Sleep is the
key time that you rejuvenate your body while performing various housecleaning
chores. You need both adequate sleep time and proper sleep quality. How
you feel when you wake up in the morning is exactly how good a job you
did. There is no mistaking the feeling of a good night’s sleep.
And there is no way to effectively make up for a lack of quality sleep
– it is a primary cause of wear and tear that stresses your health.
7-8 hours of quality sleep per night. Teens need 8-9 hours. School age
children need 9-10 hours. Preschoolers need 10-12 hours. Newborns often
sleep 16-18 hours a day. The extra sleep is needed to support optimal
don’t get enough sleep you are tired the next day. This causes you
to eat more food to compensate for lower energy, making it more likely
that you will gain weight. This throws leptin out of balance, in turn
making your daytime energy worse and locking in weight issues –
while further disrupting your sleep. Even if you aren’t gaining
weight your mood, mental capacity, motivation, stress tolerance, energy,
and overall feeling of well being suffer. Poor sleep sets you up for a
poor immune response in times of need.
can be used to help you get to sleep, stay asleep, and enhance the quality
of your sleep. Sleep Helper and RelaxaMag are my top two suggestions to
assist your sleep. Many people also benefit from Melatonin and Immune
Plus, making these four products a core sleep support system.
A brief description
of these products is listed next, followed by a comprehensive discussion
of important sleep issues.
Sleep vs. Stress and Arousal
and control center of your subconscious brain is your hypothalamus gland.
This gland regulates wakefulness and sleep, based on a variety of factors.
Like any company, your hypothalamus gland has different departments. Your
wakefulness department resides in the rear (posterior hypothalamus) and
communicates directly to other primary brain structures that regulate
wakefulness (basal forebrain and brain stem).
department resides towards the front (anterior hypothalamus) and is composed
of nerve cells that rely on GABA and glycine in order to function properly.
Both your sleeping and waking departments have numerous nerve projections
to other departments of your hypothalamus gland – the goal being
to orchestrate correct
sleeping-waking behavior for survival.
sleep pattern is normal then your sleep department gets a cue from your
hormonal orchestra that it is bedtime, in turn activating GABAergic and
glycinergic neurons which tell the wakefulness department to take a break.
In the morning, your hormonal orchestra turns on light switches in the
wakefulness department, and a message is then sent over to the sleep department
to take a break.
basic sleep problem is too much arousal in various parts of the wakefulness
system compared to the relaxing influences of the sleep department. In
many cases simply thinking about the stressors of the day or challenges
of tomorrow will keep your wakefulness department revved up. Even being
excited about the next day can do this. And of course, the more intense
the stress the higher the chance for a problem with sleep, especially
if there is stress right before bed.
you do to manage stress better, solve problems, and implement solutions
will help keep your wakefulness department not feeling so edgy. Building
up “relaxed reserves” assists your sleep department to have
better fitness (relaxing exercise, meditation/prayer, having fun, vacations,
strategies to wind down your day, etc.).
of nutrients can directly help your sleep department, meaning that they
enhance GABA and glycine nerve transmission. Sleep Helper™ boosts
GABA, whereas RelaxaMag boosts glycine. Adequate magnesium, and to a lesser
extent calcium, are vital for the wakefulness system to cool off. For
example, magnesium and glycine are the natural brakes residing within
your brain stem. The most basic nutritional strategy to assist sleep is
to boost the supply of nutrients that support relaxing neurotransmitters
while helping the wakefulness centers to rest properly.
Sleep as Part of a Hormonal Symphony
energy level is clicking along nicely during the day, and turns off properly
at night, there is an unmistakable feeling of being “in sync.”
Your body must coordinate the function of over 100 trillion cells in order
for you to feel in sync, which is done with hormones (substances that
give management-like orders). Your brain responds to hormonal signals
and your brain creates the messages that become many of the hormones.
While this process is rather complex, it is fairly easy to understand
that you either feel in sync or you don’t.
of your hormonal orchestra is leptin, a hormone that actually comes from
your stored fat. Leptin has many functions in your body including giving
you a full signal after a meal and determining how fast your metabolism
should run. Leptin is the key bridge between eating behavior and sleep
quality. Many individuals who follow the Leptin Diet notice dramatically
improved sleep, both in terms of being able to get to sleep and a better
quality of sleep.
