The Relationship Between The Hormone Cortisol And Sleep

The relationship between the hormone cortisol and sleep

by with No Comment SleepStress

Cortisol, often labeled the “stress hormone,” is produced by the adrenal glands through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis when we encounter stress. Its widespread presence, thanks to cortisol receptors in many body cells, makes it an influential chemical messenger, modulating a multitude of functions based on our environment and internal states.

Its both our friend and foe and plays several pivotal roles in our physiology. For instance, by promoting the release of glucose from the liver, it ensures stable blood sugar levels, supporting the increased heart rate and blood pressure typical of stress responses.

When the stress response is triggered – our body switches to the fight/flight/freeze/fawn mode, the energy demand escalates, necessitating enhanced respiration and muscle readiness to prepare our body to rapidly respond. Cortisol elevates our sensory awareness, making us more alert. At the same time, it wisely economises energy by temporarily pausing systems like digestion and reproduction, which aren’t immediately vital. Its importance in preserving our overall health and well-being cannot be overstated.

Cortisol’s diurnal rhythm is a telling reflection of our well-being. While its levels naturally ebb at midnight and surge in the early morning, assisting our wakefulness, disruptions to this rhythm can provide clues about underlying stressors or mental health issues.

Cortisol and Sleep

Ideally, our cortisol dips during sleep and spikes upon waking. However, persistent aka chronic stress, indicative of an overactive HPA axis, can play havoc with this balance, leading to sleep disturbances like insomnia or fragmented sleep. Such disruptions can trap individuals in a harmful loop: poor sleep heightens stress, which in turn agitates the HPA axis, further misaligning cortisol production.

From a psychotherapeutic perspective, sleep disturbances and cortisol imbalances can be both a symptom and a cause. For instance, chronic insomnia might be a manifestation of underlying anxiety or trauma, which then exacerbates stress, leading to erratic cortisol levels. Furthermore, disorders like obstructive sleep apnea not only interrupt restorative sleep but can cause fluctuations in cortisol, adding another layer of strain to the HPA axis, further heightening stress and anxiety.

Recognising these intertwined relationships, in therapy we don’t only address the sleep disruptions and physiological implications but also delve into underlying emotional or psychological stressors. There is often a good reason for the stress response to be on high so understanding more about this, gives us the opportunity to start to reduce in. In the work we are always aiming to create a feedback loop of healing, where resolving one issue aids the natural resolution of others.

Eight Cool Facts About The Vagus Nerve

Eight cool facts about the Vagus nerve

by with No Comment RelaxationStress

The vagus nerve is our relaxation superhighway and carries messages throughout the body to counterbalance the fight or flight system. It is one of the cranial nerves that connect the brain to the body and activates the parasympathetic nervous system – our inbuilt relaxation tool.

  1. The Latin root of the word vagus is “wandering.” This is a vital characteristic of this little gem within the world of relaxation. It begins its journey below the brain’s base, roams down the throat along the oesophagus, continues its sojourn near the lungs and heart, and innervates the digestive system.
  2. The vagus nerve prevents inflammation – alerting the brain to send anti-inflammatory neurotransmitters around the body. A certain amount of inflammation after injury or illness is normal. But an overabundance is linked to many diseases and conditions, from sepsis to the autoimmune condition rheumatoid arthritis.
  3. It helps you make memories – stimulating the vagus nerve releases the neurotransmitter norepinephrine into the amygdala, consolidating memories.
  4. It raises the level of endorphins, which bring about positive feelings in the body and reduce the sensation of pain.
  5. The vagus nerve is responsible for controlling the heart rate via electrical impulses.
  6. It initiates your body’s relaxation response – the vagus nerve tells your body to chill out by releasing acetylcholine. Its tendrils extend to many organs, acting like fibre–optic cables that send instructions to release enzymes and proteins like prolactin, vasopressin, and oxytocin, which calm you down.
  7. It translates between your gut and your brain. Your gut uses the vagus nerve like a walkie-talkie to tell your brain how you’re feeling via electric impulses called “action potentials”. Your gut feelings are very real.
  8. Overstimulation of the vagus nerve is the most common cause of fainting. If you tremble or get queasy at the sight of blood or while getting a flu shot, you’re not weak; you’re experiencing “vagal syncope.” Your body, responding to stress, overstimulates the vagus nerve, causing your blood pressure and heart rate to drop.
What Is Stress

What is stress?

by with No Comment Stress

Stress, very simply, is a built-in condition. Humans are hard-wired to have a physical and psychological “stress” reaction when facing a perceived threat, whether it is real or not.

