FEELING TIRED, WIRED & BURNED OUT? It's NOT You, It's Your Cortisol

Holidays are winding down but that's not a guarantee stress magically disappears when you ring in the New Year. If you wake up tired, need coffee to function, crash mid-afternoon, get a second wind around 9 p.m., despite what you’ve been told, that’s not just “normal” in midlife. It is however less about age and more about the length of time you've been doing things that don't serve your body. It’s not you getting old or suddenly lazy. It’s your hormones, specifically cortisol, trying to keep you going when everything else is running on empty.

I call it the burnout cycle. And unfortunately almost every woman in midlife has been lied to and told it's “part of aging” and you have to just “live with it”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You do not have to accept the lies and live with discomfort, stressed out and in despair.

Cortisol gets a bad rap. You hear “high cortisol” and think stress, weight gain, belly fat, anxiety. And while that’s true when cortisol is out of balance, it’s not the enemy.

Cortisol is a survival hormone. It actually helps regulate blood sugar, energy, inflammation, and your body’s response to stress. The problem is that too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Women today are running on chronic stress - emotionally, physically, and even nutritionally – so stress stay elevated and cortisol never gets a break. And when cortisol is also your fat storage hormone, not something you want to disrupt in midlife.

When you’re constantly rushing, multitasking, overthinking, under-eating, over-exercising, or running on caffeine and willpower, your brain stays in survival mode. And that’s when cortisol goes from helpful to harmful.

At first, cortisol goes up. You feel wired, restless, maybe even productive. You’re running on adrenaline. You push through the fatigue because you always have.

But over time, as your body keeps pumping cortisol to meet constant demand, the system starts to falter. Cortisol levels swing from high to low. Energy crashes. Motivation dips. Weight starts to creep up, especially around your midsection. Sound familiar?

That “tired and wired” feeling, that afternoon crash, that 3 a.m. wake-up, that foggy-brained-can’t-think-can’t-focus exhaustion - that’s your cortisol calling for help.

Cortisol isn’t just about stress. It impacts blood sugar, sleep, mood, muscle, and hormones. When cortisol is elevated, your body releases glucose for quick energy. Over time, this leads to insulin resistance and stubborn belly fat. Cortisol and melatonin work opposite shifts. When cortisol is high at night, you can’t sleep - and low-quality sleep keeps cortisol high. Elevated cortisol depletes serotonin and dopamine, the “feel good” hormones, leading to anxiety, low motivation and overall flatness. High cortisol breaks down muscle tissue and slow metabolism, neither of which we want as we age. Muscle is like money in menopause. It's your metabolic currency. Chronic stress throws off estrogen, progesterone, and thyroid hormones. It's like pouring gas on a fire when it comes to hot flaashes, fatigue, and weight gain.

You can’t out-supplement or out-willpower your way around this. The fix isn't willpower or discipline. Neither one of those is a solid strategy for long-term results. We're not perfect and nothing thrives in a deficit. You can't pour from an empty cup.

Weight is a symptom of health and hormones. Addresssing health through restoring hormonal balance, stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammation and filling nutritional gaps will ensure you have a solid foundation of heatlh to build on.

When cortisol finds its rhythm again, everything shifts. You wake up with energy, sleep deeply, moods are managed, cravings disappear and your body composition changes. Not because you punished it, but because you supported it. Not running on fumes, but feeling grounded, calm, and capable again. This, is what thriving feels like.

If you’re ready to never make that same weight loss resolution again, step out of survival mode and into balance, I created a free video that walks you through how to fuel your body to stabilize cortisol, balance blood sugar, and rebuild your metabolism - without dieting, deprivation, or burnout.

Click here to watch, and start turning off the alarm bells your body’s been ringing for too long.