How To Balance Your Cortisol Levels Naturally

One of the most common questions I get asked as a holistic health coach and educator, is “How can I balance my cortisol levels naturally.” I honestly love this question because what most people don’t realize is that by taking steps to balance your cortisol levels, you are by default balancing other hormone levels, such as sex hormones (think estrogen and progesterone), insulin, and thyroid hormones. And you are also promoting healthy metabolic function.

Chronically elevated cortisol has so many downstream effects. It can…

• Shut down digestion and impair the absorption of key nutrients/minerals leading to nutrient and mineral deficiencies
• Elevate glucose levels leading to insulin resistance, weight gain, and other chronic health issues
  
• Suppress thyroid function and ultimately slow down the metabolism and lead to weight gain
• Impair immune function
• Increase inflammation throughout the body
• Impair circadian rhythm function
• Delay ovulation
• Down regulate progesterone production which can cause fertility issues long term.

So it is vitally important to ensure that you are not living your life with chronically elevated cortisol levels. The reality is that life is stressful and while we can’t completely eliminate life stressors, there are things that we can do to help manage the stress in our lives better and therefore regulate our cortisol production. So with that said, here are my top 5 tips to help regulate cortisol levels naturally.

1. Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night and get sunlight into your eyes first thing in the morning. Research shows a complex two-way relationship between the HPA (Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal) axis, which produces our hormones, including cortisol, and regulates hormonal levels. Poor sleep increases the activity of the HPA axis, leading to greater production of cortisol and therefore more stress, greater arousal and other downstream health consequences. Increased cortisol then results in more sleep dis-regulation. And so it’s imperatively important to prioritize sleep. AND to get sunlight in your eyes first thing in the morning. This regulates your circadian rhythm helping you to fall asleep more easily at night and get into deeper sleep.

2. Eat a balanced breakfast (clean protein, healthy fats, fiber/whole food carbs). This sets you up for blood sugar regulation throughout the day. Blood sugar regulation is key to balanced cortisol levels. Cortisol manages your energy by keeping your blood sugar in check. When your blood sugar drops too low, the adrenals pump out more cortisol. Cortisol then produces glucose to bring your blood sugar back in range. Eating breakfast, not only prevents your adrenals from pumping out extra cortisol but also helps bring your cortisol levels down from the morning peak. It’s important to know that cortisol levels are naturally their highest in the morning so it’s important to eat within 1 hour of waking (especially if you are a woman of fertility age) to avoid erratic blood sugar, high cortisol levels and the downstream hormonal imbalance.

However, what you eat matters! If you eat a breakfast high in simple carbohydrates such as pancakes, cereal, or french toast, you will only set yourself up for a blood sugar roller coaster throughout the day and therefore more cortisol production, and hormonal imbalances. Whereas if you eat a balanced protein forward breakfast such as a veggie egg scramble with avocado and a piece of fruit, your blood sugar and therefore your cortisol levels will be stabilized and you will set your entire day up for success. The reason I recommend incorporating a small portion of whole food carbs is because carbohydrates are the only macronutrient that can cut cortisol levels. So while you don’t want to be loading up on simple carbs for breakfast, it can be beneficial to incorporate a small amount of whole food carbs such as fruit.

3. Eat to balance your blood sugar. This goes along with my last point, but it’s hugely important to be cognizant of not spiking your blood sugar throughout the day. As I just said, breakfast is the most important meal to set yourself up for success with blood sugar balance (and therefore stable cortisol levels) throughout the day. However, there are some other simple ways you can eat to help balance your blood sugar the rest of the day.

First off, prioritize clean sources of protein at each meal, aiming for around 25-35 grams of protein per meal, depending on body weight. Never eat “naked carbs” and by that I mean, never eat carbs on their own without protein, fat, or fiber. The protein, fat, and fiber helps slow the absorption of the glucose into your blood stream. So, if you do want to enjoy some rice or pasta or other simple carbs at some point during the day, you can mitigate a massive blood sugar spike by simply eating them with (preferably after) a protein or fat source. And overall focus on getting 90% of your calories from whole food sources and stay away from ultra-processed foods. This will go a long way in helping you to manage your blood sugar and cortisol levels naturally.

4. Wait to consume coffee until after breakfast. Coffee in and of itself spikes cortisol levels, however eating food prior to drinking caffeine can decrease the absorption rate of the caffeine and therefore help mitigate a massive cortisol spike. This is however a debatable point as some research has found that for those who drink coffee regularly, the cortisol spike isn’t significant. So my recommendation is to listen to your body, if you ever feel jittery after your morning coffee, it could be worth re-evaluating and experimenting with eating some breakfast prior to consuming your morning Joe. 

5. For women: Don’t skip breakfast and avoid doing fasted workouts in the luteal phase of your cycle. As I mentioned in point #3, a balanced breakfast is key to stabilizing cortisol levels in the morning. So one of the worst things you can do for your cortisol levels and overall hormonal health, as a woman, is skip breakfast and/or do an intense workout on an empty stomach, particularly in the luteal phase of your cycle. I do believe intermittent fasting has it’s place and can be a beneficial hermetic stress. So, if you are someone who wants to get the benefits of fasting without the impact on your hormones, then dinner would be a much better meal to skip. And only engage in intermittent fasting during the follicular phase of your cycle to support overall hormone balance.

I know intermittent fasting is all the rage right now. However, it’s important to acknowledge that all of the research on intermittent fasting has been done on men, not women. And that is because our menstrual cycles are such a massive variable. While men’s hormones follow a 24 hour cycle. Women’s hormones follow a 28 day cycle (on average). So while men can get away with repetition and doing the same workouts, eating the same meals, skipping the same meals, etc every day.

Women are another story. When we skip breakfast every day throughout our entire cycle, and push through intense fasted workouts when our energy levels are naturally lower we are essentially steam rolling over our own innate intuition. God created our bodies with this beautiful monthly rhythm that can be our guide post when it comes to our own mental, physical, and spiritual thriving. For more guidance on this you can refer to my post, Cycle syncing: How To Optimize Your Health Through Living In Sync With Your Cycle.   Or you can follow along with my Instagram page @wholisticmandy for more education on hormonal health and balancing cortisol levels naturally.

I truly hope these pointers are helpful! Life is stressful and as I’ve previously mentioned, there is no way to completely eliminate stress, so why not support our bodies natural ability to cope with stress by taking these steps to help balance cortisol levels naturally.