Longevity, radiant skin, and optimal vitality are all linked with one essential pillar of health: sleep. Deep, uninterrupted sleep is the body’s most regenerative state. This is where cellular repair accelerates, inflammation lowers, and youthful energy is restored.
It is fair that most people focus on skincare rituals and nutrient-dense diets, yet few realise the sabotage occurring each night when hormonal imbalances disrupt sleep. This could mean lying awake for hours before finally drifting off, or that dreaded 3 AM awakening.
Emerging evidence continues to underscore the link between high-quality sleep and a reduced risk of age-related disease. Great sleep improves mental clarity, hormonal balance, and enhances mitochondrial function. Unfortunately, there are millions caught in a cycle of restless nights, unaware that their wakefulness often stems from deeper, systemic hormone disruptions.
Let’s explore the three most overlooked hormonal imbalances that are quietly disturbing your sleep every night. There is so much more that you can do to naturally restore balance, improve rest, and age with grace.
1. Blood Sugar Imbalances: Awake at 3 am
Blood sugar is not always associated with sleep, but stable glucose levels are key to staying asleep through the night. When blood sugar drops too low (a state called nocturnal hypoglycaemia), the body releases adrenaline and cortisol. This happens as an emergency response, jolting you awake, often around 2 or 3 AM. This sudden alertness can leave you tossing and turning, heart racing, unable to return to sleep.
Modern lifestyle habits, including refined carbohydrates, high-sugar meals late in the day, and chronic snacking, contribute to dysregulated glucose patterns. Over time, the body struggles to maintain stable nighttime glucose levels, creating a vicious cycle of shallow sleep and systemic fatigue.
To support balanced blood sugar and nighttime stability:
- Low GI Foods: Incorporate low-glycaemic, fibre-rich vegetables (like leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and root vegetables). These support slow glucose release and prevent sugar spikes and crashes. Protein like Marine Collagen in CGN+ helps to keep blood sugar stable, and cravings at bay.
- Nutrient: Magnesium plays a key role in glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. It also promotes deep relaxation and supports healthy sleep onset. Consume more leafy greens, bananas, beans and avocado.
- Supplement: Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) supports mitochondrial health and glucose utilisation. By improving cellular energy balance, it helps regulate the metabolic pathways that control blood sugar and energy rhythms.
2. Progesterone to Oestrogen Imbalance
One of the most overlooked causes of fragmented sleep in women (especially during perimenopause and menopause) is an imbalance between progesterone and oestrogen. Progesterone is a calming, sedating hormone that helps promote restful sleep and regulates GABA receptors in the brain. Oestrogen, while essential for mood and vitality, can become dominant in the absence of adequate progesterone, creating restlessness, hot flashes, and early-morning waking.
Environmental toxins, stress, hormonal contraceptives, and age-related decline all contribute to this imbalance. Many women find themselves struggling with insomnia as their bodies shift, unaware that this transition can be supported holistically.
To encourage hormonal harmony and deeper sleep:
- Food Group: Cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, and kale) contain compounds that help support healthy oestrogen detoxification and balance.
- Nutrient: Vitamin B6 supports progesterone synthesis and also helps regulate neurotransmitters involved in sleep, like serotonin and GABA. Include more beef liver, tuna, salmon, chickpeas, poultry, potatoes, and bananas in your daily diet.
- Supplement: NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) promotes cellular energy production, supports hormonal balance at the mitochondrial level, and enhances resilience against age-related hormonal shifts.
3. Cortisol and Melatonin Disruption: The Rhythm of Wake and Sleep
Cortisol and melatonin work in opposition. Cortisol wakes us up; melatonin takes us to sleep. When these two hormones fall out of sync (often due to chronic stress, excessive screen time, late-night work, and poor light exposure), our circadian rhythm becomes confused. Elevated cortisol in the evening suppresses melatonin production, leading to difficulty falling or staying asleep.
In modern life, where digital light exposure and relentless work stretch into the evening hours, it’s no surprise that so many people experience disrupted cortisol rhythms. This imbalance doesn’t just ruin sleep, it accelerates ageing, weakens immunity, and depletes mitochondrial reserves.
