Insomnia affects approximately 30% of American adults. When patients present with sleep complaints, it’s a common practice in functional medicine to test free cortisol to ascertain the degree of impact poor sleep has on the stress system. Free cortisol measurements only reflect the cortisol in circulation and do not speak to a patient’s cortisol production.

Did you know there are other cortisol markers that can take that assessment one step further? This webinar will help providers focus in on elements of adrenal and HPA axis function beyond free cortisol’s diurnal rhythm to ultimately shine a brighter light on the root cause of sleep disruption.

Key Moments:
00:00 Intro
07:00 Sleep phases
12:36 Why do we use cortisol to evaluate sleep?
17:30 Tissue actions of cortisol
22:20 Conditions associated with chronic sleep loss
30:39 Which cortisol curve is more resilient?
35:00 Flat line curve link to chronic stress
43:45 Cortisol metabolism irregularities
49:45 DUTCH indicators of insulin resistance
57:31 Acute adrenal stress
59:40 Closing