In this article, I'll give you the 3 best solutions to sleep problems in hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.
In Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism, you may have trouble falling asleep or not be able to stay asleep long enough to feel fully rested. You may also struggle with insomnia and wake up in the middle of the night like 3 or 4 am.
This is usually because of cortisol imbalance. Cortisol is a stress hormone. It has a powerful influence on your sleep patterns and circadian rhythm.
The level of cortisol in your blood, urine, and saliva normally peaks in the early morning and declines throughout the day, reaching its lowest level around midnight. In the morning, it helps to wake you up, in the evening, it helps to put you asleep, and regulate your quality of sleep.
If the cortisol is too high during the night, it can wake you up in the middle of the night. Any type of stressor can raise cortisol levels including chemical, toxic, psychological, and emotional stressors.
On the other hand, if the cortisol is too low in the morning, you have a hard time waking up. Sometimes, it may also make you feel unmotivated, tired, and depressed.
I remember I used to struggle with very high cortisol. This caused my insomnia. I was waking up literally every night at 3 am, then falling asleep again around 4:30 am, and then walking up very tired around 7:30 am. I was tired in the morning and couldn't wake up.
This was because of too low cortisol in the morning. As you can see, you may struggle with both too high and too low cortisol at different times of the day. That's exactly what happened to me.
Ok, so how can you fix imbalanced cortisol levels? I recommend using herbs and supplements to optimize your cortisol. In addition, a change in your lifestyle, such as starting a deep breathing routine, or a yoga routine, can be very useful.
When it comes to supplements and herbs, I recommend starting with our Calm & Sleep formula. This formula has been created for both high and low cortisol levels. Usually, it's very effective. Sometimes, however, a person with very low cortisol levels (also called an "adrenal fatigue"), may react in an adverse way to this formula.
Does it mean that the supplement doesn't work? No, it means that your cortisol levels may be too low, and the formula cannot optimize them anymore. It tries its best to put the cortisol to its optimal values, but the cortisol is just too low and needs additional herbs and supplements to increase its value.
Which supplements and herbs can help in this case? You can learn more about it in the article "How to combat low cortisol". I also encourage you to join our Fb support group, so if you have some questions or doubts, you can always ask us about them.
The second common cause of insomnia is the inflammation of your body and thyroid gland. This may cause symptoms like example trouble tolerating cold temperatures at night or joint and muscle pain that can disrupt sleep.
How can we decrease the levels of inflammation and thus autoimmune reaction? I recommend starting with a change of your diet. Start simple. Eliminate gluten, dairy, processed foods, and sugar from your diet. We call them the "thyroid enemies". You will be tempted by them because they're addictive.
Research shows that for example, sugar can be more addictive than cocaine. Next time you think about processed foods and sugar, don't blame yourself. It's just the addiction that has to be stopped to help your thyroid and yourself.
Another thing that will help you decrease inflammation is improving your nighttime routine. You can learn more about it here. Inflammation can be also decreased with the use of strong anti-inflammatory herbs and supplements. For this, I recommend Turmeric, MSM & CMO anti-inflammatory formula.
The third common cause of sleep problems in thyroid disease is a wrong dose of thyroid medication. A too high dose of medication can cause insomnia. You’ll know whether you’re taking too much medication when your TSH numbers come back. It’s important that your doctor looks at the balance of total T3 and free T4 to make sure your TSH levels are within the healthy range.
Article Sources
Song, L., Lei, J., Jiang, K., Lei, Y., Tang, Y., Zhu, J., Li, Z., & Tang, H. (2019). The Association Between Subclinical Hypothyroidism and Sleep Quality: A Population-Based Study. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 12, 369–374. Pubmed.
Kim, W., Lee, J., Ha, J., Jo, K., Lim, D., Lee, J., Chang, S., Kang, M., & Kim, M. (2010). Association between Sleep Duration and Subclinical Thyroid Dysfunction Based on Nationally Representative Data. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(11). Pubmed
Thyroid Problems and Insomnia, By Jon Cooper, Medically Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD on July 15, 2021, WebMD.
Updated on: June 10th, 2022 Published on: June 10th, 2022