The Cortisol-to-DHEA Ratio
One number that tells you if you're rebuilding faster than stress is tearing you down.
Grounded in the research on dehydroepiandrosterone
The balance, not the number
Cortisol and DHEA both pour out of your adrenal cortex when you're stressed. Cortisol is catabolic: it breaks tissue down to free up fast energy. DHEA is anabolic: it buffers cortisol and helps you repair, build, and adapt. The ratio between them is the read. High cortisol alone isn't doom if DHEA is keeping pace. The ratio asks one thing: is your wreck-it hormone outrunning your fix-it hormone?
Same factory, opposite jobs
Both start from the same precursor, pregnenolone, made from cholesterol inside the adrenal cortex. From there the pathway forks: one branch builds cortisol, the other builds DHEA and its sulfate, DHEA-S. Because they share a starting material, chronic stress can tilt the whole assembly line toward cortisol output. DHEA-S is also the single most abundant steroid hormone in your blood, which is why it's the steady baseline you measure cortisol against.