The Best PCOS Sleep Routine Guide: Fix Your PCOS Sleep Issues Once and For All!

Can PCOS affect Sleep?

It’s common to hear about PCOS sleep issues: everything from trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up super early unintentionally, and everything in between are complaints I often hear in initial sessions with PCOS clients.  I’m frequently asked about good sleep hygiene and if a PCOS sleep routine might be helpful for getting better sleep.

The answer is that yes, a high quality pcos sleep routine is absolutely essential to actually improving your PCOS sleep issues once and for all.  The pcos sleep routine in the foundational baseline.  Once we regularly incorporate it, the continuing PCOS sleep issues we have are signs of deeper root causes and it makes it that much easier to fix once we have that clarity.

So let’s discuss some of the most common PCOS sleep issues and how a PCOS Sleep Routine can help.

Why do we have sleep issues in PCOS?

Sleep problems in PCOS are common because of several underlying reasons.  Lifestyle factors (like poor quality PCOS sleep routines being one), nutrition factors, and even hormonal and physiological factors all contribute.

Lifestyle Factors that Contribute to Sleep issues in PCOS | PCOS Sleep Routine Guide

In order to sleep well with pcos, we need a good quality pcos sleep routine.  This includes ensuring we go to bed on time, in a dark enough room, with the right sleeping temperatures.  It ensures we wind down correctly and with the right tools and approach, prioritize our sleep, and make sure we support our brains in producing the right chemicals.

Unfortunately, modern life makes a good pcos sleep routine difficult to accomplish.

Typical nighttime routines for most of us include an evening on the couch, followed by staying up late in bed scrolling on our phones, watching short form video content or some tv show or movie until we eventually get so exhausted we try to sleep, only to lay awake for an hour wondering why our mind is running a thousand miles an hour.

Here’s an average night routine for many of us:

Come home from work exhausted (probably from lack of sleep the night before).  Eat a later night snack in front of the TV, likely something higher in sugar or starch like potato chips, ice cream, chocolate, or candy.  Spend some hours on our phones, tablets, or laptops watching a tv show or movie we’ve been excited about (likely something with some stressful scenes) and scrolling our phones at the same time.

We transition from the couch to the bed at some point in an attempt to get ready for the night but keep telling ourselves “just one more video”.  Eventually, the bedtime we wanted to meet passes, and then the next checkpoint after that, until finally we end up falling asleep exhausted only to wake too early the next morning and start the cycle again.

The Lifestyle factors that contribute to our pcos sleep issues are many but some of the most common are:

• Too much blue light exposure from phones and TVs before bed, preventing melatonin production
• Too much stressful content from social media and TV, spiking adrenaline and cortisol
• Too little balance in work/life stress leading to revenge sleep deprivation behavior
• Too hot of a room, too much light in the room
• Foods before bed that cause indigestion or issues with low blood sugar in the middle of the night

Hormonal Factors that Contribute to Sleep Issues in PCOS | PCOS Sleep Routine Guide

There are some hormonal factors that can become repetitive problems with your pcos sleep routine that often develop after consistently performing the lifestyle issues above.

High cortisol at night or reversed cortisol rhythm:

Cortisol, you’re body’s natural stress and energy hormone, is typically produced on a rhythm where it is higher in the morning and low before bed.  Low cortisol before bed is part of what helps you feel relaxed and tired enough to go to sleep and as it rises in the morning, it’s part of what wakes you up for the day.

In PCOS, sometimes this rhythm gets reverse and we deal with low cortisol during the day and high cortisol at night, messing up our circadian rhythm and affecting sleep in a way that is hard for a pcos sleep routine to overcome. There are some top signs of high cortisol in PCOS that I recommend you read about to learn more.

Late-day exercise:

Sometimes work schedules prevent us from finding an ideal time for exercise but when we work out too late in the evening, we often rev up our energy hormones and it makes it difficult to fall asleep.  If at all possible, we should avoid exercise after dinner time, and no later than 3 hours before bed.

Low Blood Sugar:

When we eat high starch foods in the evening, especially if we deal with insulin resistance, our body may go through a low blood sugar episode in the middle of the night, waking us up and making it tough to fall back asleep.  Sometimes we need a snack to be able to relax enough to fall asleep again and this is typically a sign of low blood sugar at night.  Foods that cause indigestion can also make it difficult to sleep well at night, this includes alcohol.

Estrogen Dominance in PCOS

Estrogen is a proliferating and energizing hormone while progesterone, it’s natural balancer, is a calming hormone.  When we have estrogen dominance in pcos, we often deal with increased anxiety which can make it difficult to sleep.

