6 Ways to Decrease Cortisol
Cortisol isn't your enemy. It wakes you up in the morning, fuels your workouts, and helps your body respond to threats.
The problem isn't cortisol itself — it's when your cortisol system never switches off. When your levels stay stubbornly high, that's when the problems happen: weight gain around your midsection, disrupted sleep, anxiety, illness, low libido, and fatigue.
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1. Exercise
Movement is medicine. Exercise is one of the best things you can do to help control your cortisol, but the relationship isn’t straightforward.
In the short-term, exercise increases cortisol. Whether it's a run, a weights session or a spin class, it will spike your cortisol levels.
That’s bad, right? Well no! It’s a normal, expected, perfectly natural response. What cortisol is doing is helping your body release energy from its stores to fuel the exercise. That is exactly what you want.
Regular exercise lowers cortisol. So your cortisol response while you're exercising is completely different to what happens to your cortisol levels after you finish (and recover) from exercise.
Remember, even if you follow exercise guidelines, you’ll only ever spend 1-2% of your waking hours exercising; the remaining 98% of your time, when you’re not exercising, is really more important.
People who regularly exercise tend to have lower cortisol levels and healthier, better-functioning cortisol systems [1].
Both Running and Walking Lower Cortisol
The type of exercise seems to matter less than consistency. Walking in nature seems particularly effective, as the environment you are in also affects your cortisol and stress levels [2].
A slow, leisurely walk will also not spike your cortisol whatsoever, whereas running will [3]. So if you want to exercise without increasing your cortisol, walking beats running.
Aim for moderate-intensity aerobic exercise like running, brisk walking, cycling and swimming, 2-4 times a week to start with.
Avoid the trap of training more and more as you get fitter. Too much high-volume, high-intensity exercise, without adequate rest and recovery, can increase your cortisol levels and keep them high. This is referred to as “overtraining”. More exercise isn’t always better.
2. Mindfulness & Meditation
“Mindfulness” interventions work for lowering cortisol [4]. It seems to lower cortisol for both people who are stressed (with high-cortisol) and have normal cortisol levels.
Although also effective, mindfulness and meditation were more effective than “mind-body therapies” and “talking therapies”.
Researchers suggest that it’s not all about how much mindfulness you do. Like exercise, more isn’t always better. So 8–10 minutes of daily mindfulness is enough to start lowering your cortisol.
The specific “type” of mindfulness appears to matter less than doing it consistently — app-based programmes, breathwork, formal “MBSR” programmes, and different meditation programmes have all been shown to work. So does just relaxing as well!
3. Laughter
Laughter is one of the most underrated tools for cortisol reduction in the research literature. The more you laugh, the lower your cortisol seems to go.
Researchers showed that those who went out of their way to make sure they laughed more reduced their cortisol levels by a third [5].
It seems to work by taking your mind out of its “fight-or-flight” threat-response mode. Being in a positive emotional state keeps your cortisol low; laughing just seems to help you on your way there.
It may sound almost too simple, but the evidence is there: genuine laughter, from friends and family, comedy, or anything that makes you genuinely happy and amused, will lower your cortisol.
It is also pretty much free, has no side effects, and is arguably underused. It turns out laughter is (one of) the best medicines (for lowering cortisol anyway).
4. Mind-Body Practices
Yoga, and other similar “mind-body” practices like Tai-chi, pilates or Qigong, use exercise, breathing and mindfulness together. All of these independently lower cortisol, so it's no surprise that combining the three of them reliably lowers your cortisol levels as well.
In addition to the physical health benefits of exercise, yoga has been shown to reduce cortisol levels throughout the day [6].
And also in response to stress, meaning it brings down cortisol more quickly after it has spiked. One of the hallmarks of high-stress is not only high cortisol levels, but also the inability to bring them down quickly once they’ve spiked.
For cortisol purposes, gentle or restorative yoga appears to be as effective as more intense styles — and potentially more so, since (like walking vs running) high-intensity exercise can spike cortisol in the short term.
Even a brief yoga session (20–30 mins) may meaningfully speed up cortisol recovery if you’re feeling stressed. Regular practice can help lower your baseline cortisol levels over time.
5. “Bathing”
“Bathing” doesn’t always mean water (although some do); it includes special therapeutic variations, such as forest bathing, hot spring bathing, foot bathing, spa bathing, mud baths, steam baths, sauna baths and hydrotherapy pools, which have been shown to lower stress and cortisol levels.
