Cortisol, Stress, and Sleep: Breaking the Cycle for Better Energy and Thyroid Health

Do you resonate with any of these?

• Losing weight feels like a total struggle, no matter what you do.
• You find yourself waking up in the middle of the night (especially between 1–4 AM) and struggle to fall back asleep.
• You feel tired throughout the day but suddenly get a second wind after dinner.
• Your mind races as you try to go to sleep at night.
• You have a never-ending to-do list, making it hard to concentrate and leaving you overwhelmed.

If any of these sound familiar, your nervous system may be in a state of upregulation, and your cortisol levels could be out of balance. Let’s break down what’s really going on and how you can regain control over your energy, sleep, and thyroid health.

Living with Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism can feel like a constant balancing act, especially when stress and cortisol levels are involved. Cortisol, the hormone produced by your adrenal glands, plays a critical role in regulating energy, blood sugar, and immune responses. However, when cortisol remains chronically elevated, it can disrupt your thyroid function, making it harder to lose weight, sleep well, and feel energized.

Even if you don’t feel stressed out, your nervous system could still be in overdrive – and that’s a problem since your nervous system directly controls your immune system. Over time, an overactive nervous system can contribute to autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s and make symptoms worse.

The Connection Between Stress, Sleep, and Cortisol

Your nervous system and cortisol rhythm are deeply interconnected with your sleep and energy levels. Chronic stress – whether from physical factors (such as poor sleep, diet, or over-exercising) or mental habits (such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, and chronic worrying) – can cause your cortisol levels to become dysregulated.

Under normal conditions, cortisol follows a predictable daily pattern:

• Morning: Cortisol peaks to help you wake up
• Evening: Cortisol naturally declines, allowing you to wind down and sleep

However, chronic stress can flip this pattern, leading to what’s known as a Reverse Cortisol Curve.

Signs of a Reverse Cortisol Curve

• Waking up between 2–4 AM and struggling to fall back asleep
• Feeling exhausted in the morning but wide awake at night
• Finding it impossible to lose weight, even when doing all the “right” things

When cortisol is out of control, it creates a vicious cycle that worsens Hashimoto’s symptoms:

• Interferes with Thyroid Hormones: Suppresses TSH production, reduces T4 to T3 conversion, and increases Reverse T3, which blocks active thyroid hormone
• Triggers Chronic Inflammation: Fuels inflammation, worsening symptoms such as joint pain, brain fog, and fatigue.
• Disrupts Sleep: Poor sleep keeps cortisol high, further straining the thyroid.

This is why lowering cortisol and restoring balance is critical – not just for stress management but for overall thyroid health, energy, and weight loss.

How to Naturally Balance Cortisol and Support Your Nervous System

Diet, lifestyle and nutrients are one of the best ways to support your nervous system. There are several lifestyle strategies that can help regulate your cortisol levels and bring your nervous system back into balance.

1. Optimize Your Sleep

• Keep a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends.
• Avoid screens and blue light at least an hour before bed.
• Create a cool, dark, and quiet sleep environment.
• Try a wind-down routine, such as reading or deep breathing before bed.

2. Eat in a Way That Supports Cortisol Balance

• Start your day with protein to stabilize blood sugar and avoid morning fatigue.
• Avoid skipping meals—long gaps between eating can trigger stress responses.
• Prioritize balanced meals with protein, fiber, and healthy carbs to prevent blood sugar crashes.

3. Manage Stress to Support Your Nervous System

• Deep breathing exercises (such as diaphragmatic breathing) can shift your body into a parasympathetic state.
• Gentle movement, such as walking or yoga, helps regulate cortisol—avoid intense exercise if your cortisol is already high.
• Set boundaries with work and personal commitments to reduce emotional stress.

4. Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

• Caffeine in the afternoon can spike cortisol and disrupt sleep.
• Alcohol can increase nighttime wakeups and throw off blood sugar, leading to stress on the nervous system.

Using Calm PS to Support Cortisol Balance

If you’re already making lifestyle changes but still struggling with sleep, energy, or weight loss, a well-targeted supplement such as Calm PS can help.

What Is Calm PS and How Does It Work?

Calm PS is a phosphatidylserine (PS) supplement, a powerful nervous system regulator that helps bring cortisol levels back into balance.

• Phosphatidylserine is a naturally occurring phospholipid that plays a crucial role in cellular communication, brain function, and adrenal regulation.
• It works by lowering high cortisol levels in the evening, which is essential for proper sleep, thyroid function, and metabolism.
• Unlike other cortisol support supplements, Calm PS is soy-free, making it an excellent choice for those with thyroid disorders, Hashimoto’s, or other chronic conditions where there are often soy sensitivities.

I love it so much since it works on lowering cortisol and when taken in the evening (when cortisol levels should be at their lowest, but often are too high for many), Calm PS goes to work to rebalance it.

Here are the improvements that I see with Calm PS in my practice (and personally as well):

1. It can help with falling asleep and helps to prevent nightly wakeups (and if you do wake up, it can help make it easier to fall back to sleep, so you are not lying awake for hours counting the minutes till you have to get up.

2. Supports thyroid function with its ability to help reduce Reverse T3. Reverse T3 is a thyroid hormone that should not be found in high amounts. When it is elevated, it will negate the effects of your active T3 and without enough active T3 (this is extremely common for many with Hashimoto’s by the way), you will have more weight gain, fatigue, hair issues and brain fog.

3. Helps create a sense of calm and ease that you can feel within 20-30 minutes of taking it. It’s really my go to for so many symptoms but in addition to symptom relief, what I love about it is that unlike many other things, it doesn’t work like a band aid. Instead, in addition to helping with symptoms, it actually lowers cortisol during high times when you need it so it’s balancing the nervous system at the same time.

How to use Calm PS

In my practice, I recommend taking 2 capsules with dinner so that it goes to work to lower cortisol before you actually get to bed and it will help keep the cortisol lower while you sleep so that when you wake up, you are feeling refreshed (this is very different than melatonin which can make you feel groggy when you wake up) and ready to tackle your day.

Most people don’t need to use this long term but rather use it for 6-8 weeks to balance levels and then as needed if you have had a stressful day or have a lot going on. If you would like to try the Calm PS, you can get a 10% discount with code CALM

Calm PS can make an enormous difference especially if you already feel like you are doing all the other things “right” but are still not seeing the difference that you desire.

The Bottom Line

Balancing cortisol is essential for breaking the cycle of thyroid dysfunction, nervous system overactivation, and stubborn weight. If you’ve been doing everything right but still struggling, cortisol dysregulation may be the missing piece.

If you’d like to try Calm PS, you can get 10% off your first order.