# Sleep

Category: Conditions

Also known as: insomnia

Sleep is not a passive shutdown but an active, energy-dependent state of inhibition, and its disturbance—insomnia—is fundamentally a problem of low metabolic energy and the consequent stress response. Ray Peat argued that the brain, like a muscle, must restore its energy to…

10 passages · 2 authors · 1993–2022 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/sleep

## Synthesis

**Sleep** is not a passive shutdown but an active, energy-dependent state of inhibition, and its disturbance—**insomnia**—is fundamentally a problem of *low metabolic energy* and the consequent stress response. [Source 3, 4] Ray Peat argued that the brain, like a muscle, must restore its energy to relax, and that the inability to enter deep, restorative sleep stems from a failure of mitochondrial energy production, most commonly driven by **hypothyroidism**. [Source 3, 4] In this low-energy state, the liver cannot store adequate **glycogen** to supply the brain with glucose through the night, triggering a cascade of excitatory stress hormones. [Source 4]

As blood glucose falls during the night, the body releases **adrenaline**, **histamine**, **cortisol**, and **serotonin** in sequence to mobilize energy, each of which promotes wakefulness and prevents the descent into deep sleep. [Source 4, 7] Peat noted that hypothyroid individuals, studied with brainwave analysis, never progress beyond the superficial second phase of sleep, waking unrested and achy. [Source 4] This nocturnal stress response is compounded by the liberation of *polyunsaturated free fatty acids* from fat stores, which block glucose oxidation, increase inflammatory prostaglandins, and create an excitatory state that further interferes with both slow-wave and REM sleep. [Source 7] The rise of these stress mediators explains why insomnia is so pervasive in aging, as the chronic adaptation of low thyroid function leads to a nightly overproduction of adrenaline and cortisol. [Source 10]

The most common root cause of this metabolic disruption, Peat maintained, is intestinal irritation and the absorption of **endotoxin** from bacteria, which increases systemic histamine and serotonin. [Source 1, 2] Poor digestion, heavy evening meals rich in fat, and the consumption of starches that feed bacteria can all promote endotoxin formation, making the digestive system a primary source of the irritation that drives nighttime adrenaline. [Source 1, 2] Peat also identified **estrogen** as a powerful disruptor of sleep, recounting cases where simply discontinuing estrogen therapy immediately restored normal sleep, and noting that stress of any kind activates the aromatase enzyme, shifting the steroid balance toward estrogen and away from protective hormones. [Source 4, 5]

Therapeutic interventions center on restoring oxidative energy production and blunting the stress response. Peat reported that a very small dose of **T3** (5-10 mcg) at bedtime often produces sleep within minutes by rapidly increasing the rate of energy production, an effect one colleague described as "better than morphine." [Source 6, 7] **Progesterone** and **thyroid** work in concert to keep body temperature up, maintain liver glycogen stores, and directly shift the balance away from cortisol, histamine, serotonin, and adrenaline. [Source 4] Practical dietary supports include salty and sugary snacks at bedtime—such as milk with honey or ice cream—to stabilize blood glucose and lower adrenaline, while aspirin at bedtime can inhibit the synthesis of wakefulness-promoting prostaglandins. [Source 7, 9] Georgi Dinkov has added that testing for a deranged diurnal cortisol pattern, elevated nighttime catecholamines, or a TSH above 3 can help identify the specific stress mediators driving an individual's insomnia. [Source 8]

Peat distinguished between the *naturally quiet resting state* of energized cells and the state of *protective inhibition* that prevents injury from overstimulation and fatigue, arguing that true sleep is only possible from the former. [Source 3] When energy production fails, the organism enters a catabolic state during sleep, with increased growth hormone, prolactin, parathyroid hormone, and inflammatory cytokines that break down tissue rather than restoring it. [Source 7] This framework explains why stimulants like caffeine can paradoxically improve focus in the hypothyroid by temporarily raising brain energy, but only the restoration of oxidative metabolism through thyroid hormone, a supportive diet, and the reduction of intestinal endotoxin can produce the deep, restorative sleep that allows genuine physiological regeneration. [Source 3, 7]

## People also ask

### Why does low thyroid function cause insomnia?

Peat argued that hypothyroidism impairs mitochondrial energy production, preventing the liver from storing enough glycogen to supply the brain with glucose overnight, which triggers a cascade of wakefulness-promoting stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.

