This morning I got the results of my female hormone test back. These are results from a couple of saliva tests that I did last week. The results show that my estrogen/progesterone level is in the normal range. This is great news and a great improvement from 14 months ago, as estrogen dominance was the contributor to my fibroids and ovarian cyst.

However, there are some "irregularities" regarding my cortisol level. It is within normal range upon waking (improvement from "too high" half a year ago). At lunch time it is on the high side. Then dinner time it's back to normal. At night time (around 1am) it went back up.

From this site I have read that cortisol and blood sugar level are somehow connected. I wonder if the reading was a result of my low blood sugar level at the time of collection, because I remember having the feeling of "starving" when collecting saliva.

Or could this be a deeper level issue that needs to be addressed seriously? I know that I don't go to bed early enough due to the nature of my work. I have to stay up till 2am during the week and my body gears up toward the end of the day rather than winding down. However, I do sleep very well and undisturbed most of the time, and these days I sleep for about 6-7 hours straight.

Does anyone have experience with high or irregular cortisol level? If so, how do you deal with it?

I use adaptogens as gingko, withania, ginseng and vit C all the time to help my A cortisol, and I have not fallen down into adrenal exhaustion totally for this Dr D suggestion for cortisol in A Blood group. Hunters,  I guess, so perfectionist have this risk themselves and the treatment could be the same, alternate nostril breathing pranajama, Yoga, tai chi and these adaptogens herbs plus vit C. my two cents !

Cortisol levels are typically highest in the morning, around 8 am, and taper off as the day progresses.  Cortisol is used to raise your blood sugar when it gets too low.  Producing cortisol in the morning is part of what wakes you up and gets you going in the morning!

If your cortisol levels are going back up again at night, you are probably staying up too late.  Ideally we go to bed when we first get sleepy.  Unfortunately, we often fight it off, or don't even notice it because we're so busy or stressed out.  If we keep pushing on, our adrenal glands will give us another shot of cortisol to keep us going, a sort of "second wind".

As useful as this is, it's very hard on the adrenals because they should be resting and recovering at that time, instead of working overtime.  It's not good for the rest of the body, either, as this is prime time for healing and regeneration.

watch your frequency guidelines and values per week or day for each of your food groups....make a chart.....
stay within those values

Ah, thanks TJ. It makes sense to me now. The high level at lunch time was due to my starving/low blood sugar level and the one at night time was due to me staying up too late. Got to find a way to get to bed earlier... not easy as my shift ends at 2am  

Lola,
I have a spreadsheet of what I eat every day but I need to analyze it more and do more calculations on the frequencies/amount. My biggest challenge now is that night time snack. As I need to stay up late for work, I always get hungry not long before bed time.... what to do?

Quoted from Maria Giovanna

I use adaptogens as gingko, withania, ginseng and vit C all the time to help my A cortisol, and I have not fallen down into adrenal exhaustion totally for this Dr D suggestion for cortisol in A Blood group. Hunters,  I guess, so perfectionist have this risk themselves and the treatment could be the same, alternate nostril breathing pranajama, Yoga, tai chi and these adaptogens herbs plus vit C. my two cents !

Thanks Maria. I do alternate nostril breathing every day before meditation. Vitamin C, yes, recently I started to take Proberry caps and upped the dosage a bit as it's the flu season. I think I'm pretty Ok during the day. It's that night time work that makes it a challenge for me.

make more nutrient dense meals throughout the day so you actually never get hungry per se.......

Hmm,the trouble is, I already do! And I actually feel less desperate need to forage for snacks nowadays  .
And for dinner, which takes place pretty late, around 9-ish, I have a good portion of meat and veggies that filled me up nicely. But only 2-3 hours later I get hungry because my stomach is digesting the meat so nicely  

Those glasses we discussed on another thread help with shift work. http://www.lowbluelights.com If it were me, I would be using those and figure out a way to absolutely black out my bedroom and shift my pattern forward so that it was normal for me to sleep later in the morning and go to bed later. It's not ideal, but you can use light to shift your cycle (or mess it up).

How much exercise do you get, and what type?

AKArtlover, thanks for the suggestion. Those glasses look cool   It would be ideal to increase melatonin production a few hours before bed; however, my dilemma is that I "need" to be fully awake to perform my job. It really isn't an ideal work schedule.

DOS, I take brisk walk every day, sometimes add a little bit of small jogs. Then three times a week I take ballet lessons, about 1 to 1.5 hours each. I usually work up a really good sweat during those lessons, even though ballet is not considered cardio exercise. I wonder if that is good enough???

I got you. If I'm in a cycle, they don't really make me sleepy-- they stop me from being amped and awake after I wind down. Not sure how to explain it. It puts the choice back into it.

I understand the dilemma, if you don't choose to sleep in, you could get really tired by the time your shift is ended.

I think some of the articles on that site talk about the effects of artificial lights on shift workers.

A sunrise timer on a lamp can also help with regulating wake up.

TJ, nice explanation.

Thanks AKArtlover, I will spend more time going through the site and find out more about shift workers and sunrise timer. This is all new to me!

Well only you can say if Ballet is enough. You could try running or something to see how you respond.

