{"id":1216800,"date":"2025-02-18T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1216800"},"modified":"2025-02-18T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:00:00","slug":"the-truth-about-cortisol-the-hormone-that-health-influencers-like-to-blame-for-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1216800","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Cortisol, the Hormone That Health Influencers Like to Blame for Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do sweet and salty foods taste good to you? Is your sleep maybe not the best? Do you have some belly fat? The answer to these questions is probably yes, because you are human, but that\u2019s not important right now! TikTok influencers would like you to consider another possibility: that your cortisol is too high, and that you should buy their supplements (link in bio!) to control it. Then you\u2019ll be relaxed at night and energetic in the morning, you\u2019ll enjoy the taste of kale, and\u2014most importantly\u2014you\u2019ll become thin and beautiful.<\/p>\n

This cortisol dysregulation idea has become a sort of mega-phenomenon, absorbing the power and anxieties of anything it touches. If you look up cortisol on TikTok, you\u2019ll find weight loss tips, sleep hygiene tips, massage techniques, and more. You\u2019ll be served videos not only on cortisol, but also on gut issues, mood issues, healing from trauma, smoothie recipes, menstrual cycle syncing, when you should and shouldn\u2019t use caffeine, and just about any other health issue a woman might search for. (Sorry, men\u2014most of this content isn’t for you. Yet.)<\/p>\n

Scroll those videos long enough, and you\u2019ll see a claim about any symptom or inconvenience you\u2019ve ever experienced. It\u2019s all due to your high cortisol, they say. <\/p>\n

What is cortisol, anyway?<\/h2>\n

Stepping away from TikTok-land for a moment to talk about actual physiology, cortisol is a hormone that we produce from our adrenal glands, which sit on top of our kidneys. <\/p>\n

The adrenal glands most famously produce epinephrine, which you might recognize as the \u201cfight or flight\u201d hormone we call adrenaline. (In the United States, epinephrine is the medical name. Both words refer to the same thing<\/a>: ad + renal is the Latin way you say \u201con top of the kidneys,\u201d and epi + nephro is the same in Greek.)<\/p>\n

Besides epinephrine\/adrenaline, the adrenal gland also produces hormones that regulate water and electrolyte balance, and small amounts of sex hormones. And\u2014relevant to our topic today\u2014they also produce cortisol. Where epinephrine is involved in momentary \u201cfight or flight\u201d reactions, cortisol is the hormone that helps us deal with stress in the longer term<\/a>, like days to weeks or longer.<\/p>\n

Your cortisol levels increase when you\u2019re sick, pregnant, severely dehydrated, recovering from surgery, or your body is otherwise dealing with major stress. And these cortisol levels should <\/em>go up\u2014this is a good thing! People who don\u2019t produce enough cortisol in these situations can experience an adrenal crisis<\/a>, which can be deadly. <\/p>\n

In other words, cortisol helps our bodies respond appropriately to stress, especially serious, life-threatening physical stress. If you\u2019ve ever taken a glucocorticoid medication (with a name like cortisone, prednisone, or dexamethasone), or used hydrocortisone cream on a rash, those are all variations of cortisol.<\/p>\n

There are medical conditions where your body doesn\u2019t make enough cortisol, like Addison\u2019s disease, and medical conditions where your body makes too much, like Cushing\u2019s disease. Both of these are issues to discuss with your doctor, not your friendly local TikToker, but more about those in a bit.<\/p>\n

What people say about cortisol on social media<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve covered some of the claims about cortisol above, but to give you a few more examples, here are some of the things healthfluencers say are signs that your cortisol is too high: <\/p>\n