Insomnia - by Kirsten Taylor ND, MHD, HbT

Insomnia/Poor sleep quality.
Insomnia is a problem affecting many people all over the world! Insomnia is defined as a person having difficulty in initiating sleep (getting to sleep) and/or maintaining sleep (staying asleep). Insomnia is a term that is used to describe any sleep loss.

Sleep Inducing Chemicals:
Nerve-signalling chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. The process is complicated but basically it happens like this ~Tryptophan gets converted to melatonin through a series of conversions in the body. Melatonin levels change through out the day and increase at night leading to sleep, they peak at 2 & 4 am and decrease again before dawn.

Phases of sleep:
Many people experience different types of insomnia and or interruption to their sleep phases. When we sleep the body goes through 5 sleep phases. During sleep, we usually pass through five phases of sleep: stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress in a cycle from stage 1 to REM sleep, then the cycle starts over again with stage 1. We spend almost 50 percent of our total sleep time in stage 2 sleep, about 20 percent in REM sleep, and the remaining 30 percent in the other stages. Infants, by contrast, spend about half of their sleep time in REM sleep

During sleep, we usually pass through five phases of sleep. These stages progress in a cycle from stage 1 to rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, then the cycle starts over again with stage 1.

Adults spend almost 50 percent of our total sleep time in stage 2 sleep, about 20 percent in REM sleep, and the remaining 30 percent in the other stages. Infants spend about half their time in REM.

Many people who sleep yet awake feeling un-refreshed could be experiencing an imbalance in their sleep cycles.

How Much Sleep Do We Need?
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. Infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid. We don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than we need; while we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired.

What Does Sleep Do For Us?
Sleep appears necessary for our nervous systems to work properly. Too little sleep leaves us drowsy and unable to concentrate the next day. It also leads to impaired memory and physical performance and reduced ability to carry out math calculations. If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop. Some experts believe sleep gives neurons used while we are awake a chance to shut down and repair themselves. Without sleep, neurons may become so depleted in energy or so polluted with byproducts of normal cellular activities that they begin to malfunction. Sleep also may give the brain a chance to exercise important neuronal connections that might otherwise deteriorate from lack of activity.

Deep sleep coincides with the release of growth hormone in children and young adults. Many of the body's cells also show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep. Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repair of damage from factors like stress and ultraviolet rays, deep sleep may truly be "beauty sleep." Activity in parts of the brain that control emotions, decision-making processes, and social interactions is drastically reduced during deep sleep, suggesting that this type of sleep may help people maintain optimal emotional and social functioning while they are awake.

Sleep and Disease
Sleep and sleep-related problems play a role in a large number of human disorders and affect almost every field of medicine. For example, problems like stroke and asthma attacks tend to occur more frequently during the night and early morning, perhaps due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other characteristics associated with sleep. Sleep also affects some kinds of epilepsy in complex ways. REM sleep seems to help prevent seizures that begin in one part of the brain from spreading to other brain regions, while deep sleep may promote the spread of these seizures. Sleep deprivation also triggers seizures in people with some types of epilepsy.

The following information is a general guideline about sleep disorders in general. If you have a particular question please contact our support team. We are here to help you.

Symptoms of Insomnia are commonly classified simply as Type1 and Type 2 for people that aren't in the medical industry. Here is a brief explanation of what these classifications mean. Many people actually experience both types of insomnia.

Sleep Initiating Insomnia /Type 1 Insomnia = Type 1 Insomnia is the inability for people to fall asleep. This is the people with the busy minds who are a little overwhelmed from the pressures of daily life or the people who lie there calmly in bed and cannot sleep for what seems like hours. For these people SLEEPING is even more important. Taking calcium either alone before bed or in conjunction with magnesium will help you fall asleep. For some people not being able to fall asleep can be as simple as having a calcium deficiency. Recommended daily doses depend on age and sex or pregnancy/ breast feeding status but range for adults range from 800mg to 1400mg. For a homeopathic mineral calcium supplement to enhance your bodies utilisation of calcium please contact our team.

