Today I introduce you to five ways to reduce cortisol. The first question I want to ask is: what is the stress hormone? Do I hear you asking what is it or why? Be patient, keep reading, my friend, and you will find out soon enough.
So I am talking about stress all the time. You are talking about it. We all talk. So it’s the right time to know a little bit more about a hormone that is usually called the stress hormone. Am I right? Or maybe you know all about it. I guess, not. Then why would you need to be here reading about it? Right? So let’s begin!
What Is The Stress Hormone?
In my opinion, we all hear about the stress hormone from time to time. What about you? Do you? The stress hormone is called cortisol, and elevated levels can cause many problems. For example, cortisol levels can interfere with memory, blood pressure, weight gain and more, and more… Do you want me to continue?
Studies even show that chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels increase the risk of mental illness.
Some time ago I published an article about how chronic stress is bad for you and your health.
More About Cortisol…
When you are stressed or in fear, cortisol is released by the adrenal glands. How can you experience it? I am sure you heard about the fight-or-flight response. If this kind of response is alarming, you become ready for action.
The problem is that this needs to get resolved physically, otherwise cortisol can cause havoc in your body and mind, and who wants to experience it?
That is why you need to know about ways to reduce cortisol levels, and that leads to another chapter of this article.
How Can You Reduce Cortisol?
Do you want to know? Yep, who doesn’t? We all want to be happy and healthy, but high cortisol levels can make our life like a living hell. Okay, maybe I am a little exaggerating, but I just don’t want everybody to feel chronic stress and health problems that are related to it. You deserve to be happy, and you didn’t come here to live unbearable life. So let’s see what can you do!
There are at least five ways to reduce cortisol and feel better. Let’s see!
1. Physical Activity
Physical activity is a great way to burn up cortisol. Do you know that only 20-30 minutes of activity lowers cortisol in the long run? I am sure you can do this.
It works, and I know this from my personal experience. When I was at school, I went to Taekwondo (one of the martial arts) training. When I was engaged in this activity, I forgot all about my stress, and
I returned home much more relaxed. Try it and see it for yourself! There isn’t a better way than yours, and that is true for every single person.
2. Meditation and Mindfulness
Everyone who reads my blog knows how much I like meditation and mindfulness. At least, I talk about them a lot, and one day for sure I will tell a story of how everything began and which book lead me to meditation. Oh, stop guessing! You will never guess right. 🙂 That story will be for another time.
It’s no surprise reduce cortisol level that meditation and mindfulness can reduce cortisol levels and anxiety. Simply deep breathing leads to a slow heart rate and decreases cortisol.
How does it happen? It is because deep breaths engage the Vagus nerve, and that triggers a signal in your nervous system. That is the reason why you always feel calmer when you practice deep breathing. It works, and I am speaking from my experience. I would love to hear about your experience.
3. Connect With People
Relationships with your family members or friends are vital for your well-being, and physical and mental health. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how old are you. We all need to connect with each other.
There are even studies that show how important is physical touch and human connectivity. That helps to relax your parasympathetic nervous system. Being with your loved ones can reduce cortisol, and you will feel calm and relaxed.
When I am stressed, anxious, or nervous, I call my mom, and we talk. I always feel much better afterward, and it’s a great feeling when somebody listens and hears what you want to say. My relationship with my mom often helps me to relax, solve problems, reduce the stress that I am feeling, and sometimes even brighten my day.
Love is a powerful tool to help us in our journey. Too often people don’t understand what love truly means. Our deepest desire is to love and be loved, understood, and respected. Why? Because we are love, and we can’t live without it. Love is air to us, but we don’t acknowledge that. I believe when we will accept it, the stress will disappear from our world, and we won’t need to think about ways to reduce cortisol anymore. Okay, okay. It looks like I am philosophizing a bit too much today… So the next point is…
4. Music
I believe we all know that music can improve our mood and reduce stress. When I published an article a long, long time ago (5 months ago) about five tips on how I reduce stress naturally, some people said music is something that helps them in this matter.
Listening to great music is an amazing way to relax, meditate, connect with yourself, and at the same time with everyone and everything. If music reduces cortisol levels (I am not the only one saying this), why don’t use it and make everything better for yourself and your family?
5. Having Fun
Did you know that laughing reduces cortisol levels? There are even studies about it. Isn’t it amazing? What can be better than this?
One person said to me once that I am laughing too much. What would she tell me after reading this? I was surprised by her statement about me.
Laughing and jokes always helped me feel better, and more at ease and relieve stress. It was like a natural instinct to laugh or joke about things when something was bothering me, and stress was striking.
Laugh as much as possible, my dear friend, and you will lower cortisol levels, and your life will be full of joy and wonder.
If you want you can even take a Cortisol test and monitor your health.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this article and get to know something more about stress hormones and maybe about yourself. You don’t need to wonder anymore what is the stress hormone.
What do you think about these five ways to reduce cortisol?
If you have some questions, comments, or suggestions, please, leave your thoughts below.
Learn how to reduce cortisol using meditation, CLICK HERE to get more information.
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Until next time! With peace and love, my friend
Linda Mo
Founder of How To Reduce Stress Naturally
Hello Linda,
I have adrenal problems and take a supplement sometimes to help lower cortisol. I know many of these practices you mention reduce stress but I did not think about them reducing cortisol also! I think this is such important information that most people really don’t know anything about.
We know we are stressed but until we get really sick, most people don’t know just how dangerous stress can be. It can literally kill you!
Thanks for this great information,
Jessica
Hi, Jessica! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story!
As I understood, these tips that I mentioned reduce both stress and cortisol. You know that cortisol is also called the stress hormone.
Yes, I read about stress causing so many mental and physical diseases. I hope that people will understand how dangerous is stress.