Cortisol, Anxiety and Vitamin C
- TANI DU TOIT
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
If you find yourself awake at 3am, possibly with a racing heart, with monkey chatter and struggling to feel calm, your adrenals might be in overdrive.
Your adrenal glands are small organs above your kidneys that produce cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that helps regulate blood pressure, blood sugar and your body's alarm system, or Sympathetic Flight and Fight.
Cortisol also helps us wake up , its levels peaking in the morning about 30-40 minutes after waking up. This is known as cortisol awakening response (CAR). Its levels decline throughout the day and is at its lowest during the early sleeping phase.
Cortisol also helps to regulate your immune function and reduce inflammation, and restores the body's normal energy metabolism after stress. You adrenals are also the organs with the highest concentration of vitamin C in the body! Why?
Our adrenals use Vitamin C as a buffer to protect them from excessive stress damage and to help them to recover faster.
Stress is a part of life. In stressful situations, the Autonomic Nervous System's (ANS) sympathetic pathway and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, quickly activates to prepare the body for action. This activation leads to an increased release of catecholamines, such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, which cause an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. These physiological responses mobilise the necessary energy to deal with the perceived threat, directing blood flow to the muscles and increasing alertness.
It's when stress becomes chronic, that is, it persists over a long period, the effects on the ANS can be detrimental. Prolonged activation of the sympathetic nervous system can lead to a state of hypervigilance, anxiety, and exhaustion. High levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, can lead to a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, disrupting the body’s hormonal balance. This dysregulation can have consequences for the immune system, making you more vulnerable to infections and diseases.
When you're constantly stressed, your body overproduces cortisol and this can lead to:
Anxiety and racing thoughts
Insomnia, especially between 2-4am
Exhaustion, fatigue, brain fog and a puffy, sometimes red, face
Sugar and caffeine cravings
Weight gain, particularly in the face, abdomen, and chest
Fatty deposits between the shoulders
Thin, fragile skin that bruises easily and heals slowly
Acne
Muscle weakness in the upper arms and thighs
High blood pressure
Osteoporosis (weak bones) and bone breaks
High blood sugar, which can lead to Type 2 diabetes
Hirsutism (excessive hair growth) in females
Cushing Syndrome
Emotional symptoms like Irritability, Headaches, Anxiety or Depression
The benefit of Vitamin C:
Several studies have shown that women with elevated cortisol levels due to chronic stress, found that taking 1000g of Vitamin C for two months significantly reduced their cortisol levels. Your adrenals store more Vitamin C than any other organ in the body! When you are stressed, your adrenals burn through the vitamin stores very fast, making it harder to regulate cortisol levels.
Suggestions to use Vitamin C for Adrenal Support:
It's recommended to you should take vitamin C at a dose of 1000 to 2000 milligrams a day to provide the nutrient support that the adrenal glands need to deal with daily stresses.
If you have symptoms of adrenal fatigue, then you may need more vitamin C to nourish the adrenal glands — your dose may be as high as 4000 to 5000 milligrams a day. Talk to your health professional. I always suggest you chat with Assunta - the Green Medic naturopath.
Avoid synthetic Vitamin C. Best to take Liposomal and Vit C with bioflavonoids.
Eat more: Red capsicums, citrus, strawberries. Broccoli microgreens are a brilliant source of vitamin C, with half only 14g providing 15% of your daily recommended intake. Easy to add to sandwiches and other dishes, they are a great source of Vit C for your kids,
too. If you're on the Sunny Coast, this Palmwoods micro-farmer deliver chemical-free, non-gmo microgreens to your door!
Befriending your Autonomic Nervous System:
Restore's Nervous System Programs and resources are designed to help you befriend your nervous system, and understand the effects of stress on the Autonomic Nervous System, helping you understand your physiological and emotional reactions with myriad tools to down-regulate your stress response. By becoming aware of the mechanisms underlying your stress responses, you will also develop greater self-compassion and implement more adaptive stress management strategies in our life.
For more info on Cortisol and Vitamin C:
Benefits of Vitamin C
Taking Vitamin C
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