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3 Hormones To Blame For Bad Sleep
Struggling to sleep? Dr. Courtney Ranieri, ND explains how progesterone, estrogen and cortisol affect your rest, plus 5 natural ways to improve your sleep.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Courtney Ranieri, ND, a licensed naturopathic doctor registered with the College of Naturopaths of Ontario (Reg. #3726). Last reviewed July 2026.
Can't sleep? It could be your hormones
Your body is home to at least 50 different hormones; each one plays an important role in regulating biological functions, including sleep. Which hormones impact sleep and how do we fix it?
Progesterone
Who it impacts: women around their cycles (PMS)
Have you noticed your sleep suffers the week or two before your period? Blame progesterone.
Right after ovulation, there is an increase in progesterone. If no pregnancy occurs, the progesterone levels rapidly decline. Progesterone usually helps to soothe mood and can help calm the body down. When progesterone levels are really low, it can make us feel more anxious and more on edge, which is why some women find it hard to get good quality sleep in those "PMS" days.
This tends to be worse in women with PCOS or PMS. Women with PCOS can experience irregular periods, which leads to higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of progesterone. These hormonal irregularities can make sleep problems worse.
Estrogen
Who it impacts: peri-menopausal and menopausal women
Peri-menopause is a time where women's hormone levels fluctuate dramatically, especially estrogen. This period is marked by a dramatic decrease in estrogen levels. This can lead to those unwanted symptoms we associate with menopause like night sweats and hot flashes which can keep the brain active and awake during the night.
We find that lower estrogen levels can cause women to experience insomnia and nighttime waking, especially at 2 or 3 am.
Cortisol
Who it impacts: everyone
Cortisol's role in the body is to initiate the fight-or-flight response when it is activated by a stressor and to influence your circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle. The rise and fall of this stress hormone is crucial for helping you fall and stay asleep throughout the night, and wake up in the morning.
Cortisol levels should be higher in the morning, to give you energy to get your day started, and lower in the evening and overnight, to stimulate the release of melatonin so you can fall and stay asleep.
When we are chronically stressed or eating irregularly, cortisol levels can stay high in the evening. This causes a decrease in melatonin production, making it hard for you to fall asleep and preventing deep, restorative sleep.
Learn more about cortisol here and cortisol testing here.
5 ways to improve your sleep
- Check in on your hormones. Check in with your ND to assess and test your hormone levels. If you've been having difficulty sleeping we can test your estrogen, progesterone and melatonin levels using DUTCH Comprehensive Hormone Testing.
- Avoid screens 30 minutes before bed. The blue light emitted from screens has been associated with the suppression of melatonin, prolonged time to fall asleep, shortened sleep duration, less REM sleep and reduced alertness the following morning. Try apps that block blue light or blue-light blocking glasses.
- Make bed-time a ritual. Ease into sleep with relaxing activities an hour or so before bed, like reading, journalling or a guided meditation. Set your room to a comfortable temperature, since increased body and bedroom temperature can decrease sleep quality.
- Supplements can help. Melatonin, GABA, L-Theanine and magnesium have all been shown to help with sleep.
- Avoid coffee, alcohol and other stimulants in the afternoon and evening. Caffeine can stay elevated in your blood for 6 to 8 hours after drinking, and alcohol alters nighttime melatonin production.
- Get some sunshine during the day. A study found that 2 hours of daytime natural bright light increased the amount of sleep by two hours and sleep efficiency by 80%.
Always check in with your Naturopathic Doctor or other health care provider before starting any treatments or making changes to your healthcare plan.
About the author
Dr. Courtney Ranieri, ND is a board-licensed naturopathic doctor and the founder of Somewhere Health. She earned her Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto and holds an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario. Her clinical focus spans hormonal health, fertility, digestion, and women's health, with advanced training in pelvic floor therapy and integrative fertility care.