The Japanese practice of “shinrin-yoku”, meaning “forest bathing”, seems particularly effective [7].
Exposure to the fresh air and cool-temperatures, forest scents from the plants and animals, the repeating visuals from the trees, and the quiet, echoing, low-frequency sounds are thought to work together to lower your stress and cortisol levels.
These types of stress therapies are all “immersive” and “multisensory”, meaning they occupy your senses, allowing your mind to drift and relax, lowering your fight-or-flight threat-response and cortisol levels.
So what can you do at home? A warm bath or shower before bed has been shown to improve sleep, which in turn may help lower cortisol and stress.
Researchers have suggested you can (partially) recreate a forest environment in your bathroom: use forest sounds and scents, natural lights (if available), bathroom plants, lie back and visualise a forest.
Easier yet, just get out in nature into a forest. Combine it with light physical activity, such as walking or yoga, as little as 15 minutes of forest bathing is shown to reduce cortisol levels.
6. Diet and Supplements
Diet, supplements and nutrition are powerful tools for cortisol regulation — read our full article on What to Eat to Keep Your Cortisol Under Control for a full breakdown.
Learn how the Mediterranean diet, carbohydrates, ashwaghanda, caffeine, alcohol, fasting and other supplements affect your cortisol levels. Find out what to take and what to avoid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does running lower cortisol?
Yes, over time. In fact, higher intensity exercise is thought to be more efficient at bringing your cortisol levels back under control [8], in addition to its many other benefits
Does walking lower cortisol?
Yes. Walking at a low to moderate pace (particularly in a natural environment) reduces stress and cortisol levels. It doesn't necessarily need to be intense to be effective — walking has its own set of benefits.
Is exercise bad for cortisol?
No, not when done properly. Exercise is one of the most effective cortisol regulators out there. Although moderate and high intensity exercise spikes cortisol, this is a normal, healthy response.
However, avoid too much high-intensity, high-volume exercise with too little recovery (“overtraining”), as this will keep your cortisol too high or too long.
Can you lower cortisol quickly?
Laughter has been shown to reduce your cortisol levels by a third after just one session. Forest bathing, yoga or warm water immersion can also lower cortisol relatively quickly. Long-term reductions in your cortisol levels require lifestyle changes that take time to work.
Does sleep lower cortisol?
Poor sleep raises cortisol, and high cortisol disrupts sleep. It's a vicious cycle. Fixing your sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your cortisol levels.
Read our articles on: how to fix your sleep schedule, what to eat for better sleep, and how to sleep better for more advice.
Do meditation and mindfulness really lower stress?
Yes, it’s not just a placebo effect either. Research with control has shown meditation and mindfulness objectively lower stress and cortisol levels.
Sources
1. De Nys L et al. The effects of physical activity on cortisol and sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022 Sep;143:105843. PMID: 3577707
2. Kobayashi H et al. Combined Effect of Walking and Forest Environment on Salivary Cortisol Concentration. Front Public Health. 2019 Dec 12;7:376. PMID: 31921741
3. Hill EE, Zack E, Battaglini C, Viru M, Viru A, Hackney AC. Exercise and circulating cortisol levels: the intensity threshold effect. J Endocrinol Invest. 2008 Jul;31(7):587-91. PMID: 18787373
4. Rogerson O et al. Effectiveness of stress management interventions to change cortisol levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Jan;159:106415. PMID: 37879237
5. Kramer CK, Leitão CB. Laughter as medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels. PLoS ONE. 2023;18(5):e0286260. PMID: 37220157
6. Pascoe MC et al. Yoga, mindfulness-based stress reduction and stress-related physiological measures: A meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Dec;86:152-168. PMID: 28963884
7. Antonelli M et al. Effects of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) on levels of cortisol as a stress biomarker: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Biometeorol. 2019 Aug;63(8):1117-1134. PMID: 31001682
8. Caplin A et al. The effects of exercise intensity on the cortisol response to a subsequent acute psychosocial stressor. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Sep;131:105336. PMID: 34175558
Written by the Alphabet Guides Editorial Team
Lead Author: PhD Health Scientist ✅
Published: 08 April 2026
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Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only. It should not be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional.