Too much or too little stress can be problematic. Here are foods you must have to balance your cortisol levels.
There isn’t a single soul on this planet who doesn’t get stressed. Before an important meeting, a significant event, or an examination it is natural and in fact crucial to get stressed
But what happens when cortisol levels remain high and stress persists long after the aforementioned event is over? This could harm our digestive health, heart health, blood sugar levels, immunity, and overall health in a negative way.
Why do we even need stress?
We need to be able to respond to a crisis. Cortisol is a hormone that you really need. We can’t live without it. But cortisol is a bully and if it is high, it impacts all the hormones in our bodies. Addressing your cortisol response and finding ways to manage your stress is essential.
How does cortisol help you?
Cortisol helps you in the morning. It helps you get out of bed, feel like you’ve got energy, and it’s at its peak level when you first wake up in the morning within about 30 to 60 minutes, says the expert.
Too much can make you gain weight, particularly around the middle; it can make you cranky; it can fry your memory; it can give you brain fog. High cortisol has also been shown to accelerate the aging process.
Signs of too much cortisol
Signs that your cortisol is high,
- Feeling you are constantly racing from one task to the next.
- Feeling wired yet tired.
- Struggle to calm down before bedtime, or get a second wind that keeps you up late.
- Difficulty falling asleep or experiencing disrupted sleep.
- The feeling of anxiety or nervousness—can’t stop worrying about things beyond your control.
- Experience quickness to feel anger or rage—frequent screaming or yelling.
- Memory lapses or feeling distracted, especially under duress.
How to balance cortisol?
If your cortisol levels are too high, and the hormone is working against you, here are some things you can do to balance cortisol:
- Make sure your multivitamin includes the B vitamins (B1, B5, B6, B12).
- Add vitamin C and tyrosine as they can help lower cortisol.
- Try phosphatidylserine (PS). This has been shown to reduce cortisol levels when taken in pill form.
- Take fish oil daily. Men and women who took 4,000 mg (4 grams) of fish oil a day for six weeks lowered morning cortisol to healthier levels.
- Wean from caffeine and alcohol. Alcohol raises cortisol and the effect persists for twenty-four hours in men–probably longer for women. Caffeine directly induces the adrenocortical cells to produce more cortisol