I feel like warnings about cortisol – a stress hormone I know very little about – have hijacked my social media accounts. I see posts advising me to drink a cortisol cocktail – a blend of orange juice, coconut water and sea salt, take a range of different supplements, and massage lavender balm into my temples.
Not knowing how high my cortisol levels are makes it difficult to know whether or not I need to lower them, but, now I think about it, my cheeks do seem a touch more puffy than usual and my jeans have started to feel a bit tight.
“It is very likely that we do live with higher levels of cortisol in our systems,” John Wass, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Oxford, says, “partly because there is much more stress in the world, we can never switch off for a start.
“With smartphones, you can’t get a moment’s peace.”
But Prof Wass questions the direct link often being made on social media, between cortisol levels and changes in our body, describing that as “misleading”.
“All these changes – weight gain, face swelling – there can be so many other reasons – a bad night’s sleep, certain medications, too much salt, too much alcohol for instance,” he says. “It’s highly unlikely that cortisol levels alone are to blame – it’s a complex picture.”
As the managing director of a small technology company, in her late 20s Jasleen Kaur Carroll was at the top of her game. But she struggled to switch off and work became her life.
Eventually things became so intense – with Jasleen feeling under constant pressure – that she experienced burnout, complete physical, mental and emotional exhaustion.
“I began to feel like a zombie, like everything around me was failing,” the 33-year-old from London explains. “But I would tell myself, ‘I am Jas, I am strong, I can keep going.'”
Jasleen turned to social media for advice on how to destress and lower her cortisol levels.
“You name it, I tried it,” she says. “The cortisol cocktail, Ashwagandha tablets, turmeric, black pepper supplements, lavender balm on my forehead – anything.”
But nothing worked. Jasleen’s body began to shut down, and the stress she was under triggered a flare-up of an autoimmune condition she has called lupus, where the immune system spirals out of control and starts to mistakenly target healthy cells.
“I lost so much weight, I had severe joint pains, I was struggling to breathe because I had liquid around my lungs,” she says. “I was also warned about trying to have a baby because of how poorly I was.”
While in hospital receiving treatment for lupus, Jasleen realised that instead of trying to fix herself using social media hacks she had to stop, take time out and get help.
“I was trying to fight all the symptoms of stress,” she says. “Instead, I needed to tackle the cause.”
By having therapy she worked through trauma she had experienced in childhood and began to practice mindfulness – something which taught her to live more in the moment.
“Stress is a wonderful thing,” says therapist Neil Shah, who runs the Stress Management Society. “Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are vital to keep us safe from a perceived threat.
“The problems come when we perceive threats everywhere – and that’s not helped by the 24/7 society we live in.”
Neil advised Jasleen to try standing outdoors, barefoot on grass. Jasleen wasn’t convinced – but she decided to give it a go.
“At that point I would have tried anything,” she says.
A day after speaking to Jasleen, I’m on a video call with a mindfulness coach from Breathworks, a charity which specialises in pain and stress management. There are 12 other participants, who all want to learn how to manage stress levels and improve their overall health.
Some studies suggest activities like mindfulness can have a positive effect on cortisol levels, helping to regulate the stress response system.
Being focussed on the moment, rather than caught up in the past or looking to the future can also help change the structure of the brain and improve stress resilience, studies have shown.