Low GABA:

GABA is our body’s anti-anxiety neurotransmitter and is often low in PCOS.  This makes it difficult to unwind and relax, even when we might want to!

PCOS Sleep Routine Guide & Sleep Issues Podcast

In this episode, I discuss the pillars of healthy lifestyle that contribute to better quality sleep and signs your sleep problems may be deeper than melatonin and blue-light glasses can fix.  The first part of the podcast is all about the fundamentals of good sleep and the second half discusses 3 potential deeper reasons for sleep issues: adrenal dysfunction, low GABA, and estrogen dominance.

How do we fix PCOS Sleep Issues? PCOS Sleep Routine Guide

So how do we fix PCOS sleep issues?  This is a great question and the answer is multifaceted.  To truly improve PCOS sleep issues, we have to start with a good PCOS sleep routine because the routine will give us the foundation for figuring out how to balance our hormones further for even better sleep.

The Best PCOS Sleep Routine Guide

The best PCOS sleep routines balance a few key issues: less blue light exposure so that we can produce enough melatonin, less stress so we don’t unintentionally spike cortisol or adrenaline, intentional wind-down activities that are repeated nightly.

How to set up a nightly routine for PCOS sleep

To create an ideal pcos sleep routine, start with preparing your room correctly.  You want to sleep in a super dark room, as dark as you can get it.  This means, at minimum, installing some blackout curtains if you don’t already have them.  You can add blackout curtains behind your regular curtains if you want to keep things aesthetic, but ensure the light from the city and streetlights is not poking in at your eyes while trying to sleep.

If you can’t do blackout curtains, consider wearing a sleep mask to make sure light is blocked well.

Ensure there is as little noise as possible in your room.  If you have a partner that snores, here’s my permission to move to a different room- your sleep is SO important!  At minimum, wear ear plugs!

Second, make sure your room is cool.  The ideal sleeping temperature is 65 degrees fahrenheit.  Obviously, this isn’t possible everywhere but the cooler the better when it comes to sleep.

Wind Down Routines | PCOS Sleep Routine

To wind down properly for a PCOS sleep routine, it helps to attempt to follow the same schedule everyday.  This is because the routine itself triggers your brain to know “hey!  It’s time for sleep”.  It’s similar to the way your mouth starts watering when you smell the food you’re about to eat or how a baby suddenly gets sleepy when you start singing them a song and closing their curtains, the routine itself creates a Pavlov’s dog type response that helps reinforce the sleep hormones like melatonin.

You can do something called habit stacking where you add something good for your PCOS into this routine.

Herbal Teas for better sleep

After dinner, winding down with a PCOS friendly tea like chamomile can help prepare your brain and body for sleep.  Most herbal teas have great health benefits for PCOS, you just want to ensure you are drinking a tea that doesn’t contain caffeine.  Personally, I’m a fan of the herbal teas from Aprika life.  They sell my favorite matcha for pcos (which has it’s own set of great benefits for PCOS), but also some chamomiles, peppermint, and sleepy time tea that are very effective (you can use code AMBERFISCHER for 10% off).

Skincare

Performing a skincare ritual each night before your wind down can be a great way to transition your brain from day to night.  Washing off the day’s makeup is not only great for your skin, but is another signal that it’s time to wind down.  I have some PCOS friendly skincare favorites I’ll share with you below when I tell you about the PCOS sleep routine I’ve used to consistently have great sleep for years!  You can use this as a good opportunity to put on your comfortable clothes or PJs which will help further.

Baths

Baths can be a lot of work, so I’m not suggesting you try to make them nightly (unless you just love them that much!) but they are great for winding down as the hot water stimulates the vagus nerve and leads to deep feelings of relaxation.  You can make this even more effective by listening to guided meditations or grounding frequencies!

Reading

The invention of smartphones has reduced all of our attention spans greatly and it’s a good exercise for the brain to get used to reading again.  If you’re not into novels, try self help books!  There’s some great PCOS related reading that I highly recommend and you can find in my Amazon shop.  If you’re looking for a great novel recommendation, my favorite book of all time is Circe by Madeline Miller (doesn’t have anything to do with PCOS- just a great book!)

You can also flip through a magazine if you’d rather!  There is something very calming about reading and it can really prepare the brain for sleep.

