help support the metabolism of cortisol. For example, fish oil that contains rich omega-3 fatty acids can significantly lower cortisol levels, and ashwagandha is a traditional medicine that can help people adapt to stress and treat anxiety.
Okay, those are some simple steps you can take to lower cortisol levels in your body and reduce stress. Make sure to do it step-by-step to get the best result. Good Luck!!!
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
