While there are many causes of insomnia, high levels of stress hormones in the brain is the most common.

"One of the big causes of insomnia is stress. Right now in the United States, there is a lot of stress for various reasons: the election, the war in Iraq, the economy. People are watching the news constantly, and most of it is bad.(1)"

To see research studies which show the connection between stress and insomnia, click here.

Other causes of insomnia are reviewed briefly within this site. But the focus here is on the link between stress and insomnia--and the resultant common complaint of fatigue.

When you are experiencing lots of stress, the level of stress hormones in your body rises. Researchers find that higher levels of stress hormones cause insomnia(2). Stress related insomnia is more common than any other type of sleeplessness.

With stress, several organs secrete hormones. It is really a sequence of hormone releases, one signaling the other. First the brain signals the pituitary gland (the body’s master gland). The pituitary in turn signals the adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands are the body’s “stress glands”.

One of the major adrenal stress hormones is cortisol.

Cortisol also wakes up the brain. If cortisol levels are high because of constant feelings of stress, your brain resists sleeping at night.

This is experienced as difficulty getting to sleep or waking up at night and not being able to get back to sleep.

But the relationship between cortisol and sleep is a little bit more complex than this. To learn more about how cortisol levels rise and fall, and how these changes affect your energy levels and ability to sleep, click here.

Both stress and insomnia are “silent killers”.

“75% of diseases prevalent in western society today are… related to the stress mechanisms of the body”(3).

The ill effect of insomnia on our health is not so well appreciated. Yet researchers have recently sounded the alarm.

Sleep is a time of rejuvenation for the mind and emotions and self repair for the body. During the night all body systems except the brain slow down. During deep sleep the brain secretes human growth hormone. Human growth hormone has been called the fountain of youth by some. It stimulates self repair.

By lessening the amount of deep sleep that we get each night, insomnia decreases the overall secretion of human growth hormone. The result is further deterioration in our health.

Managing stress is critical to breaking the cycle of stress and insomnia.

The level of stress hormones in your body can be reduced by managing your stress. This will help you to get better sleep.

But there are other tools that will also help. One key tool is herbs that have been shown to protect the body from chronic stress. These herbs are called adaptogenic herbs because the help the body to “adapt” to stress. Some well know adaptogenic herbs are ginseng and licorice root.

Another way to help restore normal cortisol levels and the normal rhythmic cycle of cortisol is through your diet.

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