Emergency Mode: Signs Your Cortisol Levels Need Attention

00:00 Body's cortisol rises in morning, lowers later.
03:24 Light in the morning affects cortisol, melatonin.
08:39 Stress affects body: heart rate, digestion, energy.
12:29 Stress affects fertility and can harm pregnancy.
16:13 Exercise led to weight gain, then loss.
17:25 Enjoy cycling, brings joy and balance.
20:42 Hypothalamus and pituitary regulate cortisol production.
25:27 Limit stress before bed by unplugging devices.
28:59 Flexibility and self-care for mental wellness.
30:34 Skeptical at first, but biofeedback worked.
33:12 Contact us using info in show description.

Cortisol: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Wait, can cortisol be good?....YES

Join us for an informative and valuable talk about CORTISOL. Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands. "But what does it do?" you may ask and why should I care about?
Cortisol is your get up and go hormone, but in recent years, it's gotten a bad rap as mainstream media has talked about 'adrenal fatigues'. We're here to set the record straight on:

• What corisol does
• What happens if you're always in "fight or flight" mode
• What happens if your cortisol is too low
• Warning signs of too much (and too little) cortisol
• Strategies to manage cortisol response

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Transcript

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0:04

What is happening? I don't know what's happening. Oh, I think it's cortisol. That's what's happening. Hi. I'm Cam, holistic health coach, mom to 2 humans and 4 pets. I Hi. I'm Amelia, laboratory scientist by day and food scientist by night. Welcome to our show. Join us as we share I A holistic approach to life after 50. You can expect real life stories with a dash of humor and a ton of truth. I If it happens in midlife, we're going to talk about it. So hit that subscribe button and follow along. We're the Midlife Mommas. I 2024 and we're gonna talk about good old cortisol today. Absolutely. It feels like a minute since we've talked about cortisol and it plays a role in everyday life. So we're gonna tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yes, there is good with Cortisol. Yeah. Cortisol is actually anti inflammatory and it's your get up and go in the morning. I know like I get stuff done in the morning. Are you like that as well? Oh, a 100%. Yeah. I love mornings. My favorite time of the day. Yeah. So that's your cortisol. So we just don't wanna run on caffeine and cortisol because I did that in my forties and it ended It it did not end well, so let's avoid that. Right? Absolutely. So let's just talk about what Cortisol is. I think we covered it a little bit, but, you know, biochemically as it were or bio yeah. Biochemically would be the right word. It's a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands and the adrenal glands are little triangles above your kidneys. So now that we know what it is, what does it affect? I It affects literally everything. And I like to say in midlife menopause, there are 2 hormones you can control and cortisol is one of them. The other one's insulin, so you cam go back can listen to our blood sugar episodes, but we're gonna talk about cortisol. So you need cortisol, but you don't need too much cortisol. It's, you know, Goldilocks I like everything. Goldilocks. Absolutely. And there are cortisol receptors on sales in most of our organ systems. So that's said interesting tidbit. So there's Cortisol Receptors in your respiratory system that covers your breathing, cardiovascular, which is obviously, your heart and circulation, immune system, and nervous system. So definitely, there's places for this everywhere. Absolutely. So when you wake up in the morning, there's something called the cortisol awakening response. And this is really cool. Our bodies are amazing. I So what happens is when you first wake up, your cortisol naturally rises. And so that's kinda like based on, the sunrise. Right? And then it lowers as the day goes on and bedtime gets closer. So it's called the cortisol awakening effect, and it literally rises it To its greatest height about 30 minutes after waking and then it slowly drops throughout the day until it's bedtime. It's really cool. Think guess what? You might be able to guess that there's an inverse relationship here with another one of our favorite hormones called Melatonin. So it works in a seesaw with Melatonin, Cortisol does when Melatonin is your sleep hormone and they both can't be high. So you can't have a super high Cortisol and a super high Melatonin. So, if you've ever felt that wired and tired effect, which I certainly have. You might be a little out of whack here. Absolutely. And guess what regulates both of those? I Daylight. Yes. Yes. You know, so Yes. So we talk about getting the light on your eyeballs in the morning, which actually assist in both your cortisol and your melatonin, which are those seesaw things. Cam, I like to think of melatonin and, Cortisol in a bell curve because, you know, as a scientist and we look at graphs and things like that, if you think of 1 rising as I the other falls and then, you know, another bell curve beside it where, the the complimentary hormone rises. So you've got too. If you think about a 24 hour pea period, you've got 1 peak on one side of the 24 hours and one on the other. So your cortisol and your melatonin are working in tandem, I A kind of mirror in each other, if you will. Absolutely. If your cortisol is high in the evening, you're gonna have a really hard time getting that melatonin to come out and play. It's like 1 or the other. That's yeah. That's it. And like I said, cortisol is your get up and go hormone and I, 100%, when I started really, like, learning my rhythms and when I work best, my I'm very productive in the morning and I love to say, okay, thanks Cortisol for helping me get stuff done in the morning. That's a great way to look at it. I mean and I do know people who feel like morning might not be their best time. