After trying the viral “sleepy girl” mocktail last year — and failing to get any more Zzz’s — I decided to see if things might be different with the latest social media health trend.
Lately, TikTok has been blowing up over cortisol, with influencers claiming that nobody seems to have the perfect levels. They claim this causes a puffy face, bloating, and constant tiredness.
Enter the “cortisol cocktail” — a homemade beverage that users say reduces stress, restores energy, and balances hormones. And with a busy job (and still in need of more sleep), it seemed like the perfect thing to help me unwind after a long day.
Cortisol is often referred to as the “stress hormone,” but it also plays an essential role in regulating metabolism, inflammation, blood pressure, and the sleep-wake cycle. Health experts note that cortisol level fluctuations are natural and beneficial, unless associated with chronic stress or underlying illness.
A wide array of influencers have promoted cortisol, or adrenal, cocktails as they are also known. They claim that high levels of anxiety are a result of high cortisol levels and this drink helps the body reset.
One health influencer, madadelinemary, spoke of its benefits to her 300,000 TikTok followers. “It will replenish you, it will hydrate you, it will help you replenish your adrenals, so it can process those hormones and adrenaline,” she said in a video in May. “Your body is so stressed out that your adrenals are working in overdrive and your minerals are so depleted.”
Another health influencer, Valerie Ribbon, also shared her cortisol cocktail recipe with her 239,000 TikTok followers. “If you have high cortisol or you’re always tired, you need to be making adrenal cocktails every single day,” she said in one of her videos from January. “You can’t have healthy cortisol without having healthy adrenals, and these help nourish your adrenals and create energy on a cellular level.”
Some health companies have jumped on the trend and released adrenal cocktail powders that can be mixed with water instead of making the drink from scratch.
The homemade recipes online vary, but the one I followed consisted of 200 ml of coconut water (for potassium), the juice of half a lemon, 50 ml of orange juice (for vitamin C), one teaspoon of magnesium powder for muscle relaxation, one quarter teaspoon fine salt (for sodium), and sparkling water to taste.
Proponents of the cocktail claim it replenishes the body’s adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys and produce hormones including aldosterone, cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. These hormones are essential for bodily functions such as maintaining blood pressure and heart rate.
Unlike the “sleepy girl” mocktail, which is to be drank at bedtime, TikTok didn’t provide a solid answer on the cortisol beverage. Some social media users suggested first thing in the morning, so my levels start off balanced, while others told me to use it to treat an afternoon slump.
I made the executive decision to make the drink between 6 and 7 p.m., when I normally struggle to wind down after getting home from the office. The taste can best be described as approximating an orange-flavored Vitamin Water or a sports or electrolyte drink, without the added sugar content that sometimes comes along with it.
On day one, I did not feel any less stressed, but I was well hydrated. I persevered, drinking the cocktail every night for a week. Seven days later, however, I felt little difference. The drink was tasty but appeared to be nothing more than a placebo.
My suspicions were confirmed upon speaking to Julia Zumpano, a dietitian in preventive cardiology and rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic.
“There’s no science that backs this up,” she told The Independent when asked if there was any way a cortisol cocktail could lower stress levels.
She added: “There’s no harm in adding a little orange juice to some coconut water. Depending on the different recipes, what it’s giving you is electrolytes.”
Zumpano explained that, based on the ingredients she has seen listed in the cortisol cocktail, it could be viewed more for replenishing nutrients lost after having a stomach bug or similar illness.
While there may not be any negative side effects to having a cortisol cocktail or two throughout the day, she said people should still be mindful of how much sugar and salt they’re consuming.
And instead of turning to a TikTok trend to fix any problems that may arise from stress, Zumpano suggested looking at lifestyle factors, and not just trying to tame the stress once it’s already present.
“Things like getting adequate sleep, getting regular exercise, avoiding processed foods, limiting high sugar intake,” she said. “Those are going to help way more than this drink will.”
If these changes don’t appear to be working, Zumpano suggested meeting with a health care provider, “specifically a dietician,” to work through whether or not extra electrolytes could be helpful in adding to their daily routine.
Once I’m out of my stock of coconut water and OJ, I’ll be ending my dabble with the cortisol cocktail. While it didn’t deliver the stress-busting magic I hoped for, it did remind me how basic routines — like exercise and avoiding processed food — can be powerful. But, it was still far tastier than the “sleepy girl” mocktail.
