Cortisol is a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands. It’s important for helping your body deal with stressful situations, as your brain triggers its release in response to many different kinds of stress.
Cortisol can be good for us. Normal levels of cortisol are released when you wake up in the morning or exercise. These levels can help regulate your blood pressure and blood sugar levels and even strengthen your heart muscle. In small doses, the hormone can heighten memory, increase your immune system and lower sensitivity to pain.
However, when cortisol levels are too high for too long, this hormone can hurt you more than it helps. Over time, high levels of cortisol may cause weight gain and high blood pressure, disrupt sleep, negatively impact mood, reduce your energy levels, and contribute to diabetes.
Unfortunately, the danger of a fast-paced culture (in which most of us live in), leaves many in a constant high-stress mode, and cortisol levels stay high. When our cortisol levels are too high problems like weight gain, tiredness, impaired brain function, and chronic disease can start to arise.
Fortunately there are many things we can do to help keep our levels in a normal range all. We can start to focus on things like:
Overall we play the main role in our own health, so take some responsibility for your body and do something good for it!

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