Do **adrenals and sleep problems** have anything to do with each other? Well, I'm going to explain. A lot of people have stress, and a lot of people have sleep problems. We're going to talk about one mechanism that is very commonly involved with that.
What Do the Adrenals Do?
Your **adrenal gland** sits on top of the kidney, and it is the gland that responds to **stress**. When your brain detects something urgent that you have to defend yourself against or deal with, it signals to the adrenals to increase hormones for energy production. This short-term energy comes from two things:
1. **Adrenaline**, which increases blood pressure, heart rate, and causes vasoconstriction.
2. **Cortisol**, which is also a **stress hormone** produced by the adrenal gland that raises **blood sugar** because blood sugar is the fastest way to get energy for an emergency situation.
The Cortisol and Melatonin Seesaw
When it comes to **sleep**, it's crucial to understand how **cortisol** relates to the sleep hormone, **melatonin**. Melatonin is secreted by your pineal gland and is what allows you to go to sleep; it regulates your **sleep cycle**.
Cortisol and melatonin are directly opposed to each other, meaning cortisol will turn off melatonin and vice-versa. However, cortisol always has the upper hand because it responds to stress. In a stress situation, we have to act immediately, so cortisol takes priority.
The Ideal Cortisol Rhythm
**Cortisol** helps regulate your **blood sugar**, and it does that during the night also. Ideally, cortisol is supposed to be at its lowest when you go to sleep. This is because you have fed yourself during the day, so your blood sugar is high and cortisol isn't needed. Because cortisol is low, it allows your melatonin to be high, which puts you to sleep.
Then, during the night, your blood sugar drops because you're not eating. The body has to create blood sugar from other sources, and **cortisol** is the signaling molecule that does that. So, cortisol rises through the night until you get ready to wake up in the morning. At that point, it's at its highest because it has maintained blood sugar all night. This high cortisol opposes melatonin the most, so your melatonin is at its lowest, and you wake up. It's a beautiful system.
During the day, when you have opportunities to feed yourself, cortisol is supposed to decline, dropping until it's at its lowest level around bedtime, and the cycle starts all over.
How Modern Diet Breaks the System
The problem is that we don't have **stable blood sugar** anymore in our society. We eat too many refined foods, too much sugar, and too many carbohydrates like grains and pasta. These foods cause a spike in blood sugar, which then triggers a lot of insulin, causing blood sugar to come crashing down and overshoot. This creates a **blood sugar rollercoaster**.
Whenever blood sugar is at a low point (a valley), it's called **hypoglycemia**. This is an emergency, and the body releases **cortisol** to correct it. As long as we keep eating foods that cause this rollercoaster, we get multiple episodes of hypoglycemia throughout the day. Each time, the body has to release cortisol, which fatigues the **adrenal gland** over time.
The more we fatigue the adrenals and the more we invoke **cortisol** during the day, the more irregular our cortisol rhythms become.
The Link to Waking Up at Night
So, how does this cause **sleep problems**? If we have unstable blood sugar that crashes throughout the night, the body has to do a burst of **cortisol** to correct it. This cortisol spike turns off the **melatonin**, and we wake up.
This is why a lot of people **wake up in the middle of the night** because of **blood sugar imbalances**. Furthermore, when the cortisol rhythm becomes unregulated, the curve becomes random and haphazard. Anytime we get a blood sugar drop and a concomitant cortisol spike, we tend to wake up.
The Long-Term Solution
The long-term solution, of course, is to **stabilize blood sugar**. This means stopping the intake of refined foods, processed foods, sugar, grains, pasta, and donuts because that's what sets up this vicious cycle in the first place.
Once you eat real food and achieve some **stable blood sugar**, it's a great idea to start doing some relaxation practices to further manage stress and support your adrenal health.
Understanding this connection between your **adrenal glands**, **cortisol levels**, and **blood sugar balance** is the first step toward solving those frustrating middle-of-the-night awakenings and achieving restorative sleep.
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