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm a 100% the same way. And I almost feel like I can feel, the spike in the Cortisol and the lowering effect because I actually start to midlife, found, as far as mental acuity and an energy around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Sometimes I can make it to 3, but certainly by 4 o'clock, I'm ready to be I on the the downside of my, you know, really productivity productive part of the day. I'm totally the same way. Absolutely. Like get ready. They get cozy. It's getting dark and not really at 2, but you know what I mean. It's 6. It's Oh, yeah. Yeah. I Yeah. So I've a personal experience with cortisol is, like, if I've decided, if I jump into my phone or I jump into work, I That does not serve me. Even though my cortisol is highest in the morning, really checking in with myself and having the morning practice set, I use the Insight Timer the last, I don't know, 6 months, I Really has helped me, make a notice noticeable difference in my day versus, oh, I can get stuff done. Let's jump into my phone at 6 AM. No. Let's not do that. I thought It's not work. I know you have, like, a separation between getting up and I do. What what do you do to buffer it? Yeah. So I get up, I put the coffee on, and then I do a devotional in the morning with some meditation time, and that could be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Some of that time depends on how much time I actually have before I have a meeting or a workout scheduled or whatever, but it also depends on my mood, how well I slept, and sometimes I prolong that. So, you know, I love to get up super early. You usually on a day, where I've got an ample sleep, I'm up between 5 and 6 AM. I gotta be honest with you. We stayed up and watch I Netflix last night. They probably wrecked me a little bit. I didn't get up till almost 7 this morning, which is kind of amazing. But, yeah, I love that I Buffer time and my husband being the sweetheart that he is, he knows that that's my time so that he he gets up while I'm still in my meditative state. He doesn't bother me. He doesn't turn on television. He just quietly moves about the house and it does make it for a gentler start to the day, which is super helpful. Yeah. I I've really learned to embrace and love the quiet darkness in the house before everyone gets up. Like, even the animals are kinda like Yeah. The dogs are definitely asleep. The cam usually come sit on my lap, but really it's one of my favorite times, drinking coffee, listen to insight timer and it's still dark out. So I don't know how it's cozy to me. It is cozy. It is cozy and I love it even, you know, now the days are quite short. We've just undergone the winter solstice, which was I think last week, right before Christmas. And now we're the days are slowly incrementally getting, getting longer. But it's still cold outside and those days are sure. So why not enjoy what we have, which the season that we're in involves a lot of darkness. So if you can embrace that and be that cozy person and wake up gently and I let your cortisol rise to that productive part of your day. By the time the sun comes up, you're ready to go. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And you know what? Inward, I think of winter and inward and, like, it's it's a great so the season's giving us clues on how to live our lives. So why not just go with it instead of fight it? Yeah. Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about the negative aspects or or what's become known as the negative aspects. I think this is kind of a cultural thing that we we need to kind of write this misconception. Cortisol, also helps you respond in in emergencies. And if there's an emergency, you need that get up and go. Right, Cam? But there are some problems with that. So why don't we just kind of unpack that a little bit? Yeah. So, your audio broke up a little bit. So I think I heard what you said. So so when we're in, I emergency mode. We're in the fight flight mode, and that is midlife you hear about moms, like, lifting cars off kids and, like, saving the world and all that. That's cortisol. That's get up and go hormone, and so our body physically responds when we're running on cortisol, if you will. Our eyesight gets keener, which makes perfect sense. I Our heart rate heart rate accelerates, which I know you know that physical feeling. Your maybe your breathing changes. This, I You don't probably realize, but your digestion