Is your sleep disturbed? Do you have trouble falling asleep? Do you wake up tired?

Today we live in a society where advertisers know that difficulties with sleep are common. If you think about it, how many energy drink and coffee commercials boast about how to stop feeling tired, especially in the morning? Most of them do. Why is this so common? It is because of stress (physical, chemical, and mental), diet, and lack of exercise. One of the main components of our response to stress is a hormone called cortisol.

What does cortisol do?

Cortisol is a hormone that is released throughout the day to stabilize blood glucose levels between meals (including during sleep). It is released from glands that sit on top of each of your kidneys. Cortisol functions in a normal rhythmic pattern (cycle). Cortisol should be high in the AM, gradually decline throughout the day, and be low before you go to bed.

If your sleep patterns are affected by cortisol imbalance, you will experience difficulty either falling asleep or staying asleep.

If your cortisol is high before bed you will have a hard time falling asleep because cortisol excites your brain function, so you can’t relax and go to sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 65 percent of Americans report experiencing a sleep problem, such as difficulty falling asleep, waking during the night, and waking feeling unrefreshed at least a few times each week, with nearly half (44%) of those saying they experience that sleep problem almost every night. If this is something you struggle with, know that you are not alone.

If you experience abnormally low cortisol levels, you may fall asleep quickly but will wake up 2-4 hours after falling asleep. This is because the amount of glucose stored in your body lasts about that long. Under normal circumstances, when your body depletes liver glucose stores, your adrenals (adrenal glands) should release cortisol which helps create new glucose for your brain and body to use. Unfortunately, when you have this imbalance of cortisol, there is no cortisol to create more glucose. At this point, your body has no other option but to initiate a stress response and release epinephrine/norepinephrine (adrenaline) which wakes you up so that you can eat to feed your brain.

The only reason for an abnormal daily cortisol cycle is a bodily response to an alarm or stress signal. The complications that arise with both of these kinds of dysfunction are seemingly endless.

Some of the common signs and symptoms of cortisol imbalance are: craving salts, slow starting in the morning, afte
oon fatigue or headaches, weight gain during times of stress, waking up tired even after 6 or more hours of sleep, and excessive sweating or sweating with little or no activity.

If any of these situations or symptoms are present in your life, the time to take action is now. A chronic stress response initiated by an imbalance of cortisol will have detrimental effects on your health and your quality of life. There are answers, and they are needed now more than ever. Get the guidance you need to take action and start living the life you deserve!