I have no idea what level of ballet you are doing. If you do very many phrases, especially repeating them, then I would imagine it would become aerobic (it does in modern dance).

At ballet class, I usually do short exercises each lasting for a max of 16 counts... so probably not enough to count as cardio. But for me it feels like a very good workout already!

As for running, I have tried but I got pain in my calves/knees/ankles. Maybe going to fast too soon... I need to figure out a good way to do it without hurting myself. But I have been so *lazy* since the cold weather started  .

You could try just doing sprints to build up muscle. Shin splints and stuff like that seem to be more based out of continued running.

I think your cortisol will level out if you find a way to get some intense exercise.

Just so you know from what I have read studies show people that maintain good exercise in their legs suffer from less problems later with knees/arthritis etc. It seems hard to believe but it seems like either go for it and it works itself out eventually or you lose it altogether.

Great tips. Let me find out how to do that!
I'm all for using our muscles coz if you don't use them you lose 'em!

Dr. Nash gave me an ok on this when I was talking to her about my cortisol and inquiring about Holy Basil.

http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=GT1ACT

They've got all my individual info, like I said elsewhere, some DNA SNP's-- explorer, yep.

It has helped me regulate stress response very well as far as I can tell.

Biological process inside our body (cortisol formation, bone formation, and so on) follow a circardian rythum (of approximately 24 hours) and you daily habits (of sleep and awake cycle) affect the operation of the rythum and changes the biological processes and timing. "early to bed and early to rise" helps in setting the biological clock right.

Quoted from AKArtlover

Dr. Nash gave me an ok on this when I was talking to her about my cortisol and inquiring about Holy Basil.

http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=GT1ACT

They've got all my individual info, like I said elsewhere, some DNA SNP's-- explorer, yep.

It has helped me regulate stress response very well as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the suggestion. I am taking the Hunter Activator already though....

Quoted from Kumar

Biological process inside our body (cortisol formation, bone formation, and so on) follow a circardian rythum (of approximately 24 hours) and you daily habits (of sleep and awake cycle) affect the operation of the rythum and changes the biological processes and timing. "early to bed and early to rise" helps in setting the biological clock right.

Yes, it would be the ideal situation if I could follow this axiom. At least, I don't have to rise early and go to bed late like before. I fixed my schedule so I can sleep until I have slept enough in the morning after pulling those late-nighters. However, sometimes it's impossible because of pressure on my bladder due to my fibroids. I wake up early no matter what .

Quoted Text

Biological process inside our body (cortisol formation, bone formation, and so on) follow a circardian rythum

http://www.4yourtype.com/methylb12.asp

http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NP066

Great explanation TJ.  I'm on the low side with cortisol too but only had one blood test in the am that showed that.

From what I read and have noticed with me, it's best to sleep in (you must if you work late at night!!!).  They reckon the adrenals are at peak cortisol at 8am so if you can sleep in past that say till 9 then they get to regenerate themselves.  Wonder if you could still get up and go to the toilet and go back to bed.  I can but then again I'm an A and don't get the big adrenalin rush that Os like DH get - where he can wake up and start running before his brain is awake  

That second wind at night is really bad as it can mean that you end up staying up late and then wake up very tired in the am.  I got it last night because my child woke me up talking in her sleep and I panicked.  Darn it!  Today I'm in a fog so forgive me if this is rambly.

As a nonnie you may know we have trouble turning off our digestive juices so fasting is never a good idea.  If I stay up late and have dinner at 9 say at 12 I need to have a snack or I won't be able to sleep properly with a grumbling tummy.  A protein snack is good late at night.  Then I can go to sleep fine.  Wonder if that might help you too.  Sometimes a hot carob drink and spelt bread is enough, or peanut butter on toast etc.  Nuts may be good.  Follow your diet and choose something easy to digest.  

Cortisol fluctuations in the night can cause people to sleep badly (like when your blood sugar drops too low and you end up waking up), that's why the snack before bed can be a big improvement.  

Glad your other hormones are better.  Dr D is the best and you've done the work!

A snack late at night has always given me good dreams, & I assumed (in my ignorance) it was to do with the extra work the body was doing digestion wise... But this makes me think it must be because my cortisol or blood sugar stayed level so I got into rem sleep??!!

Symbi,

Long time no "see"! Thanks for your suggestion. For my sleep in the morning, I usually don't try to go back to sleep because I often feel lousy afterwards or tired the whole day. I remember Dr D mentioned in his LR4YT book to stay up once you've woken up. Unfortunately for me that's sometimes only 4 hours of sleep as I wake up due to bladder pressure from my fibroids. So it's usually not hunger that wakes me up.

I have been taking bed-time snacks quite frequently in the past month and have seen my weight going up steadily. (I love to eat almond butter and maybe it gives me too much fat? Not sure if that's the path I want to continue on so I tried to skip them the past 2-3 days and it seems to contribute to some weight loss.

Possum,

How nice that you get good dreams when you have eaten late night snacks... Last night I had the most terrible dream (after skipping my snack--so maybe there are some correlations  ). In the dream I was killed (bombed) by police officers while on an escape in a jeep with an accomplice... and was witnessing my own demise It woke me up after 4 hours of sleep!!! Thank goodness it was just a dream