Cortisol Serum Cortisol (Morning)
Your stress hormone, highest in the morning and lowest at night.
Also printed asCortisol (AM/Morning) · Morning Cortisol · AM Cortisol · Serum Cortisol · Cortisol AM
What it measures
The stress hormone, highest shortly after waking and lowest at night.
Raises blood sugar, blood pressure and appetite, and suppresses immunity; the time of the draw changes the number completely.
Why it matters for how long you stay well
Years of a stress hormone that never settles at night cost sleep, muscle, bone and blood sugar control all at once, which is why sleep and stress belong on the same page as your metabolic numbers.
How it shows up in daily life
Running high can leave you wired at bedtime, waking at three in the morning, and carrying weight around the middle despite eating well.
High and low readings
When it reads high
Stress, poor sleep, or simply the hour the sample was drawn.
When it reads low
A genuinely low morning cortisol needs a physician review.
What moves it
Daily life
- sleep timing and quality
- long-running stress
- shift work
- caffeine late in the day
- alcohol
Medicines known to shift it
- steroids (lower it)
- oral contraceptives (raise it)
Listed so a result can be read in context. It is not advice to start, stop or change any medicine; that decision belongs with your physician.
Common questions
What does Serum Cortisol (Morning) measure?
The stress hormone, highest shortly after waking and lowest at night. Raises blood sugar, blood pressure and appetite, and suppresses immunity; the time of the draw changes the number completely.
What does a high Cortisol result usually mean?
Stress, poor sleep, or simply the hour the sample was drawn.
What does a low Cortisol result usually mean?
A genuinely low morning cortisol needs a physician review.
What is the usual reference range for Cortisol?
A broad adult reference band is 6–23 µg/dL. Labs differ, so read your result against the band printed on your own report.
Educational only, not a diagnosis. A single number means little without your history and the rest of your panel, so discuss your own results with your physician.
Typical adult reference band
- Adults
- 6–23 µg/dL
Labs differ. The band printed on your own report is the one that applies to your result.
Reported in µg/dL
Ageing relevance
3/5
A moderate ageing association; used in clinical longevity panels.
Worth knowing
It normally peaks within an hour of waking, and that peak is part of what actually wakes you up.
Have a report with this marker on it? Read it in context.
Upload it to Oraia, our health-intelligence tool, for a plain-language read of your markers that a Genoryx doctor can review.
Your biological age is a number you can measure.
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