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When you’re under stress, your body releases a hormone called cortisol, which activates your body’s fight or flight system. Cortisol is produced by the adrenal gland, and it functions to mediate the stress response, regulate metabolism, the inflammatory response, and immune function.
There are a lot of complications associated with high cortisol levels, like high blood pressure, diabetes, and some metabolic disorders. If you have high cortisol, it’s important to become familiar with natural ways to balance these hormones and prevent complications.
Causes of High Cortisol Levels
The hypothalamus in the brain controls the release of cortisol by the adrenal gland. Stress causes your body to release adrenaline and cortisol, which increase your heart rate and energy output as part of the fight-or-flight response. This causes your body to prioritize functions that are relevant to the fight or flight response until the stressor is removed.
When you’re under a lot of stress for a long time, this response doesn’t get turned off.
Pituitary gland disorders can raise cortisol levels. It is the master gland because it monitors and controls most of the functions of other glands in the body that produce and secrete hormones. When there are issues with the pituitary gland, it can affect the function of the adrenal gland, causing it to secrete more cortisol.
Medications used to treat conditions like asthma, arthritis, and some cancers can also cause an increase in cortisol for some people when taken for a long period of time. Medications like prednisone and dexamethasone are common corticosteroids prescribed by doctors. Always speak to a doctor before taking these medications.
What Happens When Cortisol Levels Are High?
When your cortisol levels are high, it can result in the following:
- High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses may be accelerated by chronically elevated cortisol levels.
- Cortisol may boost hunger and tell the body to change its metabolism to accumulate fat.
- Cortisol can disrupt the body’s natural sleep hormones, affecting the depth and duration of your slumber.
- At high levels, cortisol can cause “brain fog,” or an inability to concentrate and an overall cloudiness of mind.
- An overactive immune system is another possible symptom of elevated cortisol levels.
- A very uncommon and potentially fatal condition known as Cushing syndrome may develop at extremely high cortisol levels.
Natural Ways to Lower Cortisol Levels
1. Get the right amount of sleep
Sleep helps your body relax, taking it out of fight or flight mode. People with sleep disorders like insomnia and people who have nighttime shifts have a higher chance of having high cortisol levels.
Creating a nighttime routine to ensure you have better sleep can help lower your cortisol levels. Reducing your intake of caffeine and sugary sodas can also help you sleep better.
If you find it hard to sleep, try taking short naps in a quiet room or listening to white noise to help you relax better and balance your hormones.
2. Get regular exercise
Exercise can either reduce your cortisol levels or increase it, depending on the intensity of your exercise. When you engage in intensive workouts, your body increases cortisol to meet its energy needs but later reduces it.
Doing light exercises frequently can help your body get used to the workout and not rely on raising cortisol levels. Aim for 150–200 minutes a week, mostly at low to moderate intensity, and give yourself time off in between sessions.
3. Learn to recognize stressful thinking
Sometimes your stressors come from your mind. When you are preoccupied with thoughts that cause you to become anxious and worked up, this leads to an increase in cortisol. Understanding when to let go of some thoughts or identifying triggers that make you worry is helpful to regulate your body’s response.
This technique, known as mindfulness-based stress reduction, involves raising your level of self-awareness about stressful ideas, accepting them without resistance or judgment, and giving yourself space to deal with them.
It’s easier to see stress when it starts if you’ve trained yourself to notice your thoughts, breathing, pulse rate, and other symptoms of tension.
You may learn to be an impartial, nonjudgmental observer of your anxious thoughts by concentrating on your awareness of your bodily and mental states.
4. Breathe
One method of reducing stress that can be used anywhere is deep breathing. Similar to mindfulness-based practices, regulated breathing aids in triggering the parasympathetic nervous system, often referred to as the “rest and digest” system, which reduces cortisol levels.
Breathing with your belly helps you relax.
This technique is widely used in mindfulness-based disciplines that emphasize breathing and the mind-body connection, such as qi gong, yoga, tai chi, and meditation. These techniques may aid in reducing stress and cortisol levels.
5. Stay hydrated
Drinking enough water helps supply needed oxygen to match up with the body’s energy expenses due to high cortisol. Staying hydrated helps promote the functioning of other organs and improves blood circulation. It also helps to cool off the body and relieve stress.
6. Have fun and laugh often
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, which can help reduce cortisol levels. It also helps to improve mood, lessen stress and perceived discomfort, lower blood pressure, and strengthen the immune system.
Taking up fun hobbies like painting, reading a book, or journaling can also help foster positive feelings, which helps reduce cortisol.
7. Maintain healthy relationships
Friendships and family relationships may provide a source of joy. For greater mental and physical health, spend time with the people you love and develop your capacity for forgiveness and dispute resolution. This helps you reduce stress and promote calmness, which, in turn, can help reduce the amount of stress you are exposed to and reduce cortisol.
8. Take care of a pet
A plant-based diet is another way you can naturally maintain an optimal estrogen level. This diet encourages the consumption of whole, minimally-processed plant-based foods while minimizing animal product consumption.
These foods are high in fiber content and anti-inflammatory, making them ideal for estrogen control.
9. Be your best self
Depression and dysregulated cortisol levels might result from feelings of shame, guilt, or inadequacy. This may include experiencing stigmatization due to personal characteristics like ethnicity, weight, and sexual orientation, among others.
Even though you have no direct influence over the stigma attached to these specific issues, there are actions you can take to assist in regulating how you feel about the stigma. You should not be hard on yourself and learn how to let go of guilt and self-doubt, learning to forgive yourself and love who you are the way you are.
10. Tend to your spirituality
For some people, seeking faith helps relieve stress; this gives you calmness of mind and reassurance of things. Prayer helps reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. Even if you don’t identify as spiritual, you may still get these advantages by practicing compassion, meditation, and starting a social support group.
11. Adopt a nutritious diet
All meals are good in moderation, but eating with awareness may help you better control your cortisol levels and reduce the symptoms of stress.
Elevated cortisol levels may be caused by a regular, excessive diet of sugary foods. It’s interesting to note that a diet heavy in sugar may also decrease the production of cortisol during stressful circumstances, which makes it harder for your body to cope with stress.
Include more dark chocolates, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and lentils, green tea, and healthy fats in your diet.
12. Take supplements
Supplements containing fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, are very helpful in lowering cortisol levels.
Turmeric, which has an active component called curcumin, helps reduce cortisol and improve mood.
Vitamin C supplements, which are rich antioxidants, help improve immune function and your body’s response to stress.
Speak with a Mental Health Professional
Stress can come from the mind, and when it becomes the usual, it might start to affect your daily functioning, not just your cortisol levels. It can be helpful to speak to a mental health specialist or psychiatrist if the stressor becomes both physically and mentally overwhelming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Natural cortisol blockers include fish oil, vitamin C, and turmeric.
You can quickly reduce your cortisol levels by taking deep breaths, practicing meditation, and practicing mindful thinking.
High cortisol levels can be managed through stress management, sleep, diet, exercise, and the use of supplements.
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