Let’s talk about cortisol, a steroid hormone the adrenal glands produce. Cortisol is commonly thought of as the stress hormone because it regulates the body’s stress response. Aside from stress, cortisol plays many other essential roles in the body, including suppressing inflammation, regulating blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, and controlling your sleep-wake cycle.
Every day your body relies on the hormone cortisol to jumpstart your morning and power you through your day. Cortisol’s release into the brain is what helps you wake up. You should get a sharp rise in cortisol about 30 minutes after waking. This rise is called the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR).
The cortisol floodgates open when light hits your eyes in the morning. This initial spike in cortisol gives you the energy to function throughout the day. After cortisol peaks, it slowly declines throughout the day, helping you wind down. Cortisol levels should be lowest at night to allow you to sleep well. As cortisol levels fall, melatonin levels will begin to rise. Melatonin is a hormone that promotes sleep. It naturally produces as the sun goes down and increases as it gets darker.
What are the adrenal glands?
The adrenal glands are small, triangular-shaped glands that sit on top of your kidneys. The adrenal glands secrete several hormones regulating stress response, blood pressure, immune function, metabolism, and sexual characteristics.
Signs of an Unbalanced Cortisol Awakening Response
- You are very energetic in the morning but crash later in the day.
- It takes several cups of coffee to get you to feel awake.
- You have a chronic disease, stress, or inflammation.
- You have thyroid dysfunction or a history of traumatic brain injury.
What the Cortisol Awakening Response Impacts
- Energy levels
- Stress response/resilience
- Mood
- Memory and recall
- Stress levels
- Alertness
- Infection regulation
- Autoimmune development/progression
- Blood sugar management
- Inflammation regulation
- Cancer outcomes
A normal CAR will cause you to naturally feel awake in the morning, energized throughout the day, and tired as night approaches. If your CAR is too low or too high, it can cause various symptoms such as fatigue, burnout, low libido, low motivation, anxiety, depression, insomnia, brain fog, and/or inflammation.
We hope you enjoyed this blog post, “What is the Cortisol Awakening Response?”. How do you plan on supporting healthy cortisol levels throughout your day?
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