TAGS
Sleep plays a HUGE role in our health. Many people have sleep issues and if you’re one of them it’s helpful to understand what it does for us, and what we can do to improve the quality of our sleeping hours.
While sleeping, your brain is forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves learning, and that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain that will affect making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change.
Sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.
Sleep affects how your body reacts to insulin, and sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, increasing your risk for diabetes. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way your immune system responds, and you may have trouble fighting common infections.
Sleep is regulated by two body systems—sleep-wake homeostasis and the circadian biological clock. These two systems come together to create our circadian rhythms, which are the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. They govern our sleepy and wakeful periods throughout the day. Here’s how each of them operate:
Sleep-wake homeostasis: This causes your need for sleep to increase the longer you’re awake.
Circadian biological clock: This is controlled by light and dark, causing you to be most awake during the day and sleepier as the sun sets and the day grows darker.
Here’s how these two systems work together to regulate your sleep:
At dawn, light triggers the brain to produce adrenalin, cortisol, and serotonin. These hormones help us wake up, feel energized, and regain consciousness. As the morning progresses, cortisol production drops and adrenalin and serotonin production continue to rise along with body temperature, helping us stay active and full of energy.
In the late afternoon, our body temperature, metabolism, and energetic hormone production starts to drop helping us wind down in the evening. As light fades, the circadian biological clock signals the brain to convert serotonin to melatonin. As melatonin levels rise we feel more lethargic and sleepy. Throughout the night, melatonin continues to be released until the brain senses dawn’s gradual increase in light. That’s when melatonin production drops and the wake-up cycle begins again.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter made mainly in the walls of the GI tract, and it powers the production of melatonin. Light increases the production of serotonin, while darkness triggers serotonin to produce melatonin. Serotonin levels are highest during the daylight hours and lowest or nonexistent during REM sleep.
Food can have an effect on serotonin levels. The key is tryptophan, an amino acid that’s needed to make serotonin. By eating more carbs, we effectively shuttle more tryptophan into the brain, which boosts serotonin production and therefore melatonin production. It’s a chain reaction. Whole grains, legumes, fresh fruit and other healthy, carb-rich foods like baked oatmeal with berries, 100% whole grain bread with nut butter, baked sweet potato wedges, and brown rice with black beans will promote healthy serotonin production if eaten throughout the day.
You can eat certain foods to help your body make the right amount of melatonin and serotonin.
The inability to sleep can be exhausting. It’s tempting to turn to sleeping pills as a quick solution to the problem, but they need to be used cautiously and only under your doctor’s supervision.
Taking a drug to help you sleep can cause side effects and pose a risk of dependence. Sleeping pills suppress breathing, which can worsen breathing problems, and may increase the risk of falling – particularly at night. Sometimes, sleep-walking, or even driving, shopping, eating or making phone calls while not fully awake can occur.
When a sleeping pill is prescribed, short-acting, newer generation drugs are first line choices. Side effects with these drugs are still relatively common, but they tend to occur less frequently and with less severity than with older generation benzodiazepines. A 2014 study found that risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease increased by up to 51 percent in those who have used benzodiazepines, with highest risk among those who used them more frequently or who used the long-acting ones.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may help. Reducing the total amount of time you spend in bed, getting up at the same time every day, not going to bed unless you feel sleepy and not staying in bed if you can’t sleep can all be helpful. Internet-based CBT plans such as SHUTi (and Sleepio (also may help.
One study that compared CBT with a popular sleeping pill found that at six weeks, CBT reduced total awake time by 52 percent, while the total awake time in the sleeping pill group was reduced by only 4 percent.
If sleeping pills and CBT are not for you, there are other options. Here’s what Lindsey Duncan, ND (naturopathic doctor and nutritionist) has to say: “A secret to getting a good night’s sleep is keeping the pH of your body alkaline rather than acidic. A typical diet of too much processed food, red meat, dairy, fried food, sugar, salt, coffee and alcohol, plus a lifestyle that includes constant stress will acidify the body. An acidic body chemistry creates tension, making it difficult to fall asleep. But an alkaline body chemistry creates a relaxed feeling.”
