How To Balance Cortisol Levels For Better Sleep, More Energy + Greater Stress Resilience

If you’ve heard of “fight or flight,” the human response to stress, you’ve likely heard about cortisol. Often called the “stress hormone,” cortisol is produced by our adrenal glands when we encounter real or perceived threats. It’s been hugely beneficial in the course of human evolution and even in responding to the challenges of stress and modern-day life. It’s what helps us run from lions, wake up in the morning, and nail high-pressure job interviews. 

Unfortunately, too much cortisol can be damaging to the body and mind. And with smartphones dinging, bright lights blaring, screens turned on into the wee hours of the night, long work hours, many Americans suffer from cortisol much higher than healthy or helpful levels.

But instead of having to live with the side effects of out-of-control cortisol, let’s dive into how to balance cortisol levels naturally, so you can sleep better, have more energy, and start thriving instead of just surviving.

Understanding High Cortisol

In a healthy individual, cortisol is higher in the morning to help with waking, and slowly lowers throughout the day. Melatonin, your “sleepy time” hormone, is inversely proportional to cortisol, so when cortisol is high, melatonin is low and vice versa. But far too often, chronic stress (whether that is emotional, physical, or both) throws off this rhythm causing cortisol to either be low when it should be high, high when it should be low, or always low or always high. This is also known as adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome. It can look different between individuals but the sentiment is the same — an imbalance in proper cortisol rhythm. 

While high cortisol can be caused by medical conditions or illness such as adrenal tumors, certain medications or even pregnancy, most suffering from high cortisol have their stressful lifestyles to blame. Common culprits of high cortisol include:

• Poor sleep hygiene 
• Frequent caffeine consumption
• Too much screen time (TV, phone, laptop)
• Stressful jobs
• inactivity/no daily movement routine
• Lack of fulfilling activities outside of work
• Lack of social and familial connections
• Frequent alcohol consumption

If any of these sound familiar, you may want to look at your cortisol levels and work towards healthier lifestyle changes that are more supportive of a healthy stress response.

Symptoms of high cortisol levels can include:

• Unexplained weight gain
• Changes to your skin appearance and health
• Muscle weakness
• Mood instability associated with anxiety, depression, and overall sadness
• High blood pressure
• High blood sugar
• Fatigue
• Trouble sleeping
• Headaches
• Upset stomach

If these symptoms sound difficult to pinpoint and hard to attribute to any one thing, it’s because they unfortunately are. The best way to determine your cortisol levels is through urine, blood, or sweat tests. 

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe, which makes it easier to get to the bottom of what is going on in your body so you can make informed choices for effective changes.

LISTEN: Fixing Constipation, Flipping The Food Pyramid, Deep Detox & Cortisol Calming | Ask Me Anything

Ways To Balance Cortisol Levels

If you aren’t ready to seek out a functional medicine practitioner just yet, there are some simple things you can incorporate into your daily routine to start managing and lower cortisol levels.

1. Increase Your Physical Activity

Being physically active every day is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your stress levels. (1) While hard-core HIIT workouts and fancy pilates classes totally count, some good old-fashioned walking and some low-cost resistance training will also do the trick, and can be even better for your cortisol-lowering journey. Sometimes more high intensity exercises can put more stress on your body than necessary and actually raise cortisol temporarily.

The best way to hold yourself accountable for daily activity is to schedule it in advance, ideally in the morning. Make sure you have time set aside to be active. There are so many free online resources if you’re short on time or motivation. 

2. Optimize Your Sleep

Sleep is essential to get right when managing your cortisol. Naturally, cortisol should be higher in the morning to help you wake up and feel ready to tackle the day. Honoring our natural sleep cycles helps keep these hormonal balances in check throughout the day, specifically cortisol. (2)

For good sleep hygiene, you’re ideally maintaining a consistent bedtime routine by going to sleep and waking up at roughly the time each night. You’re also ideally getting enough sleep (7-9+) hours depending on your unique needs.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. There are many ways to improve your sleep including supplements like magnesium, blue light blocking during the day, and getting natural sunlight first thing in the morning.

3. Practice Meditation

Mediation can be intimidating, but getting started is straightforward and simple. With so many health benefits, cultivating a meditation practice is one of the best things you can do for your stress levels and overall health.

To start, set aside 5 minutes every day without distractions to begin exploring meditation. There are books, online guides, apps and videos — many of them free — that can walk you through the basics and the different ways to approach meditation, yoga, breathwork, deep breathing, and mindfulness.

4. Prioritize Social Connections

In a day and age where we’re more “connected” than ever to hundreds or thousands of “friends” and followers, there are still so many of us who are lacking in real human connection. If you’re not lucky enough to live near your family or friends that you get along with and see regularly, it is important to cultivate a group of friends that you can socialize, laugh, and create community and memories with. Science tells us that our social connections are part of the fabric that help us regulate our nervous system, stress, and cortisol levels. (4)

5. Limit Caffeine

Consuming too much caffeine, especially late in the day can wreak havoc on your sleep and cortisol levels. If you find yourself reaching for that 3rd cup of coffee every day or going through energy drinks one after the other — consider scaling back and swapping it out for an herbal tea, something decaf, or just plain water. High blood pressure, fluctuating blood sugar levels, fatigue, trouble sleeping, headaches, and an upset stomach can all be signs of a hormonal imbalance related to elevated cortisol.

