Cortisol often gets a bad rap as the “stress hormone,” but the truth is, cortisol plays a crucial role in our overall health. It’s responsible for helping us wake up in the morning, giving us energy to tackle challenges, and even aiding in the fight-or-flight response when we’re in danger. However, like most things in life, balance is key. For women, in particular, understanding how cortisol works and how to manage it effectively can make a significant difference in our physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
The Role of Cortisol: Why We Need It
Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands and has several important functions:
Energy Regulation: Cortisol helps regulate your metabolism, ensuring that your body has enough energy to get through the day. It manages how your body uses carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
Inflammation Control: It has anti-inflammatory properties, which means it helps keep your immune system in check and prevents it from going into overdrive.
Stress Response: When you’re faced with a stressful situation, cortisol gives you a quick burst of energy by raising blood sugar levels and improving your brain’s use of glucose. This is part of the classic “fight or flight” response.
Blood Pressure Regulation: Cortisol also helps maintain blood pressure, keeping it stable as your body deals with various stressors.
Controls our sleep wake cycle: usually cortisol spikes in the morning to wake us up, and then decreases as the day goes on in order for us to fall asleep in the evening
While cortisol is essential for these functions, too much of it can become problematic, especially for women.
Why Women Are Prone to Excess Cortisol
Women are more susceptible to having elevated cortisol levels due to a variety of factors, including hormonal fluctuations, lifestyle demands, and societal pressures. Here’s how excess cortisol can impact us:
Hormonal Imbalance: Cortisol and progesterone don’t exactly get along. When cortisol levels are high, progesterone production can be suppressed. This is particularly significant during the menstrual cycle, where progesterone is crucial for maintaining balance. High cortisol levels can lead to irregular periods, PMS, and even fertility issues.
Menopause & Perimenopause: During perimenopause and menopause, the body’s production of estrogen and progesterone decreases, which can already lead to an imbalance. If cortisol levels are high, this imbalance can worsen, exacerbating symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and insomnia.
Physical & Emotional Impact: High cortisol levels can lead to weight gain (especially around the abdomen), chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It can also disrupt sleep, making it difficult to get the rest you need.
Menstrual Cycle: During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (the second half, after ovulation), progesterone levels rise to prepare the body for a potential pregnancy. High cortisol levels can interfere with this process, leading to symptoms like irritability, bloating, and mood swings.
How to Reduce Cortisol Levels
The good news is that there are plenty of ways to keep cortisol in check, and they don’t have to be overwhelming.
Healthy Sleep Hygiene: Sleep is one of the most effective ways to lower cortisol. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Create a calming bedtime routine, avoid screens before bed, and keep your sleep environment cool and dark. Need more tips? Check out my blog, "Sleep Like a Queen."
Breathwork: Deep breathing exercises can quickly reduce cortisol levels by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you relax. Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique—inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8.
Eat Cortisol-Balancing Foods: Certain foods can help keep cortisol levels stable. These include dark chocolate (yes, you read that right!), bananas, pears, black or green tea, and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon and walnuts.
Regulate Your Nervous System: Practice techniques that calm your nervous system, like mindfulness meditation or gentle yoga. These practices help lower cortisol by reducing the overall stress load on your body.
Yoga Nidra: This form of guided meditation, also known as “yogic sleep,” is incredibly effective in lowering cortisol levels. Just 20 minutes of Yoga Nidra can be as restorative as a few hours of sleep, helping to reset your body and mind.
Cold Water Therapy: Cold baths or even a quick cold water splash on your face can lower cortisol levels. Cold exposure stimulates the vagus nerve, which is key to regulating the parasympathetic nervous system, helping you feel calmer and more balanced.
However, please try to avoid this during the luteal phase (second half) of your period and during menstruation. Progesterone, the warming hormone necessary for fertility and balanced menstrual symptoms, is most prominent during these phases. She requires a warm environment to do her job. Cold water immersion during the luteal phase (prior to menstruation) prevents proper blood flow in the uterus and can lead to irregular, delayed and painful periods, as well as other unpleasant pre menstrual symptoms.
Exercise and Cortisol: Finding the Right Balance
While exercise is important for overall health, it’s essential to choose the right type of exercise at the right time to avoid raising cortisol levels too much. For women, especially during certain phases of the menstrual cycle or during perimenopause and menopause, intense exercise can actually spike cortisol, leading to more stress rather than less.
During the Follicular Phase: This is the first half of your menstrual cycle, when estrogen levels are rising. Your body can handle more intense workouts during this phase, and cortisol levels are less likely to spike.
During the Luteal Phase & Perimenopause: Opt for gentler forms of exercise like walking, swimming, or yoga. These activities can keep you fit without overstressing your body.
Morning Exercise: Since cortisol levels are naturally higher in the morning, this is a great time for more intense workouts if your body can handle them. However, if you’re already feeling stressed, stick to something low-impact.
Simplistic Tips to Manage Cortisol Levels
Prioritise Rest: Don’t underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep and regular breaks throughout your day. Cortisol should naturally spike in the morning and slow down in the evening. Lack of sleep leads us to feeling stressed which can disrupt natural cortisol production leading to unusual levels at bedtime, or during the night, leading to disrupted sleep. Its a viscous cycle. Add in some yoga nidra to boost your rest. Prioritise your sleep and self care.
Breathe Deeply: Incorporate short breathwork sessions into your routine, especially when you’re feeling stressed. Intentional breathing can help us to tap into our parasympathetic nervous system, notifying the brain that all is good and slowing down cortisol production.
Eat Mindfully: Include cortisol-balancing foods in your diet, such as foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids including salmon, chia and flax seeds. Dietary fibre is essential so try to include fruits and vegetables, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds. Fermented foods are great for promoting gut health and reducing anxiety due to connections between gut health and the brain, so foods such as kimchi, kombucha, kefir and sauerkraut are great for promoting healthy cortisol levels. Magnesium rich foods help reduce stress which spikes cortisol, so load up on avocadoes, bananas, brocolli, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds and spinach. And stay hydrated!
Move Gently: Choose exercise that feels good for your body, especially during times when your hormones are fluctuating. In the first half of your menstrual cycle, you can adopt more energetic exercise, but adopting slower or less intense workouts in the second half of your cycle can support your natural hormone cycles, including the over production of cortisol. Please note, that it is important to polarise exercise and training, even if you are menopausal (and especially if you are peri menopausal).
Embrace Cold Therapy: Try a cold shower or even just a cold splash to your face in the morning. For women this is especially important straight after strenuous exercise as it helps our bodies to cool down (which is different to a lot of the advice out there aimed at men who cool down a lot quicker than women). But please read the notes above regarding cold water immersion and menstrual cycles as cold water immersion in the second half of your menstrual cycle can lead to increased pre menstrual symptoms and irregular periods.
Final Thoughts
Cortisol is essential for our health, but like anything, it’s all about balance. By understanding how cortisol works and making small, manageable changes to your lifestyle, you can keep your levels in check and feel your best physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Remember, it’s not about doing everything at once—it’s about finding what works for you and your body. Celebrate the fact that you’re taking steps to care for yourself, because you deserve it! 🌸
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