Low Cortisol Type

This Hormone Type means your cortisol rhythms are possibly flipped. This is common when you’re high-achieving, active, and driven. 

Low-cortisol symptoms can happen when you’re exposed to higher levels of physical, physiological, mental, or emotional stress for an extended period without adequate recovery or buffers to balance it. This includes a consistent schedule of adequate and restorative sleep.

If this resonates, you’re not alone!

Thankfully, there are many things you can do to improve symptoms (which don’t include expensive lab tests, supplements, or meds).

It can be simple and starts with a personalized approach that includes: balancing stress and blood sugar, optimizing sleep, reducing your exposure to common endocrine disruptors, and improving elimination pathways (think sweat and gut health).

Read on to find out more.

How it happens

This hormone type most often follows a period of high stress — or high cortisol. If this gets flipped, you might notice things like low energy or fatigue, low blood sugar or blood pressure, dizziness when standing up, muscle weakness, sleep issues, low libido, salt cravings, memory issues, depression or anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, dependence on caffeine or sugar for energy, or even weight issues.

As we’re all wonderfully unique, this hormone type will present itself differently in different women. You’ll could have completely different symptoms from a friend. Some women may have only a few symptoms while others have many.

It could happen in conjunction with high cortisol or on its own. Often, if you struggle with low cortisol, the body or mind is having a tough time coping with any stress at all.

Unlike our sex hormones, cortisol follows a diurnal pattern, meaning it varies throughout the day in line with the sun and our wake and sleep patterns. Normally, it would be low upon waking and then rise to get us up and going. In the afternoon it begins to fall before going low at bedtime, just in time to get the sleep we need. By going low at night, it then “turns on” other hormones that help with sleep, weight management, growth, repair and restoration while we snooze.

Below is an example of a flipped cortisol hormone pattern visible on a DUTCH test.

In the morning cortisol levels are low and in the afternoon, they’re high.

Ways cortisol hormones get flipped

Decreased cortisol output is often the body’s way of adapting to certain stressors. It happens after a period of chronic stress of any type, or often a combination of many types of stressors combined.

Decreased cortisol output is a protective response happening at the level of the brain — the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands, the master signalers of hormone production.

One of these situations could be happening:

• The hypothalamus isn’t talking to the pituitary gland (the pituitary signals the adrenal gland to make cortisol hormones).
• The pituitary gland isn’t talking to the adrenal glands.
• The adrenal glands are not responsive to the signaling hormones and therefore not making (enough) cortisol when signaled.
• The body is quickly converting the active hormone, cortisol, into the storage form, cortisone — often as a protective mechanism and means that even though you produce enough, it’s being deactivated by your body.

Unlike our sex hormones, cortisol follows a diurnal pattern, meaning it’s varies throughout the day in line with the sun and our wake and sleep patterns.

Stress in many packages

It’s important to recognize the many faces of stress that could be impacting your hormones. Stress and cortisol issues are often multifactorial.

These include but are not limited to:

• Inadequate quality sleep and rest for your body type, activity level, and current hormone status
• Poor diet, high in processed, packaged foods and low in nutrient density
• Inadequate diet for your body type, activity level, and current hormone status
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Dehydration or excess hydration
• High blood sugar, low blood sugar and blood sugar imbalance
• Allergies, including food allergies and intolerances
• Common environmental toxins found in processed or inorganic foods, beauty or cleaning products and other everyday items
• Over or under exercise for your body and current hormone status
• Overworking and lack of adequate downtime or time-off
• Toxic environment, relationships or people
• Toxic or unsupportive thoughts, including and especially our own
• Noise or air pollution
• Chronic infections, inflammation or pain
• Lack of connection, support or community
• Lack of fun, purpose or fulfillment
• Lack of peace, quiet or stillness for being, or for reflection
• Recreational drug use
• Alcohol use (even light or moderate use could add stress to the body)
• Cigarette smoke, including second hand exposure
• And more…

Dearest Reader,

This information is for educational purposes only and not intended to diagnose or highlight imperfections. You've likely landed here following my quiz at YourHormoneQuiz.com.

No matter what you discover in these results, you're beautiful and perfect as you are. You're good enough and trying hard enough.

We're all unique and will experience hormonal shifts differently. This information is here to highlight that, despite what we've been told, we're not just little men — our bodies work differently — and if our hormones have us feeling less than our best, we absolutely can do something about it.

My aim is to support and empower you on your journey, where you need and want it. Take what you need, leave what you don't.

No judgement here, just good honest support.

XO, Laurie

Low cortisol symptoms

Cortisol symptoms will show up differently in different people. You might have a few or many of the symptoms below while someone else could have completely different ones. We’re all wonderfully unique like that.

Common symptoms include:

• Feeling tired after a full night’s sleep
• Feeling burnout or “fried” or emotionally exhausted
• Feeling the need for naps most days
• Energy crashing in the afternoon
• Dependence on caffeine, stimulants, sweets or carbs for energy
• Low energy and fatigue
• Low blood sugar
• Low blood pressure
• Low motivation and drive
• Sleep issues
• Low libido
• Salt cravings
• Tendency to be easily overwhelmed
• Difficulty coping with stress
• Exercise intolerance or reduced intolerance
• Feeling dizzy when standing up too quickly
• Afternoon headaches
• Loss of body strength or feeling of weakness with usual activities
• Increased sensitivity to light, sounds, or smells
• Slow recovery from exercise or illness
• Depression or anxiety
• Cognitive decline or poor memory recall
• Feeling confused or unable to make decisions
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Heart racing
• And more…

What you can do about cortisol

Restoring cortisol balance most often requires — first and foremost — addressing stress and reestablishing a strong foundation for health. That includes a supportive diet and lifestyle for your unique body and hormonal landscape.

Reducing your total stress load is key while nourishing your neuroendocrine system with stress-reducing and stress-buffering practices, such as improving sleep, optimizing nutrition and movement, shifting mindset and thought patterns, and sometimes targeted supplementation.

Check out this post for even more ways to get your hormones back in harmony.

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, manage, or treat disease or serious conditions. Always check with your doctor before making any changes. It's important to consult a well-informed health practitioner for personal advice about your situation before relying on general information — we're all wonderfully unique.