Cortisol is a hormone that attracts many with its mysterious nicknames. How many of you, having heard the phrase “cortisol is the hormone of death”, would not want to know why he was so called. And exhausted from the endless stream of problems and ailments, you often hear from doctors: you need to check the level of cortisol. What for? If it is not enough, the body surrenders to difficulties, if there is a lot of it, it itself causes even more difficulties. And when the boss is again dissatisfied with the job, they were rude in the transport, they sold mold bread in the supermarket, and the children did not do homework at home, only the stress hormone cortisol will help to survive.
This hormone is given to us by the adrenal glands. The kidneys in humans are very small in size and are located deep inside the body. Above them are conveniently located even smaller glands, which give the body a lot of different hormones. This diversity is possible due to the heterogeneous structure of the adrenal glands.
The outer layer is covered with bark, the cells of which release cortisol, the hormone hydrocortisone (the scientific name for cortisol), into the bloodstream, and the inner layer is the brain of the adrenal glands. This substance supplies catecholamines to the body. Both of them perform a lot of difficult work so that a person can live without pain and feel comfortable. But back to cortisol.
So, cortisol is a hormone that begins to be produced if the pituitary gland sends a signal to the adrenal glands. This signal comes in the form of adrenocorticotropic hormone. Under the influence of this substance, the adrenal glands of cholesterol begin to produce cortisol. All the hormones that the outer (cortical) layer synthesizes are similar in chemical composition, since they are made from cholesterol and, for this reason, belong to steroids. In addition to cortisol, the outer layer of the adrenal gland also synthesizes estrogens and androgens. Ready-made cortisol enters the bloodstream either by itself, or together with proteins or red blood cells. In each of these species, cortisol performs certain tasks.
The main goal of cortisol is to provide the body with energy. He does this by extracting glucose. To supply the necessary amount of this substance to the body, cortisol processes fats into fatty acids and then into glucose. It works in conjunction with insulin, which helps cells absorb glucose supplied by cortisol. The most active work of cortisol begins in the early morning, even before dawn. It is this process that gives vivacity in the morning.
A person constantly needs energy, but if he is stressed, the cells of the body especially need glucose. That is why in stressful situations, increased production of cortisol begins, as more workers are needed for glucose production. Hence the nickname: stress hormone - cortisol. Only it does not create stress, but helps to survive it.
But if stress is prolonged, the person does not calm down, cortisol begins to break down everything into glucose, switching from fat to protein. All internal organs are composed of proteins, so an excess of cortisol leads to the destruction of tissues of internal organs, and autoimmune reactions begin. So our assistant turns into a killer under the name cortisol - the hormone of death.
What else is cortisol busy with? This hormone does a lot of work in other areas. It is a normalizer of the balance of sodium and potassium in the blood, helps the immune system stop in time so as not to destroy even the necessary cells, that is, cortisol triggers an anti-inflammatory reaction when the lymphocytes have already completed their tasks. However, if you experience stress, the increased amount of cortisol that is produced in response to stress destroys all lymphocytes in the body. The immune system weakens, the body undergoes diseases. This is another danger of chronic stress.
Cortisol is a very busy hormone. Among his tasks, one can also note the activity of maintaining the heart muscle, the effect on brain neurons, the compression and expansion of the walls of blood vessels, and many other irreplaceable things. The balance of cortisol in the body is restored during a night's sleep. Conclusion: in order to be healthy and be friends with cortisol, you need to appreciate the ability to sleep at night.