slows down because, like, why in the world would you need to digest food if you're gonna die? So your digestion slows down, But let's think about that from a real world. If you're, like, stressed out and you're eating, are you digesting the food that you're eating? So are you getting the benefits of the micronutrients and such. I don't know. So think about that. And then, elevated blood sugar. And so when you need energy, your I Body releases the blood sugar so you have energy in your blood system, so you have get up and go, basically. It's amazing to me. Exactly. And I love that physiologically we're wired for this because humans since the beginning of time have had to endure periods where they were in danger and their bodies had to respond to the danger to get away from it. But where it also gets kinda hung up in today's go go go world is when your cortisol is high, these things still happen even when you're not in danger and these things can be some things that actually hinder good health if you experience this in a chronic state. Yeah. And I'll go back to my I Mav barking story, which I know I was wearing a glucose monitor. And what happened was I was working on my computer. I was really into what I was doing and he was barking at me. I And my blood glucose, I was wearing a monitor jacked above the, like, the level, and it was simply because of my mind was thinking about how I How irritating he was to me, and so I raised my blood sugar just by simply getting mad or getting angry or frustrated or whatever the word is. So I High blood sugar causes inflammation, which we know inflammation is not a good thing. Like, we don't wanna be running on cortisol all the time and, yeah, I Inflammation is a root of illness. So if you're running like this all the time, you're causing unnecessary inflammation in your body. Absolutely. And the interesting thing about it is Cortisol does have a role in suppressing inflammation, regulating blood sugar, and regulating blood pressure. But when you get out of whack, this whole system is kind of out of whack. I guess I don't know any better way way to say it. So there are important things that Cortisol does, but I think we've been really, conditioned to understand or at least be aware of what cortisol imbalance that that is harmful, but I think it's harder for us to recognize in ourselves when we're there or at least it was for me. That's just my personal Oh, yeah. And then you go back to your thirties and forties where being a multitasker and juggling all the juggles was a badge of honor, and I can only imagine what I Cortisol was doing in that section, in that time period. So we're running on emergency all the time. Like, are we even present to anything that we're doing? I don't know. So let's talk a little bit, Cam, about ways we can recognize this. So our bodies will give us clues if we're running on cortisol too long. Let's talk about some of the ways we might be clued in to these physiologic indicators. Yeah. So let's talk about digestion for a second. Maybe you feel bloated or blah after you eat. I If you're not in a calm, relaxed state when you're eating food, sitting down, chewing, loving the people at your table, enjoying the food, all the things, I Then your body's in an alarm state so it's not fully using all the nutrients in the food that you're eating. So like bloating or uncomfortableness, you know, that might be a sign for sure. Absolutely. And here's one that it's very confusing in menopause. Mhmm. Sex drive decrease. So, you know, that that could be a little bit of a sticky, wicked perimenopause depending on what else you have going on and whether you're taking, you know, bioidentical hormones. But, this is this is can be stress can cause that as well. So give yourself a little grace around that as well because that's, you know, that that's something you have to deal with with your partner or whatever, but that is a symptom as well. Well, let's go to the hardwired why that happens. So Okay. If If you like, why would in the world if you're stressed out, why would you have a baby during this time period? So, like, literally, you down regulate your sex drive because I Having a baby in that environment is not, like, conducive. Like, you're too stressed out. So I saw this in the gym, in the CrossFit gym in particular, there was 1 gym I worked at and several athletes were over exercising, probably under eating, and they all lost their menstrual cycle. I So that to me, that's like a red alarm that you are living in cortisol. Yeah. Because why have a baby in that environment? Our bodies are protecting us and the baby. Yeah. Isn't that amazing that that that it works like that? That there is a protection mechanism because babies are helpless. So if the parent can't take care of the kid because they can't handle their own stuff for whatever reason. Look. Maybe you are fleeing from the wooly mammoth. Thought that that'd be a bad time to have a kid. Right? So Yeah. I I think that's a really incredible and when we talk about all these things, Cam, I'm really amazed at the the, ingenuity and the complexity of our bodies. If we would just listen to them and and not try to fight it, we would be so much better off. I Yeah. Having a baby takes a lot of energy and so if