How cortisol’s daily rhythm shapes the way you feel from the moment you wake up — and what you can do to take control.

When your alarm rings each morning, your body undergoes a significant change. In just a few minutes, a hormone called cortisol rises sharply in your blood — sometimes by as much as 60% in the first half hour after you wake up. This spike, called the cortisol awakening response, significantly affects how you feel as you start your day. Some days you might wake up feeling anxious, while other days you feel full of energy. Often, this difference is linked to how your body responds to this hormone.

Cortisol is often called the “stress hormone,” but that’s only part of what it does. Made by your adrenal glands, cortisol helps control your blood sugar, supports your immune system, and affects your blood pressure. Most importantly, it follows a daily rhythm that helps you wake up and get ready for sleep at night. To understand how cortisol shapes your mood, it’s essential to see that it’s not simply good or bad. What matters most is when and how much your body makes.

The Morning Cortisol Boost: Friend or Foe?

New research from 2024 shows that the morning rise in cortisol helps get your brain ready for the day’s emotional and mental challenges. Using brain scans, scientists found that this early hormone boost helps organize your brain’s networks, making it easier to manage emotions and remember things. When your cortisol response is working well, you’re better at understanding others’ feelings, handling your own emotions, and dealing with demanding mental tasks.

Things get more complicated when cortisol levels are too high or too low. A healthy amount helps you function, but an imbalance can cause problems. Studies in teenagers found that boys with both high depression symptoms and high morning cortisol had the highest risk for major depression. This means cortisol’s effect on mood depends on your personal situation and what else is going on in your life.

Scientists have also found that people with lower-than-average morning cortisol often feel worse when they wake up but start to feel better as the day goes on. If you notice you feel bad in the morning but improve by afternoon, your cortisol pattern could be the reason. This hormone not only affects how you feel, but also when you feel specific ways during the day.

When Cortisol Goes Wrong

The link between cortisol and mood isn’t simple. New research shows that cortisol helps protect your mood during stress. When you face challenges, a healthy rise in cortisol can help you cope by lowering negative feelings and helping you focus. It’s like your body’s way of saying, “We can handle this. Let’s stay calm and deal with it.”

However, chronic stress tells a different story. When cortisol levels stay elevated day after day due to ongoing pressures at work, relationship troubles, or financial worries, the system breaks down. Studies show that women currently experiencing depression have significantly higher cortisol levels throughout the day, including a bigger morning spike, compared to women without depression. The same protective hormone that helps you cope with short-term stress becomes a problem when it never gets a chance to return to normal levels.

How well and when you sleep is very important for keeping cortisol in balance. Poor sleep, irregular schedules, and sleep problems can all disrupt your body’s natural cortisol rhythm. If you don’t sleep well, your body may make cortisol at the wrong times — too much at night when you want to rest and not enough in the morning when you need to be alert. This can create a cycle in which stress and poor sleep worsen each other.

Taking Control: Simple Steps to Balance Your Morning Mood

Learning how cortisol affects your mood is helpful because it means you can do something about it. You can’t control your hormone levels directly, but research shows that certain lifestyle habits can help keep cortisol in balance. These steps don’t need medicine or supplements, just steady attention to your daily routines.

Start by keeping a regular sleep schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at about the same time every day to help your body’s cortisol rhythm stay on track. Make a relaxing bedtime routine to let your brain know it’s time to sleep. Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and avoid bright screens in the hour before bed, since light at night can disrupt the hormones that help you rest.

Next, make regular movement part of your routine. Physical activity is a great way to manage cortisol and boost your mood. The important thing is to find balance. Moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, swimming, or cycling, can lower your baseline cortisol over time. Gentle activities like yoga, which mix movement with breathing and mindfulness, are also very helpful. Just be careful not to push too hard with intense workouts, since too much can keep cortisol high. A new low-stress and valuable exercise, Tai Chi walking, is becoming popular as a stress reliever.

Also, make stress management part of your day. Simple things like spending time outside, doing breathing exercises, or talking with friends and family can help keep cortisol balanced. Writing down your worries before bed can clear your mind and lower morning anxiety. Even a few minutes of meditation or quiet time can help your body better handle stress.

Above all, notice when you exercise and how you start your mornings. Getting bright light early in the day helps keep your cortisol rhythm steady. If you work out in the evening, try to finish at least an hour before bed so your body can relax.

In the first moments after waking up, try calm, purposeful activities instead of jumping right into emails or news. This can help set a better tone for your day. As I always say to everyone, as well as to myself in the morning, “Let me get into the day,” meaning don’t rush anything and just begin the day as calmly as possible.

Your morning mood is shaped by hormones, brain chemistry, sleep, stress, and your daily habits. By learning how cortisol works and making small changes to support its natural rhythm, you can give yourself the best chance to start each day feeling balanced and ready for anything.