Stacy Gallagher
Do you suffer from insomnia? According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as many as 30-35% of adults complain of insomnia. There are two types of insomnia based on the regularity and duration of the sleep disturbance and daytime symptoms:
Chronic insomnia can have a negative impact on your health causing fatigue, inability to focus/concentrate, poor memory, mood disturbance and low motivation/energy increasing your risk of depression and high blood pressure.
Why Are You Having Trouble Sleeping?
Many studies show that the hormone cortisol can play a major role in preventing you from getting a good nights sleep. According to pubmed “Sleep loss results in an elevation of cortisol levels the next evening.”
Cortisol, often referred to as the “stress hormone.” It is produced by the adrenal cortex in response to signals from the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, as part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. When the body is exposed to acute stressors, cortisol secretion can generally help maintain homeostasis in the body.
What Happens When There Is Too Much Stress?
Our body signals the fight or flight response when under duress. Prolonged stress exposure taxes the sympathetic nervous system and hinders the ability to return to a parasympathetic state. The parasympathetic state is necessary for good sleep and a deep sleep state is necessary for our body to repair and heal itself.
Adrenal fatigue results when the adrenal glands are overworked and exhausted. This causes the function of the adrenal glands to become impaired and unable to bring the body back to balance. Signs and symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue include:
What Is the Solution to Get a Good Night Sleep?
Integrative Therapeutics has formulated Cortisol Manager with stress-reducing ingredients and botanicals to promote relaxation, help alleviate fatigue, and support healthy cortisol levels. By balancing cortisol levels, Cortisol Manager can help reduce stress, which supports a restful night’s sleep without diminishing daytime alertness.
Cortisol Manager features:
Ingredient Sourcing: Potential suppliers are required to submit a sample of their potential ingredient to the company for rigorous testing. When an ingredient is received, it is quarantined. Their laboratory tests samples for identity, microbial impurities, heavy metal content, pesticides, potency, and bioavailability. This testing is repeated every time a material enters their facility, and at multiple points in the manufacturing process.
Formulation Development: Their evidence-based approach and meticulous process focusses on investing time and resources into developing formulations that have the support of today’s scientific community—not the latest ‘nutritional craze.’ This process includes months of research, rigorous ingredient testing, and quality assurance testing before a product is ready to be released.
Good Manufacturing Practices: The company invests in cutting-edge equipment and manufacturing controls to ensure the safety of products and employees. This includes controlled security card access, temperatures, humidity and air pressure controls, HEPA filtration, and defined operation rooms to prevent cross-contamination. The company submits their products for review with both the NSF and Emerson Quality Program. The supplement industry is NOT regulated by the FDA so this extra step is incredibly important for ensuring high quality standards. See link for more information on NSF and Emerson Quality Program.
Truth in Labeling: All product claims are verified. Integrative Therapeutics established a process that requires published human studies to substantiate any outcome before ever making a claim about a product. It is a tedious process but necessary to ensure that clients will never be misled.
Customer Testimonials
It did receive 62 1 star reviews primarily from those that felt the product did not work for them. There was one 1 star review that I wanted to emphasize that referenced a strong adverse reaction in people with autoimmune disorders.
Insomnia can cause some serious side-effects to our circadian rhythms. This disruption reeks havoc on our waking lives. Consider determining if adrenal fatigue is contributing to your inability to get a good night sleep naturally. If so, then Integrative Therapeutic Cortisol Manager might be a useful product for you to use to help better balance your endocrine system.
For additional information on nutritional strategies that we recommend check out the links below.
Learn more about nutritional tips and tactics check out our Nutritional Planning Resource page. Join the community sign up below to our newsletter and receive our FREE Planning and Periodization Guide. Please feel free to send us a question here or leave a comment below.
Want the inside training scoop?
Join The Community
Our email content is full of value, void of hype, never pushy, and always free. As a BONUS you will receive our FREE planning & periodization template to help you with your training goals.
