What are the 5 levels of sleep?

To what extent are your cortisol levels impacted by your diurnal rhythm and quality of sleep?

• From what I understand, in the typical person the amount of cortisol in the blood undergoes a diurnal variation with the level peaking in the early morning and reaching its lowest level around midnight to 2AM. What if you're on an atypical sleep schedule, though? If your cortisol levels begin to rise within an hour or so from when you wake up, but you don't wake up until noon, would your levels still have risen at 9 in the morning? It seems like people who work night shifts or have unorthodox sleep habits for another reason wouldn't have cortisol levels that adhered to the same time schedule as someone who goes to bed at 11 and wakes up at 7. The nurse at my doctor's office insisted that I have blood work done before 9 because she believes the cortisol AM test will be invalid otherwise. Will the AM cortisol test be accurate if my sleep cycle is off? I normally wake up at 5:30, but during break I slept in late every day, and I am having difficulty reacclimatizing to my routine and sleeping tonight. I probably won't even have slept before the blood work, so I'm not sure if the test is even worthwhile today. How often do your cortisol levels change? They did this whole freaking thing a few weeks ago during midterms, and my levels were on the low end of normal. The problem I have with doing the test in the morning is that I'll just have a sliver of time between getting it done and needing to be in class, and I won't have sufficient time to recuperate and make it from point A to B. The last time they did the exact same tests it required 15 freaking vials of blood (obviously, many other things besides my cortisol were tested, but the nurse is harping on the cortisol as being the time-sensitive one), and I fainted during the draw. Every time I've fainted they've insisted that I stay there for an hour to recover before they release me. This will mean I'll be late for class, which is unacceptable. I always bring a drink and a snack to have immediately after a fasting blood test, but will still feel weak for a while. I don't want to go through all of this if the test won't even be valid. Will it be if I haven't slept? What else can I do to bounce back from the test faster?

• Answer:

  Cortisol levels and a person's quality and quantity of sleep work hand in hand with each other. When a person has a sleeping schedule that is outside the normal range, their cortisol levels will change with it. From what I've researched however the only risk factors in the test being invalid include physical or emotional stress, certain medications or being pregnant. I'm not completely sure if the test will be inaccurate if you're taking the AM cortisol test outside of a time you are normally awake. Personally, I would have the doctor make note of it while interpreting the results and take the AM cortisol test. EDIT: Or you could call ahead and ask a nurse or doctor at the clinic you are getting the bloodwork done your questions. http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cortisol/tab/test Have you tried laying down with your feet up for a few minutes after giving blood? Last time I gave blood, I began to feel faint and the doctor put me in this position. Within 30 seconds, I was good to go. Maybe in conjunction with eating, drinking and laying down you'd recover faster after fainting. What are you drinking? Are you drinking water? Something like apple juice would be more favorable for something of this nature. But frankly, if you've fainted from blood loss, it is nothing to take lightly (no matter how irritating) and you do need to rest for sake of your health. Good luck Lark!