Cortisol is a hormone released indirectly in response to stress. When the adrenal gland releases adrenaline this triggers the release of the hormone called cortisol.
It increases blood pressure, blood sugar levels and has an immunosuppressive action. In pharmacology, the synthetic form of cortisol is referred to as hydrocortisone, and is used to treat allergies and inflammation as well as cortisol production defficiencies.
Recently I have seen some infomercials pushing an over the counter product called Relacore. This product apparently reduces cortisol. The active ingredient is magnolia bark which is compared to Valium as an anti anxiety drug.
Cortisol is shown to be very detrimental to health. Its cousin hormone used in the salmon species is the drug mass produced after some species mate; triggering programmed death. I believe that it has also been shown to induce heart disease in humans which partially explains how people die after experiencing trauma.
In this Study it is shown that CR delays onset of age related increases in cortisol.
Dietary caloric restriction (CR) slows aging, extends lifespan, and reduces the occurrence of age-related diseases in short-lived species. However, it is unclear whether CR can exert similar beneficial effects in long-lived species, like primates. Our objective was to determine if CR could attenuate purported age-related changes in the 24-h release of adrenal steroids. To this end, we examined 24-h plasma profiles of cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) in young and old, male and female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) subjected to either ad libitum (AL)-feeding or CR (70% of AL) for 2-4 years. Hormone profiles from young monkeys showed pronounced 24-h rhythms. Cortisol concentrations were higher in old males but not females, whereas DHEAS rhythms were dampened with age in both sexes. The cortisol rhythms of old CR males resembled those of young control males. However, CR failed to prevent age-related declines in DHEAS and further dampened DHEAS rhythms in both sexes. Apart from the partial attenuation of the age-related cortisol elevation in the old males, 24-h adrenal steroid rhythms did not benefit from late-onset CR.
Too low cortisol results in Attisons disease. I know some studies were done though where the adrenal gland was removed in mice, and doing so resulted in I believe longer life spans in mice exposed to stress. Ill read up on this again later and update the post.
Cortisol is very important to aging. As mentioned, It is one of the most important factors in programmed organism death. I was wondering what kind of knowledge that people here have of cortisol and cortisol level management. Cheers.