CC Sleep Balance Profile Plus

A Broader Look at Sleep-Wake Hormones and Stress-Response Activity

The Sleep Balance Profile Plus is an expanded at-home dried urine profile for people whose sleep complaints may involve both circadian hormone timing and persistent physiological alertness.

It includes every measurement in the standard Sleep Balance Profile and adds norepinephrine and epinephrine at all four collection times.

This expanded profile can help answer two related questions:

1. Are cortisol, cortisone, and melatonin patterns appropriately timed across the day?
2. Does norepinephrine or epinephrine activity appear to accompany the sleep disturbance or “tired but wired” pattern?

What the Sleep Balance Profile Plus Measures

Four timed dried urine samples are used to measure:

• Free cortisol, FC — four measurements
• Free cortisone, FCn — four measurements
• Norepinephrine, NE — four measurements
• Epinephrine, Epi — four measurements
• 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, MT6s — four measurements
• Creatinine, Crtn — four measurements

Creatinine is included to help the laboratory account for differences in urine concentration among samples.

Understanding the Measurements

Free Cortisol and Free Cortisone

Cortisol supports waking activity, energy availability, and the body’s response to physical and emotional demands. Its daily pattern normally changes between the waking period and nighttime.

Free cortisone is measured alongside free cortisol to provide additional context about glucocorticoid activity and metabolism.

Together, the four cortisol and four cortisone measurements provide a time-based view rather than relying on a single result.

6-Sulfatoxymelatonin

Melatonin helps regulate circadian timing and sleep. It is produced in response to darkness, while nighttime light exposure can interfere with its production.

The profile measures 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, abbreviated MT6s, a urinary metabolite used to evaluate melatonin output across the collection periods.

Norepinephrine and Epinephrine

Norepinephrine and epinephrine are catecholamines involved in sympathetic and adrenal stress-response activity.

These chemical messengers support alertness and prepare the body to respond to physical or emotional demands. Measuring them at four points adds information about whether stress-response activity appears elevated, prolonged, or poorly timed relative to the cortisol-cortisone and MT6s patterns.

These urinary measurements do not directly measure neurotransmitter activity inside the brain.

Who May Consider Sleep Balance Profile Plus?

This profile may be appropriate when sleep disruption occurs with:

• Difficulty winding down at bedtime
• A persistent “tired but wired” feeling
• Pronounced daytime stress reactivity
• An internal feeling of being keyed up or on alert
• Recurrent adrenaline-like surges
• Abrupt waking with immediate alertness
• Sleep disruption during prolonged occupational, caregiving, emotional, or environmental stress
• A desire to evaluate catecholamine patterns together with cortisol, cortisone, and melatonin timing