It is normal to be stressed, but it should not affect everyday functions. If you experience chronic stress and fatigue that affects your daily life, it can be a signal that you can have a cortisol imbalance.
Cottisol’s high and low levels, also known as “stress hormones,” can deal with symptoms that give you a feeling of feeling, unlike you. The good news is that there is a way to better manage the stress level. If you think that there is a cortisol imbalance, or if you are usually worried about your health, you can first consult a doctor and get an appropriate test.
What is Cortisol?
Excessive adrenal glands lead to exhaustion.
Cortisol It is called the main stress hormone of the body Melissa Groves AzzaroA registered nutritionist and a balanced approach to PCOS. The hormone is generated in the adrenal glands as a reaction to the internal or external stress factors.
Most people know Cortisol about the role in the “fight or flight” reaction, but Cortisol actually plays a lot. Other roles In the body.
In addition to suppressing essential body functions in battle or flight scenarios, Cortisol is also as follows.
Most of the body cells contain cortisol receptors, so it is an important hormone, but like hormones, it can harm too much or too little body and health.
Signs of cortisol imbalance
Everyone’s experience in cortisol imbalances will be particularly different when distinguishing high cortisols and low cortisols.
The symptoms of high cortisol are as follows:
- In particular, weight gain in the abdomen
- Anxiety and irritability
- Sleeping and falling asleep
- nervousness
- wobble
- High heart rate
- Blood sugar and blood pressure instability
The symptoms of low cortisol are as follows:
- Low energy all day long
- “Wired but tired” feeling
- Severe fatigue and lack of focus
- Sugar and salt
- apathy
- Low sexual desire
- Memory problem
What is the cause of cortisol imbalance?
The extended stress is the main cause of cortisol imbalance.
Azzarro said, “In general, cortisol imbalances can be caused by very stress or long stress. “While there is a high clinical diagnosis (Cushing syndrome) And low (Adison) There is a large spectrum of ‘external’ cortisol level or inappropriate cortisol pattern that can affect our daily lives. “
Importantly, cortisol imbalance is not a simple problem that is always high or low. Cottisol imbalance can also mean that cortisol is too high or too low for other times, not a certain surplus or lack.
In any case, there is a common criminal behind all types of cortisol imbalances.
stress
Excessive and long -term stress is a major cause of high or low cortisol imbalances.
“High cortisol occurs when the body recognizes stress.” Dr. Tara ScottFunctional medicine doctor. “Your brain doesn’t know if you are running in the bear or whether you have a deadline at work.”
Excessive cortisol increases heart rate and increases norepinephrine (neurotransmitter that can also be anxious), increasing blood sugar.
Scott said, “Cortisol occurs after long -term stress. When the body sends a negative feedback signal to the brain, ‘we have a lot of cortisols here and do not stimulate more production. ” “Scott says, so the brain reduces cortex hormones (ACTH, hormones that stimulate the production of cortisols) and have a low cortisol period.Scott may change all day or day, SCOTT says. .
work out
Too many exercises can throw away cortisol levels.
Azzaro says exercise is considered eBressRess or good stress. “While Cortisol increases immediately by exercise, the overall effect is to lower the atmosphere and stress. OverdueShe becomes harmful. “She says.
Azzaro recommends taking into account the overall stress of life when planning exercise therapy. Azzaro explains that Azzaro may not be the best time to integrate high -intensity exercise if you are fighting high stress at work and not enough to sleep.
“If you get sick more often or feel depleted after exercise, she will work too hard at the current level of Cortisol,” she says.
nutrition
The food we eat can help reduce cortisols or reduce spikes, say Lauren Mincheen, a registered nutritionist and nutrition consultant. Freshbit. MINCHEN said, “Carbohydrate and sugar -rich processed foods can help to immediately lower cortisols, but blood sugar spikes from these foods can actually increase the body’s stress, inflammation and cortisol levels over time. .
“Sugar is one of the largest cortisol triggers, and white purified flour foods produce similar blood sugar spikes and cortisol effects, so eating high foods in these ingredients can increase cortisols over time.”
alcohol and caffeine It also affects cortisol levels and consumes too much over time to affect cortisol levels. Alcohol increases inflammation, stressing the body and causing cortisol production. MINCHEN said that withdrawal from poisoning also stimulates more cortisols in blood flow.
MINCHEN says, “Increasing the amount of caffeine intake may have little effect on increasing cortisols, depending on how high the amount of coffee you drink and how high the cortosol level is every day,” MINCHEN says. “This effect can be more tired for more caffeine because of exhaustion. The adrenal glands can no longer work too hard before they keep the production of cortisol.”
On the contrary, eating healthy food carbohydrates, such grains, fresh fruits, soybeans and potatoes can help you to manage cortisol. Also, a balanced amount of consumption Protein, carbohydrates and fats MINCHEN says that the body can use blood sugar to receive the energy needed to maintain stable, which ultimately helps to control cortisol.
How to fix high or low cortisol levels
Relaxing is the best way to correct the high or low cortisol.
Azzaro said, “It’s not very sexy, but the body tells you to rest. The dirty task of correcting cortisol imbalances is to identify what the root cause of the imbalance is to balance the cortisol.”
We discussed the general causes of the above cortisol imbalance, but we dug deeper. Go through “Diet” or “Exercise” and ask if the hormonal levels are more weird.
- Your job
- Relationship stress (important guitar or family)
- Hustal culture/I do too much work
- Lack of sleep
- Too many of one exercise (perhaps Hiit))
- Alcohol or caffeine consumption
- Lack of mindfulness or stress management practices
It also says it is important to identify certain imbalances. Inna MelamedPharmacist and functional medicine doctor. Ask the primary caregiver to execute a hormonal test or to ask a endocrine specialist. Or order an online cortisol test and bring it from home and send it to the laboratory.
This step is important because modifications of high cortisol levels are not effective in modifying low cortisol levels. In fact, to reach the root cause, “Test is ideal for both cortisol. DheaMelamed is just melatonin for sex hormones and even melatinin to see better pictures of adrenal health. “
Cortisol imbalances require a lot of effort and patience. Best of all, take some rest. When you feel rest, make a list of all possible stress factors in life and honest.
Then write down how to reduce each stress factor. Perhaps you can reduce the weekly exercise routine to four in five sessions. Perhaps you can seriously talk to your partner about stress levels and home responsibilities. Perhaps you can ask your boss to brighten your luggage for a while at work (or rest a better time).
If the cortisol level is high or low, life can be much more difficult. Fighting continuous stress, anxiety and fatigue is not easy, and always if you need mental health support. Use the available resources.
