Cortisol and Stress

[starduststreakoflightning]

I'll go straight to the point. If someone does energy working to reduce cortisol will stress be reduced as well? What about the other way around? Do workings to reduce stress also reduce cortisol in the body?
One more question. I was reading an interesting research about the fact that high levels of cortisol in one's body correlate to low levels of testosterone and that too cortisol can actually kill testosterone. Of course I'm talking about males here. Is that true?

 

[centralforce6661]

Cortisol is a stress hormone designed to enable your body to release sugars etc essential for a maximal or prolonged physical effort.

Testosterone is a growth and development hormone, whose actions are almost polar opposite to cortisol.

Cortisol does not 'destroy' testosterone but rather turns off its release via inhibitory feedback mechanisms...

Reducing cortisol takes time, as it is a slowly metabolised hormone which can persist in the blood for some time after it is released therefore it takes a period of time of relaxing and learning to relax to clear it.

There is also another way - performing physical exercise with maximal effort until exhaustion will rapidly reduce blood cortisol levels but this must be extremely high intensity and usually will not be a long lasting exercise.

Prolonged low intensity exercise actually has the reverse effect.