### How can a bedtime snack improve sleep quality?

The corpus describes that a salty and sugary snack, such as milk with honey, before bed can stabilize blood glucose and lower adrenaline, helping to prevent the stress response that disrupts deep sleep.

### What role does intestinal health play in sleep problems?

Peat maintained that intestinal irritation and the absorption of bacterial endotoxin increase systemic histamine and serotonin, making the digestive system a primary source of the irritation that drives nighttime adrenaline and wakefulness.

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## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — Ray Peat Email Advice Depository — Post 382

Ray Peat · Email · Jun 12, 2017

> **Question:** Dear Ray, I've been suffering from insomnia since childhood (difficulties falling asleep at night even felling my body tired and very light sleep) and even though I'm very closely following your advices for 3 years now, nothing seems to improve regarding this issue. I know that you consider that sleep quality is correlated with high resting energy state of the brain but, despite the fact I've brought back my thyroid function to an adequate level (cynomel+ NDT leading to highish body temperature and HR) and that I have a very good diet, my sleep hasn't improved. I tried pregnenolone, salt, sugar, sodium bicarbonate, bag breathing, carrot salad, low dose DHEA (1-2mg), aspirin, sunlight exposure, red light etc. and nothing seems to help. I also tried valerian and surprisingly, it has a stimulating effect on me. The only thing that sometimes knocks me out is cyproheptadine (only 0,5 mg) but I wake up in a very bad mood. I might also specify that this problem isn't affected by my psychological stress level (which is low, most of the time). Do you think that there might exist other important factors that I'm missing out? Best regards,
>
> **Ray Peat:** Histamine and serotonin promote wakefulness, and cyproheptadine blocks those, but its other effects aren’t very pleasant. Have you tried diphenhydramine? Endotoxin from intestinal bacteria increases histamine and serotonin; poor digestion is probably the most common cause of insomnia. Avoiding starches is often helpful. Small amounts of some excipients in supplements, and allergens in some foods, can increase the nighttime absorption of endotoxin. The antimicrobial/antiinflammatory effects of cascara can improve sleep; an antibiotic such as tetracycline can reduce the intestinal inflammation.

### Source 2 — How to Sleep Better, Sleep Solutions & Supplements

Ray Peat · Interview · Feb 14, 2020 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectFSs9nEcw

> **Jodelle Fitzwater:** Okay, well, welcome to the Get Fit with Jodell podcast. I am, as usual, Jodell, and I am happy to have, once again, Dr. Peat with me. It's wonderful to have you, Dr. Peat. How are you? Very good. Awesome. Well, you are so generous with your time, so I have to ask you a question. What drives you to be so passionate in helping people understand their bodies? I agree. We can never stop learning. So I'm passionate to learn from you as we keep moving forward. And I think everybody's going to really love the show today. It's all about sleep. I've compiled quite a few questions from listeners for you, Dr. Peat, related to sleep, insomnia, and possibly the anxiety around sleep. So we appreciate all that you're gonna share with us today. But before we jump in, I highly encourage you guys to sign up for his newsletter. And you can either get that by regular mail or through email. And I literally get excited like a toddler given a new toy, Dr. Peat, when I see your newsletter in my mail. So I'm always like, oh my gosh, there it is. So I just really wanna encourage people with as generous as you are, we can give back to you and learn from you at the same time. So do you want to briefly just share with them how they can sign up for your newsletter? Awesome. And I so think that is worth it for the amount of knowledge that you give us in those newsletters. So I highly encourage it, you guys. So let's jump right in, Dr. Peat. The first question is mine. Is there one main root cause behind most sleep issues, or is it a potpourri of reasons when it comes to someone having trouble sleeping? What's your thoughts?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Often the immediate thing is sleep. fatigue that has depleted your glycogen stores making your digestive system overactive and then the immediate thing is irritation from your intestine bothering you during the night and causing your adrenaline to keep you awake but behind all of that it's almost always the local cells to 12 hours. But if something cortisol around dawn because by the end of the night most people are having some depletion of their glycogen.

