I know a bit about how to sleep effectively, as you can see from my own sleep story. There are many things we can do to recover our ability to rest optimally, but depending on how bad your sleep is this can take time to both initially implement consistently, and to eventually see results. However, I assure you that it is possible if you can retake control of your internal and external environments. As someone who has recovered from severe clinical PTSD which came with years of awful sleep, nightmares, chronic exhaustion, inflammation, excess fat storage, depression, anxiety etc. this is a subject close to my heart and something that I am keen to help others with.
Good sleep relies on a properly self-regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and, by extension, the presence of the correct balance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Adrenaline and cortisol are key hormones which affect the activation of our parasympathetic nervous system which then signals the brain to adjust its balance of neurotransmitters, which in turn affects how we feel. GABA is the neurotransmitter responsible for allowing the body to physically relax and let go so GABA production is key in the process of sleep, and its production is indirectly inversely related to cortisol via the interplay between excitatory and inhibitory neural pathways. Cortisol is a very useful system for activating us to respond to threats and perform at our best, but too much of it, or release at the wrong time of day/night causes problems. Elevated cortisol late in the day is the cause of insomnia, and spikes in the middle of the night can wake us up and prevent us from going back to sleep therefore making this system work for us is crucial.
When the HPA axis is function correctly, Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is released at the correct time and regulates circadian rhythm by timing the release of cortisol. However, this process is also mediated by stress; CRH stimulates the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn triggers the adrenal glands to produce cortisol. This is how an overly stressful life disrupts our ability to rest effectively and is counter-intuitive, the more stress you have the more sleep you need, but the less you can get. Therefore, if you are not sleeping as well as you would like something is very wrong with how you are living your life – you are exceeding your stress management capabilities and if things are not adjusted the situation will only get worse.
Stress negatively impacts HPA axis function which regulates sleep. Chronic stress therefore leads to severely impaired sleep and this, over a long enough time, leads to severe metabolic dysfunction and with it the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity – the biggest killers in our society. There is something wrong here with our societal attitude to stress. Family life, work culture, even how some people aggressively approach exercise are, in the main, toxic for us long term. You could look at the fundamental purpose of biohacking as HPA axis regulation because failures here are the root of chronic disease.
So where are we going wrong?
The takeaway from the above is that we need to regulate our HPA axis so that it leads to lower cortisol and increased GABA when we want to sleep. One way to do that would be to take sufficient amounts of Ashwaghanda (for cortisol management) and L-Theanine (for GABA production) at the right times of day along with some melatonin which counteracts high CRH to regulate that HPA function. However, I’m here to teach you how to develop long term habits that will fix your life, not enable you to continue to live badly while cleverly masking the results with nootropics. “Sleep stacks” are all the rage, with people coming up with complex dosages and timings of a stack of noots to enable them to sleep. People sometimes ask me “what’s in your sleep stack?”, assuming it must be great to get these kind of consistent scores. They are then surprised to hear that I don’t have one. My last group of supplements gets consumed with my final meal mid afternoon, there is no sleep stack required when your HPA axis is regulated. Thats not to say I don’t take an array of supplements that help with my ability to sleep and regulate myself, but these are part of a longer-term, preventative stress management protocol and not something I rely on in order to force state changes and get the rest that I need to function adequately.
What we are trying to do in order to effectively regulate our sleep is firstly increase melatonin production which in the short term this regulates HPA axis function, but secondly, the longer term goal is reducing cortisol at the wrong time of day and increasing natural GABA production.
Food
What we eat affects cortisol, which is released in response to stress and inflammation.
- Inflammatory foods like transfats and an imbalance of (too much) omega-6 fats (as is sometimes seen in vegetarian diets) prompt cortisol release
- Processed carbs lead to glucose spikes, then crashes and a body which attempts to regain energy by spiking cortisol
- Sweeteners raise insulin, and drop blood sugar resulting in the same effect
- Alcohol consumption forces relaxation and then rebounds, again causing the same effect aka a ‘hangover’
- Caffeine and other stimulants raise adrenaline in the body and norepinephrine in the brain, which again come with a cortisol spike
Mental stress
We are told that emotional stress is bad for us, but what is actually happening here? In the brain, the noradrenergic system is activated by acute stress, and norepinephrine facilitates responses in target cells, enhancing their activity in response to stressors. Additionally, stress-induced increases in norepinephrine levels in the prefrontal cortex have been linked to cognitive deficits, such as impaired working memory performance. When norepinephrine and epinephrine levels are chronically high, cortisol levels will also be consistently elevated, establishing a stress loop that can suppress the actions of other hormones and their receptors, potentially leading to increased susceptibility to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, senile dementia, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Over time, the emotions that reside in our mind and body destabilise us and become a growth medium for disease and ill health.
