Cortisol

I have a steroid hormone racing through my body by the name of Cortisol right now. This hormone is helping my body respond to stress. And these are stressful times America!

I will say this doesn’t happen to me often. This election, my divorce and the process of selling a business are and were reasons for my cortisol levels to rise. Most other occasions, I’ve learned over time, are not that deep. As long as something is within my control.

Cortisol is not always a bad thing. It helps control blood pressure and reduces inflammation, just to name a few. But this is the bugger that will take over during road rage or makes you shaky when speaking in front of a crowd…

Now you’re waiting for solutions right? Same bleep, different subject: exercise, nutrition and sleep to prevent this. What to do when your stress levels flair up? Take a walk, meditate or take some really deep breaths. Someone told me once to literally shake it off. It helps! With or without the song…I’m referring to Swift here, not Mariah. It has to be up tempo!

As always, eggs, poultry, fish and veggies lower cortisol levels. Anything with a lot of starch or sugar may increases the levels. The good news is that dark chocolate and bananas are on the “good” list!

Fun fact: studies are now showing that your earwax could reveal stress levels. Does the amount of it matter, you may wonder. Or not…but either way I don’t know. I do know that some actually use tiny little spoons to scoop earwax out…Yasss on the list of things that make me go Mmmmm…