In the quest to find effective, meaningful stress relief, TikTokers have zeroed in on a marker that plays a critical role in a person’s physical and mental health.
Cortisol, or the hormone released by your adrenal glands when you’re stressed, has become the most recent object of fascination among users of the viral social media platform.
Also known as the “stress hormone,” cortisol can have a negative impact on nearly every bodily function if there’s too much of it — spanning across the nervous and immune systems to cardiovascular health.
Cortisol can affect your blood sugar levels, your sleep quality and blood pressure. As many already know, chronic stress can be damaging to your overall well-being.
With levels of depression and anxiety skyrocketing among young people since the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTokers are eager to come up with stress-relieving hacks, and embraced the #HowToReduceCortisol hashtag.
Plus, with April being Stress Awareness Month, experts have sought to underscore the importance of keeping stress at bay to mitigate any related health conditions.
Here are some of the biggest #HowToReduceCortisol TikTok trends — and whether or not they can actually help you manage stress.
A no-phone morning routine
In a viral video posted in early January, TikToker @tatlafata, or Tatyana, said lowering her cortisol levels was the number one factor behind her recent “glow-up.”
“If you want to glow up in 2024 — which I know we all do — you’re going to focus on this one thing that literally changed my life. And that is your cortisol levels,” she says in the video.
The video, which gained nearly 8 million views and more than 700,000 likes, went on to detail a morning routine that helped Tatyana manage her anxiety and stress levels.
The first thing that helped her, she says, is drinking a large glass of water in the morning before any caffeine. Ideally, she says, eat a little bit of food before drinking your tea or coffee.
Additionally, low-impact movement — like walking, yoga or pilates — is another integral pillar of that morning routine, Tatyana says.
Finally, she claims that avoiding your phone for at least the first 15 minutes of your wake-up routine can help prevent cortisol levels from spiking.
“I used to wake up and pick up my phone immediately before my eyes were even open,” Tatyana says in the video. “That is actually so bad for your cortisol levels.”
That break from the smartphone has made a difference, she says, when it comes to maintaining calm and being mindful.
“Lowering my cortisol last year was probably the best thing I’ve ever done,” she concludes. “It made my skin radiate, my anxiety went away, my stress levels were managed, I lost weight. I just felt more levelled and relaxed.”
Excessive smartphone use has been linked to the exacerbation of anxiety and depression in past research, and experts say it may actually lead to cortisol spikes.
“Your cortisol levels are elevated when your phone is in sight or nearby, or when you hear it or even think you hear it,” David Greenfield, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, told The New York Times. “It’s a stress response, and it feels unpleasant, and the body’s natural response is to want to check the phone to make the stress go away.”
Turning your phone off, silencing notifications or simply leaving it in another room may help you lower stress — especially given that the average American spends about four hours a day on their phones.
Somatic movements
In a video with more than 120,000 likes, TikToker Isabella Mainwaring claims that doing somatic movements before bed helps lower her cortisol levels.
“You’ll improve your circadian rhythm and therefore your cortisol levels,” she says in the video.
Somatic movements refer to gentle, natural ways of stretching your body. Somatic exercises are how Mainwaring lets her body know that it’s “safe to regulate my nervous system and promote healthy levels of cortisol throughout the body,” she explains.
Mainwaring offers several somatic exercises, such as supine somatic rocking, which involves lying on the floor and gently tilting the pelvis back and forth, or rocking the knees back and forth. She also suggests a child’s pose, as well as “side rocking” with one arm underneath your head as a pillow and rocking back and forth on your side to open up the shoulder areas.
Also known as somatic therapy, the concept has gained more interest among healthcare providers as the mind-body connection has become an important aspect of mental healthcare.
Breathing techniques
Other TikTokers offer stress-relieving tips for other situations, such as panic attacks or moments of feeling overwhelmed.
Physical therapist influencer Dr. Dan, who has nearly 1 million followers on the platform, notes in a video with 17,000 likes that this “simple trick” will take just five minutes to help lower stress.
In it, he suggests laying flat on your back on the floor, while resting your legs on a soft chair or the bed.
“Once you’re down there, take deep breaths — in through the nose and out through the mouth,” he says. “The only thing you should be focusing on is with each exhale, relax a different body part” until your entire body is relaxed. “If you did it right, you’ll feel like a new person.”
Using breathing techniques to lower anxiety and stress is a common trick that is often touted by both mental health therapists and physicians. Some research has shown that deep breathing can signal to your parasympathetic nervous system that you don’t need to be in a state of fight or flight and can slow your heart rate as well.
However, research is still not fully conclusive on the issue.
One recent study published in Scientific Reports concluded that while breathwork has become increasingly popular due to its possible therapeutic potential, there also remains potential for a “miscalibration, or mismatch, between hype and evidence.”
“Hormone-balancing” supplements
“Hormone balancing” is a whole other corner of TikTok that has expanded in popularity in recent years, with many content creators claiming that an imbalance in hormones can lead to various symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, depression and bloating.
Content creators have now latched onto the claim that supplements can also lower cortisol levels, in some videos even claiming the suggestions are “science-based.”
Despite the popularity of “hormone balancing” on TikTok, however, experts say that much of the supplement and hormone balancing claims are without merit.
“Cortisol cocktails”
As the #HowToReduceCortisol hashtag has taken off, plenty of creators have also sought to market their own products on the site with the claims that they can help people lower cortisol levels.
In a video posted in January, TikTok creator Kaitlin — who goes by “Cortisol Mom” on the platform — claims that her “cortisol cocktail” helped her lose weight, get rid of her anxiety and stop her panic attacks.
Her profile links to several juice products that she sells with claims that they will help people feel more relaxed.
A quick search for “cortisol cocktails” on TikTok produces countless more videos of people trying their own recipes for drinks that they claim will help them reduce stress, lose weight and balance those hormones.
However, there is no scientific evidence that a concoction made of juice, lemon or supplements will lower cortisol levels.
Dunking your face in ice water
Cold water plunges are hugely popular on TikTok, with people claiming jumping into freezing water for a short time can help reduce anxiety and improve health in numerous ways.
A smaller version of that has also taken hold when it comes to reducing stress — dunking your face in a bowl of ice water everyday to “reduce cortisol and stimulate the vagus nerve,” which is linked to bringing the body to a more relaxed, parasympathetic state.
In one video with 11,000 likes, a TikTok account known as Moore Wellness shows a guy dunking his face in a bowl of ice water with the above claims.
Still, while cold plunges have been popular for centuries across many different cultures, the research is still out on whether or not it’s good for your mental health.
Tidying up
Finally, one lowering cortisol hack on TikTok may seem counterintuitive — but may have some merit behind it: physical work.
“Physical jobs around your house. I’m talking about decluttering, sweeping, tidying up, dusting, putting things away,” TikToker @trent says in a video. “Not only does this clean up the environment you’re in, the physical space you’re in, which helps lower stress levels — but that physical work actually helps lower stress, lower cortisol levels, which helps us sleep better, helps us burn fat more efficiently, and just makes you feel better overall.”
For many TikTokers — who are known to partake in the trend of “bed-rotting” or staying in bed all day — this tip may actually help mental health in the long run.
