Elevated cortisol levels can cause a variety of health issues, so it’s very important to take steps to reduce them if you are finding they are chronically elevated. Let’s dive into some ways we can lower cortisol levels naturally.
What is stress?
Stress is the natural reaction your body has when changes or challenges occur. It can result in many different physical, emotional and behavioral responses. Everyone experiences stress from time to time. While it’s a healthy process the body needs, if you’re finding your stress is chronically elevated, then it’s important tot take steps to lower the stressors.
How does stress affect the body?
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls your “fight-or-flight” response and helps your body walk through stressful situations (both real or perceived).
The ANS also controls your heart rate, breathing, hormone balance, vision changes, etc. When we have long-term stress, this can create imbalance in the body and contribute to blood pressure, hormone imbalances, blood sugar imbalances, sleep issues, aches and pains, cardiovascular issues, exhaustion, a weakened immune system, adrenal fatigue and so much more.
In fact, the Grey’s Anatomy textbook states that your “nervous system controls and coordinates all organs and structures of the human body.” So, it plays a huge part in your overall health!
What happens when cortisol is high?
The adrenal glands are the body’s emergency system. When the body is under chronic stress, the adrenals will send out cortisol into the bloodstream. Over time, chronic cortisol output can weaken the endocrine system, immune system, liver, digestive system, and brain. It can also cause the thyroid to slow down (aka hypothyroidism) and in some rare cases, it will speed up (aka hyperthyroidism).
Symptoms of elevated cortisol:
A tendency to be a night person
Fatigue
High or low TSH
Low Ft3
Intestinal issues such as constipation, bloating, diarrhea, etc.
Hair loss
Having difficulty falling asleep
Feeling keyed up and having trouble calming down
High blood pressure
Clenching or grinding your teeth
Chronic low- or middle-back pain
Difficulty maintaining chiropractic adjustments
Craving salty foods
Perspiring easily
Chronic fatigue or getting drowsy often
Afternoon headache
Muscle pain or tension in the head, neck, jaw, or back
Anxiety
High blood sugar
Panic attacks
Seasonal or chronic allergies
Pain on the medial (inner) side of the knee or knees
Needing to wear sunglasses
Dizziness when you stand up
Difficulty losing weight
Gaining weight around the waistline
Difficulty recovering from exercise
Getting upset or angry easily
How to test your cortisol levels
The best way to test your cortisol levels is by getting a saliva cortisol panel. The panel looks at your cortisol patterns throughout the day versus a blood test that only tests at one time during the day. Seeing the pattern of cortisol during the day will give you and your practitioner a good idea of whether adrenal imbalance is a factor for you.
A cup of black tea in a cozy room with your favorite interesting book. A cozy evening for a literature lover. Selective focus on a cup of tea.
How to reduce stress hormones – 17 Ways to Lower Cortisol
1. As soon as you wake up, drink a glass of water along with 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic sea salt. Then, throughout the day, have a pinch of sea salt with each glass of water and also use it to season your food. Daily total consumption of about 1 1/2- 2 teaspoons of Celtic sea salt is a good place to start. The 80+ minerals in the salt will help nourish the adrenals and endocrine system.
2. Eat breakfast within one hour of waking. If you wait any longer than this, it can cause your blood sugar levels to decrease too much and your adrenals can start producing excess cortisol. So, this simple step can help keep cortisol levels more balanced.
3. Eat regular meals throughout the day and include some protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fat in each meal. I know this is a simple step, but skipping meals can put a strain on the adrenals.
4. Remove all processed foods from your diet. Processed foods are a stressor on the body, and the goal is to remove stressors as much as possible to help support the adrenals.
5. Only do low-impact exercise like walking, pilates, gentle yoga or stretching. High impact exercise puts strain on the adrenals and increases cortisol. When the adrenals are balanced and the body isn’t under chronic stress, a rise in cortisol when you workout is ok. But, if the body is under chronic stress then this can add fuel to the fire. So, pulling back on high impact exercise for a little while can be incredibly helpful.
If you’re having trouble losing weight, I know this can seem counter-productive, but I’ve seen clients lose weight by resting and following the steps I’m listing here. Here’s more info on this topic written by Dr. Erik Korem.
6. Diffuse essential oils throughout the day to help you feel more relaxed. If you can’t diffuse the oils, put a drop or two on the bottoms of your feet or on the spine twice a day to help lower stress levels. In fact, this study found that inhaling lavender essential oil can decrease cortisol levels. That’s good news for the adrenals!
Here are some of my personal favorites:
Forgive Blend (I diffuse this in my office when meeting with nutritional therapy clients and they all comment on how calming it is!)
