Suffering with insomnia? - Simple solutions enable you to sleep like a baby
again
You have insomnia if you experience:
-
Difficulty falling asleep
- Waking frequently during the night
- Waking too early in the morning and not
being able to get back to sleep
- Waking feeling un-refreshed
Studies indicate that almost 2/3 of Americans have
difficulty falling and staying asleep. If you feel the need for a nap
in the daytime, you are probably one of them, since fatigue is one of the top 10
reasons Americans visit a physician.
Sleeping problems are even common in young adults
(17-30yrs). A German study found that 12% of 4-5 year old children
had difficulties falling asleep.
Consequences of insomnia:
Affects your hormone levels setting the stage for some
serious health problems. Insomnia has been associated with
accelerated aging, cancer, diabetes, depression and obesity.
Increased risk of accidents. As reported
in
Business Week, "Studies show that someone who has been awake for 24 hours has
the same mental acuity as a person with a blood alcohol level of 0.1, which is above
the legal limit for driving in most states."
Insomnia has many possible underlying causes
Desynchronization of the biological clock
E.g. if unable to fall asleep, called delayed sleep-phase syndrome (DSPS),
your biological clock has lost its timing mechanism, making you more alert in the
evening.
The Biological Clock
- Staying
awake too many hours or too much light in the evening (maybe from a
brightly lit computer screen) can alter your proverbial "timing belt".
Actually, it is only blue light which suppresses MELATONIN production, and there are some ways to filter out the blue light.
- Lack of
exposure to light. Japanese researchers
studied 10 nursing home residents with insomnia and found thatincreasing
their exposure to light increased their MELATONIN
production (proportional to brightness) and improved their sleeping patterns/quality.
Exposing elderly patients to 4 hours of bright, artificial light at midday
for 4 weeks (roughly equal to the amount received by a young control group),
caused their MELATONIN production to be similar
to the young control group's. (J. of Endocrinology,
2001)
- Too much
light in your bedroom can keep you awake.
Once in bed,
darkness allows your biological clock to produce
MELATONIN -a signal for sleep.Even
a small amount of light (E.g. from moonlight through a crack in the curtains) disrupts
your circadian rhythm and affects your pineal gland's production of
MELATONIN and
SEROTONIN.
MELATONIN levels are reduced by 50% when
exposed to a low-level incandescent bulb for only 39 minutes at night.
Hormonal imbalance
Decreased
MELATONIN
/ Hormone Imbalance/Depression.
The major cause of insomnia is decreased levels of
MELATONIN. Depression is often related to
a SEROTONIN deficiency,
thus it follows that since MELATONIN is produced
from SEROTONIN, that
insomnia is likely to be present with depression.
MELATONIN
Stress.
Over-stimulates
the brain and is associated with high CORTISOL
levels, affected by:
- Negative
emotions. Including worry, fear, anxiety;
- Positive
emotions. Such as excitement, anticipation, or watching
thrillers on TV;
- Overactive
adrenals. Chronic insomniacs found to have significantly
higher levels of adrenal stress hormones, suggesting that these individuals suffer
from sustained, round-the-clock activation of the body's system for responding to
stress. This hyperarousal is also a risk factor for both psychiatric illness (E.g.
depression) and medical illness (E.g. high BP, obesity, osteoporosis).
(J. of Endocrinology, 2001)
Nutrient-related causes
Caffeine-containing drinks/foods before bedtime
- Promotes
the exact reverse of what you want to happen as you go to sleep.
Caffeine speeds nervous system and other major body systems. E.g. 15
minutes after downing a cup of coffee, blood adrenaline level rises, triggering
an increase in heart rate, breathing rate, urinary output, and production
of stomach acids.
- Caffeine
also prompts adrenal hormones to release sugar stored in the liver, which stimulates
sugar cravings to replenish the stores. A blood sugar
roller coaster effect ensues as the quick high is followed by a sugar slump.
Caffeine -"The Jitter Drug"
Nutrient deficiencies
- Potassium deficiency.
Causes inability to fall /stay asleep.
- Zinc deficiency.
Causes one to wake up hours earlier than wanted.
Optic nerve damage
Optic nerve damage causes problems sleeping, falling and staying asleep, and
daytime sleepiness.
A non-visual part of the retina uses daylight
to synchronize your body's sleep patterns, telling the body when to sleep and when
to get up. It resets the internal body clock and regulates the release of hormones
such as MELATONIN
(the "Body's natural sleeping pill"hormone). Studies on blind
people found that those with damage to the optic nerve (connects eye to brain) were
far more likely to need daytime naps and suffer from daytime sleepiness than blind
people without damage to nerve.
EMF Disturbances
- Cell phone
use before bed. Can have electromagnetic affects on your
brain and the rest of your body that cause insomnia, headaches and confusion;
- Unshielded
wiring in walls / electric clock too close to head / electric blankets in your bedroom.
Such unnatural EMF frequencies have a deleterious effect on cellular
communication in the body.
The Body Electric
Sharing a bed
If either you or your partner suffer from insomnia and share a bedroom,
neither of you is getting the high quality sleep you need for good health.
Parasites
Ammonia (produced by parasites).
Ammonia is a strong brain irritant (E.g. a person can sometimes be
awakened from a coma by smelling ammonia "smelling salts"). The liver and kidneys
can convert ammonia to urea for excretion. However, the brain, lacks the required
enzyme, ornithine curbamyl-transferase, to make the conversion.