Dr. Duncan suggests a 20 minute foot soak in hot water and sea salt to alkalinize and relax the body. For an average size foot bath, use about one-half cup of sea salt. For a regular bathroom tub, use about one to two cups of salt. He suggests using Dead Sea salt, which has a high concentration of magnesium to relax the nervous system and other minerals. (I compared the chemical make-up of Dead Sea salt to Epsom salts and don’t see much of a difference.) The water temperature should be hot, but not hot enough to break a sweat above your lip or cause a burn. Add more hot water as needed. CAUTION: if you have diabetes, check with your doctor before doing this.
Here are some other options to try:
*Fish oil, a staple for calming inflammation, might help you to sleep. A new study from the University of Oxford in England found that children who took a daily 600 mg dose of DHA omega-3s slept sounder and nearly an hour longer per night because omega-3s help release melatonin, which triggers sleep.
*Many sleep remedies work by increasing (neurotransmitter) GABA levels. The scent of JASMINE OIL is a GABA booster that can help give you a deep, restful sleep without any negative side effects. In studies, jasmine-scented air was pumped into the cages of mice. The mice ceased all activity and sat quietly in a corner. In another study, brain scans showed that the act of smelling jasmine helps soothe nerves, relieves anxiety, and promotes rest. Jasmine actually changed the brain chemistry and increased the effect of GABA by more than five times – the same as sedatives, sleeping pills, and relaxants. In fact, it was found that jasmine was just as effective as valium. To try this for yourself, boil water as you would for tea and pour it into a mug. Then add about eight drops of jasmine essential oil and place it on your nightstand and breathe in the aroma.
*The roots of the herb ASHWAGANDHA can boost immunity, ease anxiety, lift mood, and enhance sleep. Compounds in the roots bind to the same brain receptors as prescription tranquilizers, but not as tightly, meaning it can relieve tension and promote sleep without being habit-forming. Simmer 1 teaspoon powdered ashwagandha in 8 oz. milk (cow, soy, or almond) for 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon cardamom and stir. Drink before bed.
*Drinking 1 ounce twice a day of tart cherry juice can help you sleep more soundly according to a 2012 European Journal of Nutrition study. Tart cherries are a natural sources of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your sleep cycle (also good for gout relief, preventing metabolic syndrome, and easing sore muscles).
*1 ounce of pumpkin seeds supplies half your daily dose of magnesium, a mineral that helps muscles relax and promotes sleep (also good to help control blood sugar, and for heart health).
*Eating a small carb-based snack (like oatmeal) about an hour before bed raises levels of tryptophan, which helps your brain produce serotonin, which in turn triggers the production of melatonin.
*Steep some chamomile tea. The buds of this sleep-inducing flower are a top source of the cancer-fighting anti-oxidant apigenin. New research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences spotlights apigenin’s role to attach to key proteins and help reprogram cancer cells so they lose the power to prevent their own death. That’s a great bonus!
*Exercise 30 minutes a day – at least three hours before bed
*Studies show that sleep, next to nutrition and exercise, is paramount to disease prevention and weight control. When your body’s stress response and blood sugars stay balanced, you produce melatonin that pulses strongly in the late afternoon and evening to help you sleep, allowing for your cortisol levels to drop off so that you feel calm and sleepy at night.
Stress can affect your sleep wake cycles in numerous ways. The two MOST common culprits are unregulated blood sugar levels/poor nutrition, and chronic stress.
Try these strategies to optimize your nutrition so you handle stress effectively and get high-quality sleep throughout the whole night:
If you are still having trouble sleeping, get checked out for any underlying medical problems. A good night’s sleep is crucial to the overall health of your mind, body, and spirit.
.
