Did you know that your hormone levels can change with the time of day?

Around 30 minutes after we've woken up, our cortisol levels will have increased significantly. Cortisol is responsible for:

• controlling the body's blood sugar levels

• regulating metabolism

• anti-inflammation

• memory formation

• controlling salt and water balances

• blood pressure

It is also a steroid hormone and our stress hormone, helping the body deal with stressful situations or threats. 

When we wake up, our cortisol levels rise which makes sense as our senses our active again after sleep. Our body's nervous system is taking in lots of information and so our endocrine system responds by producing hormones that we may need if the situation arises. 

What I find super fascinating is that our cortisol levels rise when we wake but throughout the day, they fall. Cortisol levels are the lowest before bedtime, indicating that our body has a very natural rhythm to help us be active when we need but also rest when we need. It wants to help us out as much as possible. 

This is called the diurnal cortisol curve. However, people with adrenal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) dysfunction experience a huge rise in cortisol in the beginning of the day and their cortisol levels remain above average throughout the day. This can be due to prolonged stress demands with symptoms such as tiredness, food cravings and anxiety, to name a few.

There are also situations where our cortisol levels can fall below average leading to chronic fatigue with symptoms such as drowsiness and mid-day energy drop. And a much more common occurrence now, with the way society is and the way we live, is burnout. Burnout results in our cortisol levels being low throughout the day, commonly known as adrenal fatigue. This can leave us feeling constantly fatigued and irritable. We can also suffer with insomnia and exhaustion if our adrenals do not release enough cortisol.

The great thing is is that this cortisol response can be rectified by simple changes to our lifestyle. Hormone Yoga Therapy can help rebalance the hormonal (endocrine) system, helping to bring our cortisol levels back to this natural diurnal rhythm. Whether we are experiencing hyper production of cortisol due to prolonged stress demands or adrenal fatigue where our adrenals cannot produce enough cortisol, Hormone Yoga Therapy and other practices such as meditation and relaxation can help us to find our natural rhythm again. We give the body chance to stop and replenish itself, leading to a healthier hormone production. Stress is a big influencer on the glands within the body, not just the adrenals where cortisol is released from, but others too and it can impact our whole body in various ways. If we learn to reduce our stress, we can help our body to do its natural thing. And when our body is in balance, we feel mentally balanced.

Hormone Yoga Therapy helps to replenish the endocrine system by stimulating the ovaries, testes, pituitary, thyroid and adrenals and concentrating on anti-stress exercises such as relaxations, breathing exercises and anti-stress techniques which are sound or movement meditations. It fires up our endocrine system for anything that is under-stimulated and then balances us by focusing de-stressing the physical body and ultimately the mind. Never feel guilty for taking time out to de-stress. You could be solving long-term physical symptoms thus helping you to lead a happier and healthier life.