### Source 3 — Insomnia & Hyperactivity

Ray Peat · Newsletter · Apr 1994

> Ritalin (or coffee) makes anyone, even the brightest students, more attentive and focussed. Caffeine and Ritalin temporarily raise the energy level of the brain. Thyroid hormones are essential for providing the energy to keep the brain at a high energy level all the time. If these hormones are deficient, our nerves need stimulants to function normally, and our bodies ordinarily produce large amounts of adrenalin to keep us going. The result is that we get tired and tense at the same time.
>
> An old and useful test of thyroid function uses the Achilles tendon reflex, to observe the relaxation speed of the calf muscle. In hypothyroid states, the muscle is slow to relax, because the cells are slow to replace the energy used by the contraction-twitch. Because of the slow energy production, the muscles tend to fatigue easily, and to swell and feel sore with moderate exercise. In children, painful, swollen and tense muscles sometimes make it hard to go to sleep after an active day.
>
> In the heart, slow replacement of energy can be seen in the EKG, as a delayed and depressed T wave; if this is combined with stress and excitement, it can cause a rhythm disturbance.
>
> The brain is just like muscle, in having to restore its energy to relax. Many people have noticed that eating a lot of carbohydrate and/or salt makes them sleepy. Both salt and carbohydrate tend to lower adrenalin, and carbohydrate can also increase the activity of thyroid hormone, while restoring energy to the tissues.
>
> In the last 20 years, I have seen almost everyone's insomnia disappear when they correct their hypothyroidism, sometimes just with dietary changes, but more often with a thyroid supplement. Many times, people have told me that they get to sleep within a few minutes when they take a minimal dose of thyroid at bedtime. By increasing the rate of energy production, relaxation and sleep are made possible.
>
> In 1973 (in my book, Mind and Tissue) I reviewed old studies of cellular inhibition, which distinguished between the naturally quiet resting state of energized cells, and the state of protective inhibition, which prevents injury or death from overstimulation and fatigue. In our establishment physiology, there has been no coherent theory of cellular inhibition, which means that cellular activity could hardly be understood correctly, either.

### Source 4 — One Radio Network — Peat Ray (July 2021)

Ray Peat · Interview · Jul 19, 2021

> **Ray Peat:** If your liver is under-functioning, can't store enough glycogen to provide glucose to keep your brain working during the night. When your glucose falls, adrenaline and histamine and cortisol in sequence arise, each with an excitatory effect on your brain. Since thyroid hormone is essential for using and storing glucose, if you're low in thyroid, your liver isn't going to have enough stored glucose to get you through the night. So your histamine, adrenaline, and cortisol and serotonin, all of the stress inflammation factors will increase. And your body temperature falls protectively when your glucose is low, and progesterone and thyroid are able in many ways to keep your body temperature up, your liver storing glucose, and directly shifting the balance away from cortisol, histamine, serotonin, and adrenaline.
>
> **Patrick Timpone:** So that ties back to the thyroid again.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, low thyroid people have been studied with brainwave sleep analysis and found that if you divide the type of sleep into four phases, hypothyroid people never get below the superficial second phase of sleep. So they wake up unrested and achy and fatigued. And it takes thyroid and progesterone as very central factors for achieving deep, restful four-phase of sleep.

### Source 5 — Nutrition for Women

Ray Peat · Book · 1993

> Because of the role of carbon dioxide in circulation, vitamins B1, B6, and biotin, and zinc, should also be considered. Choline is now known to stimulate acetylcholine synthesis, and so might help to promote a normal parasympathetic innervation.
>
> ### Insomnia
>
> A few weeks ago a woman, in her 40s and taking estrogen pills by prescription, was complaining of extreme insomnia and other symptoms. I suggested that she might be getting too much estrogen, so she stopped, and immediately was able to sleep normally. Sometimes a few hundred milligrams of magnesium carbonate per day (or a spoonful of epsom salts, if this dose is divided into several parts to avoid the laxative effect) will immediately make it possible to sleep normally. Zinc, as in oysters, and potassium and the B complex vitamins, as in brewer's yeast, are sometimes necessary. Many people get gas from the complex carbohydrates in yeast. This can be prevented by steeping a tablespoonful in a cup of boiling water, and drinking only the yellow liquid and throwing away the sediment. Protein is lost, but the other nutrients are highly soluble. Milk contains natural sleep-inducers, including the amino acid tryptophan and milk sugar. Two or three tablespoonfuls of honey in a glass of milk will provide some magnesium, as well as sugar to increase the liver's stored glycogen. When blood sugar is low, adrenalin is secreted to raise the sugar level, but it also tends to keep the person awake, by causing nightmares, sweating, rapid heartbeat, etc. Since blood sugar is normally higher in the daytime, because of light's effect on various glands, some people with defective livers find it easier to sleep in the daytime. Hypothyroidism is the most common basic cause of low blood sugar, and very commonly causes insomnia. I have noticed that "bedtime worries" are associated with hypothyroidism, and disappear when it is corrected. Although tryptophan supplements are available for insomnia, I think its chronic use would be as dangerous as the tranquilizer, reserpine, which acts on the same biochemical system, and which increases the risk of breast cancer.
>
> ### Low Blood Pressure
>
> Some doctors say that lower than average blood pressure is a good thing.

