Cortisol and/or adrenalin.
Mine tends to run chronically high.. at least it used to.
The reason why carbs affect sleep is two-fold: when you're eating a lot of protein and not much carbs, there's not enough tryptophan for the brain, which is very important for sleep. Hence the tryptophan that's been used as a sleep aid.
The other factor that I never neglect anymore, is that having enough carbs around the workout can suppress cortisol output. It sounds weird, but w/o carbs I could go on for longer than with carbs.. leaving them out puts me in the too 'wired to be tired' mode.. if necessary I can and will stay awake for 3 consecutive days. BTDT a lot of times.. (as a former long-distance cyclist)
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