High Tide for Cortisol? Try Sailing

Mar 24
2 min read

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including

you.” — Anne Lamott

Ever wake up feeling like your brain started the day before you did? That’s cortisol doing its morning thing. It’s the body’s natural “rise and shine” hormone. A little spike helps you get moving.

I know a lot about cortisol. It was either the job or my high-functioning brain that kept sleep away many nights over the years. Since leaving my job at Yale, I rarely need a remedy for sleep. That may also have something to do with getting older.

Modern life loves to keep cortisol surfing all day long. Emails, news, bills, traffic, overload of stimulation. Ping. Ping. Ping. Before you know it, your nervous system is sailing full tilt in a storm.

The good news? The ocean could be cortisol’s kryptonite.

Step onto a boat and the body shifts. Tension leaves the shoulders. Breathing slows. Your brain stops juggling all those thoughts and tasks and starts paying attention to the important things required for sailing. Your job: just watch and breathe.

I feel it every time I step into my captain role. Nothing else matters except sail trim, feeling how the boat is performing, tracking the boats around us, noticing guests relaxing on the bow, knowing the cook has lunch covered. Somehow taking in all those details at once brings a deep sense of calm. It reminds me of when I used to develop photographs in the darkroom—hours could pass without me noticing. I was completely in “the zone”.

Island hopping, sunsets from another part of the world, gentle rocking, are all healthy ways to support your immune system. The body loves a horizon. Wide open space tells the nervous system: “Relax. All clear out here. Nothing on the horizon, but open water.”

It’s hard to have a cortisol crisis when the only decision is which island to sail to next.

So if your cortisol is peaking here on land…sailing may be the best remedy of all. It might be time to prescribe yourself a little vitamin sea. ⚓🌊

And if you happen to know a captain who sails to beautiful islands 😉⛵… well, that’s a pretty good place to start.

Wishing you wide open horizons,

Joy 💙