SHOP: Hydration is important for your entire health, but especially for hormonal health. Instead of reaching for another caffeinated beverage, elevate your water with LongevityRX Cellular Hydration. These delicious wild berry electrolytes are powered by Celtic Sea Salt®, a whole unrefined mineral blend, and is synergistically combined with red marine algae, organic watermelon, coconut water, and celery to provide hydration from head-to-toe. This comprehensive blend goes beyond hydration – it’s a sugar free, scientifically formulated approach to support your body’s ideal electrolyte balance.

6. Manage Your Blood Sugar

When your blood sugar is low, it can signal to your body to release more cortisol as a way to boost glucose levels, which is why eating a balanced diet is so critical. Not only do healthy fats help you stay satiated throughout the day, they provide a clean boost of energy that slowly tapers off instead of dropping off dramatically, leaving you crashing like carbohydrates do. My favorite sources of healthy fats include avocados, olives, and wild-caught salmon.

7. Follow An Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Inflammation is the driving force behind many modern day health problems. From weight loss resistance to autoimmune conditions, inflammation can play a role in many of the conditions we face today, including imbalanced cortisol levels. Start by limiting or avoiding certain foods that have been known to trigger inflammation in most people, such as gluten, dairy, grains, alcohol, seed oils, and refined sugar.

After that, exactly what foods trigger inflammation can vary between individuals. I recommend following an elimination diet to help determine what foods trigger inflammation in you so that you know which foods to take a break from. Instead of feeling restricted, think of it as loving yourself enough to fuel your body with foods that love it back.

READ MORE: Your Guide To The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Supplements To Balance Cortisol Levels

To further support your body in managing stress and restoring balance to your cortisol levels, consider incorporating these supplements into your routine:

• Adaptogenic herbs: Certain herbs like ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea, and Holy Basil are known to have a regulating effect on cortisol levels. (4-6) My supplement, The Brain-Adrenal Balancer, features a curated blend of clinically tested and patented ingredients (including ashwagandha) to support healthy cortisol levels, alleviate occasional fatigue, promote mental clarity, and support relaxation and restful sleep.
• Magnesium: Works to help support the adrenal glands, relaxes stressed muscles and nerves, and promotes quality sleep. It can also help keep you regular. The Magnesium is formulated with Magtein® — a breakthrough form of magnesium that actually crosses the blood-brain barrier for real results you can feel. (7)
• B Vitamins: Taking activated forms of B12 and folate are effective ways to support healthy methylation pathways, which help restore balance to the melatonin-cortisol rhythm.

SHOP: To make supporting your hormones even easier, I put together my Hormone Stack for Cycling Women and my Hormone Stack for Menopausal Women, featuring high-quality adaptogenic supplements, vitamins, and herbs like ashwagandha, B vitamins, and magnesium to support detoxification and increase stress resilience.

Starting your journey towards balanced cortisol levels and better stress management can feel overwhelming, but with the right steps and support, it is entirely achievable.

Seeking Help From A Functional Medicine Expert

Starting your journey of rebalancing cortisol levels and better stress management can feel overwhelming, but with the right support, it is entirely achievable. While these tips are beneficial to restoring cortisol balance, it is also important to address the root cause of why your cortisol levels were high in the first place. In my telehealth functional medicine clinic, we specialize in running lab work alongside a comprehensive health history to get a full picture of your health so we can better determine what is driving your symptoms.

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe. 

Photo: Shutterstock

Sources

• Jackson, Erica M. Ph.D., FACSM. STRESS RELIEF: The Role of Exercise in Stress Management. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal 17(3):p 14-19, May/June 2013. | DOI: 10.1249/FIT.0b013e31828cb1c9 
• Rachel Leproult, Georges Copinschi, Orfeu Buxton, Eve Van Cauter, Sleep Loss Results in an Elevation of Cortisol Levels the Next Evening, Sleep, Volume 20, Issue 10, October 1997, Pages 865–870, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/20.10.865
• Anna Seewald & Winfried Rief. (2023) Therapist’s warmth and competence increased positive outcome expectations and alliance in an analogue experiment. Psychotherapy Research 0:0, pages 1-16.
• Albalawi AA. Dual impact of Ashwagandha: Significant cortisol reduction but no effects on perceived stress – A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition and Health. 2025;31(4):1395-1408. doi:10.1177/02601060251363647
• Olsson, E. M., von Schéele, B., & Panossian, A. G. (2009). A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract shr-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigue. Planta medica, 75(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0028-1088346
• Lopresti, A. L., Smith, S. J., Metse, A. P., & Drummond, P. D. (2022). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of an Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy Basil) extract (Holixer^TM) on stress, mood, and sleep in adults experiencing stress. Frontiers in nutrition, 9, 965130. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.965130
• Sartori, S. B., Whittle, N., Hetzenauer, A., & Singewald, N. (2012). Magnesium deficiency induces anxiety and HPA axis dysregulation: modulation by therapeutic drug treatment. Neuropharmacology, 62(1), 304–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2011.07.027