you don't have that available, your body's not gonna let you do it. That's basically the hard wire. Right. Exactly. Another thing that running on Cortisol, a symptom would be sleep disruption. Oh, yeah. And again, some of these things and brain fog as well, these are things that can be symptoms of menopause as well. So with it we may we as in a collective group of women in the stage of life or you listener, may maybe we need some help with this on occasion. Cam and I have both been through lots and lots of, functional medicine doctor visits and talking and researching. But if you haven't, if you feel like, well, why is this happening, it might be a good time to check it out. I Yeah. The next 1 on our list is belly fat, and that is a definite complaint of menopause and midlife. And we actually have more cortisol receptors in our belly. Did you know that fart. I did not. Yeah. Well, it kinda makes sense. Right? And so if you're noticing extra belly fat, that is a sign that your body is saying, hey, lady. I Chill out. It's time to find out some stress relief strategies for yourself. Exactly. We've got a few others on here. Weird rashes, histamine response, slow recovery from exercise, or strange injuries. Yeah. And then also muscle wasting. You cannot build muscle if you're in a straight a state of Stress. So it's interesting because it's like that balance thing. Because when we are lifting weights, we are literally stressing our bodies. And then the rest in the recovery and the nutrition afterward is how we repair and grow and get get stronger and make more muscle. But if we are constantly in the state of stress because of life, because of work. You can't build muscle because of cortisol. It's so interesting to me. It's like that perfect balance. Yeah. It really is because it almost feels like it's difficult to accomplish anything, any positive change if you're only running on Cortisol, like I'm building muscle, having a baby if you're still menstruating or whatever. A lot of those things are difficult for your body to achieve if you're running on cortisol thought chronically and constantly. One of my things is the histamine response, the rashes. Like, I know I'm very sensitive to that. I I go back to when my parents got divorced. It was right when I graduated from IU, and I had eczema. Like, that was definitely I didn't know, but looking back, like, it was this Living in that stressful environment, I moved home for, like, 6 months after college and during their separation, and it was I don't know. I was itchy. I was really Yeah. And then like in my own divorce, like, you know, rashes on my face. So that's definitely something I noticed when I look back on my life. Well, you know, mine was much more recent and not quite as difficult as yours, but this summer when I was cycling so much, which, you know, does think we need that get up and go hormone to get up and go cycling. I gained a bunch of weight, like, I I couldn't like, I'm literally wearing the jeans today that I couldn't wear for about 3 months. And I did start tracking my macros at that time, but you told me, you're like, oh, this is Cortisol. And I kinda had a hard time believing it, but the weight came off so easily without a substantial change in my diet. I tracked my macros just to see, but I mean, the jeans fit no problem now. So mine was more of an exercise induced thing. And now I understand how that works from, like, it went from a place of, like, I understand this cognitively to, like, really living it, like, oh, that's how that works kinda thing. It's really cool how it happens. I I can't tell you how many people have trained for something, like a half marathon or a marathon, and they've gained Yeah. And it, like, makes no literal sense because you're like, I'm exercising more. I But at this time, without estrogen as, like, a protector of stress, if there's too much cortisol in your system, there are some really crazy side effects, And one of them happens to be weight gain. So I'm glad your genes are good. It's really It feels so much better. No. But, you know, Cam, I have to be honest. I don't know how you're gonna feel about this, but I'm not sure that I'm gonna give up cycling because of that cycle. You know what I mean? Like, I knowing what to expect, I mean, I did the cycling this summer because I was going to do a long ride with my daughter and we did it and I gotta say it was worth midlife that was the joy. It was it was better than I even expected. So, you know, you have to look at balance. Totally. And I totally agree. If you are working towards a goal like that, I would never say don't do it, but you have to go in with the white eyes wide open. If the scale goes up, don't get mad. Like, it's just part of it, and then you know what's gonna happen afterwards. I know somebody training for a half right now, and I, like, gave her a little warning. Hello. I This could happen. This is real. Make sure you have calories on board. And I think and I think that's where some some people go wrong, especially women when they do see that they're training. They see the scale go up and then instead of fueling for the activity, they decrease the calories and they sabotage everything. Yeah. So I didn't do that, but I was still pretty mad at the