“Wired and Tired”? What Your Morning Cortisol Spike Might Be Telling You

Why You Feel “Wired and Tired”: The Hidden Hormonal Pattern You Need to Know

Do you wake up feeling revved up, only to crash hard in the afternoon? You’re not alone — and your hormones might be the culprit. This could be a cortisol spike in the morning.

In my functional nutrition practice, I often see a classic stress hormone pattern on lab tests like the DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). The graph is almost always the same: cortisol spikes high in the morning, then rapidly drops throughout the day. While a gentle rise in cortisol is normal and helps us wake up, an extreme surge suggests dysregulation in the adrenal system — aka your stress response is in overdrive.

When you skip breakfast and lean on caffeine, you exacerbate this imbalance. Your body perceives this as a stress event, amplifying cortisol production even more. This leads to the “wired but tired” feeling: overstimulated, anxious, and completely depleted by mid-afternoon from the cortisol spike in the morning.

Making things worse? Many of these same tests reveal depleted levels of DHEA and progesterone — hormones essential for energy, mood stability, and resilience. When they’re low, the symptoms often include:

• Anxiety or mood swings
• Poor sleep quality
• Low libido
• Difficulty concentrating
• Midsection weight gain

Why This Matters — Especially for Perimenopausal Women

Hormonal shifts during perimenopause already strain the adrenal glands. If you’re pushing through with coffee, skipping meals, and not managing stress, your body is forced to work overtime — and it shows.

The Power of Testing

While we often “know” something is off intuitively, seeing it visually on a lab result like the DUTCH test can be incredibly affirming. It creates clarity and helps guide targeted support strategies — from nutrition and supplements to sleep and lifestyle tweaks.

You’re Not Broken. You’re Burned Out.

There’s nothing wrong with you — but your hormones are likely screaming for support. And when we listen to them, everything changes.

Ready to find out what your cortisol and hormone levels are really saying? Book a FREE discovery call or learn more about functional hormone testing. Follow along and join my newsletter for more information here.

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