Cortisol

Stress is a physical, emotional, and physiological response of the body to an internal or external
stimulus, labeling it as one that can greatly affect our mental health. That’s why its important
that a way to diagnose and monitor stress is devised. Iqbal et al. (2023) states that research with
laboratory-based stress induction tests like TSST aims to understand the impact of stress on
hormonal stress responses of a human body under controlled conditions. The TSST emphasizes
the critical role of cortisol blood levels in the detection of stress.
According to Katsu et al. (2021) Cortisol is known as a stress hormone involved in the response
to physical and/or emotional stress. It is responsible in various homeostatic maintenance such
as immune system, blood pressure and metabolism processes in the body. Additionally, Jones et
al. (2020) states that Cortisol is a steroid hormone which plays a major part in the body's
metabolic reaction to stress be it physiological: illness, injury, and trauma; or psychological:
mental ill-health. Its more common effect is often described as the “flight or fight” response,
which allows the body to react quickly to a perceived “threat.”
Studies have shown that cortisol is indeed associated with stressful situations. Under stressful
conditions, the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is activated, resulting in an
increase in cortisol secretion that peaks between 20 and 40 min after initiation of the stressful
event (Dickerson et al., 2004). There are large inter-individual differences in the cortisol
response to stress, and it has been proposed that cortisol and the activity of the HPA axis play a
central role in the onset and maintenance of stress-related psychological illnesses such as
depression and anxiety disorders (Faravelli et al., 2012; Herbert, 2013; Morris et al., 2012).

Cortisol (C21H30O5), is a steroid hormone with a molecular weight of 362.46 g/mol.