Sleep maintenance Insomnia/ Type 2 Insomnia = Type 2 Insomnia or the insomnia where you wake throughout the night can be the result of several body processes needing support. I find in my clinic that if people are waking throughout the night they respond quickly to high quality magnesium supplementation of doses 300- 1000mg/day. Contact me to try some magnesium.
So how does it work? Magnesium is a very important mineral for sedating the nervous system, relaxing muscles(reducing pain), reducing anxiety, balancing hormones, aiding digestion, it is necessary for neurotransmitter production and regulating blood sugar all of which if imbalanced are common causes of insomnia or sleeplessness.


What causes Insomnia?

There are many causes of Insomnia and finding out what is causing your Insomnia is the first important step. The following list is some possible causes & contributing factors of Sleep disorders(Insomnia):

Nutrient deficiencies e.g. magnesium, calcium, Tryptophan, vitamin B's especially B3 (reduces restless sleep), adenosine, Omega 3 fatty acids.

Stress probably the most common cause of insomnia in people. Reduce stress through counseling, Flower essences are very helpful to support the mind during times of stress. Think about Bach Flower essence White chestnut to stop a busy mind, Bach Flower essence Elm for being overwhelmed, Bach flower essence Rescue remedy for general stress support.
Use anxiety supporting herbs throughout the day and before bed. Zizyphus, Kudzu, Magnolia and Passion flower are very good for this. - please contact us for this practitioner only supplement which is scientifically proven to increase sleep quality and decrease stress cortisol levels.

Depression Many antidepressants suppress REM sleep. Naturopathic approaches to support mild to moderate anxiety and depression are very effective. Combining Herbal, homeopathic, mineral and vitamin therapy support your whole body & may have the advantage of balancing several body systems & aspects of your life. For e.g. A very high percentage of people with depression also suffer from sleep deprivation.

Eating cheese late at night can cause bad dreams in some people. So can stress or anxiety about a situation. Flower essences can be very helpful here too - Bach Flower remedy of Mimulus is for known fears and Bach Flower remedy of Aspen for unknown fears. Contact our team for the right flower essences for you now. Supplementation of Vitamin B6 of 10 to 50mg per day reduces nightmares and increases dream recall in some people.

Metal toxicity e.g. copper and aluminium as these heavy metals deplete absorption of other helpful minerals and can interfere with hormone levels in women especially.

Hormone challenges can impact on sleep quality too. Try taking Vit C 250mg to 10,000mg per day especially if you suspect copper overload as excess copper can make hormonal challenges such as menstrual issues worse. Take Vit C with B6 and magnesium.

Low Iron levels women should have their Iron levels checked yearly and if Ferritin or stored iron is in the bottom 1/3rd of normal then increasing iron rich foods is recommended. If levels are in the bottom 1/5th of normal then iron supplementation is recommended.

Allergy or food intolerance Food sensitivities can cause any number of symptoms in the human body. Food sensitivities can develop suddenly after years of eating the same food. Intolerances can often happen with the introduction to a new food or frequent eating of the same food/s. The most common allergens are dairy, nuts, wheat and eggs. Contact us for a food sensitivity test. Many people talk about eating cheese before bed and how this impacts on their quality of sleep and their potential to have nightmares.

Noise and light pollution (try using black out curtains and industrial ear plugs)

Alcohol - drinking alcohol depletes your body of essential nutrients such as magnesium, B vitamins and zinc = all needed to make sleep hormones. Many people who suffer from insomnia find that they are able to sleep after having a drink of alcohol before going to bed. However, while alcohol does help people fall to sleep, it keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep, from which they can be awakened easily and stops them from achieving REM and the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.

Low levels of melatonin and serotonin (sleep hormones) overall these sleep chemicals are dependant on Zinc, Magnesium & B 6. Medicating with Melatonin can be helpful for people with long term Insomnia. Dosages range from 1 to 12 mg per night depending on the individual. I recommend this only be used in the short term to gain sleep while you work to relieve the causes of the insomnia. Homeopathic Melatonin works incredibly well too. I combine it with herbs and minerals etc and get fantastic results. Please contact my team if you would like some homeopathic melatonin.