This comment is awaiting moderation
I used to suffer from terrible insomnia where I’d sleep for an hour each night and that was it. It was awful. at the time I couldn’t understand why it was happening, but it’s only as I look back I can see the cause. I won’t into the details but it was trauma. Oftentimes we don’t realize we’re going through a traumatic event so if anyone reads this check your lifestyle, for me it was my abusive husband. What ended up putting it all right was divorce and cortisol, though not what you’re promoting. Both worked like a charm.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Thanks for the feedback. The chronic stress is something we just sort of get used to until other functions suffer. I am so glad to hear you have found your balance.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Thankfully, I haven’t had any form of Insomnia myself but a friend of mine suffered from Insomnia and according to your review, he must have suffered from short-term insomnia as it was only for a few months. I can’t really imagine how bad insomnia must be, but I do know that I am always in a bad mood when I don’t have enough sleep. Getting insufficient sleep for months must be a real torture.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Hi
This is of interest to me as i have a friend that is suffering with sleepless nights, he goes to bed feeling tired and 2 hours later he is awake and feels hot sometimes, i tell him it must be manpause lol is there such a thing? he also does not have a lot of energy during the day could it be insomnia ?
It will be very interesting if you have the answer.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Thanks for the read. His symptoms sound very much like adrenal fatigue. You might want to direct him to the adrenal fatigue quiz in the post. When the HPA axis is overly taxed for an extended period of time the body perceives stress all the time overactivating the sympathetic side of the nervous system. In addition when bouts of insomnia occur circadian rhythms are disrupted. This disrupts the body’s ability to rest and regenerate.
I have used two products from Integrative Therapeutics that have been helpful. HPA Adapt is taken during the day – one pill in the am and one pill around noon. The other product is the Cortisol Manager that I reviewed which is taken before bed. I have transitioned to HPA Adapt to aid in balance adrenal levels during the day after using the Cortisol Manager initially to get beneficial rest. Please feel free to have your friend contact me at somg@embarqmail.com if he has any additional questions.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Hi
I am an anxiety disorder patient and It started with panic attacks since 2013. I am alright now but still, I am on medication. I am slightly hyperactive too. If I stop the medication I do not get good sleep and I feel disturbed.
Can you tell if I can ask the doctor to replace my medication with Cortisol Manager?
Thanks For a great article.
This comment is awaiting moderation
I certainly would discuss this product with your doctor. I have found with my personal training clients that improving adrenal health has helped them to better manage their stress levels. Please let me know what your doctor says. Feel free to contact me at somg@embarqmail.com.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Hi Somg
I used to suffer from insomnia the short term one, I will to bed for 2-3 hours and be up all night watching television. When I was going through my insomnia I had a great deal of stress in my life. I try take medicine for my insomnia, I feel like it did not work for me. I will be up almost all night and then when it comes close to the morning. That is the time the medicine would start working.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Thank you for your response. It sounds like those sleepless nights are past you now. I appreciate the read.
This comment is awaiting moderation
I learned something new from this article. This is actually the first time I have heard of Integrative Cortisol Manager.Fortunately for me, I have no sleeping problem. I fall asleep the minute my back touches my bed. But i agree though that lack of sleep is not good for health. On some occasions when i have to shorten my sleep or have to go to sleep late, the following day I don’t feel energetic. But I am a sleep person. I need to have plenty of sleep and so I make up for lost time.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Good for you! I think the take away is that a heightened sympathetic state puts the body in an overadrenalized place at night. This state is not good for a restful night sleep. Thanks for the read.
This comment is awaiting moderation
Excellent points and this sounds like a good product to address insomniac conditions Stacy.
I also at times have trouble sleeping; I may sleep 3-4 hours then wake up, and then sleep another 4-5 hours. It is broken sleep.
I attribute this to a hyperactive brain always coming up with new ideas. So in the past year I have turned to disengaging at least i hour before sleep and meditation. This has definitely helped.
Thanks for a great post!
This comment is awaiting moderation
Thanks for the read! I am 52 and also have a hyperactive brain. I too have incorporated a night time shut down routine to aid in the sleep/rejuvenation process. Years ago I started a journey in Zen meditation sitting on meditation cushions for about 45min 5 days a week. This established an ability to quickly access a quiet state of being through harnessing the breath. Sounds like you are on the right track!
Stacy
Add your comment...