Did you know cortisol itself is actually a good thing? Yes, I said what I said...

but hear me out because, per usual, it’s about nuance...

Normal levels of cortisol are not only healthy, but necessary. Cortisol is a vital part of the body’s stress response, creating a negative feedback loop once it’s released from the adrenal glands, which is actually a good thing. Cortisol is designed to be self-regulating by stopping the production of the hormones that precede its production, which stops further production of cortisol. Honestly, the body is so cool.

I would argue that looking at cortisol itself is a myopic and ineffective way to truly address chronic stress and health; we need to address what happens before. It is excess cortisol that is an issue; not cortisol itself. And cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day the same way all of our other stress hormones do, which are not only impacted by stress, but other hormones, as well as our natural circadian rhythm.

If we want to talk about eliminating excess cortisol, I would then argue it makes sense to trace it back to the beginning and try to eliminate what precedes the accumulation of excess rather than trying to just get rid of a continued accumulation. What's the point if all we're doing is getting rid of excess cortisol instead of trying to eliminate or reduce the things that are causing it to begin with? This is the very idea of preventative versus reactive health. Addressing cortisol is reactive; addressing the root of chronic stress is preventative.

Cool cool cool, so how TF do we do this? I'm so glad you asked. Drumroll please... the first notable stop on the stress hormone train is a little thing called our hypothalamus, which may sound familiar if you've dug into autism. The hypothalamus comes up a lot... and you're about to see a little bit of why that is!

In the next post about stress hormones, I'll talk about the HPA axis - hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis - the negative feedback loop with cortisol, and how chronic activation disrupts all of this - ie when cortisol becomes a case of too much of a good thing and that wave grows to harmful levels.

... and this is part of why I say that cup of morning caffeine alone likely isn’t enough to overwhelm your beautifully complex stress system anymore than the elimination of it is likely to drastically reduce levels.

Stay regulated,

Shauna