The Burnout Loop
Most people hear about cortisol and stress and expect that their cortisol levels are going to be high. But what we often see in practice is chronic stress turning into low cortisol over time.
Low cortisol is often the result of being high for too long.
Your body doesn’t suddenly stop producing cortisol for no reason. It adapts. And sometimes that adaptation looks like shutting things down.
Cortisol is an important hormone and we do need it in healthy levels. It helps your body wake up, regulate blood sugar, control inflammation, and respond to stress.
The problem comes when your body is under chronic stress and never gets a chance to recover.
The Feedback Loop
Cortisol is part of the HPA axis (hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis).
Here’s the loop:
Your brain senses stress
The hypothalamus releases Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH)
The pituitary releases Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
The adrenals release cortisol
When cortisol stays high for too long, your brain gets the message that there is “too much” cortisol in circulation.
So it adapts.
CRH decreases
ACTH decreases
Cortisol output drops
This is your body trying to protect you.
Low cortisol is often the end stage of long-term stress.
Some of the most common root causes we see for low cortisol include:
Long term emotional or physical stress
Psychological burnout
Chronic inflammation, pain, or infection
Poor sleep
Low cortisol is not the beginning of the problem.
It is often the result of years of stress, inflammation, and pushing through.
Supporting cortisol is not about forcing more stimulation. It is about rebuilding safety, nourishment, circadian rhythm, minerals, and nervous system regulation.
This is why we never treat labs in isolation. We look at the whole story.
If your labs show low cortisol and you’ve been living in high stress for years, your body may simply be saying:
I’ve been running on empty. Now I need support.
If you’ve had testing done and want personalized guidance on how to rebuild and nourish your adrenals or if you are looking to test to gain insight, this is exactly the work we do in our 1:1 Functional C.A.R.E Method™.
