Dr. Saira Hameed

So you need cortisol.

You need it to run at the appropriate level.

In most of us, that's the case.

So the reason the body releases cortisol in the first place to deal with stress is that it will have certain effects that in the moment will help.

It will raise the blood pressure, some rise in the blood sugar.

make you very alert, very hypervigilant.

Now, all of this through evolution was brilliant because if a saber-toothed tiger was circling the camp, you want all those things to happen so that you're ready to run away.

But today, we're not talking about that scenario.

I would say that, you know, I want to be on team cortisol, Mike, because I think it's getting a really bad rep.

You know, cortisol is a wonder hormone.

You know, if any of your listeners got out of bed this morning, well, that was because of cortisol, because you had this wonderful boost of cortisol half an hour before you woke up.

That's part of your natural circadian rhythm.

And that gave you a massive energy boost.

Blood pressure went up a bit.

Blood sugar went up a bit.

Brain alert.

And suddenly you're like, I can get out of bed.

I'm ready.

If you think about it this way, sometimes you can go to bed the night before and everything just seems too much.

I can't answer that email.