Stress and mood go hand in hand; when stress levels rise, mood often dips. The reverse is also true; feeling low can make small stressors take on outsized importance. This interaction is largely regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls the body’s stress response. Understanding how stress and mood influence each other can help manufacturers develop effective strategies for supporting emotional well-being.How Stress Affects Mood
Stress isn’t always negative. In small doses, it can be motivating—helping someone meet a deadline or react quickly in a crisis. That’s because stress triggers the release of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, which provides the jolt of energy needed to handle challenges quickly and efficiently. The problem arises when stress becomes long-term.
Prolonged activation of the HPA axis can lead to persistently high cortisol levels.[i] Over time, excess cortisol disrupts serotonin and dopamine—neurotransmitters that regulate emotions, motivation, and pleasure—contributing to poor mood, irritability, and fatigue.[ii],[iii]
Stress also takes a toll on sleep. Anyone who’s ever lain awake at night, unable to keep their mind from spinning, knows how stress can hijack rest. The reason is that sleep and the stress response share a regulatory system: the HPA axis.[iv]
When stress throws this system off balance, it doesn’t just elevate cortisol; it also disrupts the body’s natural sleep-wake rhythm, making it harder to fall and stay asleep.[v] Thus begins the vicious cycle. Poor sleep chips away at emotional resilience, amplifies stress, and makes it even harder to maintain a positive mindset.
Just as stress can drag down outlook, low mood can make stress feel even more overwhelming. When emotions dip, the body’s stress response may become exaggerated, so that even minor challenges feel insurmountable.[vi]
Negative emotions can also keep the stress response running longer than necessary. People experiencing low mood often dwell on stressors instead of moving past them. This tendency—known as rumination—keeps the HPA axis activated, sustaining high cortisol levels and making stress feel never-ending.[vii] In fact, low mood itself can trigger the release of additional cortisol, fueling a situation where stress and emotional distress feed into each other.[viii]
On the other hand, a positive mood helps build resilience, making it easier to handle challenges and find solutions. Since neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine regulate both mood and stress, maintaining healthy levels of these brain chemicals supports a more balanced stress response.
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
References
[i] Karin O, Raz M, Tendler A, Bar A, Korem Kohanim Y, Milo T, Alon U. A new model for the HPA axis explains dysregulation of stress hormones on the timescale of weeks. Mol Syst Biol. 2020;16:e9510. doi:10.15252/msb.20209510.
[ii] Taffet GE, Toister-Achituv M, Shinitzky M. Enhancement of serotonin uptake by cortisol: a possible link between stress and depression. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2001 Mar;1(1):96-104. DOI: 10.3758/cabn.1.1.96
[iii] Dalvi-Garcia F, Fonseca LL, Vasconcelos ATR, et al. A model of dopamine and serotonin-kynurenine metabolism in cortisolemia: implications for depression. PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 May 10;17(5):e1008956. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008956
[iv] Hirotsu C, Tufik S, Andersen ML. Interactions between sleep, stress, and metabolism: From physiological to pathological conditions. Sleep Sci. 2015;8(3):143-152. doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2015.09.002.
[v] Phan TX, Malkani RG. Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption and stress intersect in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Stress. 2018;10:100133. doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2018.10.001.
[vi] Fiksdal A, Hanlin L, Kuras Y, Gianferante D, Chen X, Thoma MV, Rohleder N. Associations between symptoms of depression and anxiety and cortisol responses to and recovery from acute stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018;102:44-52. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.035.
[vii][vii] Zoccola PM, Dickerson SS. Assessing the relationship between rumination and cortisol: A review. J Psychosom Res. 2012;73(1):1-9. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.03.007.
[viii] Pascoe MC, de Manicor M, Tseberja J, et al. Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the mood benefits of meditation: a narrative review. Compr Pyschoneuroendocrinol. 2021 Mar;10:6:100037. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100037