### Source 6 — Thyroid, Hypothyroidism & Diet, Lifestyle, Exercise to Fix it!

Ray Peat · Interview · Jul 20, 2019 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNTgD6djJtE

> **Jodelle Fitzwater:** So with regard to sleep, a lot of people sleep with their cell phones right by their head, or they get up in the night if they can't sleep. Let's say they are low thyroid and they flick their phone on to play games or whatever, to go on Facebook or whatever, and so the blue light's blasting in their face. Are they doing themselves any favors as far as their thyroid when they're exposed to EMF radiation and blue light constantly?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yeah, I think almost any stimulus, but especially a random... cell activating thing like a cell phone. For a few days I would get insomnia, hard to go to sleep, and I found that taking a very small amount of T3 would put me right to sleep five or ten minutes after taking And on one of my trips, I was going to speak at a conference sponsored by a doctor. And the day before I got there, I saw him and he said he hadn't slept for three or four nights and was just in a desperate condition. And I told him my experience and gave him some 10-microgram pills. And the next day, as I went to the conference, before he let me talk, he pulled me aside and said, that stuff is better than morphine.

### Source 7 — Sleep and Aging

Ray Peat · Newsletter · 2018

> Individuals who are hypometabolic are more susceptible to the harmful effects of sleep deprivation, being less able to quickly restore the high energy resting state. In that state, even relatively weak stimulation can be damaging. For the generation of therapists who followed Pavlov, such as K.I. Platonov (1930), the induction of sleep was considered to be the most effective aspect of psychotherapy.
>
> The rise of free fatty acids in the serum during the night coincides with a high rate of turnover of the brain’s phospholipids. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are preferentially liberated from fat stores, in proportion to their degree of unsaturation (Raclot, 2003; Conner, et al., 1996), so their interchange with the brain’s lipids means that each night the brain will become enriched with the highly unsaturated fats that are most susceptible to lipid peroxidation. The intensity of lipolysis during the night is decreased during the most restorative deep sleep, but the free fatty acids themselves, by blocking oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide, tend to increase lactate and to depress glucose metabolism, creating an inflammatory and excitatory state that interferes with deep sleep. The accumulation of arachidonic acid with aging will tend to increase the formation of prostaglandins, which promote wakefulness and inhibit both slow wave and REM sleep (Matsumura, et al., 1988, 1989; Onoe, et al., 1992). Producing a deficiency of the “essential fatty acids” in animals increases the duration of their slow wave sleep (Dzoljic, 1978). Using aspirin at bedtime, to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, is likely to be helpful in age related insomnia. Progesterone and vitamin E act in various ways to prevent excessive stimulation by prostaglandins. Using snacks to minimize the nocturnal increase of free fatty acids and hypoglycemia is an effective way to support restorative sleep, and to retard the brain-aging effects of the accumulation of the unstable fatty acids. Calcium and vitamin D, sufficient to keep parathyroid hormone low, contribute to that process.
>
> Salty snacks are especially helpful for bringing on sleep, probably by stabilizing blood glucose and lowering adrenalin. Ice cream, combining sugar, calcium, and some fat that prolongs the absorption of the sugar, is often effective for improving the quality of sleep.

