The Truth About Using Alcohol To Destress (Dangerous)

If you have had a long day and then grabbed a drink just to unwind , well , here's the bitter truth . While the glass promises relaxation , it might be secretly spiking your stress levels .

Today , we're going to be diving into the world of cortisol , our body's primary stress hormone , and discover how your favorite beverages could be playing tricks on your mind and body . Today , we're going to unveil the hidden connection between boozing and your stress hormones . Listen , today this might just be your wake-up call .

So cortisol is a hormone that our body naturally makes . It's synthesized by the adrenal glands , which are small glands located on top of each kidney . After being secreted from the adrenal glands , cortisol travels in the bloodstream and binds to receptors on cells throughout the body .

It then affects these cells by regulating their metabolism and the way they express certain genes . Now , because it affects various tissues throughout the body , cortisol has a wide range of effects . These include regulating blood sugar and blood pressure , controlling the cycle of waking , sleep , suppressing inflammation , regulating metabolism and many more .

Crucially , cortisol is also involved in the body's response to stress , often called fight or flight . Imagine walking the savannas of Africa 100,000 years ago and spotting a predator at a distance . Cortisol surges through your body , preparing you to either run for your life or make her heroic stand .

The rush of cortisol , in combination with the simultaneous surge of adrenaline , mobilizes all your body's reserves to the task at hand survival . Your heart rate and blood pressure increase , blood sugar levels rise . Blood flows to your muscles as you're put on red alert .

This dramatic response maximizes your chances of survival , making it out of a dangerous situation in one piece . Now , all of this works very well for a brief period of time and under very specific circumstances of danger , but it's obvious that your body cannot sustain being in this condition of heightened alert for very long .

So when , for whatever reason , your cortisol levels stay elevated for prolonged periods of time , you can expect a wide range of unwanted symptoms . Remember that cortisol travels widely throughout your body , activating a wide range of tissues .

Nearly all tissues in your body have receptors for cortisol , and even the ones that don't have the receptors are subject to the effects of cortisol through indirect mechanisms .

For this reason , the symptoms of chronically elevated cortisol can vary from high blood pressure to lower immunity , anxiety and depression , irritability , troubled sleep , mood swings , fatigue and problems with your bones , as well as impaired cognition , sexual problems and menstrual problems in women , among so many other things .

So keeping your cortisol levels in the right parameters is a more or less permanent challenge for your body . Almost any kind of stress that you can imagine will lead to an increase in cortisol within a matter of minutes .

Nowadays , obviously , we don't have to worry about predators anymore , but there are still plenty of stresses in the course of our everyday lives , for example , work-related stress , lack of sleep , trauma and infection , intense heat or cold , mental effort , nutritional deficiencies , exposure to toxins or pollutants you name it .

So one thing to keep in mind when we discuss the effects of alcohol or any other drug on cortisol is that the levels of cortisol fluctuate dramatically during the course of the day . Production of cortisol starts to pick up while we're sleeping a few hours before we wake up . In the late morning hours , the levels have peaked .

They then start to decline gradually throughout the day , reaching their low point late in the evening and the early morning hours . For this reason , when researchers study cortisol , they typically take multiple measurements throughout the day , so chronic heavy drinking leads to permanently elevated cortisol levels , as we just discussed .

It's a bit complicated to measure this due to the fact that cortisol levels change so much throughout the day , but there's no doubt that their baseline cortisol production is higher compared to non-drinkers . For example , one study measured cortisol levels in hair samples that were 3cm in length .

Bear in mind that the hair grows at an average rate of 1cm per month as cortisol is incorporated into the hair shaft while it grows . These hair samples allowed researchers to gauge cumulative cortisol secretion over the preceding three months . Heavy drinkers had three to four times the levels of either recovered heavy drinkers or non-drinker controls .

Now , because heavy drinking affects so many different hormones and neurotransmitters , it's difficult to tease out and isolate the effects of these chronically elevated cortisol levels . It's possible that the chronic cortisol elevation contributes to sleep disruptions , mood disturbances , high blood pressure , immune system problems and bone problems .

All these are both common among heavy drinkers and linked to an excess of cortisol . Now you'd think that after stopping drinking , cortisol levels would then just swiftly drop off and then stay low , and sadly this is not the case , stopping alcohol actually leads to a massive surge in cortisol levels On the first day that they stop .

Heavy drinkers can have up to five times the cortisol levels of normal controls who don't drink Now . Thankfully , this surge is short-lived . Cortisol tapers gradually over the course of a week . Some studies find that after a week , cortisol levels have normalized to the point of a disassembling those of non-drinkers .

Others find that the elevated cortisol levels persist for several more days , even weeks . These discrepancies probably reflect differences in methodology , measuring methods , patient population and so on . What all researchers agree on , however , is that the decline in cortisol levels parallels the gradual lessening of alcohol withdrawal symptoms .

What's not clear at this point is whether these symptoms are partly caused by the sudden rising cortisol . So remember that cortisol is meant to be secreted in response to stressful stimuli . Now nobody understands exactly how alcohol leads to chronically elevated cortisol levels in the first place , or the surge that follows withdrawal .

Regardless of the exact mechanism , it appears that chronic drinking leads to longer lasting damage in the cortisol stress response system . In other words , long after they have stopped drinking and the cortisol levels have normalized . Former drinkers will respond differently to stressful events compared to non-drinkers .

So , as researchers put it , their cortisol stress response becomes quote blunted . For example , one study found that , when facing a stressful 20-minute public speaking challenge , control subjects without drinking problems reliably showed the expected cortisol increase .

On the other hand , neither current drinkers nor drinkers who were abstained for three to four weeks prior showed that response . Some researchers have found these effects up to six months after the last drink . It's not clear how much longer after that they last .

So up to this point in the video , you've learned how alcohol messes up your cortisol levels and blunts your natural , god-given response to stressful situations . And now for the best part tips on lowering your cortisol levels and optimizing your health in the process .

Now , the first and most important tip should be very obvious at this point , but I'm going to mention it anyway . If you haven't already stopped drinking alcohol , then stop now . This one step alone will do more to lower your cortisol levels than probably all the other steps combined . And what about for those of you that have already stopped drinking ?

Well , here are some of the other most important lifestyle changes and interventions that you can take . If you're a smoker , stop smoking . Just like with alcohol , the science is in and we know with near certainty that smokers also suffer from higher baseline cortisol levels .

Next is get your sleep in order , ensuring that you're getting a minimum of seven to eight hours a night . Chronic sleep deprivation is also linked to increased cortisol . Mindfulness practice like meditation and yoga have been found to help in lowering cortisol as well . Next , reduce your caffeine intake .

Not only does caffeine boost cortisol , it also raises your blood pressure . More than two cups a day is often probably pushing it , so we want to be maintaining a healthy body weight . Excess weight is one of the lifestyle factors that has been repeatedly found to be linked to higher cortisol levels .