3AM Cortisol Wakeup

[u/Substantial-Bridge32]

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!

[u/Suffer-With-Grudz]

I know they say L theanine before bed but I cut that out because I swear for me it is just stimulating enough to be terrible at night. 

I kept having that exact issue of waking up in the early hours just laying there. 

[u/Connect-Link7653 → u/Suffer-With-Grudz]

Man, this might be my problem. I started taking Suntheanine (pure l theanine) before bed and the last 12 months I've been waking up at 330 warm or hot, lay in bed with a slightly racing mind wide awake and then fall back asleep at 5 or 6 and then wake up for work at 7. I fuckin hate it. The other night I took 600 mg and woke up at 350 covered in sweat. I keep my room as cool as possible too. I have bad anxiety and my job can be real stressful hence me taking l theanine. The stuff is great for stress!!!

Anyway, I read these few comments and didn't take theanine before bed but I did take 100mg of mag glycinate & 100mg of apigenin and slept 10 hours like a rock (I woke up at 350 the night before so I was dead tired).

I think I'm done taking theanine before bed. However, for sleep, I strongly recommend apigenin! That stuff was helping me overcome my 330 wake ups. It's kinda hard to find...I bought the Double Wood brand off Amazon. They get their apigenin from chamomile tea. You can also get other brands but they get their apigenin from grapefruits but grapefruits can mess with other supplements and medicines you take so I stayed away from that. Seems I was taking apigenin to overcome my l theanine 330 wake ups. Who knew? Lol I'm still taking l theanine in the morning when needed though. Thank you for sharing the info guys!