Has your body’s wake-up call become a potential health saboteur? In this week's blog, we will uncover how high cortisol levels, especially in females, can disrupt your day, wreak havoc on your hormones, and set you up for a cascade of health challenges. Believe it or not, your stress hormones and your blood sugar levels are innately linked, meaning stress can cause a metabolic nightmare. Today we’re going to explain this link and how best to use nutrition to combat high cortisol levels and stress-induced blood sugar dysregulation.
Do you wake up feeling fatigued? Do you skip breakfast because you’re nauseous or not hungry, have a coffee on an empty stomach, go straight to the gym potentially to do something of high-intensity? When you come home do you still have no appetite but you eventually eat only to feel nauseous and exhausted? Do you have an afternoon crash with sugar cravings, and once finally time to go to bed you feel tired but also wired and can’t stop doom-scrolling? This is a perfect example of what it looks and feels like to be living off of stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.
This is a vicious cycle, and don’t you worry, you are not alone! If this sounds like you, you may be experiencing a range of symptoms such as low appetite, low mood, fatigue, tired and wired/racey, low libido, hair loss/thinning, weight gain around abdominal area, puffy/moon face, menstrual irregularities, fertility issues, and more.
So what on the earth is going on, and how do we get on top of it?! So first, let me explain… When we wake up in the morning and see daylight (or our phone light), we stop producing melatonin and start producing cortisol, to get us up and moving. Unfortunately in this day and age, many of us don’t have a very appropriate cortisol response in the morning because as soon as our incredibly loud and scary alarm goes off, we are worrying about the one million things we have on our to-do list. The body produces excess cortisol because it generally perceives a threat. When this occurs, cortisol triggers the release of stored glucose from the liver, flooding the bloodstream (a process known as gluconeogenesis) to give us energy to run away from said threat. While this is a protective mechanism for “fight or flight” situations, it becomes problematic when stress arises from non-physical threats, such as emotional and psychological stressors.
So when we choose to avoid breakfast, run out the door to do some HIIT exercise and/or reach for coffee before eating, we are allowing this already disproportionate cortisol response to stretch far beyond healthy. It will continue to run rampant, fueling a blood sugar rollercoaster and metabolic disaster. This is why we come home to no appetite, feeling nauseous and fatigued, and then start to experience the knock-on effects over time i.e. weight gain, nutrient deficiencies, hair loss, sleep troubles, thyroid problems, etc. Breaking this cycle is actually quite straight forward but it can be challenging, as the nervous system has become addicted to this predicted production of stress hormones, making you less inclined to want to change i.e. resistant to changing routine, choosing to avoid 1-2 meals per day entirely, wanting to stay up late watching crime shows or scroll TikTok.
This overproduction of cortisol, especially over a long period of time in chronic stress presentations, can lead to severely dysregulated blood sugar and create insulin resistance. Not only are the symptoms associated with this uncomfortable, but they put individuals at risk of metabolic disorders.
Now we know cortisol can cause metabolic chaos, but it also runs the show when it comes to the endocrine system (aka our hormones). Cortisol is powerful and when in full-force, other hormones don’t get much stage time. When we are busy producing stress hormones, our body cannot produce sex hormones. This includes stunting testosterone in men but also progesterone, our feel-good hormone as females. This means our hunger cues, sleep cues, fertility and our mood become heavily tampered with.
The interesting thing about cortisol and blood sugar having a positive correlation is that we can regulate our cortisol and stress response, purely by regulating our blood sugar levels. We can cleverly use this physical process to give physiological feedback to our nervous system. By balancing your blood sugar with adequate protein and healthy fats, we are able to blunt our cortisol spike before it runs rampant. If done effectively, it sets the tone for the rest of the day, allowing your cortisol and blood sugar to remain more steady and therefore your other hormones to take charge, leading to a more healthy mood, energy, appetite, libido, etc.
So if this blog is sounding like you, I’m sure you’re thinking, well can you just tell me how to fix it!?
Breaking up with cortisol involves some large lifestyle shifts but believe it or not, you’re in luck. I have a fairly straightforward answer for you…
Eat 30g of protein within 30-60 mins of waking up. It’s as simple as that!
Try this for at least 4 weeks, and watch your life turn around. You may undergo a big hormonal shift which might feel strange to start with, but if done consistently, you may even come out of survival mode.
Now, I know what you’re thinking next… I’m so used to not eating breakfast and I feel sick in the morning, how the heck am I supposed to fit 30g of protein in when I wake up without being sick!?
You just have to TRY. Start small and build up.
Try for at least 2 weeks to trigger the shift and then one day… BOOM! You will wake up and your tummy will be grumbling, and this my friend, is a sign of good health and balanced hormones. You will no longer be able to picture your life without starting your day with 30g of protein!
By balancing your blood sugar within this time window of waking, you are able to blunt the cortisol spike before it takes control of your day. Once there is a more regulated blood sugar level and cortisol response created over time, we become more resilient to stress in everyday life. Once we heal this aspect, on occasion we can exercise fasted or have a coffee on an empty stomach and it not be the end of the world.
Other things you can do is;
- Increase your magnesium levels. Magnesium is critical for regulating our cortisol levels, and the more stress we experience, the more depleted in magnesium we become.
- Integrate adaptogenic herbs into your daily routine such as ashwaghanda, reishi, rhodiola or alike.
- Connect with the earth. Grounding has been shown to lower our cortisol levels, but it also gets you outside into the sunshine, in amongst nature, which we all know has a whole host of its own benefits.
- Make manageable adjustments to your life and schedule to do something that lights you up or provides you real rest, so it’s not all go, go, go. This may mean saying no to certain things, or ridding the guilt when all you want to do is nothing.
- Seek external guidance. Therapy is COOL. And if you feel lost here, our online clinic, whilst not the usual therapy, has been a gamechanger for so many of our clients as we not only focus on nutrition and herbs, though also your entire life and all that is intertwined to create a holistic approach to your needs.
Perhaps your life circumstances might change one day and you become a lot less stressed. In this case, you may find this new season of life is calling you to wait a little longer in the morning before eating and if you do this, you may find that you don’t have the cortisol and blood sugar repercussions from it. It just depends on where your nervous system and current life circumstances are at. Some people are more robust than others, and this generally depends on an individual's current stress exposure, nervous system resilience, and of course, menstrual cycle!
The thing is, we need cortisol to function, and having low cortisol has its own set of repercussions. What we want to achieve is a healthy cortisol level to feel energised and motivated, without feeling fatigued, dysregulated and malnourished. If you are stuck in this loop and know you are chronically stressed, one of the first steps in breaking this cycle is by regulating your morning blood sugar levels with a healthy, protein-rich breakfast before coffee and exercise. If you need further support navigating this process, our online clinic is here to help!