Cortisiol - The Death Hormone

Cortisol is the one hormone that actually increases as we get older. We are all familiar with cortisol, because a derivative called cortisone is used in topical and systemic medications and has been part of the pharmacological arsenal for years. Cortisol is essential; it enables our internal systems to maintain stability and stay in balance during acute forms of stress, such as fear, physical trauma, and extreme physical is produced by the body in the quantities necessary to combat that stress. However, a problem arises when cortisol is present for long periods of
time and in excess quantities. When we measure the cortisol levels of a young person under stress, they rise rapidly, but within a few hours as the stress is relieved, they decline to normal. However, when we measure cortisol levels on older people, the levels rise rapidly during stress but tend not to return to normal for days. Since cortisol levels continue to increase with age, a sixty-five-year-old has far higher levels of cortisol circulating throughout his system that does a twenty-five-year-old.

Large amounts of cortisol are toxic when they circulate in our system for prolonged periods of time. Our brain cells, or neurons, are extremely sensitive to the effects of cortisol. When cortisol is circulating at a high level, it causes the brain cells to die. That is why brain shrinkage is associated with senility on old age.

Excessive amounts of cortisol can destroy the immune system, shrink the brain and other vital organs, decrease muscle mass, and cause thinning of the skin which results in prominent blood vessels. In the anti-again field, cortisol is known as the death hormone because it is associated with old age and disease.