### Source 8 — IdeaLabs Forum Q&A — Androsterone

Georgi Dinkov · Forum Q&A · Sep 15, 2016

> **Regina:** (2016-12-06) Hi Haidut, I am having an annual check-up thursday and will get blood test. I will have to specifically request anything but the basics. Here is my issue. Insomnia. Very difficult for me to fall asleep. I feel well though. No other complaints. Very clear-headed, easy-going and training is fine. Not drained or damaged feeling after rigorous aikido at all. I am not irritable. Generally pretty happy regardless of horrible stuff in my life. I don't feel anxious. However, I feel like it takes an elephant gun to get me asleep. The robot just lays there; I can't find the off button. I feel zero effect from 5a-DHP. I tried 15mg last night. No detectable response. I loved pregnenolone and androsterone the best. But I may be a person who has to stay low or high pregnenolone--avoiding the middle range. I feel like the Peat diet is working great. And I have the whole sundry "stack" I can cursor through. Pretty much everything we talk about here, I have. (other than cypro). Anything I can ask to test for in my blood that might be a clue? Thank you so much.
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** (2016-12-06) Maybe you can ask for AM/PM cortisol test. It means 2 blood draws in the same day but it can show both the serum levels and if there is a proper diurnal pattern. Getting blood catecholamines tested as well can give an idea on the other side of the stress response. Insomnia is usually a cortisol, adrenaline, or melatonin issue. All of these get deranged when metabolism is not working. I think there was an old study showing disturbed sleep if TSH was above 3. So, maybe testing TSH and vitamin D would also give some clues.

### Source 9 — Ray Peat Email Advice Depository — Post 886

Ray Peat · Email · Dec 6, 2022

> **Ray Peat:** Is there enough sugar in your diet? Do you occasionally have seafood or liver, as a source of selenium?
>
> **Question:** [Any other ideas to help with the insomnia at night?]
>
> **Ray Peat:** Something sugary (milk and honey, for example) right at bedtime might help with sleep.
>
> **Question:** I wrote to you before about taking bromocriptine for insomnia. In just a few days, .6mg of bromocriptine seems to have mostly fixed my severe insomnia. I don't like the feeling it gives me, so I'm not sure if I'll continue to take it. I'm looking for other ways to get the same effect. Do you think bromocriptine helped my sleep because of its antiserotonin properties, or because it lowers prolactin? I was thinking of trying Stablon instead, to see if it helps with my sleep as well.
>
> **Ray Peat:** That's very interesting; I don't know what Stablon's effect might be, but a couple of people tell me they have had very good results from it. I think winter-night stress involves all the hormones that regulate energy production, and getting lots of bright light on your face, head, and neck might help. A little niacinamide (100 mg), vitamins B1 and B6 (about 10 mg), and gelatin, sugar, and salt would help to maintain energy production during the dark.

### Source 10 — The Thyroid 1996 Gary Null Radio Show

Ray Peat · Interview · 1996 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/gary-null-thyroid.mp4

> **Ray Peat:** People have looked at patients in hospitals, and they have found that the ones with the same diseases but with a low body temperature are the ones who are less likely to survive and go home, and it's because the low thyroid, which is an adaptation to many stresses and sicknesses -- at a certain point, the low thyroid stops being protective and starts interfering with the healing process. And when you have been in that low thyroid state too long, you are living on adrenaline and cortisone, which are destroying all of your essential tissues. I've seen many low thyroid people who, in a day, produced 30 or 40 times more adrenaline than normal; and adrenaline tends to lead immediately to cortisone production, depending on how efficient your adrenals are. And this high adrenaline state creates a terrible amount of confusion among doctors and patients both, because as an adaptation, it makes people feel like they're on speed sometimes, to have this adaptive, extreme overproduction of adrenaline. And at night, it's normal for adrenaline and cortisone to rise, even in young people, because it's a sort of a fasting state, and they're not eating, and so they maintain these sugar producing hormones during the night. But in old age, these are higher, in general, because of the low thyroid. So that if your thyroid is low, or you're old and have low thyroid (that's a more or less natural thing), nighttime, with the rising adrenaline and cortisone, becomes more and more stressful, and insomnia becomes more and more common. It's very usual for people in their 70's and 80's to wake up after 5 or 6 hours of sleep and just get up early because they know they aren't going to be able to get back to sleep. But this also happens in very young people who have low thyroid.

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