Could the most important meal of the day, breakfast, help us adjust cortisol levels for a better night’s sleep?
One of the symptoms of menopause is having trouble settling down, going to sleep, and sleeping throughout the night. There are different factors to consider when we experience sleep deprivation.
One of them being our stress hormone cortisol, which elevates with stress and indicates when it’s time to be on high alert. Level of cortisol is the highest in the morning and the lowest at night. However, it turns out, that not only does cortisol increase with age, but a study also found that cortisol levels increases during the night for perimenopause and early post-menopause women.
If cortisol increases at night during menopause, could that be a reason for our trouble with sleep during menopause? If so, what can we do to help control levels of cortisol? Turns out that by having breakfast you’re preventing cortisol levels from staying elevated. It helps bringing the cortisol level down from the morning peak allowing your body to reach a steady state throughout the day. However, if we don’t have breakfast, your cortisol levels will stay elevated.
What happens with the cortisol levels at night if it’s at an elevated level all day? Could that be having an impact on your ability to settle down and sleep at night? We know that skipping breakfast causes cortisol levels to remain elevated. It may be that your cortisol levels are too high throughout the day and into the night impeding your body’s ability to decrease the level of cortisol to the normal night level. Thus, with elevated cortisol you are having trouble settling down and going to sleep. Now What? Try having breakfast. It might help with your cortisol levels and sleeping habits. If you are finding yourself struggle to have time to make breakfast in the morning – try making it the night before and have it ready for you to enjoy. Here are a few recipes that you can use for a quick breakfast “on-the-go”. Click HERE!
So, how can you make sure your cortisol levels and blood sugar maintain stable throughout the day? Plan your meals! Do your meal planning once a week to avoid overeating, grabbing unhealthy food, and leaving too long time between meals. Planning your days will help keep your metabolism active, limit spikes of cortisol, limit spikes in blood sugar and save your energy and mind to enjoy your daily life without constantly thinking and deciding on what and when to eat. Need help to get started? Schedule a one-on-one call with me to determine if I can help you manage your menopause symptoms through natural behavioral changes - schedule here!