Any situation we can’t handle can cause this kind of stress. Relationship issues, past trauma, financial difficulties and unrealistic expectations either from ourselves or others like the boss at work, or our families. PTSD is an example of a past trauma that can cause complete and utter dysregulation of the body that continues until the mental issues and incongruent belief systems that can arise due to negative experiences are resolved. Most people suffer from some degree of this as the subconscious mind is constantly wary of new experiences based on long buried wounds from the past. In a capitalist, goal-oriented consumer society there is plenty of mental stress there for the taking. If you combine this environment with limiting beliefs about self worth such as “I’m never good enough”, “I must just smash my way through this” or “Life is hard” then you will forever feel inadequate, lacking resources and could even develop the resulting belief that you can’t ever get better. At this point you are in a negative feedback loop of self destruction, and we don’t want that.
Physical stress
Demanding jobs, families, over-ambitious exercise schedules and obsessive goal-orientated behaviour all put a strain on our bodies causing physical inflammation and increased cortisol. Unhealed injuries and problematic body mechanics again activate the sympathetic nervous system by sending subtle pain signals throughout our day. The body can compensate by becoming more tense aka “grin and bear it”, which in turn perpetuates a feedback loop of ever escalating intensity until we can eventually crash, have a breakdown. If this happens slowly enough we can just frame it as “getting old” but as a guy in my mid forties who is steadily developing greater physical and mental capacities I can assure you this this is not the case. Does aging change our lifestyles, or do our lifestyles cause aging? That is a big question in the longevity space at the moment. Sure DNA does break down over time and reduce our capacity but there is also plenty of evidence to the contrary in those who have chosen to understand themselves more deeply and become conscious of the positive and negative effects of all of their activities.
Genetics
Issues in our DNA source code can create significant challenges in the way our bodies and minds handle stress. Mutations such as MTHFR can impact how our methylation cycle works, and how we can metabolise B-vitamins. For example, B6 is crucial in the production of GABA and some people (myself included) require more of this than others in order to ensure sufficient neurotransmitter production. The only way to navigate this hidden minefield is with a nutrigenomics report. Mine was life changing as, by following the recommendations within, I was able to both compensate for problematic genes with nutrition and supplements while developing more realistic expectations of my capabilities in a number of areas. Such a report is a prerequisite for working with me as that data is invaluable when it comes to designing productive lifestyle strategies for my clients.
Getting the balance right
A certain amount of stress is good for us, it encourages us to evolve and increase physical, mental and emotional capacity. However too much is counter productive and borders on strain where we cannot adequately recover before its time to go again. “Stress” represents the outside forces that we can handle, but “strain” (or chronic stress) is that which we can’t sustain indefinitely without harm. We need to ride that stress/strain boundary and keep within productive limits if we are to grow as people without becoming sick. This is where the new generation of wearable technology can prove very useful by giving us recovery scores and body battery estimates that we can use to navigate our lives and moderate stress exposure to ensure that it does not become strain.
What can we do about this?
Meditation and breathwork
This is a direct way to influence the arousal of our parasympathetic nervous system and the balance of our neurotransmitters. Steady, paced breathing is a powerful way to short circuit an overactive stress response. 10 minutes of focused breathing at either end of the day will gradually move the needle and calm hyperarousal if there are not any obvious significant stressors. A similar period of intense breathwork such as the Tibetan “tummo” style popularised by Wim Hof can also improve nervous system tone and adaptability.
