New Delhi, March 17 -- More and more people are living in a state of constant activation: poor sleep, nonstop stimulation, emotional overload, late meals, too much caffeine, and almost no real decompression. Reason why high cortisol is becoming the new normal. A 2024 report from Harvard Health Publishing notes that chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated and can interfere with sleep, digestion, reproduction, and growth-related processes.

What makes this worse is that this state is often mistaken for ambition, resilience, or productivity. Harvard Business Review has repeatedly framed burnout as the result of psychologically hazardous work patterns, not personal weakness. In consults, this is exactly what we see: people who are functioning ...