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Occasional stress is part of modern day live, but when is it too much? Being tired all the time, rapid weight gain, headaches, and feeling not “quite right” are all symptoms that your body is under stress, which can lead to more serious health issues. Get piece of mind and discover your cortisol stress levels through a simple health test.

What is Cortisol?

When your body is under stress, whether that’s physical stress (over training), emotional stress (personal situations), or illness (body fighting an infection), it releases cortisol, a hormone that triggers the body to release adrenaline and noradrenaline into your blood stream, causing the “fight or flight” physical response in humans. This response produces an increased heart rate, higher blood pressure and an increase in energy, a temporary measure that goes back to a human’s primal instinct to survive being eaten by a sabretooth tiger.

A person’s cortisol levels will naturally vary throughout the day, but if your body is permanently under stress, whether known or unknown, your body is always in this “fight or flight” state, which can be damaging to the body. It becomes trapped in a circle that it cannot turn off. Serious long-term effects of too much cortisol, can cause Cushing syndrome.

What are the symptoms of too much Cortisol?

Prolonged exposure to stress and high cortisol levels can be very damaging to the body. Some of the most common symptoms are:

• weight gain (in particular, around your stomach, upper back, and face)
• fatigue
• getting sick often
• acne
• thinning hair
• 
bruising and slow wound healing
• weak bones
• muscle weakness
• low sex drive
• high blood sugar
• irregular periods
• 
anxiety and depression
• sleep problems
• difficulty concentrating

High cortisol can also put you at risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and poor mental health, which is why it’s important to check your levels, so that you can find the treatment you need to bring levels down to a safe range. Check your levels with a quick and easy health test and receive the results- and answer you need- fast.

How do I get tested for Cortisol?

You can measure your Cortisol levels with a simple blood test, either through a home diabetes test or at a local clinic with an expert professional. The Cortisol blood test will measure the amount of the Cortisol hormone within your blood, with the results confirming whether you are too high or are within the normal range.

You can also check whether your levels of Cortisol is improving through this health test if you making a lifestyle change and trying to manage your exposure to stress.

The Cortisol health test will test for the following biomarker:

Cortisol
Cortisol, commonly referred to as the stress hormone, is released as the body’s response to stress or low blood glucose. Cortisol levels vary throughout the day and impact blood sugar levels, your metabolism, acts as an anti-inflammatory, and helps regulate blood pressure.

Discover the right Cortisol Health Test for you.

Key points:

• Cortisol, or the stress hormone, is released when your body responses to stress. Your Cortisol levels naturally vary throughout the day but too much, consistently, can cause damaging effects to your body.
• Common symptoms stress and high cortisol levels within the body include weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, weak bones, sleep problems and depression, with the effects being more damaging the longer the exposure to stress.
• Get piece of mind and discover your cortisol stress levels through a simple health test, that will give you the receive the results- and answer you need- fast.

How a Sample is Taken

With most health tests, there are two options for taking a sample of blood, which is used to test for certain biomarkers. The two most common options are a finger-prick or venous draw:

Finger prick Draw:
Health Tests that take blood via the ‘finger-prick’ method are usually done within the comfort of your own home, enabling you to take a small amount of blood discreetly and conveniently when you want to.

Venous Draw:
Once you have booked your health test, you’ll be sent the blood kit which includes all the equipment needed for a professional blood draw by an experienced healthcare professional, with clinics available across the UK to take your sample.

Details about which option is available for this health test, are available when you compare the results.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What Do High Cortisol Levels Mean?

  A person’s cortisol levels will naturally vary throughout the day, but if your body is permanently under stress, whether known or unknown, your body will product high levels of Cortisol that provokes the “fight or flight” state in the body. Being in this state consistently or long term can be damaging to the body. You can discover your levels of Cortisol in your blood stream through a simple Cortisol Health Test, which if high, you can make lifestyle changes, or seek additional treatment, to bring it down to a safe range.

• Can you have a low level of Cortisol?

  Yes, just like Cortisol levels can be high, they can also be low. Low Cortisol levels are usually a sign of an untreated diseased, like Addisons disease, or the body has damaged adrenal glands due to severe stress (for example, an accident or infection).

• What Are The Symptoms Of Low Cortisol Levels?

  Common symptoms of low levels of cortisol include: decreased appetite, weight loss, fatigue, low blood pressure, joint pain and muscle weakness. More serious symptoms include sudden dizziness, vomiting, and even loss of consciousness

• Can stress cause sleeping problems?

  Stress and High Cortisol can affect sleep, often resulting in a poor night’s sleep leaving you unrefreshed in the morning. Stress causes the body to release the hormone, Cortisol, which releases adrenaline into the body’s blood stream. Adrenaline increases heart rate, blood pressure and energy, and puts your body into a “fight or flight” response, which is the opposite of what you need if you are looking to get a restful night’s sleep.

• Does High Cortisol levels cause burnout?

  Yes, the two are linked. Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by being overwhelmed and is a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress. This overwhelm, and stress, causes high levels of Cortisol.