Video | Understanding Cortisol | Cortisol and Fat Storage | Symptoms | Testing | Management | Takeaway

Weight gain, particularly around the abdomen, high blood pressure, mood swings, and fatigue.

These are just some of the signs of high cortisol, the hormone commonly referred to as the stress hormone. 

At normal levels, it performs vital functions necessary for survival. However, if it is chronically elevated, it can block fat loss and encourage fat gain. This blog post explains how chronically high cortisol affects your body, an at-home test to see if your cortisol levels are out of whack, and ways to manage cortisol for better health. 

High Cortisol and Weight Gain [Video]

Understanding Cortisol

Cortisol plays a crucial role in various bodily functions, including metabolism, immune response, and the regulation of blood pressure. It is produced by the adrenal glands that sit right atop your kidneys, and its levels typically fluctuate throughout the day, peaking in the morning to help wake you up and decreasing by night to allow for sleep. 

Cortisol is referred to as the stress hormone because it helps the body respond to stress by increasing blood sugar or glucose levels, enhancing the brain’s utilization of glucose, and curbing non-essential functions during a fight-or-flight response.

Those are good things. We need that dedicated quick energy production and utilization to fight or flee in the presence of danger. However, cortisol is released whether that danger is standing right in front of us or created through thought. 

So, if you find yourself worrying about all of the work sitting on your desk, cortisol is produced. Spend 30 minutes battling traffic, more cortisol. Experience family tension and cortisol levels continue to climb. This sets the stage for poor health and promotes fat storage in three ways.

How Cortisol Promotes Fat Storage

(1) First, when cortisol levels are chronically elevated, the body responds by increasing appetite and cravings for high-calorie, sugary foods. This is an attempt to bring in more quick energy, but, of course, it can lead to overeating and weight gain. 

(2) Additionally, cortisol stimulates the breakdown of muscle protein into glucose, leading to muscle loss rather than fat loss and encouraging fat storage over time.  

(3) High cortisol levels also impair insulin sensitivity, causing the cells to resist the extra glucose that is available. The resulting high blood sugar and insulin levels cause the body to store more fat. 

Symptoms of High Cortisol

It is worth noting that while chronically elevated cortisol can result from constant stress, it can also be related to issues with the pituitary or adrenal glands or a side effect of medication. For example, Cushing syndrome can result due to long-term use of corticosteroid medications. It results in fat deposits in the upper back/neck and a rounded “moon” face.”

Symptoms can vary depending on the cause, but what you’ll notice from this list of general signs and symptoms is that they are non-specific. 

Symptoms of High Cortisol:

• Weight Gain
• High Blood Pressure
• Muscle Weakness
• Mood Changes
• Fatigue
• Increased Thirst and Urination
• Skin Changes
• Decreased Libido
• High Blood Sugar
• Weakened Immune System

In other words, there can be multiple causes for these symptoms. Therefore, it is hard to diagnose high cortisol levels based on these issues alone, but there are tests. 

Testing for High Cortisol

Testing cortisol levels can be done by your doctor through blood or urine tests. Cortisol levels can also be tested using an at-home saliva test that you do on your own. 

When selecting an at-home test kit, look for a company like RX Home Test that uses CLIA-certified labs. CLIA stands for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments and indicates that the labs meet government guidelines for quality standards.

Remember that one of cortisol’s jobs is to help regulate your wake/sleep cycle. Therefore, the level of cortisol in your blood, urine, and saliva normally peaks in the early morning, helping to wake you up, and declines throughout the day. 

So, even though saliva tests can be conveniently performed at home, you will be asked to spit into a test tube four times within a day to detect that normal cortisol pattern. I just mentioned that for clarity and to point out that while it’s not the most pleasant test, it is worthwhile to gain insights into how your body is handling stress. 

Managing Cortisol Levels

Whether you decide to test your cortisol levels or not, the most common underlying issue is stress. That means that managing cortisol levels depends upon managing your stress levels. Certainly an easier-said-than-done proposition. 

Several lifestyle actions can be beneficial. And you’ve heard these before. Regular physical activity helps, as does prioritizing high-quality sleep and eating a nutrient-dense diet rich in whole foods. Then, we have specific stress management techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing exercises. 

These are all great daily practices. But what if you already do all of these things and you are still stressed to the point of overwhelm? Or, you don’t do these things because you have no time because life is too stressful. 

These questions plagued me for years. What I learned is that these daily practices help take the edge off of stress and give you a better foundation to cope with stress, but they don’t take away that residual discomfort that builds inside. 

If you saw my blog post, 4 Sayings That Will Change Your Diet Destiny, you read about my stress bucket philosophy. I will give you the abbreviated version here.

Essentially, as humans, we can live and function well with some stress in our lives. How much you can handle depends on how full you allow your stress bucket to get. 

If you allow stress to build and fill your stress bucket to the top, the discomfort becomes intense, and even the tiniest annoyance can cause an overflow, leaving you feeling out of control. 

Even if you never reach the point of overflow, a chronically filled stress bucket results in the near-constant production of cortisol, which leads to the cascade of weight gain and health issues discussed earlier.

The solution is to regularly empty out or let go of the pent-up stress so your bucket never gets too full. 

Here are some books that I have found helpful:

• Letting Go by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D
• Stop Fixing Yourself by Anthony DeMello
• Loving What Is by Byron Katie

These books are available as audiobooks on Amazon or the Libby app. 

If you’re unfamiliar with it, Libby is a free app that allows you to download books or audiobooks from your local library. You only need a library card, which you can get online; just search Google for your county library’s website. 

One of the books I recommend is Letting Go by Dr. David Hawkins. The book discusses three things we do with stressful feelings. We either suppress them (i.e., push them down deep inside), express them (i.e., let them out – usually loudly!), or escape them through alcohol or sleep or zoning out playing video games or watching TV. 

These coping mechanisms may take the edge off, allowing us to get through the day, but they do not get rid of the uncomfortable feeling, so it sits inside of you, taking up space in your bucket as your body pumps out cortisol.

Dr. Hawkins shares a different approach to dealing with the uncomfortable feelings that cause stress. It is just three steps: Become aware of the feeling, allow it to be there, and let it run its course. It’s simple. It works. I do this all the time, and it gets more effective the more I do it. If you feel lost when it comes to handling stress, the book will give you the details you need to put this strategy into action.

Takeaway

Cortisol is an essential hormone that affects almost every organ and tissue in your body.

When levels are normal, it plays a crucial role in regulating your metabolism, immune response, wake/sleep cycles, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.

However, when cortisol is overproduced due to chronic stress, it sets the stage for poor health and encourages weight gain by stimulating appetite, negatively impacting muscle mass, and impairing insulin sensitivity.

Your doctor can test your blood or urine to determine your cortisol level, or you can do it yourself by taking an at-home saliva test. Ultimately, you’ll want to work on giving yourself a better foundation for coping with stress through regular exercise, sleep, and diet, and work on letting go of uncomfortable feelings so they don’t build inside you. 

About the Author

Becky Gillaspy, DC, is the author of The Intermittent Fasting Guide and Cookbook and Zero Sugar / One Month. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.