7 Habits That Are Secretly Messing With Your Cortisol

And you're probably doing most of them.

There’s lots of talk about cortisol (which is commonly referred to as your body’s stress hormone) on social media, such as how to lower it, how to regulate it and signs that it’s too high.

But those posts can confuse folks about the role of cortisol, too. Cortisol is a necessary hormone that is involved in lots of aspects of your day-to-day functioning, including your immune system, your sleep-wake cycle, blood sugar regulation, and your body’s stress response, said Saru Bala, a naturopathic doctor based in Arizona.

“I want to make it clear that cortisol itself is not evil, and we do need it,” Bala told HuffPost. But “as with anything in our body, when it’s too high for too long or too low for too long, it becomes a problem.”

Chronic high cortisol levels can lead to health issues like high blood pressure and irregular heart rhythms, “and certainly when those get extensive over time, they can lead to increased risk of heart attack and stroke,” said Dr. Yufang Lin, the director of education, wellness and preventive medicine at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

Increased risk of anxiety, depression and insomnia also go hand in hand with high levels of cortisol, Lin noted. “When you put this all together, those are significant. Those are actually the common chronic diseases most Americans are facing.”