It could apparently change the shape of my face, add pounds to my midriff, and even make my hair fall out.
I feel like warnings about cortisol - a stress hormone I know very little about - have hijacked my social media accounts. I see posts advising me to drink a cortisol cocktail - a blend of orange juice, coconut water and sea salt, take a range of different supplements, and massage lavender balm into my temples.
Not knowing how high my cortisol levels are makes it difficult to know whether or not I need to lower them, but now I think about it my cheeks do seem a touch more puffy than usual and my jeans have started to feel a bit tight.
Cortisol is one of several hormones that help control how our body responds to stress. Produced by the adrenal glands, it plays a vital role in everything we do - from making sure we wake up in the morning, to being able to fall asleep at night.
Without it we would die - but it's a fine balance. Too much cortisol can also cause a plethora of health problems. So, if I'm stressed, and my body is creaking under the strain of too much cortisol, how do I fix that?
