Cortisol is our stress hormone

Cortisol is our stress hormone — a steroid hormone naturally produced in our bodies, by the adrenal glad, to help us respond to stressful situation and reduce inflammation. Cortisol main job is to increase blood sugar (glucose) in to the blood stream, enhance your brain's use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.

Cortisol is a hormone that has an effect on virtually every organ and tissue in the body

You’ve ever heard of “fight or flight” mode?

Back in the days when we lived in caves and had natural threats like tigers around us, our bodies evolved and developed a fleeing mode. This mode activated the sympathetic nervous system. This fleeing mode has three stages: 

— The alarm stage

This stage refers to the initial symptoms the body experiences when under stress — our heart rate increases, your adrenal gland releases cortisol, and you receive a boost of adrenaline, which increases energy. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system, which also slows down functions like digestion to make it easier to flee from the tiger.

— The resistance stage

Luckily, after a stressful event our bodies goes back to normal, meaning releasing lower amounts of cortisol, lowering blood pressure and heart rate and normalising other body functions. Although your body enters this recovery phase, it remains on high alert for a while. If you overcome stress and the situation is no longer an issue, your body continues to repair itself until your hormone levels, heart rate, and blood pressure reach a pre-stress state.

If however, the stress continuous for extended periods of time, your body will remain on high alert. Eventually, your body adapts and learns to live on a high stress level. Your body will continue to secrete cortisol and your blood pressure will remain elevated. You may think you’re managing stress well, but your body’s physical response tells a different story. If the resistance stage continues for too long of a period without pauses to offset the effects of stress, this can lead to the exhaustion stage.

Signs of resistance stage:

• irritability

• frustration

• poor concentration

— The exhaustion stage

This is the result of prolonged or chronic stress. Your body has been through so much at this point it might not have the strength anymore to fight back. Stress drains us both physically and mentally over time. You might feel hopeless and want to give up at this stage.

Signs of exhaustion:

• fatigue

• burnout

• depression

• anxiety

• decreased stress tolerance

But, there is no tiger to run from

I haven’t seen any of them run between our buildings anyway, but there’s still stress around us. Money is a huge stress factor for many of us, because we do not hunt our food anymore, we purchase from the grocery store. Without money, we’ll go without food.

Work, money, career, business, family and relationships, they are all stressing us out in one way or another, some more than others.

Things like a fight between you and a partner can trigger a stress response, then maybe running late for work trigger some more…some customer at work could go on your nerves for a bit. The triggers could be endless, trust me I know.

I went through years of mental abuse from my partner and when I finally said enough is enough, it wasn’t enough because the divorce lasted for 2 years with constant stress about talking to lawyers, him reaching out, not being able to start a business when I needed, money struggles and still healing from past mental trauma.

I have lived with stress for many years going in and out of exhaustion stage. Currently in some limbo stage between resistance and exhaustion. When things are going well, we thrive, but as soon as there’s something small we start getting irritated and frustrated until we get anxiety and feel like giving up. I give it a few days, then the cycle continue.

There’s ways to deal with stress

I know I’m not alone, we’re just all dealing with different problems and have different coping mechanisms. Some of us fall into full burnout, meaning we take leave from work for a while. Some of us doesn’t have that opportunity and have to keep fighting. We have to deal with stress in other ways:

• You can see a doctor and get prescribed medicine — but this is just bandaid on the wound. You wont solve the actual problem, and you’ll have to keep running on meds until you do.

There’s natural ways of reducing stress:

Get rid of the problem, kill your husband — no I’m just kidding, but sometimes you need time alone. Meditate, breathe, do something you enjoy by yourself, go out and enjoy a fancy dinner just by yourself. Search within you and find out if you have any hobbies that are calming like paining, creating music, taking long walks along the beach, spa and self care evenings.

Consider supplementing with herbs — why do you think people drink black tea, it’s not because it tastes good. It has benefits that reduce stress and brings calmness to your body and mind. Ashwagandha is another herb that is proven to reduce stress and anxiety.

Meditation and yoga — deep breathing and mindfulness tells our nervous system to calm down.

Eat healthy and nutritious food — nutrients like magnesium is important for stress management.

Water, lots of water — so you can drown your problems, no but dehydration puts stress on our organs.

Sleep more, take naps and rest — the best way to reset your system!

Reference links:

https://www.healthline.com/health/general-adaptation-syndrome#stages
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371989/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23262-sympathetic-nervous-system-sns-fight-or-flight#:~:text=Your%20sympathetic%20nervous%20system%20is%20best%20known%20for%20its%20role,your%20get%20out%20of%20danger.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037#:~:text=Cortisol%2C%20the%20primary%20stress%20hormone,fight%2Dor%2Dflight%20situation.
https://www.marathon-health.com/blog/how-do-you-respond-to-stress/#:~:text=The%20resistance%20stage%20is%20when,high%20alert%20for%20a%20while.
https://www.psychologytools.com/resource/fight-or-flight-response/#:~:text=The%20fight%20or%20flight%20response,body%20to%20fight%20or%20flee.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.626427/full#:~:text=Cortisol%20is%20a%20potent%20insulin,insulin%20secretion%20(Figure%201).
https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/pruebas-de-laboratorio/prueba-de-cortisol/#:~:text=El%20cortisol%20es%20una%20hormona,Reducir%20la%20inflamaci%C3%B3n
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2257922/#:~:text=Caffeine%20also%20activates%20the%20stress,responses%20(5%2C6).