Re: Why waking up at 5 am anxious? by WoolPippi ..... Adrenal Fatigue Forum
Date: 5/20/2013 3:47:20 AM ( 12 y ago)
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URL: https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=2067041
I had this all my life, even as a child. Five hours sleep, wake up and be REALLY alert. Alertness weanes after about one hour and a half. Try to sleep some more. Start the day.
Before I became ill (at age 35) this was not a problem. Plenty of cortisol to go around!
Because yes, this is a cortisol peak. Half time of cortisol is 1,5 hours which explains why you calm down after that period.
This is the peak 'normal people' use to rise and get out of bed with in the morning.
I have no idea why we get it in the middle of the night instead of in the morning. That is something everybody has to figure out for themselves.
I can tell you my story, because I learned to sleep through eventually. With me, it had to do with my nervous system being in Fight or Flight all the time. I was never 'safe'.
Pretty much what Omo the Llama says in this thread!
I taught my system to get out of that modus. You know the alternative for Fight or Flight right? It's Rest and Digest. Run by that other body system, the parasympathetic nervous system. It regulates all the things you cannot control with your mind such as bp, heart rate, digest enzymes, bowel motility, saliva. You can mess it up with your mind though, just activate the sympathetic system, get into that Fight or Flight and the parasympathetic system takes a back seat.
Besides training/allowing my body to get into Rest and Digest I had to make sure my body was not harrased throughout the night: no fluids after 7 o'clock at night; no gluten; a level blood Sugar all throughout the day (through a high fat diet) and supplements such as magnesium citrate and something against dust mite allergy right before sleep. And bio-identical progesterone because I have a shortage of that. (it is a soothing hormone whereas estrogens and testosteron are energizing hormones)
I started to sleep through the night. Not all nights, but some. It felt wonderful!
Recently I have been taking Zinc pills which causes Copper excess to dump. This causes all my usual AF symptoms to revisit with a vengeance. I lie awake at night again. So it does have to do with body chemistry (messed up) and brain chemistry(also)
I think this is where you will find your answer too. Your personal answer.
I now do 3 weeks of zinc and not sleeping, one week recovering. In that week the sleeping through returns. I hope that when my Zinc levels are healthy again to have a better chance at sleeping through the night again.
Unless there's something else that causes that cortisol peak. I will investigate then.
Good luck!
Ps. I take hourlong horizontal rests during the day, to get into Rest and Digest. And I make sure I have physical activity so that I am tired at night. And activity helps hormones and waiste to get processed. Yawning and stretching while doing so is also extremely important (lymph system)
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