If you’re a “health sleuth”, you must have come across terms like “cortisol” and “adrenal fatigue” online. You’re trying to investigate the solution to your own health issues, like excess body fat, low energy levels, etc. And you read that either high or low cortisol is the culprit behind what ails ya’. The term for this is “adrenal fatigue.” That is, the adrenal glands are pumping out lots of cortisol, until they can’t do it anymore, and then they don’t pump out cortisol anymore.
Original source: here.
Nice media sound bite. However, the truth is far more complex than that, and that’s what we’ll cover in this article – the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
To give credit where credit is due, I took a course with Dr. Bryan Walsh on this topic, so much of this information comes from his research.
So here’s what we’ll cover:
- The old understanding of adrenal fatigue
- Myths about cortisol and adrenal fatigue
- Causes of low cortisol
- What we look for with clients when trying to identify low cortisol.
And although this specific article covers cortisol, we have an entire program that consists of exercise and nutrition to help you balance your hormones, which is called “happy hormones.” If you need help with that, just respond to this email with the subject line “happy hormones.”
The Old Cortisol Story
Let’s start at the beginning – the story that used to be told about cortisol.
Here’s how it went:
Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands. It’s a stress hormone. When you’re under stress, you release more cortisol. At first, the adrenal glands can accommodate, and you release lots of cortisol. If the stress is prolonged, the adrenal glands can no longer keep up with the demand, and cortisol drops. At that point, you feel tired all the time, and you’re dragging your feet.
To recover from that takes 6-12 months. During those 6-12 months, you have to meditate, take adaptogenic herbs (like ashwagandha, ginseng, rhodiola, holy basil, etc.), and do generally relaxing activities.
That’s the general story that alternative medicine used to tell (and still does) to the general public (although it’s usually well-intentioned). That’s not a knock on alternative medicine. I like alternative medicine that’s rooted in science, and that’s why I often refer to naturopathic doctors and chiropractors.
But with some new, and some not-so-new research, we have a much better understanding of cortisol, the reasons that it would be low, and adrenal fatigue.
Myths About Cortisol and Adrenal Fatigue
Myth #1: Cortisol is Made Only in the Adrenal Glands
The word “adrenaline” comes from the word “adrenal”, which is the gland that secretes adrenaline, so it’s fair to assume that the adrenal glands also make cortisol (a low-grade adrenaline). That assumption is correct, but not complete.
Cortisol is also made in other organs. According to this study, it can also come from the intestines, thymus, skin, brain, heart, and others. And those are just tissues that manufacture cortisol. About 20-30% of cortisol is made in tissues other than the adrenal glands
Then there are organs that don’t make cortisol, but recycle cortisol that’s already in the body.
Furthermore, there are organs that can convert inactive cortisol (called “cortisone”) to active cortisol.
Myth #2: Low Cortisol is Caused by Fatigue
This one makes sense, you’d think. After all, if you’re tired, you have adrenal fatigue, so your cortisol is low. But that’s not quite the case.
Several studies show that lots of people who experience fatigue have normal cortisol, and lots of other people with low cortisol don’t complain about fatigue.
So your own energy levels have very little to do with your cortisol levels.
Myth #3: It Takes 6-12 Months to Recover from Low Cortisol
In one study of people who were hospitalized for sepsis (a condition that’s essentially life-threatening), their cortisol was low, as expected. But within 2 weeks of recovery, their cortisol returned to normal. No meditation, no tai chi, no adaptogens.
If people in critical condition recover from low cortisol after 2 weeks, it doesn’t take the average lethargic person 6 months to recover.
So if prolonged stress isn’t the ultimate cause of low cortisol, what is? There are a number of reasons that your cortisol levels might be low.
Causes of Low Cortisol
Remember – there’s nothing inherently bad in the body. Cortisol is not an evil hormone. It exists for a reason, and it has a purpose. If it’s low, perhaps it’s because the body wants it to be low for some reason. Maybe there’s some advantage to cortisol being low. That’s what we’ll discuss in this particular section.
In no particular order:
Cause #1: You Have a Virus
Viruses are opportunistic buggers. They want to replicate, but your body doesn’t want them to replicate, so what it does naturally is it releases immune cells (collectively known as “phagocytes”) that engulf the virus to protect the body. Cortisol increases phagocytes, which helps you fight viruses. But viruses suppress cortisol, so that they can survive in your body.
See why they’re such buggers?
Cause #2: Inflammation
In the body, there are metabolic pathways. Those are like assembly lines. One worker adds one part to bring it closer to the final product. The next worker adds another part, and so on. Same with metabolic pathways. At each step of the pathway some molecule(s) is added or removed to bring it closer to the final product (hormone).
Cortisol is one of the last steps in a metabolic pathway called the “steroid hormone pathway.” For the geeks that want to take a look, here’s what it looks like.
There are certain inflammatory molecules (if you must know, they’re called “tumor necrosis factor alpha” and “interleukin 1”) that break a link in the chain.
Back to our assembly line example: if a worker decides to stop working, while the ones before and after him are still working, the final product won’t get done, or at least not as effectively.
Same with our steroid hormone pathway. Those inflammatory markers “take out” a worker in our assembly line, and cortisol goes low.
Cause #3: Free Radicals
We know that antioxidants help us be healthy (though it’s debatable whether supplementing with them is healthy). The adrenal glands store antioxidants, and release them to quench free radicals, according to this study. Lots of free radicals means lots of antioxidants that the adrenal glands have to release. And as the adrenal glands are working hard to release them, cortisol gets depleted.
Cause #4: Leaky Gut
“Leaky gut” is when the cells of the small intestine are wider than they should be. The technical term for it is “intestinal permeability.” When those gaps widen, particles get through to the bloodstream that shouldn’t be in the bloodstream.
According to one study, one of the bacteria that can cause leaky gut is called “LPS” (lipopolysaccharides). If there’s too much of that, cortisol will decrease.
Cause #5: Vitamin Deficiencies
Certain vitamins help in the production of cortisol, directly or indirectly, and the deficiency of those nutrients can affect your levels of cortisol.
Vitamins are like sparkplugs – they help certain reactions in the body take place. But if there’s not enough of them, it’s like our assembly line workers being very tired, and not as productive as usual. Less work gets done. Same if there are vitamin deficiencies – the processes needed to make cortisol (and other hormones) really slow down, so in the end, there’s less of it.
How to Figure Out if You Have Low Cortisol
There are a number of ways to figure out if you have low cortisol. From the high tech, to the low tech.
- High tech: standard blood chemistry. We know that testing cortisol in the blood directly is not a great reflection of cortisol levels in the body (in case your wondering – no, salivary cortisol isn’t good either), but looking at other markers, like sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, albumin, and certain white blood cells in combination with each other gives a much better indicator of actual cortisol status.
- The low-tech method: symptoms. What are some symptoms of low cortisol?
- Slow starter in the morning
- Low blood pressure
- Salt cravings
- Constant thirst
- Can’t stay asleep
- Lowish blood sugar
While any symptom by itself doesn’t mean a heck of a lot, the more of these you had, the greater the probability of low cortisol.
And what are the benefits of improving your cortisol levels? Well, all the opposite of what your symptoms are:
- Not needing a couple of hours to get going in the morning
- Fewer cravings
- Not getting dizzy when you stand up
- Better sleep
- Better energy levels
As I mentioned earlier, we have a special program, that combines exercise and nutrition to be able to help you accomplish all of that, called the “Healthy Hormone” program. If you want to see whether it’s right for you, just fill out the application form on our home page.
