You’ve probably heard about cortisol and that it is called 'the stress hormone', and that's usually there the explanation ends. But that doesn't really help you understand what is actually going on in your body, especially is you are constantly feeling a bit on edge, or tired all the time.

So I thought it might be helpful to understand it in more simple terms.

So cortisol isn't actually bad, you actually need it. It helps you with things such waking up in the morning and gives you the energy to deal with 'all' the things when life can get a bit full on. The issue isn't cortisol itself. The issue is when your cortical just never seems to go down.

So what’s it actually doing?

It's helpful to think of cortisol as your body's 'alert system'. When something feels stressful, emotionally or physically, your body will release cortisol to help you deal with it. So when this happens you will get a little boost of energy, more focus and quicker reactions. And this is great in the short term, but your body is really designed for stress that has a clear end. And today most of us aren't living like that.

It's harder to switch off these days as stress nowadays looks like; always thinking about what you need to do, being connected to your phone or computer all the time, with the constant notifications and stimulation, not really properly switching off in the evenings, then going to bed while still 'mentally' on.

This means there is no real end point for the stress, so your body constantly stays in the 'slightly alert' state, even when you are technically resting. And over time this just becomes normal.

How that might feel (without you even realising why).

You may recognise some of these:

Feeling really tired but also still 'on' and a bit wired. Struggling to fully relax, waking up not feeling very rested, and feeling overwhelmed more easily. These are all subtle but constant.

And the thing is you can’t just decide to relax. I’ve been learning more about this recently through a nervous system course I’m doing, and one thing that really clicked for me is that your body doesn’t just relax because you stop, it only really relaxes when it feels safe, and this is because cortisol isn't controlled by your thoughts alone, it's controlled by your nervous system.

So even if you’re telling yourself “I’m totally fine” your body will very likely still be in go-mode. What actually helps is giving your body an experience of safety, not just thinking it but actually feeling it.

A simple way to start lowering it - that isn’t complicated.

Instead of adding another big routine, just try this:

Give yourself 10 minutes a day when nothing is required of you. No input. No phone and nothing with a productive outcome from you. You can just lie down, sit quietly somewhere or listen to a calming sound and that's literally it. It might feel like you are doing nothing useful, and you may question how this can help, but for your nervous system, it's actually a little reset.

For me this is where sound comes in.

Sound can be so powerful, because it can really help to drop your body out of the alert states without you having to force it or try and do anything. It can give t you the space to slow things down and soften and gives your nervous system a signal it probably doesn't get very often, that 'you're safe, and you can switch off now. If you feel like you’re always a little bit 'on'' your body just hasn’t had a clear signal to come out of stress mode. so the more you give it those small moments of real rest, the easier it becomes to actually be able to relax again.