Cortisol and epinephrine are released upon waking to increase heart rate, tense muscles, and prepare for activity.

“So when you wake up in the morning is when that cortisol pulse takes off, and something else important happens, a timer is set in your body and in your nervous system that dictates when a different hormone called melatonin, which makes you sleepy, will be secreted from a particular brain region, so let's talk about that.”

“It's very important that that pulse of cortisol come early in the day, or at least, early in your period of wakefulness, I say that because some people are waking up at 8:00 p.m. and are sleeping all day, but it's very important that that pulse of cortisol occur early in the day and that it happens all at once, it sort of sets a rising tide of cortisol in your system.”

“And speaking of the adrenals, that A in the HPA are the adrenals. You have two glands that sit above your kidneys and your lower back. They release different hormones and other types of chemicals into the body. And the two main ones that you need to know about today are adrenaline, also called epinephrine, and cortisol. Both of those are so-called stress hormones, but they're not always involved in stress. They're also involved in waking up in the morning uh when you arrive when you excuse me when you rise from sleep.”