Cortisol – what you actually need to know

Cortisol, what is it ?

Cortisol is a hormone that we actually need. It's produced by the adrenal glands and is involved in things like blood sugar, blood pressure, energy and our response to stress.

When you wake up in the morning, cortisol naturally rises. That's one of the things that helps you feel awake and ready for the day.

It should then gradually come down as the day goes on, helping your body move towards a more relaxed state in the evening.

So the aim isn't to have low cortisol.

It's about having a healthy daily rhythm and being able to switch between being alert and being able to relax and recover.

Where does stress come into it?

This is where modern life can make things a little more difficult.

Work, family, lack of sleep, financial worries, illness, training, travelling, these all place big demands on the body.

One stressful day isn't a problem. That's what our stress response is designed for.

The problem is when you're constantly “switched on” and don't give yourself enough time to recover.

You might recognise some of this yourself:

• You're tired but struggle to switch off at night

• You wake up feeling that you haven't really recovered

• You rely on coffee to get you through the day

• Your patience seems to be wearing thin

• Training feels harder than it normally would

  
  

None of these automatically means you have a cortisol problem, but they can be signs that you're not getting enough recovery.

What can you do about it?

The good news is that you don't need a complicated “cortisol reset”.

Start with the basics.

Get outside during the day.

Natural daylight, particularly early in the day, helps your body clock know when it should be awake and when it should be winding down later.

Get enough sleep.

This sounds obvious, but it's probably one of the most important things you can do. Try to keep your bedtime and wake-up time reasonably consistent.

Keep exercising.

Exercise is actually a form of stress on the body, but it's generally a positive one when you recover properly afterwards.

You don't need to smash yourself every time you train.

Sometimes a walk is exactly what you need.

Eat properly.

You don't need a special cortisol diet.

Make sure you're getting enough protein, plenty of vegetables and fruit, fibre and generally nutritious foods. Try not to spend the whole day eating very little and then wondering why you're starving in the evening.

Give yourself some downtime.

This is probably the one we are all guilty of overlooking.

If you're working all day, training hard, looking after the family and then spending the evening scrolling through your phone, your brain doesn't necessarily get much chance to switch off.

A walk, reading, listening to music, meeting a friend or simply having some quiet time can be surprisingly valuable.

And what about belly fat? (The biggie)

This is one of the areas where social media has probably made things far more complicated than they need to be.

You'll often hear that cortisol causes belly fat.

There is some science behind the relationship between stress, cortisol, appetite and fat storage, but it's nowhere near as simple as “high cortisol = belly fat”.

If you're trying to lose body fat, the things we've talked about for years still matter:

Your food intake, protein, exercise, strength training, daily activity, sleep and consistency.

There isn't a magic supplement that's going to override all of those things.

If you're generally healthy, I'd be much more interested in looking at your overall lifestyle than trying to chase a particular hormone.

Are you sleeping well?

Are you moving enough?

Are you eating reasonably well?

Are you recovering from your training?

Are you getting outside?

Do you actually give yourself time to relax?

Those things might not be as exciting as the latest “cortisol hack” on Instagram, but they are far more useful.

And remember, cortisol isn't the enemy.

It's a normal and important part of how your body works.

The aim isn't to eliminate stress.

It's to give your body enough opportunity to recover from it.

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Until next time

Mo...................