Jun 24, 2025
What Does Cortisol Level Mean and How Do You Optimize It?
How to understand your body’s stress hormone—and what to do if it’s off balance.
Stress
Written by
Mito Team
Cortisol plays a key role in how your body responds to the world around you. It helps you wake up, focus, move through challenges, and bounce back afterward. Many people think of cortisol as the “stress hormone,” but it does much more than that. Healthy cortisol levels support energy, blood sugar balance, immunity, and metabolism.
Understanding what your cortisol level means can give important clues about your body’s resilience and guide you toward smarter ways to support long-term health.
What Cortisol Does in the Body
Cortisol is made by your adrenal glands. Every day, your cortisol level rises and falls in a natural pattern. It peaks in the early morning to help you wake up and drops at night so your body can rest. This cycle is called the cortisol rhythm. A healthy rhythm is key to feeling alert during the day and calm at night.
Normal cortisol levels help regulate blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and support focus and mood. They also help your body respond when challenges come up—whether that’s physical exertion or emotional stress.
What Your Cortisol Levels Can Tell You
Cortisol levels are typically highest within 30 to 45 minutes of waking, then gradually fall as the day goes on. This pattern supports your natural energy flow and helps you wind down at night. The cortisol normal range depends on the time of day and the testing method, but for a morning blood draw, many labs use a cortisol reference range of about 6 to 23 mcg/dL. What is a normal cortisol level for a woman? The range is generally the same for men and women, though factors like pregnancy, menopause, and hormonal birth control can influence levels.
Cortisol levels range by age, too. In general, children and young adults tend to have higher peaks compared to older adults. When levels shift out of the normal rhythm, symptoms can follow.
High Cortisol Levels
What is a high cortisol level? This means your body is staying in “alert mode” longer than it should. Signs may include:
Anxiety or feeling weird
Trouble sleeping
Belly fat gain
High blood pressure
Elevated blood sugar
Low-grade inflammation
Chronic high cortisol has been linked to conditions like insulin resistance, heart disease risk, and mood changes.
Low Cortisol Levels
Low cortisol means your body may struggle to keep up with daily demands. Signs of low cortisol can include:
Extreme fatigue
Dizziness or low blood pressure
Salt cravings
Brain fog
Low mood
Some people develop low cortisol after long-term stress, overuse of steroids, or adrenal health issues.
Knowing your cortisol levels throughout the day helps reveal what’s going on behind the scenes. Both high and low cortisol can disrupt sleep, mood, and metabolism in different ways.
How to Measure Cortisol Levels
Cortisol can be measured through blood, saliva, urine, or hair samples. Blood tests often look at morning levels, since that’s when cortisol should be near its daily peak. Saliva tests can track cortisol levels throughout the day to see if your rhythm is on track. At Mito Health, we help you choose the right method depending on your symptoms and health goals.
No single number tells the full story. Looking at your cortisol levels over time—and in context with other markers—provides a clearer picture.
How to Optimize Cortisol Levels Naturally
When cortisol is balanced, your body can handle stress, recover well, and keep energy steady throughout the day. Here’s how to support a healthy cortisol rhythm:
1. Support a Strong Daily Rhythm
Keeping a consistent sleep-wake schedule helps maintain a healthy cortisol pattern. Morning light exposure signals your body to start the day and set its natural rhythm. Dimmer light at night helps your body wind down. Studies on circadian rhythms and cortisol levels show that returning to your natural sleep patterns can boost your energy levels and improve your overall health.
2. Eat to Fuel and Stabilize
Eating balanced meals with protein, fiber, and healthy fats helps keep your blood sugar steady. It also prevents cortisol spikes that lead to energy crashes. While more research is still needed to directly connect meal composition to cortisol changes, good nutrition plays a role in building your resilience to stress.
Omega-3 supplements, like fish oil, can also help lower your baseline cortisol levels, especially if you’re dealing with chronic stress.
3. Move Your Body—but Don’t Overdo It
Regular exercise helps lower stress load and supports a healthy cortisol rhythm. Moderate activity like walking, cycling, or yoga may be especially helpful. Overtraining, on the other hand, can raise cortisol over time.
4. Build Stress Recovery Into Your Day
Mindfulness, relaxation techniques, and cognitive behavioral therapies do more than help you feel calm. They’ve been shown to lower cortisol in people facing different types of stress.
For example, mindfulness programs have been proven to lower cortisol levels in pregnant women handling stress during pregnancy. Research also shows that motion regulation therapy effectively reduced cortisol in cancer survivors dealing with distress. And psychotherapy has been shown to help people with burnout restore a healthier cortisol pattern in the morning.
When to Test Cortisol—and How Mito Health Can Help
If you feel constantly tired, wired at night, or have unexplained weight or mood changes, it may be time to check your cortisol level. Testing helps identify whether your levels are too high, too low, or out of sync with your natural rhythm.
At Mito Health, we don’t just look at cortisol in isolation. We assess your hormones, nutrients, and inflammation markers alongside your lifestyle and health history. This helps us give you a plan that works for your unique biology.
Cortisol as a Marker of Resilience
Cortisol levels give insight into how your body is handling daily life. Balancing cortisol isn’t about eliminating stress—it’s about helping your body respond to it in a healthy way. Small shifts in your habits, paired with a comprehensive blood panel from Mito Health, can support your body’s natural rhythm and help you feel stronger, calmer, and clearer.
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