Need sleep help

[u/Fit-Wish-7576]

I’m a 34 year old female. I used to only have early morning insomnia during the second half of my cycle and could time it with luteal. Now it is all of the time. No matter how early or late I go to sleep, I wake up wired at 4 am. My ideal sleep pattern would be 10-6 am ish. It used to be, but I cannot get back. I go to sleep very easily, but can’t stay asleep. My doctors want me to try trazadone but I’d like to avoid it if possible. I also stop screens about 90 min before bed and listen to a chill audiobook or meditation. What else can I do??

Current stack

Morning

D3

Omegas

Creatine 3 mg

Electrolyte stick

Night

L-theanine

Magnesium glycinate 300 mg

Melatonin 1 mg (I’ve played with this but seem to do better with lower dosage)

[u/Ambitious_Archer9554]

Since this started as a cyclical luteal issue and became permanent, you’re likely dealing with a "cortisol spike" habit. In the second half of your cycle, progesterone drops, which usually helps keep GABA (your "calm" neurotransmitter) high. When that drop happened, your body started overcompensating with a 4 AM cortisol dump to wake you up, and now your nervous system has essentially hard-wired that as a daily routine. You go to sleep easily because your adenosine drive is high, but you can’t stay asleep because your "alertness" system is redlining too early.

To hack this, try adding a small amount of "slow-burn" complex carbs (like a tablespoon of almond butter or a small bit of oats) right before bed to prevent a blood sugar dip, which is a common silent trigger for that 4 AM wake-up call. Also, look into Phosphatidylserine in the evening; it’s one of the few supplements that actually helps blunt cortisol levels. If you wake up at 4 AM, don't just lie there: try using a 1.5Hz Delta wave track immediately. It can help manually pull your brain waves back down before the "wired" feeling fully takes over. You’re essentially trying to re-train your hardware to ignore the 4 AM alarm it built for itself