How to Tame Your Cortisol

Sure, you’ve heard about Cortisol, the “anxiety hormone.” That’s a good way to describe it, but there is so much more to this hormone. It keeps us alive.

Hormones are little communication devices inside your body. Like postcards with instructions, these molecules are produced in one organ of your body and affect the function of other organs far away. Sometimes, you can feel their effects immediately in the form of physiological changes, like accelerating your heart rate, changing your blood flow, or elevating your body temperature. Other effects are slower and harder to notice, like muscle growth or bone degradation.

Hormones can also profoundly change your mood and behavior. This happens most of the time unconsciously, so in principle, you can do very little to fight back the emotions they provoke. Note that I said “in principle.”

Let’s go back to Cortisol.

This molecule is not just the “anxiety villain.” It’s vital because it promotes glucose synthesis to bring energy to your muscles and brain.

For example, you need it to get yourself out of bed: your body releases a shot of cortisol in the morning. At 7:00 a.m., we reach around 15 micrograms per deciliter of blood. It wears out throughout the day, and by 4:00 p.m., we have less than half. We then feel groggier because we need to prepare for our rest phase. Of course, we hijack this natural cycle with stimulants like coffee.

Cortisol also gets you out of trouble. If a car comes your way and you have to jump, your cortisol levels rise up to 50 micrograms per deciliter—enough to make you almost fly. After the event, that level goes down rapidly to baseline, and you can move on with your life.

Luckily, most of the challenges we face today are not deadly. But regrettably, most of them last too long: problems in relationships, with money, at work, or even the endless news cycle.

These things put our stress response into override mode, and we cannot go back to baseline. Cortisol stays in your system for too long, weakening your immune activity. That’s why you get sick more often when you’re stressed. Chronic stress also reduces bone and muscle formation and promotes fat storage (weak arms and that little belly). On the mental side, cortisol negatively affects memory and learning.

This is the situation we’re in. Now let’s try to solve it. To do that, I have an exercise for you:

Cortisol is released every time we are challenged. Think of ten situations where you are challenged and write them down. I’ll help you with the first three:

? If you have a money problem, cortisol is released.

? If you go out for a run, cortisol is released.

? If you have an exam, cortisol is released.

Now, for each challenge, write down how you feel.

All the situations are hard, but in some of them, you feel powerful, while in others you feel anxious and fearful. Each of us feels different in different stressful situations, and depending on how we feel, we will react. Some people flourish in public speaking, while others are incapable of doing it. Some people enjoy a math problem, while others freeze.

Here’s the trick: You can’t change your stress response (you don’t even want to), but you can change your INTERPRETATION of the challenge you face. Do you believe you can do it? Do you believe you’ll come out of the situation stronger than you went in? If you believe you can, stress will work for you instead of against you.

Much of my work with clients involves changing their perception of stressful situations and helping them see they can master them. So, next time you’re in a situation where your heart rate accelerates, your hands sweat, your vision narrows, and you’re hyper-focused on a problem, think of it as a challenge you will overcome and emerge stronger from. You can do it. You’ve done difficult things before.

Hope will decrease your cortisol levels, maintaining your focus and making you more creative in finding solutions.

Carmen López. Business Psychology