Infections Low grade infections can contribute to increased requirements by the body for nutrients. Body aches & Fever can make you uncomfortable too. Have a mineral rich supplement with some vitamin C 3000mg 3 times per day. Over hydration
stress on the kidneys and bladder can cause you to wake and trigger cortisol spikes. Your body needs 30mls/kg/day of high quality water. Try stopping your liquids before 8pm if needing to go to the toilet wakes you up in the night time.

Avoid alcohol chocolate and coffee. If you do manage to achieve a sleep state after consuming these foods or beverages you will only reach REM sleep which means you will not wake refreshed.
Caffeine - even people that drink a lot of caffeinated beverages can still be being kept awake by caffeine. IF you suffer from Insomnia then don't have caffeine as it will perpetuate the lack of sleep cycle. For those that refuse to give up their cup of coffee, tea or energy drink~ Don't have any caffeine after 12 o'clock in the afternoon.

Heavy smokers often sleep very lightly and may not even achieve full amounts of REM sleep. Smokers can also wake up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep due to nicotine withdrawal. Solution = stop smoking.

Diet pills and cold medications or decongestants contain drug stimulants and can cause insomnia, or an inability to sleep. They can also interfere with normal body processes and further deplete the body of nutrients which may encourage insomnia.

Hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia. Keep your blood sugar stable by eating regular balanced meals (every 3 hours) and don't snack on chocolate or sweets after dinner.

Sleep apnoea Sleep apnoea can be quite serious and require medical attention But Sleep Apnoea can also be caused by a severe magnesium deficiency and /or excess weight around the chest area meaning the lungs can't work properly while sleeping. Try losing some kilo's to be closer to your optimal weight and a magnesium supplement.

Twitching in sleep or jerking your self awake - this is most likely caused by mineral deficiencies especially magnesium. Your nervous system will calm down when you have taken the correct dose of sedative minerals.. Vitamin E deficiency can also cause jerking try supplementing with 400 iu's per day.


Lifestyle recommendations

We know that sleep is influenced by neurotransmitters in our brains and that these can be affected by our activities, the medicines we take, the foods we eat, our nutritional status & also by our lifestyle choices. The following section gives some practical advice on ways that you can help support your body and recover from insomnia. It is a general over view of some easy to implement lifestyle suggestions that may help you to get to sleep.

Avoid sleeping tablets
Benzodiapines help people to fall to sleep faster but they only maintain a light sleep and suppress a persons ability to achieve a deep sleep and REM sleep without dreaming. Side effects include memory loss and day time sleepiness and a overly calming effect on neuronal activity in the nervous system.

Exercise
Try to exercise a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes a day. If you are tired from years of insomnia then start by a simple walk around the block and build up gradually to 20 minutes with an elevated heart rate. Daily exercise often helps people sleep. For maximum benefit, try to get your exercise about 5 to 6 hours before going to bed as a workout soon before bedtime may energize you and interfere with sleep. If you can only exercise before bed then make it a gentle walk around the block approximately 45 minutes after eating.

Prevent constipation
by having 30mls per kg of body weight per day of pure water. Drink no more than 200mls at a time. Remember your 5 + a day of fruit and vegetables. See our health topic on constipation for more information on this very important topic.

Adrenal fatigue
-It is very important to support yourself during the day while you are working to balance your sleep disorder (insomnia). If you are not sleeping well your body will be relying on adrenalin energy during the day and will therefore have increased need for Vitamin C 1000mg x 3 times per day. Vitamin B complex 50mg of each and extra minerals especially B5 & B6. The amino acid Tyrosine 500mg/day is also helpful as it is a precursor to dopamine. It also supports adrenal function in times of stress but is most useful when taken with all the nutrients mentioned previously including zinc, mg, vit c, B6 etc. In order for the body to utilise amino acids it requires an adequate amount of protein from your diet. Protein sources are Meat, dairy products, grains, nuts, seeds, pulses and beans.

