You stopped drinking caffeine and invested in blue light blockers but still can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep. Hormones can have an effect not only on your mood, metabolism, and production but also on the amount of sleep you get each night. It is important to balance your hormones in order to get the rest your body needs every night, but that cannot be easy. So, what can you do? Let’s explore how hormones impact your sleep.
Understanding what are the hormones that impact sleep
The endocrine system, composed of various glands, produces and circulates about 50 different hormones. Each gland manufactures and releases its specific hormone, carrying out unique functions. How is this related to sleep?
Certain hormones, such as cortisol and melatonin, can affect the body that can interfere with sleep. Stress, anxiety, anger, and sexual excitement are some of the reasons why hormones can stop you from falling asleep.
6 key hormones which are associated with sleep :
1. Oestrogen – Oestrogen, a key hormone for women’s reproductive health, plays an essential role in the menstrual cycle. Estrogen helps your body use serotonin, a key neurotransmitter for feeling good. Fluctuating estrogen levels can cause sleep-related symptoms, especially when low.
2. Progesterone – Progesterone is a female sex hormone that has a huge impact on sleep quality.Estrogen is essential for good sleep, as its levels affect the ability to fall asleep, mood, and cramps.
3. Testosterone – The body produces testosterone, a hormone crucial for its functioning, in both men and women. Testosterone levels decline gradually with age, affecting sleep quality and potentially leading to insomnia.
4. Insulin – Sleep is crucial for our daily lives, essential for overall health and well-being. However, many of us don’t know that our blood glucose levels can be affected by sleep deprivation. This hormone, known as insulin, plays a vital role in controlling blood glucose levels. When we don’t get enough sleep, it can raise our blood sugar levels and encourage unhealthy late-night eating habits. This, in turn, triggers an insulin release, causing our blood glucose levels to fluctuate throughout the night. When the level of blood glucose is higher, this can lead to a more restless night’s sleep than normal.
5. Cortisol – We all know how important a good night’s sleep is for our overall health and well-being, but what happens when our sleep is disrupted? It could be a sign of an underlying health issue, such as high cortisol levels. The adrenal glands produce cortisol, a steroid known as the stress hormone, which controls blood sugar levels, regulates metabolism, reduces inflammation, and enhances memory. But when cortisol levels get too high, it can lead to a whole host of health problems such as high blood pressure, mood swings, anxiety, depression, and rapid weight gain—all of which can disrupt our sleep.
6. Melatonin – Sleep is an essential part of our daily lives, and the hormone melatonin plays a major role in regulating our sleep cycles. The brain’s response to light and darkness regulates the production of this hormone, ensuring adequate sleep for a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
What you can do to control hormone levels.
Now that you have a better understanding of the hormones that affect your sleep, it’s time to use this information and get a good night’s rest.
Here are some things you can do to help balance your hormones:
- Reduce using screens before bed. Watching TV or talking on the phone before bed can lower melatonin levels, seriously affecting the ability to fall asleep. Try reading a book or playing music.
- Destress. Doing something relaxing before bed can make all the difference in the quality of your sleep. Whether it’s meditation, ASMR, yoga, massage, exercise, candles, lavender oil, or knitting – anything that makes you feel comfortable and relaxed, make the most of it, and you’ll be falling asleep in no time.
- Set a routine. The human body likes to follow a set routine of its circadian rhythm. Try to fall asleep and wake up at the same time every day. While it might be tempting to sleep in, oversleeping can make you feel worse in the long run and cause just as many problems as not getting enough sleep.
- Watch when you eat. Eating before bed is not a good idea because it increases your insulin and cortisol levels. If you eat and manage to fall asleep before bedtime, deep REM sleep will become more difficult, and the quality and duration of your sleep will be affected.
Understanding the hormones that affect sleep is the first step to understanding your body and making the changes necessary to get a good night’s sleep. Take the time to understand your body’s natural rhythms and develop sleep habits that support a balanced sleep cycle. Track Your Max of Webster, TX, helps you take control of your life and results with hormone test panels that can reveal a number of underlying health concerns affecting your health and sleep quality. Call (832) 400-9501 to get started. Once you’ve done that, you can rest.