Specifically, whether caveman or suit, when the “fight or flight” response kicks in, the body reacts with the instant release of the cortisol and adrenaline hormones; these hormones keep the body and mind on standby, alert and ready for reaction to the threat. This reaction served as a useful, protective response when faced with primitive threats such as a lion attacking. However, it is essential to note that this response is outside of conscious control; the body will automatically trigger it.

Being stressed can serve as a useful motivator to perform, provided it is in the right context. As far back as 1908, researchers discovered that productivity drops off remarkably once stress reaches a mid to high level. And when productivity drops off, the bottom line suffers.

The specific and immediate cause of stress is called the stressor. From a physical standpoint, everybody reacts in a standard and predictable manner – we enter the “fight or flight” response. This automatic physiological process is known to have evolved in humans and animals to enable them to cope with sudden life-threatening emergencies – not the train being delayed or a red light when you are rushing to a meeting.

While the automatic physiological response of “fight or flight” was crucial in the survival of the species, today’s at work; we are fortunate that we rarely need to fight for our lives literally. However, we may need to retreat from a metaphorical predator – yes, they exist in the workplace. An appraisal meeting with your boss, having to give a presentation to others register in the autonomic nervous system as stress. Our automatic stress response has remained unchanged from way back when to today’s modern world.

Our psychological resilience is different to each of us. We all have different resilience levels to stress; chronic stress will eventually wear down even the strongest people. There is a physical process running the show inside us: continued stress can cause biochemical imbalances that weaken the immune system. Overall, stress that persists – is known to interfere with digestion and, more seriously, alter brain chemistry, create hormonal imbalances, increase heart rate, raise blood pressure, and negatively affect both metabolic and immune function. It is also essential to recognise that although stress itself is not a disease, it can worsen any number of already serious physical conditions and take a wrecking ball to sleep.

Can Using Essential Oils Help With Sleep

Can using essential oils help with sleep?

by with No Comment Living WellSleepStress

Smell is a prehistoric sense and an essential one for humans and animals as we all navigate our world. It lets us know whether our food is safe to eat and alerts us to the smell of fire. We encounter innumerable scents in our daily life, and our sense of smell plays a vital role in the physiological effects of mood, stress, and working capacity. It also affects our sex lives: the area of the brain through which we experience smells is the olfactory lobe, part of the limbic system, the emotional brain, the area in which sexual thoughts and desires are processed. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a rapid rise in those reporting losses of smell. An article in Nature* reported that of 8,438 people with COVID-19 surveyed, 41% had reported experiencing loss of their sense of smell, with 8% experiencing a total loss (otherwise known as anosmia).

Each of us has many visual and emotional associations to certain smells and aromas. Certain fragrances evoke the memories of significant moments in time. Supermarkets channel the scent of the bakery throughout the store to trigger hunger, while certain food aromas can transport you back to a moment on holiday. Each of us will have our personal favourites, those scents which trigger memories and conjure images in our minds.

Due to the vital importance of smell, all sorts of folkloric tales speak of the remarkable medicinal properties of everyday herbs and flowers. As sleep is a sensory process, it follows that our sense of smell can have broad-ranging effects. The efficacy of using certain essential oils to improve sleep and well-being continues to be researched, and the beneficial effects of a few specific scents have already been validated by clinical research.

Lavender has a long history of medicinal use and has been proven to provide a sedative and calming effect. In a small hospital study in which lavender was used as aromatherapy, patients were shown to experience reduced daytime drowsiness and enjoyed more consistent sleep at night. It’s not just lavender; in another study, a mixture of essential oils including lavender, basil, juniper and sweet marjoram was shown to reduce sleep disturbance and improve a sense of overall well-being in older patients.

If you are not a fan of lavender but want to enjoy the same effects, try using bergamot or ylang-ylang. All three scents were shown to improve the quality of sleep for patients recovering from heart problems.

While research is needed into a wide range of other fragrances to determine their effectiveness in treating clinical conditions, aromatics have been used for mental, spiritual and physical healing since the beginning of recorded history. If a good night’s sleep is all about relaxation, soothing the senses with an aroma that evokes happiness and relaxation can only be good. Which particular scent you use is a personal choice.

References

Koulivand, P. H., Khaleghi Ghadiri, M., & Gorji, A., 2013. Lavender and the nervous system, Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, 2013, pp.1-10.

Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/#:~:text=A%20mixture%20of%20essential%20oils,in%20older%20patients%20%5B78%5D [Accessed 11 March 2021]

McDonnell, B. and Newcomb, P., 2019. Trial of Essential Oils to Improve Sleep for Patients in Cardiac Rehabilitation. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 25(12), pp.1193-1199. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31556690/ [Accessed 11 March 2021]

Chang, S. and Chen, C., 2015. Effects of an intervention with drinking chamomile tea on sleep quality and depression in sleep disturbed postnatal women: a randomised controlled trial. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(2), pp.306-315. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26483209/ [Accessed 11 March 2021].

Marshall, M., 2021. COVID’s toll on smell and taste: what scientists do and don’t know. Nature, [online] Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00055-6#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20with%20COVID,had%20reported%20experiencing%20smell%20loss [Accessed 11 March 2021].

Using Neuroplasticity To Change Your Brain

Using neuroplasticity to change your brain

by with No Comment RelaxationSleepStress

For those of us old enough to remember playing our favourite record over and over again until the track became a deep groove where the needle repeatedly stuck, the imagery is clear.

Returning to that record, it’s a catchy tune that seems to hang around. Thoughts are like that – both positive and negative. We can get caught in a cycle of rumination, repeatedly playing the thought over and over and over again. Who notices that they do that and what sort of memories come up? It is proven that the negative will outweigh the positive.

Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson (www.rickhanson.net) refers to this as “the brain’s negativity bias.” The human nervous system, he writes, “scans for, reacts to, stores, and recalls negative information about oneself and one’s world. The brain is like velcro for negative experiences and teflon for positive ones. The natural result is a growing – and unfair – the residue of emotional pain, pessimism, and numbing inhibition in implicit memory.”

Our primitive brain, see here: http://www.brainwaves.com/brain_basics.html, thinks this is a good idea. The term “reptilian” refers to our primitive, instinctive brain function shared by all reptiles and mammals, including humans. It is the most powerful and oldest of our coping brain functions since we would not be alive without it. It makes sure that we remember danger, so we don’t do it again was helpful when we were pre-modern humans, not quite so beneficial now that tigers are not lurking behind parked cars.

So returning to the record. We can repeatedly replay a memory or a thought until it becomes an indented groove in our brain’s neural pathways. Knowing this, it is logical that getting the needle out of the groove requires physical action. Keep playing the record, or stop playing the record? Change the groove.

This is where it gets exciting. We used to believe that the brain was a fixed entity but the discovery that active repetition changes the brain means that our thought patterns can and do change. Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganisation. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping.

The key to overriding that negativity bias is to notice when a familiar thought arises and think about the following: Does it feel good? What is happening now? Does this thought matter? I am sure we all recognise these thoughts. They are often the ones that wake us up at 3 am and feel huge in the darkness. It might be the thought that replays as you walk into a room full of strangers – most of us will experience several thoughts at that moment; are they good or bad? When you look back on a typical day or survey your life, what experiences capture your attention – your successes and pleasant times, or the failures, hurts and disappointments?

Noticing that these thoughts are happening is so important. Think about it. If you think something is it real? (See the Matrix film series for what is real or not :-)) When you last had this thought or feeling, did the ceiling cave in? See if you can look at it differently. A new tune is a perfect distraction; find a tune to oppose the thought – upbeat songs work all-round. Do a little dance? An actual dance if you feel relaxed with that – on the tube, I wish you luck but do a dance in your head, visualise a character dancing and make it your internal friendly dancer. (If you remember records, you are likely to remember the dancing baby in Ally McBeal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx88NMh-YRs )

Overall have some compassion for yourself. Our thoughts come and go. Holding onto any of them, good or bad, are transient moments. Ruminating on them deepens their effect. When our son was little we had a before bed practice called ‘three good things in our house.’ Together we find three good things to talk about from each of our days regardless of how bad we think our day has been. There will ALWAYS be something somewhere.

Finally, rumination is a large part of depression. If you are experiencing ongoing negative thoughts that you cannot seem to shift, if you can, seek support through friends, family or a therapist when times become challenging.

Footnote

For an experts approach, I mentioned Rick Hanson. A favourite resource of mine is excellent TED talks, a great website, and great books. He offers excellent advice on how we might hardwire happiness. http://www.rickhanson.net/hardwiring-happiness/faq/

References

Law, B., 2021. Probing the depression-rumination cycle. [online] https://www.apa.org. Available at: https://www.apa.org/monitor/nov05/cycle [Accessed 11 March 2021].

http://www.tommoon.net/articles/are_we_hardwired-1.html