LEARN FEATURE 01

What has one of the biggest influences on our health—

and is at least partly within our control?

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH

Stress.

Stress activates a survival response that begins in the brain and involves a hormone you’ve probably heard of: cortisol.

CORTISOL ISN’T BAD

We need it.

It helps us wake up in the morning, maintain blood pressure, regulate inflammation, and make energy available when we need it.
Brain to energy diagramBRAINENERGY

PERCEIVED THREAT → SURVIVAL RESPONSE → AVAILABLE ENERGY

If your brain perceives a threat, cortisol helps raise blood sugar so you have energy to respond. This survival system developed long before overflowing inboxes, traffic jams, financial worries, and glowing computer screens—but the body can respond to modern pressures as though danger were right in front of us.

Ah, Mother Nature—if only you could see us now and make one little update!

WHEN STRESS BECOMES CHRONIC

It isn’t always about cortisol being “high.” It’s about rhythm.

When stress becomes chronic, cortisol doesn’t necessarily remain high every minute of the day. Instead, its normal daily rhythm may become disrupted. Over time, that dysregulation can affect blood-sugar stability, energy, mood, sleep, immune regulation, digestion, and reproductive hormones.

DO YOU RECOGNIZE ANY OF THESE?

Your body may be asking for support.

  1. 01 Feeling tired but wired
  2. 02 Waking during the night
  3. 03 Energy crashes or intense cravings
  4. 04 Feeling anxious or unable to settle
  5. 05 Constipation, diarrhea, or digestive discomfort
  6. 06 Feeling as though your body is working against you