Journaling

One of the best ways to reduce stress, process emotions (including those higher than normal ACE scores in PCOS) and get sleepy is to journal.  You can write out tomorrow’s to-do list, make notes, write on a topic from one of those books you started reading, write poetry, or whatever you’d like!  I find that writing out all the thoughts keeping me awake is a great way to put it to rest, especially because I know they will be safe for me to stress about in the morning!  This is a very common part of my own PCOS sleep routine.

Stretching

Stretching or yoga, especially of the large muscle groups and hips is another key way to force the body to relax.  We tend to hold a lot of stress in our hips and necks which can lead to uninentional increases in stress hormones.  Stretching can help release those muscle groups and improve sleep.

Low-stress social media

Let’s be real for a sec: you’re probably not going to want to read or journal every night.  Smart phones and social media are tempting for a reason: they can be a great way to zone out at the end of a long day.  But the problem with social media is that the addicting scrolling behavior constantly pings our brains to stay awake and can lead to real issues with sleep.

Short form video content is especially problematic for sleep as it keeps us addicted to the thrill of what’s next in the feed.  If you must look at your phone at night, ensure you’re looking at low-stress social media.  I’m a fan of longer form content on youtube and pinterest for some scrolling that won’t keep me up all night.

Block Blue Light for Your PCOS Sleep Routine

One of the hormones that makes us sleepy is melatonin.  Our body produces melatonin in response to darkness.  You may have tried melatonin supplementation in the past with mixed results.  Melatonin can sometimes work that way, but if you are using tvs, phones, and other devices on their normal settings, you are being exposed to excess blue light.  This kind of light mimics daylight and can prevent the brain from creating the melatonin it needs to feel sleepy.

You can change the setting on your phone to block blue light at night, which I highly recommend.  For other devices, I recommend wearing blue light blocking glasses. 

 

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A post shared by Amber Fischer | PCOS Dietitian Nutritionist (@functionalpcos)

My PCOS Sleep Routine

Over the years, I’ve honed a pretty elite PCOS sleep routine that I’d love to share with you now!  Hopefully this can inspire you to create your own PCOS sleep routine and get some better rest.

I plan for bedtime by 11 p.m. so in advance I’m looking to be winding down by 9 p.m.  I try to be done with exercise on non-dancing nights (I’m a salsa dancer) by no later than 7 pm.

I typically like to work on a craft while watching TV at this time.  I’m a big knitter so I spend some time working on a project and make sure to start using my blue light blocking glasses.

By 10 p.m. I start my skincare routine.  I’ve been really into trying korean skincare lately so I’ve been using a lot of The Face Shop.  I really like this rice water serum, it’s great for moisture.

My skincare routine is my signal that its really getting to be time for bed and usually at this point I will turn off any harsh lighting, turn off the tv, and use a dim lamp.

Typically at this time I will take whatever cortisol reducer I’m taking at the moment.  I’ve switched between several of the ones in the next section.  Currently I’m taking this sleep formula with good success.  You want to ensure you take these things at least an hour before you want to fall asleep so that they have time to work!

I do often scroll my phone but I stick to pinterest and youtube only and I avoid anything where I’d have to interact with other people (or see their posts) and anything that might be even slightly stressful.  If I don’t do that, or sometimes in conjunction with it, I will read a book.

The reading is what really makes me sleepy and I can usually knock out pretty quick after I start that.  I keep my bullet journal by me bed, too, so that any time I need to remember something tomorrow, I can write it down there and it keeps me from spiraling.

Supplements for better sleep with pcos

Several supplements can be helpful for reducing cortisol levels and increasing GABA (the antianxiety neurotransmitter).  These are the best supplements for your PCOS sleep routine:

Passionflower

Can enhance GABA production.  I like to use this one especially if my normal routine isn’t quite working.

L-theanine

Promotes GABA production naturally and is found in foods like matcha.  Can help reduce anxiety and promote feelings of calm.

Cortisol Calm

My favorite blend for reducing cortisol levels and balancing PCOS adrenals while also promoting sleep.  It’s part of my PCOS adrenal support protocol on Fullscript.

Ashwagandha

An herb used for centuries to balance the nervous system.  It helps with relaxation but also with energy when you need it and it great for keeping cortisol levels more balanced.

Learn more about PCOS

PCOS has many underlying root factors that can impact sleep.  A PCOS sleep routine is necessary and supportive but taking care of the PCOS fundamentals like I teach you to do in PCOS Foundations is really the best place to start seeing actually improved sleep with pcos for good!

I hope this article helped inspire you to create a PCOS sleep routine that works for you!  Sweet Dreams!