Sleep Better With Balanced Hormones
Today we’re discussing a very common health ailment that’s prevalent throughout the United States. The issue is sleeplessness. So many patients wonder; why can't I sleep? Why do I wake up in the middle of the night? What am I going to do to get back onto a sleep schedule? It’s such a common, yet devastating ailment and can lead to other more serious diseases. Since sleep is the time when our body cleanses, if we don’t sleep, then our bodies will increase toxicity levels.
Sleep is the time when our body cleanses - itself it's the great detox time and all the toxins and impurities of our body are cleansed during the middle of the night. So if we don't sleep enough we really don't cleanse the body enough. Then what happens is we become more toxic; and that toxicity leads to future illness. What we found is that you need to sleep at least 8 hours and 15 minutes each night. If you cut it short then the your body will not fully cleanse. If you have trouble sleep, then please watch this video below to learn valuable sleep tip.
The Problem
Over the years at The Hall Center, I estimate 80% of my patients (at one point in their lives) have reported sleep issues. They feel they can't fall asleep and a pattern of awakening develops. With this happening for so many years, they visit a sleep specialist and they often prescribe a strong sedative such as Ambien or Valium. These products are extremely addicting and if taken long-term can cause harm and even alzheimers disease. They’re not good drugs. When they do sleep studies on patients who take Ambien, then those patients actually only sleep 15 to 20 minutes more than when they didn't take Ambien. We all know the size and powers of the pharmaceutical Industry, and sleep aids are one of their pillars for business. It’s a huge product category of prescribed, and over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical sleep aids. But no one needs to be taking this type of medication, as there are so many effective and completely harmless sleep techniques.
Solutions!
Balance Hormones (adrenals and estrogen)
Destress
Holistic Supplements
Effective Sleep Hygiene
Balance Hormones
Hormones are our body’s software. Similarly if you go to boot up your computer and you want to get information but there's no software, you won’t get the data back that you needed. The same thing is true of the body; hormones tell the cells what to do and regulates all the body's activities. It makes the brain calm and thoughtful; it allows the neurotransmitters to be active and alert, and then, when needed tells the body to shut down to deep sleep.
The Power of Estrogen
Very frequently when patients have low estrogen levels (which occurs when taking birth control pill, are in perimenopause or menopause) then all women I talk with experience a drastic increase in sleep disruption, even if they slept really well when they were younger. It’s comes out of no where, and for no real reason. It's like a bolt of lightning is going through them in the middle of the night. These poor women tell me they constantly wake up in the middle of the night; sometimes for hours.
This awakefulness is due to low estrogen. Estrogen is the major ovarian hormone and we just stop making estrogen at a certain point in our lives. Menopause, which mean’s we’re making no estrogen and perimenopause (which proceeds menopause) means you’re body is still making some estrogen, but just not as much as when you’re younger. I see time and time again, when I give bioidentical hormones back to patients to sleep becomes deep and tranquil again. So if you are a woman experiencing sleeplessness, give me a call! I’ll draw your blood and check your hormone levels. If they are low I will develop a custom hormone plan to help you with not only sleeping, but so many other issues as well!
Adrenal Fatigue
Another hormone abnormality that causes sleep disruption is adrenal stress deficiency syndrome. When people are really stressed, it’s often hard for these people to turn their brain off at night. Being chronically high-stressed tells our brain to continually pour out adrenal hormones. These are very important to keep us awake and then allow us to go to sleep at night. For example cortisol, which you might have heard of, is an important adrenal hormone. There are simple, yet powerful to destress and allow your adrenals to rest; such as meditation, warm epsom salt baths with lavender essential oils, and we can supplement with various herbal remedies. When my patients de-stress it’s clear that there sleep improves drastically. Their mind slows down at night and they’re able to sleep faster and more deeply that before. Something as simple as consistently taking a warm bath can help induce such wonderful and consistent sleep.
Holistic Remedies
There are also number of sleep supplements which are not pharmaceuticals. I formulated a natural sleep supplement called Sweet Sleep. This product combines GABA (brain neurotransmitter) with 5-htp (precursor to melatonin). When those are combined together, with a few other supplements and vitamins, sleep becomes much more regulated. Additionally, taking 500 to 1,000 milligrams of magnesium does wonders for relaxing the muscles and inducing sleep.
Melatonin is a brain hormone and is actually an antioxidant for the brain. You can take anywhere from 1 to 10 milligrams of melatonin, and if you hungover the next day you just take a little bit less and earlier before bed. As an antioxidant to the brain that means it actually helps the brain function better.
Sleep Hygiene
Having effective sleep hygiene means establishing a set pattern each night to naturally guide you to sleep. I’ve actually cultivated lifelong sleep patterns with a sleeping game that I played when I was a child. You can do the same thing by developing a sleep routine. You can take a warm bath, have a warm cup of tea or do a few minutes of breathing sitting up in bed. When you do something relaxing every night before bed your brain will become conditioned, and you’ll fall asleep when that relaxing event occurs. I would love for you to allocate 16 hours to being awake, and that's when your conscious self is in charge and then at night allow the night crew to take over for eight full hours.
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