Why You Wake Up at 4am: Understanding Cortisol, Stress, and Solutions.

4am wake up calls

Have you ever woken up at 4am for no reason? I have, in fact I often still do.

The cycle is always the same, I wake up and then my brain floods me with negativity. Problem after problem comes into my head and I spiral into a tornedo of self-doubt and catastrophe.

It’s been going on for years, apparently, it’s a common thing for those of us running a business (or for that matter under stress). What starts out as a perfectly normal hormone response to preparing to be waking up, turns into something much more sinister.

It’s all about this thing called cortisol

From what I am told, the body floods itself with a hormone called Cortisol in preparation for waking up. That hormone is a stress hormone, and in someone who’s already stressed it kicks off a negative spiral.

Our brains you see weren’t designed for this modern world. We’re meant to be roaming the plains hunting down animals. We’re not meant to be scrolling through Facebook, watching TV or responding to emails.

Back before our modern age Cortisol in the mornings was a good idea, now with our external stressors it seems to be causing me a few issues.

So, what do I think about? Well, that a tiny problem that might never happen is always a good one, because at 4am it becomes something that will happen. Also, if there’s a challenge coming up, maybe a meeting or a pitch, well that needs to be run through in excessive detail.

It all means that I’m lying in bed on the verge of a panic attack and unable to get back to sleep.

Whether I get back to sleep or not, I’ve got a business to run.

Now for someone who can phone in sick that probably isn’t the end of the world, but I’ve got kids and a business to run, so laying their moping about something that probably won’t happen just won’t cut it.

I’ve got to get up, I’ve got to reset.

How I wish at 4am I could have someone to talk to (4am calls aren’t something we offer by the way), or some way to snap myself out of it.

It’s normal to wake up at 4am

Over time through just taking the time to breathe and having the knowledge that this isn’t how the world will end, I’ve managed to teach myself to let it go. Now when I wake up at 4am, I just roll over and let it go by (most of the time) but it took me a long time to get there and part of getting past it was simply understanding just how normal that 4am negative feeling is. We’re all human, and humans do this it seems.

I am not sure if it’s a British thing, not talking about our 4am wake up call, maybe in other countries people are more open about it. For me though I used to think of my 4am alarm as a unique problem, something only I must be going through. But then I would start talking to clients and spot a trend.

Perhaps they needed to review a new menu for their restaurant, or pay a bill, the common theme was at 4am that was when their brains were at their most negative and kicking into work mode in the most negative way.

If we all wake up at 4am, why not talk about it more?

All these business owners were suffering, and no one realised it. So, I thought I would be open. I’d go to client meetings and talk work but also mental health. It’s amazing how many business owners carry this weight on their shoulders that results in a 4a m wake up call. Maybe the stress is hidden, but Cortisol brings it out.

As a society we’re ill-equipped to deal with stress (or talk about it). It’s like stress is a medal we need to hang around our necks, “I’m stressed, so I am doing well”. While a little bit of stress is good for the soul, I highly doubt any more than that is something we should celebrate.

That’s doesn’t mean we all need to do less work either, we just need to learn how to deal with it.

What is Stress anyway?

Stress isn’t caused by an event; stress is how we react to an event. All we need to do is learn to manage our reactions better. The problem is, who’s going to help you learn?. Dealing with stress (and cortisol) isn’t something we get taught in school. We learn biology but not how to deal with life.

I find it odd to think that in life we must get mortgages, deal with loss, stress, building businesses and kids, yet school wants us to learn how to use a Bunsen burner. I’m pretty sure learning how to manage our reactions to life’s little twists and turns would be much more beneficial.

I don’t know if the school curriculum is a hangover from days gone by before the internet and the fast-paced world of today, but even when you get to university there’s nothing that prepares us for stress. Society should prepare us for how we deal with the events that could cause us stress so that it doesn’t. No 4am wake up call, no negative vibes.

How can we help ?

Society seems to be sleepwalking into a cortisol drenched world where stress is at every turn, but it doesn’t need to be this way. That’s why at Yellowstone Accounts we train our staff to talk about mental health openly and buck the trend of letting it all get on top of you.

I have a dream (one of many), and that dream is that one day people will be able to walk in off the street into a Yellowstone Accounts store and talk to someone about their 4am wake up calls. People will start their business and have support not just for their VAT return but to handle both the VAT curve ball and the stress that comes with it.

Will Ryles

Entrepreneur & Founder | Yellowstone Accounts

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