scale at the time, but now I know and I'm okay with it. That's good. Yeah. Think And and, like, during those times when you're training for a a race or something, you need more carbs. And so it's not like don't get mad at the carbs. I A lot of women I know if they go keto, keto just doesn't really work for menopause women. We need a certain amount of carbs to feel good and have energy, I And also, it's our brains, like, preferred energy source, so you don't wanna, like, deny your brain. Hello. Oh, you bad. Yeah. And and this is sidetracking a little bit, but I wanna just interject here about carbs. I mean, during the Christmas season, I had more carbs than usual. I I don't eat a lot of sandwiches. It's just not in you know, I'd rather just eat the meat and the vegetables, you know, as, you know, as a little, like, I don't know. But but I ate more. I ate, you know, cookies. I had sandwiches or bread, like, not yeast bread, but, like, I make this delicious pumpkin bread. And I was okay with that, Cam. I mean, I recognize that that that it was a celebratory time of year. Thought but I gotta be honest with you, especially with cookies, and sugar, I got it was the, I call it the ooky feeling, that sugar feeling in your stomach that makes you feel like crap. It was it came on really quick. Like, it I didn't have to eat I have a box of cookies before I was like, oh, yeah, I shouldn't have even eaten the second one kind of thing. It's so interesting because when you are doing that all the time, you don't realize I How crummy you feel. Exactly. And then you take it away and then you dip your toe back in the water and you're like, oh, okay. This is not for me anymore. I Or if it or if you want the cookie, eat the darn cookie and then just understand that you might feel crummy afterwards. So it's just eyes wide open. I think it's really it, awareness. That's it. Absolutely. So after all this, like, we've made it sound like cortisol is a bad guy, but is it good for you at all? And I would say yes. Would you agree that yes, Cortisol has a good function? We can't always make it out to be evil. No. It's not. It's, you know, it's your get up and go and it's anti inflammatory, you know. I There there are purposes for cortisol. It's the problem with our modern society and our crazy thoughts that we think and I Multitasking in our phones and all that, that's where it goes awry, if you will. Absolutely. And I'll just throw this out there for any, science y people like myself, how does my body regulate Cortisol? The hypothalamus gland and the pituitary gland send signals to the adrenals to know how much cortisol to produce. So in order to have optimal cortisol levels, these 2 glands must be functioning I properly too. And the only reason I bring all that up, Cam, is, I my stepdad actually had a tumor on his pituitary gland. I'm just kind of hypersensitive because I've heard of several people with tumors in the pituitary or the hypothalamus. I'm not suggesting or bring into bear that anyone has any issue like that, but it's something to know. Just that there's multiple organs that secrete hormones and play here and if if some things are out of whack, there may be another reason for that. So just just a little note. What I love about it, it starts in your brain. It's same with thyroid. Yes. Your brain your brain is the one send sending these signals to your organs to do x, y, z, and create these hormones. And also, I just wanna say that we're talking about cortisol, but cortisol dances with all kinds of hormones. So it's a big spider web, and so we're just looking at One little piece of the puzzle today. Hopefully, to give you some insight and like, oh, yeah. I need some stress management in my life because everyone in their life can benefit forgot that. Amen to that. Yeah. But let me ask you a question. Is there such a thing as low cortisol? Yeah. So what happens is actually, I what happens is when you get to a certain place where you're exhilarated and then you're running from wired and tired and then you go exhausted and then you go exhausted and inflamed, I Then what happens is it crashes into a disease state. So when you're when you get to the low cortisol, you've already gone through all these other I Stages and then you're at the you're at like we got it like intervention is necessary. Yeah. Yeah. And so symptoms of low cortisol would be like extreme fatigue, hair loss, or even low blood pressure. And I've actually had a period, not a period of low blood pressure, but it I've had, like, when I was in my twenties, my blood pressure ran the low side of normal and it's kind of a crummy feeling. Like, you feel really, like, you can't get up and go. And I guess that's the whole point. If your cortisol is super low, you really don't have that hormone to get up and go. And I would also like to say, like, fatigue and hair loss, all of that also I It lines up with hypothyroidism. So, again, you can't, like, just say it's just cortisol because it could be your thyroid. And that's, like, a really common I thing, and that's a really easy blood test to see if it is your thyroid causing weight gain and cold, dry skin and all fatigue and hair loss, all that is all thyroid too. So So since we're talking about all this stuff