If You’re Exhausted All Day but Wide Awake at Night, Your Cortisol Rhythm Is Off
- caramerak
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Let me guess. You drag yourself through the morning. Coffee helps… a little. By mid-afternoon you’re foggy, irritable, and counting down the hours until you can stop.
And then—right when the house finally goes quiet—your brain lights up.Suddenly you’re alert. Thinking clearly. Maybe even motivated.
This pattern is incredibly common, especially here in Washington in the wintertime. It doesn’t mean you’re bad at managing stress or that something is “wrong” with you.
It usually means your cortisol rhythm is flipped.
What “Flipped” Actually Means
Cortisol isn’t the enemy that we think of it at first blush. It’s supposed to rise in the morning to help you wake up and get things done, then gradually fall so your body can rest at night. When light exposure, meals, and sleep timing are aligned with this natural rhythm, energy, mood, metabolic health, and long-term longevity all improve.
But when your system is under constant low-grade stress—early alarms, artificial light, skipped meals, overtraining, under-recovering—that rhythm breaks down.
Instead of:
Energy in the morning
Calm at night
You get:
Sluggish days
Wired evenings
Tired but unable to shut off
From a functional medicine perspective, this isn’t just about stress. It’s about a mismatch in your HPA axis—the communication loop between your brain, adrenals, blood sugar, and mitochondria.
When that loop is off, everything downstream feels harder: metabolism, sleep, mood, focus, and even fat loss.
How This Usually Shows Up
Most people don’t walk around thinking, “Ah yes, my HPA axis is dysregulated.”They notice patterns.
Some common ones I see:
You don’t feel human until caffeine kicks in
You get a second wind late at night
You wake up around 2–4 AM with a busy mind
You feel shaky, irritable, or lightheaded if meals are delayed
Your diet is “clean,” but your energy and sleep don’t reflect it
These clusters matter more than any single symptom.
The Data Often Tells the Same Story
When we look under the hood, a few things show up again and again:
Low HRV, meaning your nervous system is stuck in “on” mode
Rising fasting glucose, even with good nutrition—often a sign of nighttime cortisol spikes
This is why I don’t love one-off lab results taken in isolation. Context matters.
Why Functional Testing Changes the Conversation
A single cortisol lab value is basically a snapshot. It doesn’t tell you how your body behaves over an entire day.
If we want to get a clearer picture of what your cortisol rhythms are doing, I like to use something like the DUTCH Plus test. It maps cortisol from morning through night and shows whether you’re:
Not rising in the morning (burnout)
Spiking too high (anxiety, hyper-vigilance)
Staying elevated late at night (sleep issues)
This is also where working with a functional practitioner matters.The value isn’t just the test—it’s understanding what pattern you’re in and how to unwind it without pushing your system harder.
A Simple Check Most People Overlook
Pay attention to how you feel about food about 30 minutes after waking.
If your system is working well, you’ll feel alert and ready to eat.
If:
Food sounds unappealing
You rely on caffeine just to get going
That often points to a blunted morning cortisol response. Not a discipline problem. A signal.
Resetting the Rhythm (Without Overdoing It)
Fixing this doesn’t require a massive overhaul. It requires clear signals, repeated daily, that tell your nervous system it’s safe.Especially during a Pacific Northwest winter.
Here are the non-negotiables I start with:
Morning Light If the sun isn't available, a 10,000-lux light box for 20 minutes after waking. This anchors your internal clock. Note though, that just because it's cloudy outside, doesn't mean your body isn't getting that beneficial light. Even on a cloudy day, the outdoor illuminance can be 2× to 20× or more (and often much more) than what you get inside with artificial lighting. — e.g., 1,000+ lux vs. 100–500 lux typical indoors.
Delay the Coffee Wait about 90 minutes. Let your natural cortisol rise before layering in caffeine.
Protein Early Around 30 grams within an hour of waking. Stable blood sugar means cortisol doesn’t have to step in and “save” you.
Evening Light Discipline Overhead lights off. Lamps low and warm. Blue-light blockers if you’re on screens.
Carbs at Dinner Slow, intentional complex carbs—like sweet potato, squash, berries. They help nudge cortisol down and support serotonin and sleep. Don't overdo it; no more than ¼ of your plate at dinner should be complex carbohydrates.
For most adults, that carb portion looks roughly like:
½–1 cup cooked sweet potato, squash, or root veggies
¾ cup berries
½ cup cooked lentils or beans (if tolerated)
½ cup cooked quinoa or buckwheat (if tolerated)
For the specific goal of lowering evening cortisol and supporting sleep, you don’t need a big carb load—and more is not better. You’re aiming for a gentle insulin signal, not a blood sugar spike. This is the part many people haven’t tried, and it often makes the biggest difference.
This Isn’t Just About Feeling Less Tired
When you’ve been wired and tired for a long time, your body forgets what normal feels like.
This work isn’t about quick fixes or forcing energy. It’s about restoring rhythm—so your metabolism, hormones, and mitochondria can do what they’re designed to do.
At Unscripted Clinic, that’s the lens we use. We look at patterns over time, not just symptoms in isolation, and we build plans that your nervous system can actually tolerate.
Because the goal isn’t just better sleep tonight. It’s resilience—for the next decade and beyond.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Once you understand the signals your nervous system is responding to, the next step is giving it consistency. Not perfection—just repetition. Here’s how I typically structure the day to support a healthier cortisol rhythm, especially during a long PNW winter.
Time | Anchor | What You Do | Why It Matters |
7:00 AM | Morning Light + Hydration | Step outside or use a 10,000-lux light box for ~20 minutes while drinking 16 oz water with electrolytes | Strong light early tells your brain “day has started,” helping cortisol rise when it’s supposed to |
7:30 AM | Protein-Forward Breakfast | Aim for ~30g protein with fat and fiber (eggs, salmon, or a clean protein boost) | Stable blood sugar reduces the need for cortisol to prop you up |
9:00 AM | Caffeine Window Opens | Enjoy coffee after your body has had a chance to wake itself up | Prevents reliance on caffeine to replace a blunted cortisol response |
10:00 AM | Short Movement Break | 10 minutes of easy Zone 2 movement (brisk walk, stairs) | Supports mitochondrial “good energy” without stressing the system |
1:00 PM | Stabilizing Lunch | Protein, fiber, and healthy fats | Prevents the afternoon crash and keeps cortisol from spiking late day |
4:00 PM | The “Gray Walk” | 10–15 minutes outside, even if it’s cloudy | Natural light drop signals the nervous system that evening is coming |
6:30 PM | Evening Carbs | ~¼ plate complex carbs (sweet potato, squash, berries) | Gentle insulin signal helps lower cortisol and support serotonin |
8:00 PM | Digital Sunset | Overhead lights off, lamps low and warm; blue-light blockers if needed | Reduces mixed light signals that confuse melatonin release |
9:30 PM | Wind-Down Ritual | Warm bath with Epsom salt, baking soda, and calming scent | Signals safety to the nervous system and supports sleep readiness |
If parts of this felt uncomfortably familiar, that’s usually a sign there’s more going on than willpower or discipline. Cortisol patterns, blood sugar, light exposure, and nervous system tone don’t exist in isolation—and they’re hard to untangle on your own.
At Unscripted Clinic, this is the work I do every day: looking at patterns, not just symptoms, and building plans your body can actually respond to. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start understanding what your system needs, I'm here.
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