Working out more or less doesn’t seem to change how your body’s stress hormone, cortisol, spikes when you wake up — it’s about the same no matter how active you are.

People who do a moderate amount of exercise seem to have the most stable morning stress hormone levels, but the data isn't clear enough to say for sure that exercise level actually affects this stability.

People who move more during the day tend to have healthier stress hormone patterns, with cortisol dropping more naturally as the day goes on — a sign their body handles stress better.

Exercise might help your body handle stress better, especially when studied in controlled trials, but the effect isn't huge and varies a lot between people.