Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. Testing salivary cortisol levels is becoming popular as it can be done at home and potentially causes less stress. Alterations in cortisol levels can cause ailments such as Cushing’s syndrome or Addison’s disease.
Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. Producing too much or too little of this hormone can cause ailments that disturb the patient’s health, such as Cushing’s syndrome or Addison’s disease. Measuring cortisol levels is an important part of diagnosing these conditions and monitoring their treatment. Testing salivary cortisol levels, rather than blood or urine cortisol levels, is becoming increasingly popular with medical professionals because it potentially causes less stress and can be done at home.
The production of hormones is very complex. Cortisol is found throughout the body but is produced by the adrenal glands. It is one of the stress hormones and is produced at higher levels in stress-prone individuals. In addition to contributing factors such as work and emotions, it is also produced to greater levels by people working early morning shifts.
In most people, cortisol levels decrease during sleep and increase after waking up. Light affects this pattern of hormone production. Saliva cortisol levels, also known as salivary cortisol levels, are higher when individuals wake up in light than in darkness. Also, early risers have higher levels in the morning than night owls.
Alterations in cortisol levels can have profound effects on a person’s physiology. Traditionally, this hormone has been monitored using blood and urine tests. Levels in saliva have been found to correlate well with levels in blood. The test is most frequently used to determine levels of this hormone.
An advantage of this type of measurement is that it can be done at home. This takes away a layer of stress from being in a doctor’s office or lab that could potentially affect test results. It also makes it easy to run multiple tests over the course of a day.
Salivary cortisol levels can be too high or too low. The presence of too much hormones in body fluids is often due to a disorder known as Cushing’s syndrome. This disorder is due to an overproduction of cortisol by the adrenal glands. In addition to disrupting the overall amount of hormone produced, this syndrome also changes the hormone production pattern. The classic morning/night differences in salivary cortisol are no longer observed.
Conversely, some other patients produce inadequate levels of this hormone. This may be due to damage to the adrenal glands. In this case, morning and evening salivary cortisol tests reveal low levels of the hormone. This condition is known as Addison’s disease.
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