Check your level of cortisol, your stress hormone, with this simple in pharmacy Cortisol Test
Identify whether your stress hormone levels could be impacting your life, your immunity and your health.
Visit our pharmacy for a quick, simple finger-prick blood test carried out by our qualified team. We’ll send your test to the laboratory and you’ll get your results within 5 days.
It’s better to know about your health than worry about your health. We can help. You are in safe hands.
- Test your early morning cortisol level (stress hormone)
- Provides hospital standard, easy-to-read traffic light results
- Supporting guidance provided to help you make effective lifestyle changes
- Receive advice to better support your overall health
- Customers must be aged 18 years or over to take this test. This test is not available to customers who are pregnant or breastfeeding
Optimise Your Health By Testing Your Cortisol Levels
Understand whether stress levels may be impacting your health and what simple steps you need to make to reduce them.
A small amount of stress can be seen as a good thing, helping you to cope day to day. However, when stress levels start to increase then that is a different matter. Stress can start to impact your daily life in lots of different ways, but how do you know if you are putting your body under too much stress?
The good news is that cortisol (stress hormone) levels can be detected and monitored using the Stress (Cortisol) Test. Raised or low levels of cortisol can tell you if stress could be impacting your health and whether you need to make lifestyle changes or visit your GP.
Take Care Of Yourself With Our Stress (Cortisol) Test
Using a quick and easy pharmacy-to-laboratory finger-prick blood test. Get your results within 5 days, and you will receive advice on whether your results are acceptable, if lifestyle changes are required, or if a visit to your GP is recommended. Lifestyle guidance is also provided.
Being aware of your cortisol (stress hormone) level is a first step to making positive changes. It is also easy to track your levels of stress over time.
Take steps to change your life for the better.
Information
What is cortisol hormone?
Most of us know that cortisol is the primary stress hormone in our bodies that’s released when we experience moments of anxiety, fear, or other stressful events. While cortisol is often viewed as a stress hormone that contributes to weight gain, skin conditions, and other adverse symptoms, cortisol is an essential stress hormone that influences our body’s ability to metabolise glucose, control blood pressure, regulate inflammation, and respond to danger.
Cortisol is one of several steroid hormones that are produced by the adrenal glands, which are regulated by the pituitary gland. When released into the bloodstream, cortisol can influence many parts of the body, such as the liver, pancreas, muscle tissues, and insulin production, Cortisol is a necessary component to the fight or flight response – which is a natural reaction to perceived threats – but it’s also released in stressful situations that are less threatening.
Although it’s become trendy to discuss the health issues and prevalence of having high cortisol, the body can experience problems when cortisol levels are too low as well. Having the right balance of cortisol hormone is essential for optimal health, which is why testing your cortisol levels can be an important measure to know exactly where your body stands and what, if any, action you should take to better balance this important stress hormone.
What causes cortisol imbalance?
Prolonged, chronic stress is one cause of cortisol imbalance. However, abnormally high cortisol levels can also manifest after traumatic events, such as in individuals who are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)1. Whether prolonged over an extended period or in the wake of a traumatic experience, the root cause of a cortisol imbalance can be stress.
Everyone encounters stressful events from time to time, and some individuals experience stress more frequently and intensely than others. But no matter how common you perceive stress signals like tension, trauma, pressure, and distress, it can reach a point when excess stress turns into a cortisol imbalance issue.
Not all cases of cortisol imbalance are the result of having too much of the stress hormone. Low cortisol levels can also cause an imbalance, which is often more deeply rooted in adrenal health problems. Chronically low cortisol levels (clinically referred to as “hypocortisolism”) are most commonly a form of adrenal insufficiency, which can occur at different degrees of severity. One cause is primary adrenal insufficiency (or Addison’s Disease), which is an autoimmune response where the immune system attacks the adrenal glands, thereby impairing their ability to produce sufficient levels of cortisol. Stress burnout is another cause of adrenal insufficiency that needs to be checked for.
What are normal cortisol levels?
Testing cortisol levels is important to gauge adrenocortical function, which can have numerous health implications, especially in individuals who are susceptible to stress. Determining abnormal cortisol levels is essential in the diagnosis of Cushing’s Syndrome and Addison’s disease, hypopituitarism and adrenal hyperplasia, and carcinoma.
Cortisol is usually at its highest early in the morning and at its lowest near the midnight hour. Normal cortisol levels can vary depending on the type of test, the individual, and when the test is taken. It’s generally recommended to test cortisol levels in the morning.
