Research

Hormonal

Lower morning urinary cortisol levels are associated with greater difficulty getting to sleep (sleep onset latency) during the menopausal transition, challenging the assumption that high stress/cortisol always correlates with worse sleep onset.

If you have trouble falling asleep, don't just assume it's 'high stress.' This research suggests that lower cortisol levels might actually be linked to sleep onset issues in some women. Focus on calming cognitive arousal and managing hot flashes rather than just trying to lower stress hormones.

GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
women with higher morning cortisol levels had less difficulty getting to sleep (β = −0.053,P = 0.009)... The results of the final multivariate analysis for difficulty getting to sleep included... lower cortisol levels (P = 0.026)
Nancy Fúgate Woods et al. · SLEEP · 2010

Why this rating

Statistically significant finding in a longitudinal model, though the mechanism (why lower cortisol correlates with worse sleep onset) is not fully explained and may reflect complex arousal patterns.

Source

Sleep Symptoms During the Menopausal Transition and Early Postmenopause: Observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study

Nancy Fúgate Woods et al. · SLEEP · 2010

DOI 10.1093/sleep/33.4.539

cohort · n=286Cited 188×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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