What keeps you up at night?

Many of my clients struggle with insomnia, either having a hard time falling asleep or waking up at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night, tossing and turning. The average person needs about eight hours of sleep to give their body a chance to consolidate memories from the previous day, clean neuronal pathways from metabolic waste products, produce immune cells, and repair wear and tear in tissue following the day's activities. Insomnia is a problem not just because it makes you fatigued and cranky; it can become a whole-body condition. Insomnia affects your blood glucose because your body needs more energy to stay alert, even if it's 2 o'clock in the morning and you crave some shut eye. This means blood glucose levels rise during the night, disrupting your circadian metabolic rhythm. A disrupted metabolic clock leads to insulin resistance and diabetes. Fatigue and crankiness increase the hunger signals throughout the day. People who don't sleep well tend to snack constantly, usually on simple carbs, which can worsen their metabolic conditions. Insomnia promotes inflammation, especially in the brain. Brain fog and memory loss are common among people with disrupted sleep, but so are depression and anxiety. A study of people who slept six hours or less found they perceived the world and others as dangerous and reacted aggressively even in neutral situations. If you are struggling with insomnia and are trying to "fix" your insomnia, the first thing to do is to find the root cause of your insomnia. Stress and the HPA Axis Cortisol is the hormone that keeps us alert and engaged during the day. It should peak in the morning (helping you wake) and lower at night (allowing sleep). Cortisol, however, is also the hormone that keeps you alert when you sense a threat, or in other words, it is the stress hormone. Chronic stress disrupts the natural cortisol rhythm, often producing elevated evening cortisol that keeps the nervous system in a state of arousal when it should be winding down. There is no way to reduce evening cortisol secretion that doesn't go through stress reduction during the entire day. If you are suffering from chronic stress, what are some steps you can take to reduce your stress levels? Poor sleep hygiene I have this "movie" in my head of a mom who is also a career woman. She arrives home at 5:30 p.m. to begin preparing supper. In the living room, the TV is loud, and the kids are arguing. Her laptop is open on the kitchen counter, and she tries to answer some work emails when her teenage daughter comes with a letter from school that needs her response. When we think about sleep hygiene, we mostly think about blue lights and screens. I agree that blue light can trigger cortisol in your brain and keep you up; however, multitasking and the fast-paced lifestyle in the evening have the same effect. Even if you plan to fall asleep at 9:30 or 10 p.m., preparing your body for sleep should start around 6 p.m. Slowing down prepares the body and brain for sleep. Disrupted circadian cycle The circadian rhythm is your master biological clock; it manages not just sleep and awake cycles but also hormone secretion, body temperature, immune function, inflammatory responses, cell regeneration, and more. It is primarily calibrated by light and temperature cues from your environment. As a society that is always on the move, and with the help of light bulbs and blue light from LEDs and screens, we messed up our melatonin production, leading to dysregulated response to signals from our environment of light and darkness. A disrupted circadian cycle can lead to mental conditions. But also, some mental conditions like bipolar disorder and depression can mess with the circadian cycle. Blood sugar dysregulation Many people wake up in the middle of the night (3 a.m. is a classic time) because they have reactive hypoglycemia, a condition in which blood sugar crashes a few hours after the last meal. When the body senses a blood sugar crash, it releases counter hormones, including adrenaline, to help raise blood sugar back into the normal range. That hormonal surge is enough to pull someone out of sleep. A protein-rich snack before bed can often significantly smooth this out. Routine is the most important factor for supporting a good night's sleep. Your sleep routine should start in the morning with 30 grams of protein and at least 15 minutes of sun exposure when you wake up to help calibrate your circadian rhythm. If you struggle with insomnia, I suggest you avoid stimulants, including coffee, as well as alcohol. Plan to eat supper about four hours before bed. Digestion and absorption require plenty of energy and alertness from your body. Let your body shift into maintenance mode so it can fully relax. Waking up in the middle of the night? Prepare a handful of nuts on your bedside table and snack on them when you wake up. Also, follow up on your metabolic health. Reducing stress throughout the day and relaxing in the evening are crucial. Avoid activities that increase cortisol secretion in the evening, including exercise. Exercise can support sleep if it happens before four o'clock, but if you exercise in the evening, you might compromise your sleep. There are so many factors that support a good night's sleep that I didn't mention, like menopause in women and inflammation. Sleep support is built on a healthy endocrine system, which means stress (cortisol), metabolism (insulin and thyroid hormones), and reproductive hormone balance.