Lavender
Balance blend
Citrus Bliss blend
7. Spend more time outdoors. Getting fresh air and being in nature helps reduce the stress response in the body.
8. Avoid a low-carb diet right now. While a lower carb diet can be a helpful way to reduce inflammation, eating this way for too long can put stress on the adrenals and cause hormonal imbalance. So it’s important to get good, healthy carbs into your diet each day such as: potatoes (make sure to eat with plenty of butter), root vegetables, peas, properly prepared legumes or gluten-free grains (if you can tolerate them), apples, pears, berries, and beets.
9. Avoid intermittent fasting right now. While intermittant fasting can be very helpful for many health issues, I don’t recommend it when there is adrenal imbalance because it can create additional stress on the body. I see this play out over and over at my nutrition practice. If a client has been fasting and has elevated cortisol and we switch to eating three meals a day, their symptoms greatly improve and cortisol levels begin to balance.
10. Take an epsom salt bath a few times a week (or each evening, if you can). When you’re stressed, the first mineral your body burns through is magnesium (this is why so many people are magnesium deficient!). Soaking in a bath with 1 cup of epsom salts and a few drops of your favorite essential oil will help you relax and replenish your magnesium stores.
11. Go to bed by 9pm each night. Honestly, the best way to heal your adrenals and balance your cortisol is with sleep.
12. Consider supplementation to help support your adrenals. Here are a few of the ones I use in my practice:
- Drenamin – This is my go-to for adrenal support. It contains vitamin C, B6, choline as well as many other nutrients, and helps address the nutritional deficiencies that the adrenals may be experiencing and supports them at a foundational level.
- Cataplex C – This is a great source of antioxidant vitamin C. Cataplex C helps the adrenals because they have one of the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the body.
- Cataplex B – B vitamins are very helpful to support your adrenal glands’ cortisol response to stress. Cataplex B is my go-to and is an excellent source of thiamin, niacin, and vitamin B6. They also have a gluten-free option.
- Cod Liver Oil – Did you know that adrenal cortical hormones are generated from cholesterol? The adrenals use cholesterol to make pregnenolone, which is used to produce estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and other hormones. In fact, all sex hormones are derived from cholesterol. Cod liver oil is a great way to supplement with healthy cholesterol along with vitamins A and D. I find it a fantastic addition to other adrenal supplementation.
13. Eat magnesium-rich foods. Magnesium-rich foods help support the adrenal glands. Foods such as dark leafy greens, fatty fish, avocado, and soaked nuts, seeds and legumes are all good sources of magnesium to include in your diet throughout the week.
14. Eliminate all caffeine. Unfortunately, caffeine is like liquid stress for the adrenals right now. I know this is a hard one, but your adrenals will thank you! Here’s a post about how I kicked the coffee habit — with step-by-step instructions for you.
15. Take one day of rest each week. While it’s popular to “hustle”, that kind of daily mentality can lead to all sorts of health issues and will strain the adrenals. Take a day each week to rest. Turn off your phone, get outside, or just sleep all day if that’s what your body needs. It’s ok. God set the example by taking a day to rest, so I order my week that way, too!
16. Learn to recognize stressful thinking – It’s important to understand that the mind is separate from the brain. The mind is the thoughts we think, and this influences the brain, and the brain influences the nervous system. As I mentioned before, The Grey’s Anatomy textbook tells us that the nervous system controls and coordinates every organ and system in the body.
So, the thoughts we think can have a huge influence on our cortisol levels. If we’re thinking about stressful events (even if nothing stressful is actually happening) the body will think it’s in fight or flight and it will raise stress hormones.
Checking in with yourself during the day to see what you’re thinking about can be a good first place to start. If you find that you have a lot of negative thoughts, then start working on thinking about more positive things. I personally like to listen to uplifting music, go outside on a walk, or pray when I find that my thoughts are more negative than they should be.
Also, be aware of the things you are listening to or watching such as podcasts, music, other people, movies, etc. If these things are negative, sad, etc. then this can cause you to start thinking in this way too.
17. Turn off your phone or put it somewhere that is out of sight. “Your cortisol levels are elevated when your phone is in sight or nearby, or when you hear it or even think you hear it,” David Greenfield, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
So, taking breaks from your phone, putting it away at various times during the day and definitely not sleeping with it next to you can be very helpful!
If you’d like to learn more about how to heal from adrenal fatigue, I recommend checking out my Adrenal Balance Program. I teach you everything you need to know to balance your adrenals and to get back to feeling like yourself again!
Note: The purpose of this post is to give an overview of cortisol from a holistic perspective. Due to biochemical individuality there can be many various reasons for the root causes of elevated cortisol. This information is not intended to take the place of your doctor’s advice.
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