Term

Cortisol

The stress hormone. It helps the body cope with a threat, but, as the author describes it, when there is too much of it for too long it harms the body and the brain.

Sane New World: Taming the Mind, Ruby Wax

Explained in

• Sane New World: Taming the Mind, Ruby Wax
• Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience, Meg Jay

  A hormone the adrenal glands release in response to stress. It gets the body ready for action.

• It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, Mark Wolynn

  A stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It helps the body cope with strain and return to normal.

• The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life., Robin Sharma

  A hormone produced by the adrenal glands, including under stress. Its level is naturally higher in the morning.

• Hormones, Metabolism and the Benefits of Exercise, Bruce Spiegelman (ed.)

  An adrenal hormone involved in the body's response to stress.

• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, Florence Williams

  A hormone the body releases under stress. Scientists use its level to assess how tense a person is.

• The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, Elizabeth Blackburn, Elissa Epel

  A stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It mobilizes energy but harms the body when its level remains constantly high.

• The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again, Catherine Price

  A hormone the body releases under stress. When its level stays high for a long time, it harms health.

• The Upside of Stress, Kelly McGonigal

  An adrenal hormone that mobilizes energy during stress.

• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, Kristin Neff

  A stress hormone. It helps the body deal with a threat, but when it stays high for a long time it wears the body out.

• Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom, Rick Hanson, Richard Mendius

  A stress hormone made by the adrenal glands. Under long stress, too much of it harms the body.

• Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels, Loretta Graziano Breuning

  The chemical of alarm. It is switched on by pain and by the expectation of a threat, and it gives you the feeling that you must do something right now.

• Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't, Simon Sinek

  The stress hormone. It prepares the body for danger, and under long strain it harms health.

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, John J. Ratey

  the stress hormone; in small doses it mobilizes you, but chronically high levels wear the body down and cloud clear thinking

All terms