Cortisol

While reading the newspaper yesterday, I came across the word CORTISOL. I had never encountered this word before, and this prompted me to find out more about Cortisol.

Cortisol is a glucocorticoid (steroid) harmone produced by two adrenal glands that sit on top of each kidney.  Harmones are chemicals that coordinate different functions in our body by carrying messages through our blood to our organs, skin, muscles and other tissues. These signals tell our body what to do and when to do it.

The glucocorticoids are type of steroid harmones, and they suppress inflammation in all ourr body tissues and control metabolism in our muscles, fat, liver and bones. They also affect sleep-wake cycles. Cortisol is an essential harmone, and it plays many important roles, including

• Regulating our body’s stress response.
• Helping control our body’s use of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, or your metabolism.
• Suppressing inflammation.
• Regulating blood pressure.
• Regulating blood sugar.
• Helping control our sleep-wake cycle.

Human  body continuously monitors your cortisol levels to maintain steady levels. Higher-than-normal or lower-than-normal cortisol levels can be harmful for health.

Cortisol is widely known as the ‘Stress Harmone”. However it has many important effects and functions throughout our body aside from regulating our body’s stress harmones.

Biologically speaking, there are multiple different kind of stress, including

• Acute Stress– This happens when we are in sudden danger within a short period of time. For example, barely avoiding a car accident or being chased by an animal are situations that cause acute stress.
• Chronic Stress– This happens when we experience ongoing situations that cause frustration or anxiety. For example, having a difficult of frustrating job or having a chronic illness can cause chronic stress.
• Traumatic Stress– This happens when we experience a life-threatening event that includes fear and feeling of helplessness. For example, experiencing an extreme weather event, such as a tornado, or experiencing war or sexual assault can cause traumatic stress. In some cases these events can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The body releases cortisol when we experience any of these types of stress.

What does cortisol do to our body?

Almost all tissues in our body have glucocorticoid receptors. Because of this, cortisol can affect nearly every organ/system in our body including— Nervous system, Immune system, Cardiovascular system, Respiratory system, Reproductive system (male and female), Musculoskeletal system, Integumentary system (skin, hair, nails, glands and nerves)

More specifically, cortisol affects body in the following ways:

• Regulating our body’s stress response– During time of stress, our body can release cortisol after releasing its ‘ fight or flight’ harmones, such as adrenaline, so you can continue to stay on high alert. In addition, cortisol triggers the release of glucose (sugar) from your liver for fast energy during time of stress.
• Regulating metabolism– Cortisol helps control how our body uses fats, proteins and carbohydrates for energy.
• Suppressing Inflammation– In short spurts, cortisol can boost your immunity by limiting inflammation. However, if you have consistently levels of cortisol, our body can get used to having too much cortisol in your blood, which lead to inflammation and a weakened immune system.
• Regulating blood pressure– Elevated levels of cortisol can cause high blood pressure, and lower-than–normal levels of cortisol can cause low blood pressure.
• Increasing and regulating blood sugar– Under normal circumstances, cortisol counterbalances the effect of insulin, a harmone which our pancreas makes, to regulate our blood sugar. Cortisol raises blood sugar levels by releasing stored glucose, while insulin lowers blood sugar. Having chronically high cortisol levels can lead to persistent high blood sugar. This can cause type 2 diabetes.
• Helping control your sleep–wake cycle– Under regular circumstances, we have lower cortisol levels in the evening when you go to sleep and peak levels in the morning before you wake up. This suggests that cortisol plays a significant role in the initiation of wakefulness and plays a part in body’s rhythm cycle.

In the end optimum cortisol levels are necessary for life and for maintaining several bodily functions. If we have consistently high or low cortisol levels, it can have negative impacts on our overall health.

I will write about what causes imbalance of cortisol levels, how these levels affect our body, and other details in my future blogs.

Waiting for your feedback on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

12^th August 2024