Did you know we burn Cortisol when we’re stressed?

Cortisol is that slightly less well known hormonal cousin of Adrenaline.

While Adrenaline is dramatic and showy it’s Cortisol that does the heavy lifting when we’re faced with prolonged stress.

Adrenaline – ego customer

We meet Adrenaline first.  Startled, instantly alert, Adrenaline gets us on our toes, engines rev, we hit the gas, snarl a little as we accelerate through the gears into the fast lane away from danger.

But Adrenaline acceleration is short lived.

Would you believe it’s spent after just 15 minutes?  Job done.

It’s alerted us to danger and if we haven’t got ourselves out of trouble by then, it gives way to its less showy but hard working cousin Cortisol.

Cortisol – priority customer

We rely on Cortisol for fuel to keep us going when things get tough, until such time as we either defeat our stressor or become so depleted by the effort that we collapse in a state of exhaustion.

It’s the hormone we rely on to get us from A to B fast!

While a little acute stress is good for us, getting out of bed in a morning, motivating us to do what we need to do, prolonged chronic stress and our bodily demand for Cortisol ends up wearing out the brakes, burning up the engine, stealing our hormones and ultimately doing us harm.

Cortisol is linked to our very survival and it’s our body’s number one priority.

Survival at all costs.

The Adrenal Factory

Our adrenal glands are the factory that make Cortisol.  They sit on top of your kidneys, right where you put your hands when you feel you have backache.

They produce other hormones too, the ones that regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, response to stress and other essential functions[1].

You’ll have heard of many of them oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, melatonin to name but a few.

Supply and Demand

Like most factories the adrenals will adjust day to day production of multiple hormones to meet the fluctuating demands of all their customers.

Our body adjusting naturally and harmoniously.

Diverting Production

While a little acute stress is normal and doesn’t upset day to day production prolonged chronic stress will.

When we feel overwhelmed and exhausted we need more Cortisol just to keep going.

The Adrenal Factory starts working overtime increasingly diverting resources away from the production of other hormones prioritising the increased demand for Cortisol.

Of course this is all well and good in the short term when you have plenty of day to day hormones in reserve to meet your regular needs.

But what happens when stocks are low, when the stress has gone on just that bit too long?

Stealing Resources

Increased demand for raw materials to make Cortisol means the adrenals will  ‘steal’ resources like pregnenolone away from the production of day to day hormones to meet the priorities associated with threat.

Our body reasoning, quite rightly, that basic survival in the moment is far more important than sleep or our sex life!

They call it the Cortisol Steal[2] and it’s a real thing.

What we’re actually doing is prioritising one single production line at the expense of every other.

Cortisol production up, oestrogen, progesterone, melatonin, testosterone down.

The dashboard warning lights go on.

Buying in Resources

Once we’ve burned through our own raw materials naturally enough we’re forced to replenish stocks.

Unsurprisingly, we eat.  As indeed we should.  There’s this need to replenish essential nutrients.

We crave sugar.

If we’re a menopausal woman we might draft in extra hormones in the form of HRT.

If we’re feeling low, depressed, lacking energy we may also take on anti-depressants to boost our serotonin.

We may turn to other coping strategies.

In short we’re no longer in balance.

24 hr Production

Until our body receives a message it’s safe to ‘stand down’ it will continue 24 hour production of Cortisol.

Hypervigilance keeps us awake at night, worrying.  That’s hardly surprising when you consider it’s progesterone that keeps us calm and melatonin that helps us sleep.

Of course in a life or death situation our body is doing exactly the right thing staying awake, alert to danger.

Chronic stress can mean our body gets stuck in the ‘on’ position.

It will take decisive action on our part to apply the brake to what can feel like a runaway train.

Burnout

Depending on how well the body is resourced and nourished before and during the stressor will depend on how long we can keep going before the body inevitably starts shutting down – spent.

Sometimes we can keep going for years, on a shoestring but eventually that too will break.

The human body is amazing in what it does for us.  It is designed to keep us alive at all costs.

But it will take energy and resources from everything it deems not vital for life.

So is it worth it?

Are all our daily stresses really worth such a life or death response?

Our body is sophisticated in how it restores itself but while the Adrenal Factory is working overtime managing our stress we give it little chance.

Do you really want to live a life slave to the demands of one single priority customer hormone – Cortisol –  at the expense of all those other hormones that make our lives happy and healthy?

Do we really have to be reliant on external resources like HRT and anti-depressants just to keep going?

Wouldn’t it make better sense to conserve our precious resources for times when we really need them?

Apply the brakes?

What can we do?

There’s a lot we can do to reduce our susceptibility to chronic stress.

• Stop beating ourselves up when our body stops playing the game. It’s doing its best but it’s asking for help.  We need to listen and act.
• Build in plenty of time to replenish depleted resources and prioritise the fun stuff.
• Be more proactive in saying no to unnecessary stress.
• Question how we do things, could we make it easier for ourselves?
• Prioritise quality sleep and nutrition.
• Save our stress response for times when we really need it.
• Don’t let stress get chronic.

[1] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

[2] https://drknews.com/hormones-making-crazy-culprit-pregnenolone-steal/