Your Sleep Isn't Broken, It's Your Cortisol

Let's talk sleep.

For two years, I chased better sleep. Huberman protocols. Every product Instagram has ever put in front of me. Most of it did nothing, and for a long time I figured the problem was me — that I was just someone who didn't sleep well and never would.

It wasn't me. I was solving the wrong problem.

We've been taught that bad sleep is a melatonin problem. Take something at night, get drowsy, done. But if you're an athlete and you're still not sleeping, I'd bet the real issue is cortisol — the stress hormone that's supposed to drop at night and, for a lot of us, just doesn't. You train hard. You're driving to accomplish things in daily life and that creates a bit of stress (I know it does for me). Both keep cortisol up when it should be falling off.

Here's how you can tell. Be honest with yourself:

• You fall asleep fine, then wake a few hours later and can't get back to sleep?

• Your sleep scores are all over the place?

• Your HRV stays flat or bounces around for no clear reason?

• You train hard but can't shake the belly fat that won't budge?

If none of those sound like you, you're probably already sleeping well — and if you're not, my honest guess is cortisol isn't your problem.

But if you read that list and felt a little called out — I think what I'm going to share can really help you. It has for almost 70% of the athletes that have tried it, with the average seeing a 32% increase in their sleep scores.

A year ago, I introduced you to Dream Shot. I'll be straight with you about something I didn't fully understand then: it worked beautifully for some people and did nothing for others, and I couldn't explain why. Now I can. The people it transformed were the high-cortisol crowd. For everyone else, it was basically nice tart cherry juice.

The difference comes down to one ingredient — a sleep peptide called PeptiSleep, out of an Irish biotech firm. Its whole job is helping your body regulate cortisol so it actually drops at night, the way it's meant to. Magnesium L-threonate and ashwagandha help here too. Apigenin is promising, but the research is early, so I haven't leaned on it much.

So if you saw yourself in that list, here's how I'd test it — pick what seems right to you.

Just test it: SwissRX Dream Caps, one small cap before bed. This will help you find out if cortisol is your problem and will help.

Try the full stack: Dream Shot pairs PeptiSleep with ashwagandha, magnesium threonate, and glycine to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and go deeper.

My protocol: Either of the above stacked with Pillar Triple Magnesium. It's the one I run myself.

Dream Shot No Sugar

One update for the people who liked Dream Shot but not the sugar: the original carries 16g of natural sugar from real tart cherry concentrate. For athletes who are underfueled, that's a feature — it helps them sleep. That's why we included it, but for everyone else, it was the #1 complaint we heard.

So the new Dream Shot No Sugar uses a tart cherry powder instead — 0g sugar, and it actually delivers more anthocyanins, the compound doing the real work.

A few other new things for you this week.

SIS Caffeine Gum — A clean, pocketable caffeine hit mid-effort with no water and no gel, for when you want the edge and not the calories. But maybe not too late in the day — that can also be a culprit when it comes to poorly regulating cortisol.

Kreatures of Habit Overnight Oats — 30g plant protein, no added sugar, built the night before. A stupid-easy way to win the morning without thinking about breakfast.

State Brain Smoothie Shot — Made for mental fatigue, which by now you know I think is its own training problem. I love it at 3PM in the office to get another 3–4 hours of good work in.

The Feed Labs Maple Gel — This launched two weeks ago and, without any promotion, is taking off with our athletes looking for a 100% real-food gel. Just maple syrup, nothing weird, goes down easy, instant energy in my experience, and way easier on your stomach.

Sleep better this week.