The Stress Hormone and What It Means for Your Workout and Your Life
Guest Blog By Dr, Meghan Tierney, MD, DABOM, MSCP
Life is stressful, especially if you're a woman in midlife managing everything the world hands you and everything your body is doing. As a wife, mother of 2 young children, business owner, and doctor, I know what it is like to feel like stress is running the show. And in this season of life understanding the stress hormone, cortisol, is important for living in harmony with your changing body.
You may have heard that cortisol levels are affected by the types of exercise you do, and you're right! But does that mean you need to dramatically change your workouts because of it? Maybe not. Let's look at the evidence.
What Is Cortisol and Why Does It Matter for Your Health?
Cortisol is a hormone your adrenal glands release throughout the day. It's not the villain it's often made out to be, in fact, it's essential for life. Cortisol helps you:
Wake up in the morning (your levels naturally peak shortly after waking)
Mobilize energy when you need it
Deal with stress, both physical and emotional
Regulate your immune system
Maintain your sleep-wake cycle
Think of cortisol as your body's built-in alarm system and energy mobilizer rolled into one.
Cortisol in Midlife: What Changes During Menopause
Here's where things get interesting for women in perimenopause and menopause. Research shows that cortisol levels naturally increase with age, with a particularly pronounced rise during the late menopause transition (late perimenopause) and early postmenopause.
Why? The drop in ovarian hormones, specifically estrogen and progesterone, means your system may not regulate cortisol the way it used to. Estrogen and progesterone normally help dampen cortisol levels, acting like a buffer. When those hormones decline, that buffering effect decreases, and cortisol can creep up.
Studies show that postmenopausal women may have 10% higher cortisol levels than men of the same age, and women going through the late menopause transition can experience significant rises in overnight cortisol levels during this particularly turbulent hormonal phase.
Why Should You Care?
Because chronically elevated cortisol is linked to outcomes you probably want to avoid:
Insulin resistance and metabolic changes
Poor sleep quality
Mood shifts including anxiety and depression
Bone loss
Increased cardiovascular risk
Increased belly fat (visceral fat)
The good news? You're not powerless. Understanding how lifestyle factors affect cortisol can help you make informed choices about your health.
How Does Exercise Affect Cortisol?
This is where the conversation gets nuanced, and frankly, where a lot of the online chatter gets it wrong.
The Short Answer: Yes, certain types of exercise do acutely raise cortisol levels during and immediately after your workout. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The Longer, More Helpful Answer: It depends on the type, intensity, and how consistently you're training and including rest in your routine.
The Exercise-Cortisol Connection
Let’s take a look at what the research says in regards to certain types of exercise and it’s effect on cortisol levels.
High-Intensity and Endurance Exercise:
Moderate to high-intensity exercise (≥60% of your max aerobic capacity) causes a measurable increase in cortisol during and right after your workout
Endurance exercise like long runs or cycling sessions reliably increases cortisol acutely
However, people who do regular high-intensity interval training (HIIT) may actually have lower resting cortisol levels over time, suggesting positive adaptation
Resistance Training:
Weightlifting and strength training produce a mild acute cortisol increase
The good news: regular resistance training doesn't chronically elevate your resting cortisol and may actually help reduce inflammation
Low-Intensity Exercise:
Exercise at lower intensities (≤40% of max capacity) doesn't significantly increase cortisol
Activities like gentle walking, restorative yoga, or leisurely swimming are unlikely to spike your cortisol
Mind-Body Exercise:
Yoga, tai chi, Pilates, and similar practices are particularly effective for reducing anxiety, depression, and improving sleep
These modalities support healthy cortisol patterns without the acute spike
What About Exercise Timing?
You might have heard that you should only work out at certain times of day to optimize your cortisol levels. The truth? Current research doesn't support strict rules about morning versus evening exercise for cortisol regulation in menopausal women.
Exercise does influence your body's internal clock, but studies have shown inconsistent findings about whether morning or evening workouts are superior for metabolic health or cortisol patterns. What matters most is that you exercise regularly, at a time that works for your schedule and allows you to be consistent.
The one caveat: vigorous exercise very close to bedtime may reduce sleep quality for some people, which can then affect cortisol regulation. If you're struggling with sleep, experiment with moving intense workouts earlier in the day.
So, Do You Need to Change Your Workouts?
For most women: No, you don't need to abandon your current exercise routine because of cortisol concerns.
Here's why the "cortisol-spiking exercise is dangerous" narrative oversimplifies the science:
Acute vs. Chronic Elevation Matters: A temporary rise in cortisol during exercise is normal and even beneficial. It's part of how your body mobilizes energy. This is completely different from chronically elevated cortisol throughout the day.
