07/31/2026
Cortisol is an allocation signal.
It rises in anticipation of demand. The brain predicts what is coming and uses the HPA axis to decide where glucose goes, which tissues get priority, and what the body spends now rather than conserves. The rise is preparation.
Which means the hormone is doing its job. The cost accumulates in the pattern: activation that stays elevated after the demand has passed, or repeats before recovery is complete.
That accumulated cost has a name. Allostatic load.
So the question worth asking is what your body is currently preparing for, and how often.