When the Stress Alarm won’t Turn Off

Cortisol gets a terrible reputation.

Online it’s often portrayed as the villain behind everything — belly fat, weight gain, anxiety, poor sleep.

But cortisol isn’t the enemy.

In fact, cortisol is one of the body’s most important survival tools.

You can think of it as the body’s stress alarm.

When something demands attention — low blood sugar, poor sleep, emotional stress, illness, physical exertion — cortisol helps mobilize the resources to deal with it.

It increases alertness.
It releases energy.
It sharpens focus.

That’s incredibly useful.

The problem isn’t that the alarm exists.

The problem is when the alarm never gets to turn off.