1. Sleep Is Your Friend. We are a sleep deprived nation. We do not get enough rest. In fact some pride themselves on just needing four hours of sleep a night. This is so NOT the way to get healthy. You need to get a good night’s sleep every night at least 6 to 8 hours.
2. Avoid Negativity. Keep your immediate environment positive. Listen to music that is uplifting. Stop hanging with people who are always negative and complaining. Monitor what you watch on TV (especially the news). A constant dose of negativity brings stress and more stress brings Cortisol.
3. Magnesium. Whether it is in a pill form (not as potent) or in an Epsom salt bath or magnesium flake foot bath, all are helpful when lowering Cortisol levels. Magnesium does help one to relax in general, so it makes sense that it ultimately helps with stress levels, which of course impact Cortisol levels.
4. Yoga. One of the great stress reliever is Yoga. The focus on breath and body placement helps to lower Cortisol. If you have never done yoga before no worries. There are lots of Yoga Videos on YouTube and brief videos on Instagram.
5. Get Moving. Yes you must move your body to get relief. There are so many reasons why this is key to reducing your Cortisol. Once reason is it get the feel good hormones increasing and decreases the need for the body to produce Cortisol. Try some movement you enjoy, walking, jogging, dancing (that is a really fun one), skating, jumping rope (okay maybe that is a bit out there) but whatever increases your movement really helps.
6. Balance Your Blood Sugar. Even if you are trying to lose a few pounds you must eat about every two hours to keep your Cortisol levels healthy. You don’t have to eat pizza every two hours. You can eat something very healthy and low in fat. Actually it also a great way to keep your metabolism going if you are trying to loose a few pounds.
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