Regular Exercise Helps Overall: Despite acute increases during workouts, consistent exercise is associated with:
A healthier diurnal cortisol pattern (the natural rise and fall throughout the day)
Better sleep quality
Reduced anxiety and depression
Improved metabolic health
Stronger bones
All Types of Exercise Offer Benefits: Research consistently shows that aerobic exercise, resistance training, yoga, Pilates, and other modalities all improve psychological well-being, sleep quality, and physical symptoms in perimenopausal and menopausal women.
The Real Question: What's Your Total Stress Load?
Rather than worrying about cortisol spikes during your 45-minute workout, consider your overall stress picture:
Are you chronically stressed or anxious?
Is your sleep poor or fragmented?
Are you under-recovering between workouts?
Do you have significant life stressors you're managing?
If your life is already in a high-stress state and you're not sleeping well, adding more intense exercise without adequate recovery might not be helpful. But the solution isn't necessarily to quit exercising, it's to address your total stress load.
What You Should Consider Changing
Instead of dramatically overhauling your workout routine, focus on these evidence-based strategies that actually lower cortisol and improve health outcomes:
1. Prioritize Sleep
Sleep fragmentation independently increases bedtime cortisol and disrupts your cortisol awakening response.
Improving sleep quality through:
Consistent sleep-wake times
A cool, dark bedroom
Limiting caffeine and alcohol
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia if needed
This is arguably more important than any other change you can make.
2. Practice Stress Management
Structured stress management including cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and relaxation techniques has been shown to reduce total cortisol and improve cortisol patterns in midlife women. Even 10-15 minutes of daily mindfulness practice can help.
3. Maintain Exercise Variety
Include a mix of:
Strength training (2-3x/week): Essential for maintaining muscle mass and bone density
Moderate cardio (most days): Walking, cycling, swimming at a conversational pace
Mind-body practices: Yoga, tai chi, or Pilates for stress reduction and flexibility
Some higher intensity (1-2x/week if you enjoy it and recover well): HIIT or challenging cardio sessions
The key is listening to your body and ensuring you're recovering adequately between sessions.
4. Support Your Body Through Nutrition
A diet rich in:
Fruits and vegetables
Whole grains
Nuts and seeds
Fatty fish
Olive oil
And lower in processed foods, red meat, and added sugars supports metabolic health and may help modulate stress responses.
5. Know When to Modify Intensity
Consider scaling back exercise intensity if you're experiencing:
Persistent fatigue that doesn't improve with rest
Worsening sleep quality
Increased anxiety or mood changes
Declining performance despite consistent training
Prolonged muscle soreness or inability to recover
These are signs you might be in a state of overtraining or under-recovery, where your body needs more support.
The Bottom Line
The science is clear: regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health during the menopause transition, even though it may temporarily raise cortisol during your workout.
The acute cortisol response to exercise is normal, adaptive, and part of a healthy stress response. Over time, consistent training actually helps your body handle stress more efficiently and supports healthier cortisol patterns throughout the day.
Rather than fearing cortisol or avoiding certain types of exercise, focus on:
Consistency over intensity
Adequate recovery and sleep
Managing your total life stress
Variety in your movement
How you feel overall
If you're exercising regularly, sleeping reasonably well, managing stress through various techniques, and eating well, you're already doing the most important things to support healthy cortisol levels during this life stage.
When to Seek Additional Support
If you're experiencing significant symptoms despite a solid exercise routine and lifestyle habits it may be time to seek out additional support. Symptoms that should watch out for:
Severe hot flashes or night sweats
Persistent mood changes or anxiety
Significant sleep disturbance
Unexplained weight gain, particularly around your midsection
Prolonged recovery time after your usual exercise or persistent muscle and joint pain
Talk with your healthcare provider. Menopausal hormone therapy, non-hormonal medications, and other interventions may be appropriate and can significantly improve your quality of life and health outcomes.
Looking for personalized, weight-neutral care to navigate midlife hormonal and metabolic shifts? Book a discovery call at www.sorrelhealthandwellness.com and take the first step toward feeling like yourself again.
Dr. Meghan Tierney
MD, DABOM, MSCP
Dr. Meghan Tierney is the founder of Sorrel Health and Wellness, a Seattle-based clinic dedicated to helping women navigate perimenopause, menopause, and metabolic health challenges. Board certified in Family Medicine and Obesity Medicine and a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, she combines medical management with coaching to help women feel better, regain confidence, and build sustainable habits.
Dr. Tierney's evidence-based, weight-neutral approach integrates mindfulness and self-compassion, emphasizing that meaningful progress toward health goals also includes respect for one's body and season of life.