Nick NorwitzMD PhD, Oxford-Harvard | Metabolic Health Educator | “Stay Curious”

High Cortisol is Not Bad

13 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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1:16

In this short health talk, Nick Norwitz challenges the common social‑media narrative that any stress‑induced cortisol spike is harmful and directly causes belly‑fat gain. He clarifies that cortisol is a vital hormone whose normal daily rhythm—including the cortisol awakening response that boosts morning alertness—is essential for healthy function. While chronic, pathological elevations of cortisol (as seen in Cushing syndrome) can lead to abdominal fat, ordinary stress‑related spikes are not inherently bad. Norwitz shifts the focus from trying to eliminate cortisol to managing how the nervous system reacts to stress, emphasizing the vagus nerve as the key component of the parasympathetic “rest‑and‑digest” system. Chronic stress can blunt the ability to return to a calm state, so he recommends a simple breathing exercise: inhale slowly and exhale for about twice as long, which stimulates the vagus nerve and promotes relaxation. The overall message is to train the nervous system, not fear the hormone.

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High cortisol is not bad. Social media often makes it sound like every stressful moment in your life will spike your cortisol and that spike immediately causes belly fat gain, but that's just not how physiology works. It's true that chronically elevated cortisol in diseases like Cushing syndrome can lead to increased abdominal fat, but cortisol itself, the hormone, is essential. Your body needs it to function. In fact, cortisol rises naturally in the morning, a phenomenon known as the cortisol awakening response, which helps you feel alert for the rest of the day. So what should you focus on? on instead. Not cortisol, but how your nervous system responds to stress. In particular, the vagus nerve is a key part of your parasympathetic rest-and-digest nervous system, and when stress becomes chronic, your ability to shift back into that calm, recovered state suffers. So the goal shouldn't be to eliminate cortisol or avoid all stress. It's to regulate your response to it. And here's one simple way to do that. When you notice you feel stress, take a slow breath in and a longer breath out, about twice as long out than in. The longer exhalations help activate the vagus nerve and promote a calmer state. So train your nervous system. Don't fear your hormones.