Set a schedule:
Go to bed at a set time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Disrupting this schedule may lead to insomnia. "Sleeping in" on weekends also makes it harder to wake up early on Monday morning because it re-sets your sleep cycles for a later awakening. Once you have rebalanced you should be able to do this but in order to recover from Insomnia this is an important point to follow.

Relax before bed:
A warm bath, reading, or another relaxing routine can make it easier to fall sleep. You can train yourself to associate certain restful activities with sleep and make them part of your bedtime ritual. Avoid bright flickering light such as sitting & working at the computer or watching stimulating TV before as this can make your brain more active prior to trying to sleep. Dim light is best as this will encourage melatonin release.

Mind control
It can also be useful to find a sleep inducing self meditation CD to listen to.

Sleep until sunlight:
If possible, wake up with the sun, or use very bright lights in the morning. Sunlight helps the body's internal biological clock reset itself each day. Sleep experts recommend exposure to an hour of morning sunlight for people having problems falling asleep.

Don't lie in bed awake:
If you can't get to sleep, don't just lie in bed. Do something else, like reading, or listening to relaxing music in dim light until you feel tired. The anxiety of being unable to fall asleep can actually contribute to insomnia. Take care not to fall asleep watching TV. If watching TV this is something you do then look at getting a timer so your TV turns itself off again.

Control your room temperature:
Maintain a comfortable temperature in the bedroom. Extreme temperatures may disrupt sleep or prevent you from falling asleep.

Herbal medicines:
While you are rebalancing your body with specific nutrient supplements and waiting for your body's levels of vitamins and mineral to rise, herbal medicines such as Valerian, chamomile, hops Hypericum etc are very helpful to get you to sleep. A safe way to take herbal medicine for sensitive people is to drink it as a tea. Drink 1 to 2 small cups of New Zealand Health Shop Relaxation Tea starting at 8pm at night so you don't over fill your bladder before bed. This blend is made from Nervous system relaxing herbs.

Make a Aromatherapy blend::
The following oils are helpful and can be used individually as well and are lovely in an oil burner Lavender True, Chamomile Roman, Bergamot, Marjoram, Mandarin etc Our NZ Health Shop custom made formula Baby Sleep oil contains these lovely oils and is being enjoyed by our adult customers as well?

Body support:
Get a regular massage to encourage your muscles to relax. Call our clinic for options on relaxation, therapeutic, aromatherapy or traditional Japanese Shiatsu massage. 09 378 0444.


Get our Professional advice We have two Naturopaths on our team. A professional consultation will help you get to the bottom of your insomnia faster and get you back on the road to balance. Our treatment would incorporate all the relevant aspects of this information. Our team is able to make you up her very effective blend of Homeobotanical Sleep drops formula which includes Herbs, homeopathics ( melatonin & Magnesium) & flower essences.



Conclusion

Sleep loss or disturbances can affect general health and work performance with losses of up to 30% in concentration and reductions of up to 25% in quality of work and performance so if your work is contributing to your lack of sleep you need to do something about it NOW.
If you are a mother and sleep deprivation is making you feel unable to cope or tired and irritated by your children ~ this is not fair on you or them!
If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, then you may have a sleep disorder and should see a health care professional. If you are only offered sleeping pills from your Doctor which stop you sleeping properly and leave you drowsy during the day you should contact our team at NZ Health Shop to put together a sleep support programme for you which may include minerals, homeopathics, herbs and lifestyle, dietary advice. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively, so you can finally get that good night's sleep you need.

Call our clinic today on 09 3780444 or 0800 4 NZHEALTH.
Don't go another day without sleeping properly!

Buy some of our SLEEP DROPS today.

Read our next article with 22 different tips on how to get to sleep and stay asleep

References:
Kirsten's brain - from years of clinical training and experience
The Encyclopaedia of Clinical Nutrition - Volume one - The Nervous System -Henry Osiecki
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2006-01_01.asp
"When You Can't Sleep: The ABCs of ZZZs," by the National Sleep Foundation(U.S).