How to stop stressing about lowering your cortisol—while actually lowering your cortisol
Unless you are completely off the grid (in which case, you won’t be reading this), you’ve most likely heard the term cortisol and probably know it’s fairly important to pay attention to, especially in midlife. But take one foray into the TikTok land of #cortisol videos and it will instantly spike your, well, cortisol.
So how do we make sense of it all and begin to address the crazy of cortisol without adding even more stress to our lives? I mean, what’s the point of cramming 27 new self-care practices into your day if trying to do so ends up stressing you out more than when you started?
At 43 years old and perimenopausal, I’m as curious as the next gal, so I set out to sort through the noise.
What is cortisol?
According to pausitive health (a resource for all things menopause), cortisol is a hormone that is naturally produced in our bodies, necessary for waking us up in the morning and keeping our energy levels up. But stress can raise our cortisol levels higher than we need them to be, which can have negative health effects.
As we age, cortisol levels naturally increase for both men and women. However, women are also dealing with fluctuating estrogen levels as they go through the menopause transition, which can cause spikes in cortisol — it can even make you more sensitive to stress than you might have been previously.
Cortisol and (peri)menopause
To find out more about how cortisol levels are affected during the menopausal transition, I connected with Z. Colette Edwards, MD MBA, the founder and chief medical officer of pausitive health. Edwards shared this article with me, explaining the science-backed link between cortisol and menopause.
During the menopausal transition, the balance of hormones — estrogen, cortisol, and progesterone — changes and those shifts, along with the typically increased stress experienced during this phase, can make menopause symptoms worse. While symptoms can vary from person to person, some common symptoms are hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, weight gain, migraines, depression, and hair loss.
What do we do about cortisol?
It’s one thing to make sense of the facts. It’s another thing to know what we can actually do to maintain healthy cortisol levels. I’ll be the first to admit that the more I learn about cortisol and the menopausal transition, the more stressed I become. (Hello, overwhelm!) So I went back to the experts to find out how to combat the stress that comes with dealing with all the stress!
Mindset matters: Don’t stress about stress
The first thing, says Edwards, is that we need to “set an intention and a commitment not to be stressed about being stressed.” She says that has to come first, before trying to take action on reducing stress — which can be many things like exercising, journaling, meditation, addressing diet, etc.
Dr. Thara Vayali, ND, Chief Medical Officer of hey freya co., also pointed out the importance of being able to notice our mindset around stress. “When we start to look at any wellness behavior as a ‘to do’ rather than a ‘to feel’,” she says, “we fall into the trap of trying to appear perfect and good either to ourselves or others, which furthers the problem.”
“When we start to look at any wellness behavior as a ‘to do’ rather than a ‘to feel’, we fall into the trap of trying to appear perfect and good either to ourselves or others, which furthers the problem.”
— Dr. Thara Vayali, ND, Chief Medical Officer of hey freya
As a way to reframe what it means to manage stress, Vayali asks her patients to notice and name their needs when they’re in the midst of a stressful situation — for example, moving their body, crying as a release, or finding a quiet space. “When we center our needs rather than a stress management tool, our bodies will respond positively,” she says.
5 quick tips to manage cortisol levels
While I love to understand the big picture and figure out the “why” of what’s happening, I feel it’s incomplete if I don’t know the practical side of what to do about it. I don’t have hours each day to devote to monitoring and managing my stress levels. I need a few go-to tips and tricks that can be easily incorporated into my day-to-day life.
Vayali says that in addition to things like emotional awareness, deep breathing, and reducing stressors, these are her favorites:
1. Sip on green tea or matcha
Green Tea (not black) contains a powerful phytonutrient called EGCG that has been shown to regulate cortisol levels.
2. Harness the benefits of adaptogens
Ashwagandha Root and Rhodiola Rosea Root are two of the best researched herbs and significantly regulate salivary cortisol levels. NNABI Peri Essential 5 contains Ashwagandha.
3. Take a forest bath
Sounds like it requires a trek, but the sights, smells and sounds of nature can be created at home as well. Plants, audio tracks, and essential oils diffusers can help!
4. Indulge in comedy
In the midst of all the stress, laughter has strong evidence to regulate cortisol levels. Standup, slapstick, or dad jokes — if it makes you laugh, it works.
5. Optimize your sleep
Make your bedtime a cocoon. By setting your sleep up with darkness, you are more likely to have a proper circadian rhythm at night — which leads to better cortisol through the day. Take your pick or do them all: blackout curtains, ear plugs, sleeping masks, and no screens near sleeping spaces.
One step at a time
If I’ve learned anything in my “adventures of cortisol and menopause,” it’s that we’re all allowed to slow down and take a breath. In fact, it’s necessary. There is no rush, no need to figure it all out, or any one perfect way to handle it. Set an intention to reframe the way you view stress and the entire menopausal transition. You are not alone.
And if you need me, you can find me at my local comedy club, sipping on green tea, slathered in tea tree essential oil (unless it’s late, then I’ll be taking my nightly ashwagandha supplement and channeling my inner caterpillar as I wrap myself up in a cocoon on sleepy time bliss).
