"There's this thing called cortisol awakening response. Our stress hormone - cortisol - actually spikes in the morning. It goes up by about 70%... Right off the bat, mornings are tough. And our body looks at every morning as a stressor," said Elizabeth (Birdie) Shirtcliff, a research professor in the center for translational neuroscience-psychology at the University of Oregon.
"The way to make that transition from being asleep to being awake a little bit easier is to make the morning less unpredictable... Getting up at very different times of day can be really tough on your body because, usually, this cortisol awakening response is going to gear up in anticipation of you waking up," explained Shirtcliff.
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