Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Its Relationship to Cortisol - A Fascinating New Study

A surprising new study suggested an innovative and perhaps unexpected way to search for signs of looming cardiovascular disease in patient populations: cortisol levels in hair. While this may not make sense to patients right away, cardiologists and other medical researchers have long known that there is a correlation between cortisol (the body's stress hormone) and risk for cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, the cortisol levels of the body are 'recorded' to some extent in hair, which can be examined to determine how the cortisol levels have behaved over time.

In the past, cortisol levels were generally measured using saliva or blood tests, but these exams are essentially nothing more than "snapshots" of the overall cortisol levels present in the body. Stressful events which are not repeated or continued over a long period of time can cause spikes in cortisol, but the level normally drops back down after the unpleasant experience ends. Since scientists seek to understand how prolonged stressors (and their associated cortisol levels) affect cardiovascular disease risk, hair examinations are more appropriate since they allow at least 3 months' time to be studied. Read more >>