I'm surprised there isn't more research in this area. I'm also surprised that the only research that I've found has been done by scientists not directly related to naturopathic medicine, as it was only the naturopathic doctors that were willing to consider cortisol as a cause of my insomnia in the first place (which, to be sure, was an incredibly helpful step in the right direction for me, even if those doctors weren't able to identify smoking as the underlying culprit).
Once I can afford it, I do plan on having my cortisol tested again to confirm what I believe is going on here. But after having dealt with this for such long time, I can confidently say that my smoking cigarettes was somehow increasing my cortisol and subsequently causing my insomnia.
no subject
http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/68/2/299#R11-18
Here's an article that I found less reliable and much more confusing, but I think it's conclusion is similar:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/496223_4
And here's another publication that discusses the subject, but is only available in full for subscribers to the site:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/g55w7r6p83w86t58/
I'm surprised there isn't more research in this area. I'm also surprised that the only research that I've found has been done by scientists not directly related to naturopathic medicine, as it was only the naturopathic doctors that were willing to consider cortisol as a cause of my insomnia in the first place (which, to be sure, was an incredibly helpful step in the right direction for me, even if those doctors weren't able to identify smoking as the underlying culprit).
Once I can afford it, I do plan on having my cortisol tested again to confirm what I believe is going on here. But after having dealt with this for such long time, I can confidently say that my smoking cigarettes was somehow increasing my cortisol and subsequently causing my insomnia.