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I am now about 8 weeks into paleo eating. I am generally sleeping better than before but am finding waking up in the morning a real battle.

Is this just psychological, ie I'm a lazy ..., or are there potentially hormonal/cortisol-related effects?

Practically speaking, I generally feel better for the rest of the day but with two toddlers, any suggestions for getting my 'game face' on first thing would be appreciated!

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Do you do dairy? – Wozza Mar 1 2011 at 13:12
Small amount of hard cheese (generally in the evening), nothing else. – Singo Mar 1 2011 at 14:53
Game face indeed. Watching this thread with great interest as I wake up very grouchy and lethargic most mornings - though when paleo the rest of the day is steady energy it still takes me about an hour to get my head screwed back on tightly first thing. Thanks for asking! – familygrokumentarian Mar 1 2011 at 15:23
Shoot, I wish there were more answers to this, after reading I realized I'm having the same trouble. Also been paleo for about a year and, though mornings are always tough for me due to depression, I was hoping paleo could help and was looking forward to seeing some posts. Did you happen to find any answers elsewhere? Did things improve for you? – PaleoVenus Feb 8 2012 at 16:36

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the reason why is your cortisol and GH spike is off kilter still.....My bet is because your still are not leptin sensitive because your signaling system at the hypothalamic center is readjusting as we speak. It will continue to improve if you stay with it. My suggestion to hasten it is to blackout all the lights in your room earlier especially with the day cycle now getting longer assuming your in the northern hemisphere. And then making sure you get to sleep about an hour earlier. I would also recommend doing about 25 kettlebell swings or 25 air squats or 25 puch ups 15 min prior to bed to prime the pump so to speak.....and I bet within three weeks you notice a big change. If not I would draw a rT3 on you and your DHEA levels......if they came back abby normal I would then readjust you once again.

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Sorry if this is an ignorant follow up question but will the exercise before bed not get me fired up? I generally find I'm wired if I exercise in the evening. – Singo Mar 1 2011 at 14:55
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 @The Quilt, great answer. I'd be very interested to hear more about your explanation, or maybe you could point to sources where i can look it up myself? For example, what is leptin? What are the biological mechanisms that would make the kettlebells before bed beneficial to waking up rested? What do you mean by "priming the pump"? As you can tell I'm a newbie and taking this stuff up like a sponge! – PaleoVenus Feb 8 2012 at 16:43
come to www.jackkruse.com You will become leptin conversant. – The Quilt Feb 9 2012 at 2:12

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