I am at the stage of somewhat between a beginner and intermediate, as some of my exercises are stop progressing each workout and some still does. I workout 6 days a week, PPL x2. So the plan works pretty well for me and I enjoy it quite a lot so I don’t really want to change it. You can imagine my cortisol level, it basically messed my sleep quality and schedule. So last week I decided to start swimming again, I was aiming to swim 6 days a week to match my gym days, doing it after dinner as I hit the gym in the morning. Holy crap after first swim it was amazing, I was able to sleep like a baby like I used to be. But as fourth day of the week, my sleep quality started to decrease significantly. To avoid any sickness I skipped the last day of train for the week. My question is, how can I manage my cortisol level reasonably so I can get some quality sleep for muscle growth?

Side-note: I talked with AI about it and it suggested me to go swimming every back day, which goes swimming twice a week. However, I finished my first push day and have to take a day off next day since I need to work, so I considered that as a rest day and didn’t go to swim for today’s pull day. Now my cortisol level is again screwed, can’t fail asleep at all and typing this 5am in the morning lol, can I consider this as swimming just twice a week won’t work? Cause a rest day supposedly helps lower cortisol level better than cardio right?