Contents:
- Medical Video: How to determine if you have high cortisol levels
- What are the health problems that can arise due to the high hormone cortisol?
- Blood sugar is not balanced
- Blood vessel health disorders
- Stomach bulges
- The immune system is weakened
- Reproductive health disorders
- Disruption of the transmission channel system
- Cognitive impairment
- Various easy ways to reduce the hormone cortisol are too high
- 1. Adequate sleep time
- 2. Get to know your stressors
- 3. Learn to calm down
- 4. Eat healthy food
- 5. Sports, but don't push yourself
Medical Video: How to determine if you have high cortisol levels
Cortisol is a type of hormone produced by the adrenal gland to improve the body's response function to a particular situation. The hormone cortisol will tend to be high when we are hit by stress, which is usually characterized by feelings of anxiety and anxiety. Even the amount can stay in a long time and can result in serious health problems.
What are the health problems that can arise due to the high hormone cortisol?
Prolonged increases in the hormone cortisol interfere with some of the body's physiological functions, including:
Blood sugar is not balanced
Cortisol plays a role in providing energy in the form of blood glucose as a form of preparation for facing a stressful condition but if it occurs for a long time it can cause damage and trigger the development of diabetes mellitus.
Blood vessel health disorders
The high hormone cortisol in the blood can make it difficult for the distribution of blood that holds oxygen and increases pressure in blood vessels. Thus triggering damage to blood vessels and various heart diseases.
Stomach bulges
In addition to unsightly eyes, a distended stomach saves a lot of potential health problems. Stomach has more fat cells than other body parts. The hormone cortisol is one of the triggers for maturation of fat cells, which triggers faster accumulation of abdominal fat. In the medical world, distended stomachs are classified as central obesity.
The immune system is weakened
The hormone cortisol acts to reduce the inflammatory reaction in the body. But at the same time, this hormone also has side effects on the immune system by reducing the immune response to the presence of germs that expose the body.
Reproductive health disorders
Androgen sex hormones are produced from the same gland as the cortisol hormone. So that when the stress hormone cortisol is produced excessively, then the secretion of sex hormones will tend to decrease.
Disruption of the transmission channel system
The high cortisol in the body decreases the body's response to absorb food, causing the digestive system to have difficulty digesting food properly. Foods that are not properly digested can damage the intestinal mucosal surface, causing ulcers in the stomach, such as irritable bowel syndrome and colitis.
Cognitive impairment
Excessive secretion of the hormone cortisol causes the brain to not work optimally, triggering symptoms such as difficulty remembering and brain fog. The worker's brain is also potentially causing emotional disturbances and depression.
Various easy ways to reduce the hormone cortisol are too high
To avoid potential health problems due to an increase in the hormone cortisol, here are some ways you can do:
1. Adequate sleep time
The adequacy of the duration and quality of sleep greatly affects how you respond to stress conditions that directly affect the secretion of the hormone cortisol. The release of cortisol is influenced by the body's biological clock. The highest level will be in the morning to make it more alert and uplifting, and then decrease at night so as to facilitate sleep. But when someone tends to move during the night or experience insomnia, your cortisol hormone levels can tend to increase consistently for 24 hours.
Overcome difficulties to manage sleep time do several things such as:
- active physical activity - feeling tired from actively moving during wakefulness will make it easier for you to sleep at night so that you can help you manage your sleep schedule optimally.
- Avoid consuming coffee at night.
- Limit exposure to light and distractions that make it difficult for you to fall asleep.
But if you have a job with shift times so that it is difficult to meet the time of night sleep, take the time to take a nap during the day to reduce the risk of lack of sleep.
2. Get to know your stressors
The appearance of negative thoughts or feeling depressed is the main sign of an increase in the hormone cortisol. Recognizing this is important so that you can anticipate chronic stress and immediately think about what triggers stress objectively. This way, you can more easily decide on solving problems without protracted stress.
3. Learn to calm down
Basically there are various ways to calm down, when we fully understand the things that cause us to feel depressed. This is done by doing certain activities that can relieve stress, such as interacting with other people, playing with pets, listening to music or spending time in the open space. Ignoring the feeling of being depressed for a moment is proven to be able to prevent the increase in the hormone cortisol continuously as well as an effective way to regulate stress.
4. Eat healthy food
Stress usually triggers cravings to eat sweet and high-calorie foods. But it's good to avoid this. High sugar intake is one of the triggers for the hormone cortisol, especially if you experience metabolic syndrome such as obesity. Instead, try to consume the type of intake that is beneficial to reduce cortisol levels such as black chocolate, fruits, green tea or black tea, foods rich in prebiotics and probiotics and mineral water. Besides consumption of supplements that can help work the brain such as fish oil can also help stress responses and overcome the increase in the hormone cortisol.
5. Sports, but don't push yourself
Exercise is too heavy can increase the hormone cortisol, especially if you basically do not exercise regularly. However, the cortisol hormone response tends to decrease along with the body's adaptation to increased physical activity. That's why if you're just used to exercising, just choose the type of exercise that is light first.