Parasite
Cleanses
Solutions for insomnia
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours sleep for 10 year olds and up as guideline
for personalization
Boost body's MELATONIN
levels
You do not have to take a MELATONIN supplement to increase your MELATONIN
level. These supplements force a specific body on your body. It is better to let
your body determine its production by giving it necessary precursors and other
promoters.
How to Boost MELATONIN **HIGH PRIORITY!**
A couple of unusual, but successful therapies
Meridian Tapping Technique(MTT).
A gentle tapping technique learned in several minutes. MTT can resolve some of the
emotional stresses at the root of your insomnia. Typically, results are quick and
long lasting.
MTT
Use Beck's "Brain tuner" for insomnia.
Utilizes Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) to balance
body's hormones
CES Therapy
SOTA Bio-Tuner
Avoid caffeine and other stimulants before bedtime
Includes tea, coffee,
cola drinks, tobacco, alcohol. The half-life of a single
dose of caffeine ranges from 3-12 hours.
This means that that one quarter of the caffeine in that morning cup of coffee
could even still be present at bedtime. Caffeine prevents deep sleep because it
creates a stress scenario in the body. Cherniske (author of "Caffeine Blues")
found that supposed depression disappeared 2 months after giving up coffee.
Caffeine -"The Jitter Drug"
Do's and don'ts on eating before bed
- Avoid grains and sugars in the evening, which inhibit sleep
by raising blood sugar. Also, when blood sugar drops down low later in the night,
it could cause you to wake up and not be able to fall back asleep;
- Eat high-protein
snack several hours before bed. Provides L-tryptophan for
MELATONIN and SEROTONIN
production. Tryptophan also detoxifies ammonia (parasites produce this brain
stimulant)
Make sleeping environment comfortable and conducive
to sleep
Sleep in complete darkness.
When the blue component of light hits the eyes, it disrupts the circadian
rhythm of the pineal gland and production of
MELATONIN and
SEROTONIN.
- Use room darkening drapes/shades, wear an
eye mask.
- Turn off TV's and computers in the room
- If light seeps under your door, seal it off
with a rolled up towel
- Don't put the light on in the bathroom (or
use a blue-filtering light)if you get up in the middle of the night;
Keep bedroom temperature cool (< 70 °F)
and have a window open for fresh air;
Wear bed socks when it's cold. Cold feet can
wake you up.
Reserve the bedroom for only sleep and sex.
Creates a mental association that the room is for those activities. i.e. NOT
reading, telephone conversations or watching TV.
Reduce stimulating activities before bedtime:
- Do
something relaxing before bed. E.g. listen to music, read;
- Don't do
mind-disturbing activities before bed. Watching TV, especially
a violent movie, computer time, reading email - its stimulating effect on the brain
extends the time taken to fall asleep;
- Don't exercise
or take a hot bath just before bed. Raising your body temperature
makes it more difficult to fall asleep. Exercise also raises
CORTISOL levels.
If you suspect you have parasites . . .
Take ornithine.
Detoxifies ammonia, which is present in your brain when you have parasites;
- Dose: 2- 500mg capsules on 1st night, 4 caps. 2nd night,
6 caps. 3rd night, then keep the dose that worked best for you. Can take
up to 5 days to take effect;
Do a parasite cleanse to get rid
of these uninvited guests
Parasite
cleanses
Other important considerations
Exercise moderately for at least 30 minutes every
day. Helps you fall asleep, but don't exercise too
close to bedtime or it has a stimulating effect;
Sleep separately to your "disturbing"
spouse. If your partner snores, hogs the covers,
moves around or gets up frequently during the night;
Keep regular bedtime hours.
To reinforce your biological clock.
- "Early
to bed, Early to rise". Our body systems do most
of their recharging from 11 p.m. -1 a.m., especially adrenals and gall bladder,
which unloads its toxins during these hours. If awake, the toxins back up into your
liver and then the rest of your body;
- If you
have insomnia. And you don't go to sleep within 15-20
minutes, get up and leave the bedroom; also, don't nap in the day
Magnet therapy.
Apply the North pole of a small round magnet on the forehead between the eyebrows
for 10 minutes before retiring. Can take a month or two to have a complete effect;
Adaptogen.
Non-toxic
substance that increases resistance to stress, fatigue, anxiety. Trauma; E.g. Tulsi
tea (Indian equivalent of coffee)
Sedatives. Most
sedatives bind to GABA receptors in the brain
to inhibit the wakefulness network. However, they also disturb circuits for mood
and memory and often have side effects, such as tremors, or daytime sleepiness.
- Ambien.
There for those who haven't been able to sleep for several nights which
can affect the safety of you and others. Ambien is a short-acting hypnotic and generally
not addictive.Since it is metabolized overnight, there is no residual drowsiness
in the morning.
A "Sheep counting"
mechanism to get to sleep. Imagine a field
full of 100 sheep on the right hand side of your mind. Look at each sheep and you
will see the word 'SLEEP' shorn into their sides in BIG letters. Then sheep #100
walks slowly to the middle of your field of view. Again, see the word SLEEP on his
side. She jumps over a low jump. Again, see the word SLEEP on her side. Then she
walks over to the left side of your mind - see the word SLEEP - and curls up and
goes to sleep. Then repeat for sheep #99 and so on. If you do this fully and slowly, chances are
you won't even get to #80.
If possible, avoid working the night shift.
References
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (January 2001) 86:129-134
