Editorial and Subject Matter Expert Level Review: A Thoughtful Dive into the Cortisol Labyrinth

Five stars for a practical, compassionate, and downright enlightening read for “Cortisol Clarity” by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, available on 1 January 2025 in many bookstores

You can read this review and listened to the introduction audio files on my newsletter with generous permission from the author of the book.

Why I think this book is a practical, compassionate, and an enlightening read

If there’s one hormone that deserves its own book, it’s cortisol in my opinion. Often known as the “stress hormone,” cortisol is so much more than that. It’s a finely tuned mechanism that keeps us alive, adapting, and thriving. And yet, this complicated hormone can become our undoing when life throws chronic stress into the mix.

As a retired healthcare professional, I felt privileged to review this book titled Cortisol Clarity because of my firsthand experience witnessing the profound impact of stress and cortisol imbalances on patients’ physical and mental well-being.

But my interest also came from personal experience. In my mid-fifties, elevated cortisol levels made my body insulin resistant and caused visceral fat to accumulate?—?a warning sign I couldn’t ignore.

Thankfully, my endocrinologist friend quickly diagnosed the issue, allowing me to address it timely. Through healthy lifestyle changes and proper management with support from my young cardiologist son, I improved my metabolic health after 60 but also saw noticeable benefits to my heart health.

When I was invited to serve as a beta reader and contributing editor for this special book, it felt like a privilege to engage deeply with such an important topic. It reminded me of the challenges people face in understanding their health and the importance of accessible, supportive, and compassionate resources.

This book does an incredible job of demystifying cortisol’s biochemistry and its effects in our body and mind. It’s presented in a conversational tone with questions and answers.

I found even the first version of the manuscript clear, relatable, and packed with practical advice. From the opening chapters, I got a sense of just how pervasive cortisol’s influence is on our lives, from metabolism to mental clarity, immunity to emotional resilience.

What I found particularly striking was how it doesn’t stop at the scientific level. Sure, the biological insights are thorough (and wonderfully simplified for the non-specialist reader), but it’s the actionable strategies that stand out.

The advice isn’t cookie-cutter; it’s layered, nuanced, and deeply empathetic, reflecting the reality that cortisol management isn’t one-size-fits-all. We all need to learn how to deal with it and tailor our own solutions.

Serving as a beta reader, I was struck by how thoughtfully the author wove together research, personal anecdotes, and practical tools. Finally listening to the audio version on my Google Play for over 6 hours reinforced my learning and inspired me to focus on healthy lifestyle choices and actions in 2025.

The final chapter of this exceptional book was a reminder of how much the healthcare field has evolved since my retirement and how accessible such knowledge has become to the public.

This book bridges the gap between the complex world of hormones, their interactions, and the lived experience of people grappling with modern life’s relentless demands leading to chronic stress which is the root cause of our metabolic and mental health illnesses.

I found this unique, exceptional and well-presented book empowering. After reading the manuscript multiple times critically, I felt confident recommending it to anyone looking to better understand their stress levels, advocate for their health, or discuss their concerns with a GP, endocrinologist, or mental health professional like psychiatrists or clinical psychologists.

If you’re looking to manage stress, improve sleep, or simply understand why you’re so fatigued by 2 p.m. every day, this book is a must-read. It’s a guide, a virtual mentor, and a much-needed reminder that while stress may be a constant companion, it doesn’t have to control your life.

You can order the book as a New year gift for yourself or a loved one from multiple online bookstores.

Here is the introduction of the book from the author’s own words.

Cortisol Clarity: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Managing Cortisol Why is cortisol such a tricky hormone, and why did you write a book about it instead of other hormones?medium.com

I am grateful to Dr Mehmet Yildiz writing this book and inviting me to be part of his journey and allowing me to learn from his insights. You may also love his insightful story about HPA Axis related to cortisol.

3 Steps to Regulate HPA Axis and Defeat Chronic Stress Accumulated stress, cognitive distortions, and unpleasant emotions can dysregulate the HPA axis and hormones, but we…medium.com

If you find this review helpful, you may also check out my review of his another exceptional book.

A Game-Changing Resource & Exceptional Book for Advanced Freelance Writers My Editorial Review of Dr. Mehmet Yildiz’s “A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery” as a beta…medium.com

Dr. Yildiz is a kind heart and a philanthropist focusing on child poverty, inspiring writers/readers, and donating his book income to reputable charity organizations. He wrote stories about his foster kids like Mammadou.

Soulful Connections: Finding Meaning in Mammadou’s Childhood Letters The meaning of epistolary bonds and their impact on my journeymedium.com

To this end, if you are a writer, I invite you to join a writing prompt created by Dr Yildiz for 2025. If you are a reader, I invite you to join the dialogue, inspire creators, and share their content on your social circles and media.

How Will I Support Child Sponsorship in 2025 and How You Can Contribute as a Writer and Reader, Too Join me to make a ripple effect in the New Year.medium.com

Let’s make a ripple effect in 2025 to lower the suffering from poverty, especially innocent children who have no choice in this unfair circumstance.

I joined it and wrote a story about it. Here’s the link:

Some People Are So Rich That They Burn Money, But There Are Better Ways to Spend It Today, as a young MD, Nunah delivers eye care to her patients, improving the vision of poor children in her country…medium.com

It is inspiring that two great fiction writers joined the challenge.

The first one is my good friend Timothy Agnew:

My Dream for 2025 Includes You Not a member of Medium yet? Mouse over here to read the entire story.medium.com

The second one is the famous fiction writer James King:

Feed My Starving Children?—?Release the Withheld Hidden Food The world produces enough food to theoretically feed everyone, yet millions of children continue to experience hunger…medium.com

For your New Year’s reading, here’s an outstanding story collection by Friends of ILLUMINATION Support team posted earlier today.

Sample Best Stories of 2024 for Avid Readers We compiled a collection with something for everyone as a gift to Friends of ILLUMINATIONmedium.com

Thank you for reading these wonderful stories.

I’m a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I own and serve as the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Subtack: Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

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