Ray Peat on insomnia

January 3, 2026

The role of parathyroid hormone and its effects on aging

"Phosphate, which is predominant in grains, beans, nuts, meat, and fish, increases our production of parathyroid hormone, while calcium and magnesium inhibit its production. This hormone, which increases with age, suppresses immunity, and in excess it causes insomnia, seizures, dementia, psychosis, cancer, heart disease, shortness of breath and pulmonary hypertension, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, histamine release, inflammation, and soft tissue calcification—and many other problems."

September 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of sodium in circulatory inefficiency and various ailments

“Building on Brewer’s research, I saw that additional sodium should also help in other situations where circulatory inefficiency plays a role. Premenstrual edema, insomnia, and even high blood pressure often respond very well to it.”

Nutrition For Women

Risks of long-term tryptophan use for insomnia

"Although tryptophan supplements are available for insomnia, I think that long-term use would be just as dangerous as the sedative reserpine, which acts on the same biochemical system and increases the risk of breast cancer."

Nutrition For Women

The role of aspirin and progesterone in the fight against insomnia

"Using aspirin before bed to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis may be helpful for age-related insomnia. Progesterone and vitamin E work in different ways to prevent excessive stimulation by prostaglandins."

March 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The untapped potential of serotonin antagonists

“Several serotonin antagonists are increasingly recognized as antidepressants, and also for the treatment of chronic fatigue and insomnia, as well as many degenerative diseases. However, since most of them are prescription-only, their use will not be widespread as long as most doctors accept the myth.”

July 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of the thyroid gland in sleep and energy production

"Since I was able to sleep well again as soon as I started taking thyroid hormone and saw that thyroid alone would resolve insomnia in most people (sometimes, as one doctor described his experience, better than morphine), I began to understand that the adrenaline that was disrupting sleep was an indication of faulty energy production – and that the things that restored sleep, for example thyroid, salt, sugar, protein and progesterone, acted directly on the energy production of the cells."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The influence of diet and thyroid medication on insomnia

"Over the past 20 years, I've seen that insomnia disappears for almost everyone when they correct their hypothyroidism – sometimes just through dietary changes, but more often with a thyroid medication. People have often told me that they fall asleep within minutes of taking a minimal dose of thyroid medication before bed. By increasing the rate of energy production,"

April 1994 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effect of thyroid hormone on sleep, cramps and anxiety

“Many people see the thyroid as a kind of stimulant because it can reverse the coma or lethargy of myxedema, but this is a very misleading notion. In hypothyroidism, the brain-stimulating hormones adrenaline, estrogen, and cortisol are usually elevated, while the nerve- and muscle-relaxing hormone magnesium is low. Normal, deep sleep is rare in a hypothyroid person. The correct dose of triiodothyronine (the active thyroid hormone) along with magnesium is a reliable treatment for insomnia, cramps, and anxiety—regardless of whether these symptoms are caused by fatigue, aging, or alcohol withdrawal.”

June 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Menopause and Cushing's syndrome: similar symptoms

"In the mid-1970s, when I pointed out that menopause resembles Cushing's syndrome, I had not yet studied this disease of excess cortisol sufficiently to know the full extent of the parallels: for example, hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia—such common menopausal symptoms—are also common symptoms in Cushing's syndrome. Estrogen's tendency to increase cortisol production should be considered in the context of the brain-aging effects of both estrogen and cortisol."

April 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Epilepsy and insomnia as low-energy states in brain cells

"Epilepsy is an example of a very low energy state of brain cells. Insomnia is a low energy state and is usually cured by the correct dose of thyroid hormone – along with sufficient glucose and other nutrients."

February 1986

Back to blog