Caring for your mental well-being is always important, but especially during periods of stress - whether due to family events, work, finances or personal challenges. Acute stress coupled with long-term stress and anxiety can be detrimental for both your physical and mental health.
Here’s why: Cortisol (otherwise known as the stress hormone) is made in the adrenal glands. It’s elevated when we experience heightened anxiety or physical or emotional stress, and it’s lowered when we’re in a relaxed state. When cortisol levels rise, all of the body’s energy goes into handling the stressor instead of regulating other bodily functions like the digestive and immune systems, for example.
The analogy I like to use is being chased by a lion. If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re not worried about catching a cold or having a bowel movement. So normally, cortisol helps to regulate weight, appetite, body metabolism, blood pressure and glucose, but when you’re under chronic stress, you can experience increased anxiety, depression, headaches, memory problems, brain fog, digestive issues, a weakened immune system, weight gain, insomnia, pre-diabetes and much more.
How To Reduce Cortisol
Of course, saying we should learn to manage our stress is easier said than done. Here are several ways to help lower your cortisol levels and maintain a calm state of mind during times of heightened stress in your life:
1. Eat a whole-food, plant-based diet.
An unhealthy diet filled with added sugars and processed foods will raise blood sugar, cortisol and other proinflammatory reactions that put you at greater risk for high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and autoimmune diseases. Make sure you’re getting enough fiber (fruits and vegetables are great sources) because fiber helps to regulate gut bacteria, which in turn helps to reduce systemic inflammation and regulate hormones. A healthy diet is critical for disease prevention—it’s 80% of the battle.
2. If needed, add supplements.
Supplements shouldn’t replace a well-balanced diet and should be monitored by a doctor. But if recommended, one the most important minerals we use in our clinical practice is magnesium, which helps to regulate hormones, including cortisol. Vitamin B12, folic acid, and vitamin C can also help support the metabolism of cortisol.
3. Take deep breaths.
Several studies reveal the benefits of deep-breathing exercises for at least five minutes, three to five times a day. Research shows that it helps to lower cortisol, ease anxiety and depression and improve memory. To get started, try using a deep-breathing app like Insight Timer or Calm.
4. Reduce your caffeine intake.
Those with chronic stress can experience adrenal dysfunction leading to imbalanced cortisol. With imbalanced cortisol, you may feel extremely tired and may rely on caffeine to get through the day. It’s a vicious cycle: the caffeine wears off and exhaustion recurs. Caffeine can raise cortisol and it doesn’t address the root of the problem, which is balancing hormone levels.
Henry Ford Center for Integrative Medicine
5. Get adequate sleep.
To allow the body to heal, we need at least seven to eight hours of sleep. It’s so important yet often gets put on the back burner amid our busy lives.
6. Exercise regularly.
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine recommends 30 to 50 minutes of daily exercise. And walking your dog doesn’t count—you should be pushed to a limit where you can have a conversation but not be able to sing.
7. Write in a journal.
Sometimes just getting thoughts down on paper is helpful. If they’re happy thoughts, you can relive them, and if they’re stressful thoughts, you can purge them so you’re not going over them continuously in your head.
8. Indulge in hobbies.
Playing an instrument, drawing, crafting, gardening—participating in activities that bring you joy are helpful distractions from stressful thoughts and situations.
9. Go outside.
Simply being in nature among trees, flowers, birds and plants may have a calming effect on the mind. If you can, take a walk around the block, sit on your front porch. As the weather gets warmer, it will become easier to take breaks and spend time outdoors.
10. Don’t lead with fear.
Putting fear first can be distracting. It allows us to make inappropriate, impulsive decisions we wouldn’t make otherwise. Being mindful, taking deep breaths—taking part in the above tips—will help you lead with positivity. You don’t need to tackle all of these tips at once—I know that can seem overwhelming. The best way to make lasting, positive changes is to do so little by little. Incorporate one or two into your routine at a time until they become habit and slowly add in others. Slow and steady often wins the race.
Dr. M. Elizabeth Swenor leads the functional and lifestyle medicine team at Henry Ford Health. She sees patients at Henry Ford Medical Center in Bloomfield Township. Learn more about Dr. Swenor and read her articles here.
