Have you ever bolted up at 2AM wide awake?

Your mind’s racing, like someone just turned the lights on in your head.

It’s brutal. I’ve battled this my whole life.

My brain tends to run a little hot, and for years I couldn’t figure out why it would flip on like a light switch in the middle of the night.

Is it stress?
Is it diet?
Something else?

Turns out — it’s cortisol.

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Why your body wakes you up at night

When blood sugar dips too low overnight, your body panics.

It pumps out cortisol to free up glucose.

That’s great for survival — not good for deep sleep.

You end up half-awake, half-anxious, and wondering why your body acts like it just drank an espresso.

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How to lower nighttime cortisol

The first step is nutrition — get enough protein and electrolytes during the day so blood sugar doesn’t tank overnight.

Glycine can also help. It slightly steadies glucose and directly lowers core temperature, both of which promote deep sleep.

But here’s where it gets really interesting.

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Cortisol rhythm isn’t just chemical — it’s circadian

Your light exposure literally trains when cortisol peaks.

If you’re staring at blue light late at night and not getting strong red or infrared light in the morning or evening, your cortisol curve gets flipped.

You start releasing cortisol when you’re supposed to be winding down.

That’s why I’ve become obsessed with using red light and infrared heat as circadian anchors.

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The light and heat fix

Five to ten minutes of red light exposure in the morning and again before bed can be stronger than most supplements for resetting your rhythm.

It basically tells your brain,
“This is sunrise.”
“This is sunset.”

Same with heat.

A short sauna session in the evening raises core temperature, and the drop afterward triggers your body’s built-in sleep switch.

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My nightly wind-down routine

I use Bon Charge for both.

Their Red Light Therapy Blanket lets you get full-body red and near-infrared light without any huge setup.

Their Infrared Sauna Blanket gives you the recovery benefits of a full sauna in your living room.

It makes my nightly wind-down routine effortless:

15 minutes of heat
10 minutes of red light

And I sleep like a rock.

If you use my link, it automatically unlocks extra savings at checkout whether you grab a one-time order or decide to subscribe.

This setup is way cheaper than a built-in sauna — and the red light blanket alone has saved me thousands compared to in-clinic sessions that charge $100 for 20 minutes.

Now I have it at home.

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The real takeaway

The more you support your circadian rhythm, the less your body has to rely on emergency cortisol to stabilize blood sugar.

That means deeper sleep, steadier energy, and better recovery.

If you keep waking up wired at 2AM, it’s not willpower.

It’s timing.

Reset your light and heat exposure, support your body with glycine, and your cortisol rhythm can fall back into place.

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Want to go deeper?

If you want a deeper breakdown of how cortisol timing, grounding, and circadian rhythm affect sleep, I walk through the science in this video below.