I am late 40's on HRT Estrogen Patch and utrogestan for my progesterone. Last year after 4 years on HRT I started really struggling with sleeping though the night and a couple of months after this started I was diagnosed as prediabetic and insulin resistant. I have been really trying to reverse this state with diet, exercise and so on but my sleep issues are really sabotaging my efforts.
I have been doing some cardio for the past year and have just started a strength training programme which seems to be a big trigger for sleep maintenance insomnia. I think maybe the weight training is pulling more glucose from my blood into the muscles but then my brain experiences a drop and wakes up as a result. I have worn a continuous glucose monitor in the past and my blood sugar level tended to be kind of highish all night not dropping below 5.0 mmol and then would rise to 5.6 mmol or above in the early morning. My blood sugar isn't low it's just that I am resistant to it and my cells can't take on enough glucose over night when I'm not eating regularly. I do notice that if I get up and have like a slice of toast and some tea or milk I might fall back asleep better but I can't be waking up to eat a snack every night?.
I have for a while been taking a bedtime snack of cottage cheese and a few nuts to see if that helps but on a night after strength training it doesn't help. Would adding an oat cake to this snack help any?
Would asking for metformin or taking berberine help? I am using inositol but I notice taking more than about 500mg of the powder at night seems to trigger a migraine (from which I also suffer frequently). I do weight train in the morning and I am taking a protein shake after to try and help my recovery, I also reduced the intensity of my workout to try and let my body adjust. I feel like there is a double edged sword to lowering my blood sugar as it seems to make my brain or CNS react negatively.
I really want to make this work as without building muscle it will be very difficult to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes. But without sleep I am really struggling to do anything.