Dan Greenfield has a lot on his plate. One glance at his calendar and it\u2019s easy to see why.<\/p>\n
As The Post\u2019s chief of staff, he spends his days racing between meetings, settling office disputes and juggling high-level projects far above my pay grade as a wellness reporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been stressed my entire adult life,\u201d Dan, 58, admitted. \u201cI work in a very fast-paced, hard-driving environment, and I have been doing it for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as I contend with nonstop deadlines, the 24-hour news cycle and life as a young, broke New Yorker, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: Who\u2019s really more stressed \u2014 the 25-year-old rookie reporter or the seasoned exec?<\/p>\n
Stress affects the physical health of 77% of people, the American Institute of Stress reports. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n
To find out, we turned to Eli Health<\/a>, a Montreal startup behind the world\u2019s first at-home cortisol test<\/a>, which delivers a snapshot of your body\u2019s main stress hormone in minutes.<\/p>\n The science of stress<\/p>\n Produced by the adrenal glands, cortisol fuels the body\u2019s fight-or-flight response and helps regulate immunity, inflammation, blood pressure and blood sugar.<\/p>\n It also plays a key role in the sleep-wake cycle, peaking in the morning to boost alertness and tapering off at night to help the body wind down for sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s often referred to as the CEO of hormones,\u201d Marina Pavlovic Rivas, co-founder and CEO of Eli Health, told The Post. \u201cI\u2019ve heard doctors say that hormones are not a democracy, it\u2019s a dictatorship, and cortisol is always the dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n When cortisol levels fall out of balance, the effects ripple through the body. Chronically high levels can lead to weight gain<\/a>, muscle weakness<\/a>, mood swings, skin problems and a higher risk of diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Until recently, testing meant sending blood, urine or saliva samples to a lab \u2014 a slow, cumbersome process that made getting timely insights nearly impossible.<\/p>\n Following a soft launch earlier this year, Eli Health\u2019s cortisol test is now on the market. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time you get the results, it\u2019s already been a few days, weeks or months,\u201d Pavlovic Rivas said. \u201cOur goal was to create real-time visibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Eli Health\u2019s at-home test, the \u201cHormometer<\/a>,\u201d looks like a COVID or pregnancy test but uses saliva to measure cortisol in about 20 minutes. A four-pack costs $32.<\/p>\n The company recommends testing every two weeks to track your \u201ccortisol curve,\u201d but for our experiment, Dan and I tested twice daily for three days to get a clearer picture of our stress patterns.<\/p>\n From saliva to stress score \u2014 and what \u2018Sunday scaries\u2019 are actually doing to you<\/p>\n Despite his packed schedule, Dan says he generally doesn\u2019t \u201chave stress over stress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not something I ever really worry about,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody\u2019s perfect \u2014 I certainly have my moments \u2014 but even with what I have on my plate, I don\u2019t ever feel overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n I can\u2019t relate. Just looking at the thousands of emails in my inbox makes me break out in a nervous sweat.<\/p>\n But Dan and I do share one thing: Neither of us can easily turn our brains off.<\/p>\n Younger millennials and Gen Z report higher stress, anxiety and depression than older generations. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI can never completely divorce myself from the work,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten better at being present, but it is a challenge and something that I have to work at.\u201d<\/p>\n At night, he stays up multitasking until his body finally gives in: \u201cI don\u2019t have trouble sleeping once I do it, but it\u2019s making myself go to bed that is the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHormones govern how we feel, function, perform and age, but they remain invisible in everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n Marina Pavlovic Rivas<\/p>\n I\u2019m no better. More than once, I\u2019ve rolled out of bed at 1 a.m. to jot down a story idea, fact-check an article or doomscroll into oblivion. And as much as I love my job, I\u2019ve experienced the \u201cSunday scaries<\/a>,\u201d brimming with anticipatory anxiety over my ever-growing to-do list and a busy upcoming workweek in a fast-paced newsroom.<\/p>\n Our bad habits showed up in our results.<\/p>\n In the mornings, both of our cortisol levels were generally within the normal range. But at night, things got interesting.<\/p>\n Dan\u2019s cortisol test results from the evening of Oct. 5 were above range. Dan Greenfield \/ NY Post.<\/p>\n Every evening Dan tested, his cortisol levels were significantly higher than average. That\u2019s not unusual, Pavlovic Rivas said \u2014 especially for people dealing with chronic stress. But it\u2019s not a good thing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen cortisol levels peak and dip at the wrong times, or stay elevated for prolonged periods of time, the body cannot perform optimally,\u201d she explained, noting that it can disrupt sleep, mess with energy, increase inflammation and even impair memory.<\/p>\n For Dan, the science hit close to home.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that my cortisol levels are high later at night doesn\u2019t surprise me,\u201d Dan said. \u201cI\u2019m going until I literally can\u2019t stay up any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n My cortisol levels stayed in the normal range \u2014 except Sunday night, when I was stressing about the week ahead.<\/p>\n Left unchecked, that dread can trigger a surge of adrenaline \u2014 increasing heart rate, speeding up breathing and making it tougher to fall asleep. It can also send cortisol levels climbing, trapping your body in stress mode.<\/p>\n Pavlovic Rivas recommends getting ahead of Sunday scaries with a relaxing activity that afternoon like meditating<\/a>, practicing yoga<\/a> or even making a to-do list.<\/p>\n \u201cThis can prevent that spike in cortisol before it even happens,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Cortisol levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day, as shown in McKenzie\u2019s results. McKenzie Beard \/ NY Post<\/p>\n Testing made simple \u2014 almost<\/p>\n The Hormometer is fairly easy to use, though not foolproof.<\/p>\n It\u2019s meant to be taken twice a day: once in the morning and again before bed.<\/p>\n You place the test under your tongue for a minute to collect saliva, let it sit for 20 minutes, then scan the QR code with an app on your phone.<\/p>\n We made it through mostly unscathed, though the tests do need a surprising amount of saliva to work. I went through three before finally producing enough spit to get a reading on the fourth try.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think there\u2019s enough saliva, put twice as much,\u201d Pavlovic Rivas advised.<\/p>\n Eli Health recommends testing cortisol at least every two weeks. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n Dan, meanwhile, struggled to get his phone to register the QR code.<\/p>\n Once it worked, though, the Hormometer delivered. Third-party testing<\/a> shows a\u00a097% correlation\u00a0with FDA-approved lab results, capable of detecting even small cortisol shifts.<\/p>\n The app also lets users track factors that influence cortisol \u2014 diet, exercise, energy levels, pain, medications and supplements \u2014 helping them identify patterns and make adjustments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s already a lot of studies that show how different lifestyle interventions<\/a> can have an impact on cortisol,\u201d Pavlovic Rivas said. \u201cBut when people actually see the data, it\u2019s clear feedback that enables them to prioritize different actions.<\/p>\n