Cortisol Cortisol is a type of steroid hormone known as a glucocorticoid (helps the body deal with stress) and is produced in the outer section of the adrenal glands known as the adrenal cortex. It is essential for sustaining life and has many functions. Cortisol can directly initiate some of these functions or it can be permissive in that it allows certain processes to take place by increasing enzymatic activity, promoting enzymes, or regulating the actions of other hormones. This powerful hormone affects nearly every system in the body with binding sites on virtually every cell in the body. The secretion of this hormone is cyclical with higher levels in the morning and lower levels at night. Because higher levels of cortisol are secreted during times of stress, it is called the “stress hormone.” In the “fight or flight” stress response, cortisol is considered the most important hormone because it influences many of the changes that occur in the body that are essential for dealing with stress. In fact, all of the functions of cortisol are too numerous to mention for the purposes of this discussion, but I will try to describe some of the main functions of this amazing hormone. The release of cortisol occurs as a response to a series of chain reactions. The stress stimulus activates the nervous system which in turn stimulates the trophic hormone CRH in the hypothalamus. CRH stimulates the pituitary secretion of the hormone ACTH, which travels in the bloodstream to the adrenal cortex and stimulates the secretion of cortisol. When the concentration of cortisol in the blood reaches a certain level, CRH in the hypothalamus is inhibited, which in turn inhibits the secretion of ACTH in the pituitary gland, thus stopping the secretion of cortisol. Cortisol is...... half of the document....../mag2004/jul2004_report_cortisol_01.htmhttp://www.medicineonline.com/articles/H/2/Hypocortisolism/Addisons-Disease.htmlhttp://www.livestrong.com/article/95043- cortisol -functions/http://www.livestrong.com/article/131399-effects-cortisol/http://www.sabresciences.com/adrenalHormones.htmhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK26 /Works Citedhttp://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htmhttp://www.adrenalfatigue.org/cortisol-and-adrenal-function.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki / Cortisolhttp://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/jul2004_report_cortisol_01.htmhttp://www.medicineonline.com/articles/H/2/Hypocortisolism/Addisons-Disease.htmlhttp://www.livestrong.com/article / 95043-cortisol-functions/http://www.livestrong.com/article/131399-effects-cortisol/http://www.sabresciences.com/adrenalHormones.htmhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ books/NBK26/