Here’s the viral cortisol spike meme explained, and the dark reason it’s all over TikTok

For the past few months on TikTok, people have been talking about having a cortisol spike, so here’s what the viral meme actually means.

What does your ‘cortisol spiking’ actually mean?

Cortisol is a steroid hormone naturally produced in our bodies to regulate metabolism and control blood pressure. It’s nicknamed the stress hormone because it also plays a role in our natural fight-or-flight reflexes. Having high cortisol can cause serious health problems, like fatigue, high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. Low cortisol is just as bad for you – it can cause extreme weight loss, fatigue and hypertension.

@copy3521

work is for losers #worklife #cortisol #lazy

♬ Originalton – jpgjq

Okay, so now that we’ve got the science-y stuff out of the way, what does it mean for your cortisol to spike? Well, simply put, this just means you’re in a high-pressure or stressful situation that triggers a “spike” in your body’s cortisol production. People on TikTok are using it to describe everything from going through a break-up to losing a video game. But most often, cortisol-spiking clips are linked to the controversial content creator Clavicular.

It’s actually connected to looksmaxxing and incel culture

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The reason you’re hearing people throw around super science-y language is because of looksmaxxing. A big part of the looksmaxxing community is assigning a number to everything and everyone. Looksmaxxers rate each other on a scale of 1 to 10 and talk about things like a recessed maxilla (an underdeveloped upper jawbone). So instead of saying “he looks stressed”, they lean on the science-based terminology of cortisol spiking – half as a joke, half seriously.

@clavclipskick

Cortisol spiked high #clavicular #fy

♬ 1oneam where you at lullaby – ligington

Because looksmaxxing is everywhere right now, vocabulary that was typically associated with niche corners of the internet, like “mogging”, is suddenly a lot more common. So next time you see a new slang word or meme floating around the internet, you might have incels to thank.

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Featured image via TikTok