being, thought, you know, working together, is there a way to test for the for cortisol? So the best way to test is over 4 points. So you get the the rise in the morning and then the lower of the day. So a 4 point, saliva test would be great, or the DUTCH test uses dried urine, which is I Testing over 24 hours. So both of those tests would show your cortisol waking response, and show your pattern. Like, are you operating within, like, normal I Standards. Are you high sometimes when you're supposed to be low or whatever? So it gives you a lot of information. Yeah. I love that because because we expect normal variation of cortisol levels over 24 hours. You know, the the test this is a test that has to be evaluated that way. It's thought one point in time because that doesn't tell give you enough information. It needs to be many points. I agree, and it's so frustrating when I had work with people and they're like, yeah, their doctor will only do 1 blood test I in the morning. And I'm like, no. That's literally a blood test. It's testing your hormones at that moment in time. Exactly. Hormones are Constantly changing, and cortisol is one example. Melatonin is another example. Our hormones rise and decrease based on sunlight, for example. I Well, and so when you're testing only one time via blood, it's not an accurate picture of what's really happening. So Ex exactly. Exactly. And, Cam, do you think most doctor's offices can order these tests, or is this something you need to go to, like, to a website? Do you know the answer to that? Know, but I know I have credentials order all of these things. So if you need any help, you know, I'd be happy to help you out. Reach out to camp. That'd be an awesome resource. Thank you. So there are some normal I say normal, that's not the right word. Natural ways. Natural, not normal ways to regulate care, Cortisol. What are a few of those on our list? Yeah. This is the easiest, naked or excuse me, sunlight in your naked eyeball. Get outside and get sunlight in your eyeball. Believe it or not, it regulates so many organs are based on that light hitting the back of your eye. It's crazy. That is awesome. Another one that I have had to learn, because I did exercise in the evenings in my younger years, but avoid exercise or other stressful things a few hours before bed, and as and noticed that I said other stressful things. So one of the things I employ is putting my phone away. Like, I don't wanna know what work emails cam in at 6, 7, 8 o'clock at night that might cause me stress, so I don't look at it. I mean, I'm not on the clock officially, so not dealing with that. I totally love that. And yeah. So really experiment. Like, if you do have a crummy night of sleep, kind of reverse engineer, like, what happened? I Were you on your phone later? Were you watching Netflix later? Did you know, did something stressful happen before you went to bed? Like, sometimes I I read before I go to bed and it depends what I read how it influences my sleep. Have you experienced that? A 100%. Yep. I'm with you a 100%. Yeah. So there's other tools you can do as well, like, you can put practices in place like meditation, journaling, breathing practices, you know, grounding where you actually put your feet on the earth being in nature like taking a walk. What's your favorite tool to kind of regulate your cortisol. Yeah. So I love I love the quiet morning time. That's really good. I love driving alone in my I Jeep if the top down, if it's nice with music blasting. If not, just me by myself. I really like that. Those are my things, and I think insight timer's up there. I I it's a quiet time in the sauna too just to be there. I don't know. I I need I need to be alone and I I need to be alone, not stimulating. That's yeah. I think that's totally valid. Like, I I consider myself an extrovert, but I still think alone time and solitude and reflection time is super important because those are the things that help me ground my self and get out of my own head. Like, it's almost like I'm trying to get away from those those pesky thoughts that are there because they can be anxiety producing and cortisol, you know Loves it. The yawn spikes out. I was thinking about it today, like, trying to get thoughts with I Space between your thoughts. Wayne Dyer used to say that. Yeah. Like, cam you get space between your thoughts? Like, that's challenging. And then if you think about it, then there's the thought Between your thoughts. So anyway, play with that one. Can you get this quiet time, like, literally in your mind? That's amazing. That's it. And it is very challenging. I cam attest to that. I do use some adaptogens. The ones here are Ashwagandha and rhodiola. I use a combo one, called true adapt. I think you might use something too. Yeah. It's, stress balance. It's a blend as well. And I I use it when I feel like I need it. I If it's gonna be a stressful day or a stressful week, then I definitely use it, and it just takes the edge off without numbing me out. It does not numb you out. It's just like you just feel really good. I don't know. Yeah. And, I mean, I flex my magnesium depending on how stressful I think the day. Yeah. So, you know, and I actually this is weird. I cam my supplements, the ones that I take in the day