Exercise
For sleep regulation as a primary goal, we are not looking for intense exercise to tire ourselves out – with a dysfunctional HPA axis tending towards cortisol dominance, intense stressful activity that creates inflammation and a corresponding cortisol response defeats our goal. Even now, I find particularly stressful exercise leaves me hyperaroused and less able to wind down without some kind of help. What we want from exercise is its gradual effect to raise our heart-rate variability and lead to more efficient parasympathetic activation. Zone 1 and zone 2 cardio are your friend here because, over time, they increase the performance of the cardiovascular system and increase the trigger level for the production of adrenaline. If you can train your cardiovascular system to cope with your day to day exertion, the background levels of these over-activating hormones will reduce and your ability to handle stress without it becoming strain will increase.
Hot & cold exposure
Both saunas and ice baths/cold showers have the power to influence the HPA axis. In fact, alternating between the two can acts as a sort of ‘massage’, increasing the flexibility and adaptability of the system over time. Doing this hot/cold contrast therapy not only increases our ability to activate and perform when required, but also the opposite – to be able to relax deeply, and it does this through increasing HPA self-regulation.
Nutrition
- Healthy fats comprising an omega 6:3 ratio of 4:1 or less to keep systemic inflammation and the resulting cortisol response under control
- Adequate protein to ensure the body can repair itself quickly so that pain from exertion does not linger unnecessarily
- An array of micronutrients to keep all bodily systems functioning and regulating effectively, reducing acute sickness and associated pain
- Antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods which also serve to decrease the inflammation response
Melatonin hacking
Melatonin, as stated above, regulates the HPA axis and is released by the pineal gland in response to changes in light. It is why dim lighting can help us fall asleep sooner, and watching a beautiful sunset leaves us feeling relaxed. What is specific about the light is both the intensity and the colour temperature. We have evolved over a very long time in alignment with the energy of the sun and our bodies use this ever present entity as a means of regulation. As the sun rises and its angle through the atmosphere steepens, the brightness and colour temperature of that light increases. Bright, blue light tells our bodies that it is morning and this activates cortisol to wake us up and get on with our day. As night time draws near, this angle of light becomes more shallow, dims and the temperature colour temperature lowers again.
We can achieve this in a number of ways:
- Bright light exposure shortly after waking up to activate CRH and establish good circadian rhythm
- Using optimally coloured lighting or blue-blocking glasses in the evening to influence the pineal gland
- Our skin is photosensitive so a completely dark sleeping area is also critical
- Sleep habits such as consistent bedtimes and a dedicated sleeping space that train your brain to know how to respond optimally
- Avoiding mental stimulation close to bedtime both in terms of light from TVs and also the content itself
- Reading a book by a dim light. The act of concentration on something non-dynamic like words on paper can make us feel tired
- Consistent sleep and wake times, giving that chemistry set advance warning of what is required of it
Establishing a circadian rhythm which matches the demands of your life is crucial. Over time the body habituates itself so teaching it when to wake you up and when to make you sleepy is crucial. For me that window is 9.30pm to 6.30am, and if I have had a particularly demanding day I will shift bedtime a little earlier so that I have had enough time to rest fully before the CRH cycle wakes me up the next day.
Therapy and the mind
The reason why I work with both the body and the mind is because of the feedback loop between the two. Unresolved issues play on our minds, overthinking about things that do not sit well with us can keep us awake by impacting cortisol, and a busy mind which cannot relax impacts GABA. Psychotherapy, energy work, support groups, rapid transformational therapy, hypnosis, somatic release and mindfulness meditation are all processes which can free us from depression and anxiety caused by a past or future that we are not at peace with. To be able to effectively rest we need to be able to reside in the present moment when required. Anxiety, grief, and intrusive thoughts of any kind wreck our sleep and hold us back from reaching our potential so if you are having problems in these areas be sure to get them addressed ASAP.
In summary
This is a comprehensive road map to restoring your ability to rest but like all things worth having, it will take time. I did increasing amounts of these things without seeing much in the way of consistent results until all key areas had been addressed and things finally came together. Hopefully one of these areas jumps out at you as being your core issue and, like a magic bullet, fixing that will sort things out for you. However, due to the complexity of the human system it is far more likely that gradual refinement of all these areas will eventually lead you to the long-term changes you are looking for.
Some stressors in life cannot be avoided so just do your best and concentrate on the areas where you are able to take full control. My advice would be to prioritise HPA function as a baseline for how you live your life, as building my whole identity around stress management has been pivotal for me. Good luck!