Cortisol is a hormone. Its most important function is to help the body respond to stress. It also helps regulate the body's use of protein, carbohydrates and fat, and it helps maintain blood pressure and cardiovascular function.
Under normal circumstances your body produces more cortisol in the morning than in the evening, giving you the energy that you need to begin your day. In the evening your cortisol level should drop by approximately 90%. Evening is usually the time when the stresses of the day are behind you, the time when you can relax and unwind. However, current scientific data shows that elevated cortisol levels are becoming more commonplace.
High blood pressure puts a strain on our arteries and heart, which can cause an artery to rupture or the heart to fail under the strain. Therefore, high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and it can cause kidney failure, aneurysm (abnormal dilation of the weakened wall of a blood vessel) and eye damage. Around 10 million people in the UK have high blood pressure – that's one in five of us.
It is vital to give up smoking and cut down on alcohol if you have a tendency to high blood pressure. Another vital piece of advice is to avoid getting overweight, by eating a well-balanced, healthy diet and exercising regularly. These are important things to do even if you don't have a history of blood pressure in your family.
Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry or anxious. What is stressful to one person is not necessarily stressful to another. Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear that arises perhaps for no apparent reason, which can add to your stress all over again.
Stress is a normal part of life. Some stress is good, as Dr Hamilton says in the programme. It can motivate you and help you to achieve more. However, too much stress is harmful. It can result in poor health as well as physical or psychological illnesses like infection, heart disease or depression. Continuous stress often leads to anxiety and unhealthy behaviours like overeating and abuse of alcohol or drugs.
Stress or anxiety is often accompanied by physical symptoms, including:
After graduating from medical school, Mark did some teaching at The University of Manchester. In 1999, he became co-presenter of Radio 1's cult show, The Sunday Surgery. He was an advisor to the BBC for their 2000 campaigns on Drug Education and Mental Health, and became Radio 1's 'Agony Uncle' on their One Life website – with which he is still involved.
Over the past few years Mark has moved into television, presenting the series How Long Will You Live and contributing to programmes such as The Heaven and Earth Show, Big Brother's Little Brother and This Morning.
Watch Channel 4 Education programmes for free on your PC with Channel 4's on demand service 4oD.
Citizenship, PSHE and careers for 14-19s from 4Learning. Packed with interactive games and activities.
Index of Notes to support Channel 4 Learning programmes.
Full listings of Channel 4 Learning programmes for the week ahead.