in an outfit. You told us that. So, you know, I put the little I put what I need for the day in the Altoids tin and put that in my lunchbox. So I've got I know. I mean, all the all the little capsules are different shapes and colors, so I know what they are. But, like, if I don't need it that day, I can leave it in my Altoids 10. If I do need it, I just take it and I move along. And that's been hugely helpful for me to understand that I can take what I need when I need it. And if I if I don't, I don't have to. It's kind of an empowering thing. Totally. Kinda like Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's being flexible enough to think, you know, what what's coming up? Am I able? Am I feeling good? Did I sleep well? Because, you know, when I've had good sleep, my my bandwidth, my coping is a lot better. But I think that's super important to take that power and to know there are supplements that you can use to help you, but you don't have to take them all the time. It doesn't require thought that you, like, take something every 4 hours or something in order to get relief. Yeah. It's really giving back your power and your authority over your body. And magnesium is a great one to take extra if you're feeling stressed out. Like, you're not gonna hurt yourself. We're already deficient. We burn through more magnesium when we're stressed out. You're it's gonna be fine. I I do love that. And tell us, Cam, one of the things on our list is deep breathing exercises. I know you have, you talked about this before, but give us a quick rundown on the breathing. Yeah. So there's 2 things I like to practice. One's called, box breathing where you imagine a box and you inhale on one I Side, hold on the 2nd side, exhale for longer on the 3rd side, so it's not, like, gonna be a square. It'll be a wrong void, but that's alright. Can't hear you. And then you hold the exhale and so you just kinda visualize and move around. And then the other 1 is the physiological side and that's when you inhale And then inhale an extra sip and then you exhale for longer, then it activates your vagus nerve, which is your calm digest I side of your nervous system. So yeah, it's called parasympathetic, but it's the calm side of your nervous system. So it's really, really, really helpful and free and easy to it's like a tool. I love that too. And when I first started years ago learning about these tools and biofeedback in general, I was very skeptical. Mhmm. But especially with the physiologic side, I try I actually tried that. It's probably been more than a year ago now when I was having a little bit of trouble when I'd wake up in the night and was having trouble going back to sleep and believe it or not, that really helped. And it was kinda like, I don't know if this is gonna help, but it doesn't hurt anything and I'm just gonna try it. And it really did and I was really amazed. And I Now I'm a true converse breathing exercises to actually work because there is it's easy for as a scientist for me to now believe, oh, there's a physiologic I'm just like you described with the vagus nerve and that that helps, but actually doing it and it working. I'm like, wow. I know. Look at all look at all the things you're trying can't do it. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Laughing and playing is great. Adequate exercise, but not too much. Just the right amount for you and your sage of life And your nutrition, don't go in there not eating and then act like a crazy exerciser. It's not gonna work. That's too much cortisol. Exactly. So Cortisol's really a balance, you know, we we already talked about, getting sleep and having good sleep hygiene, and this is something I've had to learn over the years, all of these things, this, I you know, regulating letting magnesium taken enough to to help regulate my mood and cortisol. Getting my sleep hygiene was the biggest thing last year and now I feel like I pretty much have it under control. But I gotta be honest, Cam, I think between 44 and maybe 52. I felt pretty much out of whack all the time. I think that's normal and it's just like you're just trying to figure out tools and things that work for you and it's I Quite shocking going through menopause, honestly. And you're like, what has happened? And my story was, you know, overnight, and then I was like, the 1st 6 months were absolutely horrible. And then I would say the last four and a half years, it's been 5 years now. It's just been a big experiment, which I love experiment of 1. We love that. Yeah, we do. And I think if you are a new to the journey of like, what is cortisol and how can I know whether or not that, you know, this is a problem for me, we've given a whole lot of symptoms and things, but we've also given you a lot of tools that you can use to figure out, say if you are out of whack and then natural remedies to get it back in control? Yeah. If if anything, find some quiet time for I yourself and get outside in the morning, get that morning light in your eye and just see what happens. Be an experiment and see if you can start feeling better. Thanks for listening today. You can find us on Instagram at midlife.mommas. For all of our other contact info, check out the show description below, and we will talk to you next week.