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Why Your Cortisol Levels Might Show Up Normal In Blood Work

Posted by Liz Tenuto on

So everyone on social media is telling you that your cortisol levels are high, yet your blood work says they're normal... 😵‍💫

If this sound like you, then let's talk about why!

We understand how frustrating it can be to know you have so many of the signs and symptoms of having high cortisol levels. And we understand how even more frustarting it can be to then only have a blood test come back normal! So you are NOT alone in this feeling. 

In fact, it's actually quite common to have high cortisol levels even when your blood test says you don't.

But why is that?!?! 

One thing to know about cortisol is that the amount of cortisol running through your body at any given time variesNormally, cortisol levels are higher in the morning and lower at night. But that's not the case for everyone — and it's difficult to know how cortisol fluctuates in a your specific body!

This means that testing for it in general can be hard. And that's for two reasons:

  • A one-time blood test won't give an accurate picture of how cortisol levels are in your body throughout the entire day.
  • A 24-hour urine sample will show an average of the day and that average can be deceiving. Because even if it shows that your cortisol levels are "normal," your cortisol levels could be higher during times of the day when they should be lower.

So if you're getting you cortisol tested by one of these two methods, it just might not be accurate.

Ultimately, a saliva test is the best way to test for cortisol, which involves testing your cortisol through your saliva at four different times during one day. This gives a picture of what the stress hormone's rhythm or lack of rhythm looks like within your unique body.

Saliva testing is also a better indicator of cortisol because it shows what's happening in your cells, whereas blood work just focuses on the actual liquid carrying that cell around. And it's difficult to know how your body reacts to the release of cortisol into your blood stream, and how effectively and efficiently it makes it into your respective cells (which is where your pro-longed levels of high cortisol would be causing the most problems).

So if you're living with long-term stress or trauma— and your body has been routinely producing high cortisol levels because you're stuck in fight or flight mode — your cortisol is probably efficiently making its way into your cells. Which is why a blood test and a urine test to test for high cortisol isn't as effective as it could be.

So if you have signs and symptoms of high cortisol — and the blood test you recently got came back normal — this might be why!

And if you want to start releasing these high cortisol levels in less than 30 days, you can start doing somatic exercises for 10-15 minutes a day!

Not only do somatic exercises lower cortisol, they provide so many other benefits for the body including:

  • Losing the belly weight you've been trying to get rid of
  • Healing your chronic inflammation
  • Balancing your hormones
  • Relieving your sciatica
  • Getting rid of chronic back pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, and neck pain
  • Stopping you from clenching your jaw at night
  • Allowing your hips to stop popping all day long
  • Getting you into a normal sleeping routine
  • Curing your gut and digestive issues
  • Treating your daily headaches
  • Clearing your brain fog
  • & so much more...

Find the perfect somatic exercise course for you and join the tens of thousands of other people experiencing a life-changing release.