Tests, Fixes, and Ideas That Are Shaping My Longevity Strategy

Hormonal Sleep Disruption in Women: What It Is, How It Fragments Sleep, and How to Recognize It

Hormones & Sleep /

Overview: Estrogen, progesterone, and their downstream metabolites regulate multiple pathways that govern sleep — from the brain’s inhibitory tone to body temperature to the neurotransmitters that set the sleep-wake cycle. As these hormones’ function is disrupted during perimenopause and menopause, each pathway is affected in a specific way: Progesterone is converted to allopregnanolone, a neurosteroid […]

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Hormonal Sleep Disruption in Men: How Declining Testosterone Function, Growth Hormone, and DHEA Fragment Sleep After 40

Hormones & Sleep, Sleep & 3AM Wakeups /

Testosterone, growth hormone, and DHEA all decline as men age — starting as early as the late 20s and accelerating after 40. These hormonal changes don’t reduce sex drive and muscle mass alone; they directly alter the brain’s ability to produce and maintain deep sleep. Declining testosterone function involves three concurrent changes: falling production from

Hormonal Sleep Disruption in Men: How Declining Testosterone Function, Growth Hormone, and DHEA Fragment Sleep After 40 Read Post »

Metabolic Sleep Disruption: How Metabolic Impairment Fragments Sleep and How to Recognize It

Sleep & 3AM Wakeups /

Overview: Metabolic impairment — including insulin resistance, blood sugar instability, mitochondrial decline, and disrupted fat metabolism — can directly fragment sleep and degrade its deepest and restorative stages. Five mechanisms contribute: Insulin resistance suppresses slow-wave sleep — the deepest sleep stage responsible for overnight metabolic restoration — creating a self-reinforcing cycle where less deep sleep

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Circadian Rhythm Disruption: How a Misaligned Internal Clock Fragments Sleep, Drives 3AM Wakeups, and Reduces Sleep Depth

Sleep & 3AM Wakeups /

Overview: Circadian disruption occurs when the body’s internal ~24-hour clock — controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus — loses alignment with the external light-dark cycle or with the body’s own organs and tissues. Five mechanisms link circadian disruption to fragmented sleep, 3am wakeups, and light shallow sleep: Orexin timing misalignment — the suprachiasmatic

Circadian Rhythm Disruption: How a Misaligned Internal Clock Fragments Sleep, Drives 3AM Wakeups, and Reduces Sleep Depth Read Post »

Inflammatory Sleep Disruption: How Chronic Inflammation Fragments Sleep and How to Recognize It

Sleep & 3AM Wakeups /

Overview: Inflammatory sleep disruption occurs when persistent, low-level immune activation — elevated cytokines, overactive inflammatory pathways, and immune cells in a sustained activated state — can interfere with the biological processes that produce and maintain sleep. Five mechanisms appear to contribute to it: Cytokine overload — chronic elevation of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β is associated

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Autonomic Sleep Disruption: What It Is, How It Fragments Sleep, and How to Recognize It

Sleep & 3AM Wakeups /

Overview: Autonomic sleep disruption occurs when the body’s involuntary regulation — heart rate, stress hormones, and neural inhibition — fails to transition properly into sleep mode. Three mechanisms can drive it: Weakened vagal tone — parasympathetic activation doesn’t engage at sleep onset, leaving heart rate elevated through the night Reduced GABA — the brain’s primary

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Is your gut spiking cortisol at 3 a.m?

Hormones & Sleep /

Sleep and the gut.

Two areas of longevity science I keep coming back to — both in my own work and in my own health. I think the gut-sleep connection is one of the more underappreciated intersections in health, and it’s something I’ve wanted to explore in a focused conversation for a while.

Today I get to do that — through a written Q&A with Scott C. Anderson.

Scott is a science journalist and co-author of The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection — a National Geographic bestseller he wrote alongside John F. Cryan and Ted Dinan, the researchers who coined the term psychobiotics. He also writes on Substack about the gut-brain connection.

I asked Scott six questions about the gut-brain axis, cortisol, probiotics, and what the research says about improving sleep through the microbiome.

Here’s what he had to say:

Is your gut spiking cortisol at 3 a.m? Read Post »

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