Why do you test with saliva vs. blood or urine?
Hormones are everywhere, including your blood, urine, and saliva. In each body fluid the measurement gives us different information. The advantage of using saliva for measuring cortisol is three-fold.
- One: Cortisol is one of the body’s biomarkers that is reliably and accurately measurable through saliva.
- Two: Measuring cortisol in the morning in the privacy and routine of your day is the most accurate representation of what your body’s natural production of cortisol is, compared to after you haul yourself to a lab visit full of bright lights and needle pricks.
- Three: Saliva measures the unbound hormone, meaning it’s the amount of cortisol that is actively available for doing its job.
Note: Blood-based cortisol tests can only highlight when there is an extreme excess or deficiency.