To realign your cortisol-melatonin rhythm and reclaim deep rest:
- Food Group: Tart cherries and kiwi fruit naturally contain melatonin and are high in antioxidants. This can support sleep onset and reduce nighttime waking.
- Nutrient: L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, promotes calm without sedation. It helps modulate cortisol and encourages a more relaxed nervous system at night.
- Supplement: Resveratrol has been shown to support the circadian rhythm by enhancing mitochondrial resilience, reducing oxidative stress, and moderating cortisol levels. It’s a potent compound that aligns well with evening restoration. The potent LIV formula contains NMN, NR, Resveratrol, Collagen and TMG for the ultimate longevity formula.
Why These Imbalances Are Running Rampant
Our ancestors lived by the elements, got plenty of sunlight and ate whole, seasonal foods. Today, our routines are more like late meals, irregular light exposure, and overstimulation daily. This has disconnected us from our innate hormonal rhythms. Add to this the persistent stress, environmental endocrine disruptors, and lack of recovery time, and the body struggles to find its natural balance.
Sleep can often become the first thing to suffer under these circumstances. And with poor sleep comes a knock-on effect: increased inflammation, slower collagen production, reduced metabolic efficiency, and accelerated ageing.
The Beauty of Great Sleep
When your hormones are in balance and your sleep is deep, everything improves. Mitochondria (your body’s energy producers) regenerate. Cellular detoxification processes activate. Skin appears brighter, digestion improves, mental sharpness returns, and emotional resilience deepens.
This is the foundation of elegant ageing and sustained wellness. For a more in-depth view on mitochondrial health, have a look at our blog here.
Reclaim Your Circadian Rhythm
Your body craves the rhythm of nature. Light in the morning, nourishment through the day, winding down in the evening. Supporting your circadian biology is one of the most holistic forms of self-care you can practice. It’s about aligning your body with nature’s cues and protecting the deep, reparative phases of rest that fuel your longevity.
Mitochondrial health, the true core of anti-ageing, depends on this rhythm. Sleep is when mitochondria detoxify, rebuild, and power your body for the next day. Without this nightly restoration, even the most advanced therapies fall short.
In Closing
There is a silent conversation happening within your body each night, between hormones, light, food, and stress. When those signals are misaligned, sleep becomes fragmented, and the ageing process quietly accelerates. By addressing blood sugar, progesterone-oestrogen harmony, and the cortisol-melatonin axis, you restore not just your sleep, but your entire biology.
Great sleep is one of your body’s most powerful anti-ageing rituals. Reconnect with your natural rhythm, nourish your hormonal landscape, and allow your nights to work in service of your longevity.
References
Andersen, M. L., Bittencourt, L. R. A., Antunes, I. B., & Tufik, S. (2006). Effects of progesterone on sleep: A possible pharmacological treatment for sleep-breathing disorders. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 13(29), 3575–3582.
Jennum, P., Stender-Petersen, K., Rabøl, R., Jørgensen, N. R., & Madsbad, S. (2015, September 25). The impact of nocturnal hypoglycemia on sleep in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 38(11), 2151–2158.
Nolan, B. J., Liang, B., & Cheung, A. S. (2021). Efficacy of micronized progesterone for sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial data. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 106(4), e942–e951. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa873
Schwartz, E. A., Cain, S. W., & Zeitzer, J. M. (2024). Circadian biomarkers in humans: Methodological insights into circadian misalignment, related sleep disturbances, and disease risk. Biomolecules, 15(7), 1006.
Tranchitella, T. (2020, September 16). The role of cortisol and melatonin in the synchronization of the circadian rhythm. ZRT Laboratory Blog.
Walker, J. R., Norman, T. R., & Breen, G. (2010). Awakening and counterregulatory response to hypoglycemia during early and late sleep. Diabetes, 56(7), 1938–1945.
Zeitzer, J. M., Dijk, D.-J., Kronauer, R., Brown, E. N., & Czeisler, C. A. (2007). Circadian rhythms of melatonin, cortisol, and clock gene expression shift under altered sleep/wake schedules. Sleep, 30(11), 1427–1436.
