Cortisol
Your body's stress hormone — helpful in bursts, harmful when it never switches off.
The body's primary stress hormone. In short bursts — facing a challenge, waking up in the morning — it is helpful and energizing. But when stress is chronic, cortisol stays elevated for weeks or months. This long-term elevation damages brain structures involved in memory (hippocampus), contributes to depression, disrupts sleep, and raises the risk of physical health problems.
How it works
Your adrenal glands release cortisol to help you face challenges and wake up in the morning. But chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, which impairs memory, sleep, immune function, and emotional regulation. Neurodivergent people living with constant sensory or social stress often have chronically elevated levels.
Think of it like
It's like a car alarm that's useful when someone breaks in, but maddening when it won't stop going off in the car park.
What it feels like
You feel wired but tired, on edge but exhausted. Your body is stuck in 'alert mode' even when nothing specific is wrong.