Cortisol (C)

Cortisol is a hormone that is made by the adrenal glands, and the pituitary gland tells your adrenal glands how much cortisol to make in response to:

• Stress (cortisol is sometimes called the "stress hormone")
• Inflammation
• Regulating blood sugar and metabolism (how your body uses food for energy)
• Controlling blood pressure

In a healthy individual, cortisol levels increase and decrease at different times of the day. It's usually higher in the morning and lower at night unless a person works during late hours or has changing shifts.

Factors that can affect cortisol levels:

• Exercise
• Hypothyroidism
• Infection
• Injury or disease
• Medications such as hydrocortisone, prednisone or birth control pills, obesity, pregnancy
• Physical or emotional stress

Which Patients is the Cortisol Test with ZRT Best Used For?

Symptoms That May Lead A Practitioner to Order the ZRT Cortisol Test include:

High Cortisol Symptoms:

• Insomnia
• Anxiety
• Sugar cravings
• Feeling tired but wired
• Increased belly fat
• Bone loss

Low Cortisol Symptoms:

• Chronic fatigue
• Low energy
• Food and sugar cravings
• Poor exercise tolerance or recovery
• Low immune reserves

About the Test

This is a single-marker test measuring cortisol.

Lab Test Comparisons

To help you choose the best test for your patients, we’ve built lab test comparisons!

Select any lab tests to compare up to 18 key characteristics between them. You also have the ability to copy & share a link to your comparisons to anyone inside or outside of Rupa!

Sample Report

Biomarkers

Biomarker name