How To Fix Your Circadian Rhythm To Balance Cortisol

- Laura Lambe

Your circadian rhythm, often referred to as your sleep wake cycle, is responsible for a lot of our health factors, regulating metabolism, hormones and our energy levels. Having high cortisol can knock this rhythm off causing issues to your metabolism, hormone regulation and hence general overall health 

Cortisol is in danger of becoming a fear tactic on social media - Our body needs to produce cortisol. The production of this hormone kickstarts our circadian rhythm each day and helps us feel energized throughout the day

Cortisol has many important functions in our body: 

• Reduces inflammation
• Helps with the metabolism of glucose 
• Controls our blood pressure 

So we NEED cortisol in our body, too much cortisol is where we start to run into health issues. 

When our cortisol hormone levels become unbalanced we can experience many side effects, one being the disruption of our Circadian Rhythm 

The other hormone involved in the Circadian Rhythm is melatonin 

Our body produces this hormone to mainly help us sleep but it also plays a role in regulating our menstrual cycles and even brain health 

Again if our melatonin levels become unbalanced this can disrupt our Circadian Rhythm

Signs your circadian rhythm is off sync

• Fatigue 
• Brain fog feeling 
• Poor immunity or getting unwell often 
• Weight gain, especially around the tummy 
• Reduced sex drive 
• Broken sleep (trouble falling asleep or disruptions to sleep)
• Skin issues (acne, dry skin, random blemishes)

You can also request an adrenal stress hormone test from your doctor to see where your cortisol levels are and whether or not you are on the path to an adrenal burn out

How To Regulate Your Circadian Rhythm

• Increase sleeping hours to 7-8 a night 
• Reduce caffeine 
• DELAY Caffeine intake (explained below)
• Introducing a schedule for sleep and wake times 
• Enhance your bedroom environment 
• Exposure to natural sunlight as earlier as possible 
• Blue block glasses in the evenings 

After coaching 100s of women who lead stressful lives and/or are going through menopause - two of the most common people who have unbalanced circadian rhythms the two most impactful ones from this list in my experience are reducing caffeine and exposure to natural sunlight 

Lets talk about delaying caffeine because if you have high cortisol levels this will be great to help the natural regulation of this hormone 

Regardless if you have unbalanced cortisol levels or not delaying your caffeine actually optimizes its effects and prevents energy crashes later in the day 

When we first waken our cortisol levels are at their highest. By allowing your body to naturally start decreasing its cortisol levels before you input caffeine will provide a greater and more sustainable energy boost. By drinking caffeine when your bodys natural levels are at its highest you can disturbed the natural regulation of the cortisol hormone 

A delay of 60-90mins is sufficient 

If you to speak to one of our registered dieticians or nutritionists to discuss your hormones, weight loss or health in general book a free consultation call below