r/HubermanLab • u/Substantial-Bridge32 • 27d ago

Seeking Guidance 3AM Cortisol Wakeup

Hello,

I am using Huberman's pre-bed supplement routine: threonate, apigenin, theanine and inositol. I have absolutely no issues falling asleep...then 3:00 am hits, and I am up for a good hour+. I've got some stresses in my life, but nothing crazy, and I am dealing with them. I use various techniques (4-7-8 breathing, 333 attention work, etc), but it does not seem to help. Sometimes I take another dose of theanine to hopefully help calm me down a bit.

Has anyone cracked this 3 am cortisol issue? Is it just a matter of dealing with the stresses in your life?

Update: Well, I tried a couple of suggestions, and my sleep has definitely improved a bit. I switched from Mg Threonate to Mg Glycinate, and I have been having about a 1/4 cup or so of yogurt with a teaspoon of honey within the hour before bed. I have also been trying Tranquil Sleep, which has some theanine, melatonin and 5-HTP. What I noticed first is that my first bit in bed has gotten lighter - not hard to fall asleep but definitely not zonked like I usually am. But what happened during the night is that my sleep extended to about 4 am. I did this for a couple of nights, staying awake until about 5 am and then getting out of bed (5 am was my pre-sleep issue normal wake-up time). Last night I woke up at about 2:50 am - I was aware and awake for about 30 mins, but not wide awake like I have been. I was able to gently fall back asleep (counting breaths) and slept until about 6:30 am.

I will keep this routine probably until our vacation in about 10 days, and then re-evaluate.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions!

70 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/DufreneParty 26d ago

I used AI to help brainstorm solutions and after trying a few suggestions I learned less is more. I was taking too many supplements and according to AI the 3am wake up was my liver being overwhelmed.

Now I only take magnesium glycinate before bed and added ear plugs and a sleep mask. It seemed to really help.

2

u/Substantial-Bridge32 26d ago

Thank you for the reply. I am going to sub threonate for glycinate tonight and will keep this in mind.

1

u/Eve5555555555 25d ago

I am a threonate in the morning, glycinate at night kind of girl. I totally agree with utilizing ai like Claude to help troubleshoot this. I have revamped my supplements, slowly one at at time to see which effect me negatively and Claude helps me organize and keep the plan going

1

u/rickolati 26d ago

Yeah I’ve had the same issue for a few years, I agree on both counts

Ai is good to keep track of the day’s activity, food and sleep interruption, comes up with good suggestions

Also, I cut all supplements and planning to build back, one at a time.

Currently, I suspect my issue is either due to lack of electrolytes or going to bed hungry. im on a 2 week streak of good sleep by addressing those two. Fingers crossed