But just can’t get to sleep or STAY asleep?

There are a number of causes of sleep problems… let’s first take a look at some of the “physical” reasons.

Your adrenal glands play a huge role in your sleep… if your adrenal glands are worn out or stressed from lack of nutrients or too much stress in your life then this is going to be a key area in your body to fix!

Both too high and too low night time cortisol hormone (made by the adrenal glands) levels can cause sleep disturbances. A saliva cortisol test done at night and compared with daytime levels and with the test standards for those times will help determine if this is a problem.

If cortisol is the culprit, your cortisol levels will be significantly higher or lower than normal for those times. If night time cortisol levels are too low, exercising in the evening, before going to bed, may improve sleep because exercise tends to raise cortisol levels.

If night time cortisol levels are too high, doing relaxation exercises in before going to bed, may calm your adrenals and lower cortisol levels.

The specific yoga posture called the alternate leg pull can be quite helpful in getting to sleep or returning to sleep. This is a basic yoga posture that almost any yoga book or video will describe but an instructor is preferable because there is some subtlety to doing this posture.

There can be several reasons for sleeplessness with Adrenal Fatigue. Waking between 1:00 and 3:00 AM, may indicate that your liver is lacking the glycogen reserves needed by your adrenals to keep blood glucose levels high enough during the night. Blood sugar is normally low during the early morning hours but if adrenal function is low, blood glucose levels may sometimes fall so low that hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) symptoms disrupt sleep during the night.

This is often the case when there are also panic or anxiety attacks, nightmares, or sleep is fitful between 1:00 and 4:00 AM.

To help counteract this have one or two bites of a snack that contains protein, unrefined carbohydrate, and high quality fat before going to bed, such as half a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter or a slice of cheese on a whole grain cracker. Along with this take vitamin D3 (2000 - 4000 iu).

Ensure your adrenal glands are producing hormones properly and eat plenty of protein with additional nutrition and have a good nights sleep…nighty night!

Back to top