One of leptin’s
key functions is to synchronize the release of all hormones during sleep,
including the release of melatonin that is the initial cue for your sleep
department to start working and to keep working for a proper length of
sleep. Smooth leptin function also orchestrates the release of growth
hormone, thyroid hormone, and sex hormones during sleep, all of which
have a profound influence on your quality of sleep.
is also sensitive to the amount of daylight, meaning that when it is dark
outside melatonin levels may not peak correctly at night and may drag
on during the day making you feel like you are still trying to sleep even
though you are awake. This can cause a seasonal mood stress that feels
like you are dragging a 40 pound weight around with you all day long.
levels decline with age, setting the stage for difficulty getting to sleep
and/or staying asleep simply because there is a lack of the main hormone
that governs sleep.
is made from the amino acid tryptophan. Metabolically-activating amino
acids like tyrosine and phenylalanine, as found in red meat and other
high protein foods, tend to crowd out the entry of tryptophan into your
brain. If you have sleep troubles it is a good idea not to have a high
protein/calorie dense meal for dinner. Have such a meal, if you desire,
earlier in the day. At dinner eat a smaller amount of protein with lots
of vegetables (fiber) and moderate complex carbohydrates. Doing so enables
dietary tryptophan to enter your brain better, in turn making the melatonin
that will help you sleep.
problems are often a percentage of anyone’s sleep troubles. Following
the Leptin Diet and not eating too much protein at dinner, especially
too close to bed, will help improve melatonin function. After age 40,
age-related melatonin deficiency can range from 0.5 mg or more per day.
Seasonal melatonin issues may require 6 mgs. or more of melatonin, depending
on the person.
We have melatonin
in both 0.5 mg and 3 mg capsules. This enables you to adjust your dose,
as needed. Some people use both products, as a 4 mg dose may be what you
need. Pick any starting dose and see if it helps you sleep. If not, try
a higher amount. If you get too much or you really don’t need it
you will feel “hung over” or heavy headed when you wake up.
If this happens take less (or none). If you can’t tell if melatonin
helps you on any dose then there is no need to take it. If you are lacking
melatonin and you take some, the sleep assistance is usually pretty obvious.
And remember that as the days get shorter you may need to take more, and
can lower that amount as summer approaches.
Problems Interfere with Sleep
overlooked yet key sleep issue is something I call clogged plumbing. I
am referring specifically to your lymphatic system which is highly active
at night while you sleep. Your lymph system must work right in order for
you to carry on proper housecleaning chores, thereby enabling you to wake
up feeling well rested. Healthy function of your lymph system has a large
bearing on your quality of sleep.
symptoms of lymphatic problems are felt in your shoulder and neck area.
The fluid around all your cells is called lymph fluid. It moves waste
products through various lymph channels and nodes which have two main
outlets (thoracic ducts) on either side of your spine around the shoulder
areas of your back. Pressure, stiffness, or pain building up in this region
is a sign of lymphatic congestion.
system cross-talks with your brain stem, which in turn can cause problems
in getting to sleep or staying asleep – aside from the housecleaning
duties that influence sleep quality. There are many immune cells within
your lymph system. If this system is clogged or sluggish then alarming
messages may be sent from the immune cells over to their cousins (glial
cells) residing in your brain stem. Your brain stem, which is part of
your awakeness team, is now receiving “alarming” and stimulatory
sensory input from your struggling lymph system. This can be enough to
prevent you from falling asleep, or wake you up, especially if combined
with other sleep issues.
of your lymph system are stagnation (lack of exercise or activity), eating
too close to bed (fatty meals congest it), or excessive clean up chores
(following a physically or emotionally demanding day, accident, injury,
illness, etc). If you go to bed with an out of shape and overloaded lymph
system you are typically going to have some troubles.
As the thoracic
ducts swell during sleep (a kind of constipation), they push on nerves
that go down your arms. This can cause one or both hands or arms to fall
asleep or tingle while you are sleeping. The pressure may build up on
one or both sides of your shoulders, often resulting in a stiff neck.
Because your body tries to look for alternative ways to get rid of waste
you may try to push it out your skin causing acne on your shoulders, chest,
or face. Another alternative is to make extra mucous, which you will typically
have to cough up in the morning (as well as after large meals).
is not working well, extra trash is left around your body, often in your
joints. This causes you to wake up with a combination of various aches
and pains along with a yuck feeling. As you move around the gunk is mechanically
moved out by your muscle contractions (as different from ongoing pain
that is constant).
passing in the night always aggravate lymph problems, as your lymph system
is a pressure system. Headaches that start in the back of your neck are
common, and may also be felt as sinus pressure or pressure at the top
of your head. If you have a really stuck lymph system you may feel like
a pressure cooker ready to blow.
ebb and flow based on many issues, and the above collection of symptoms
may be mild and have little effect on your sleep or may significantly
interfere with getting to sleep, staying asleep, and your overall quality
and Glucose Aggravate Sleep
is quite obvious that you can’t eat and sleep at the same time,
there is a profound inter-relationship in the way eating and sleeping
influence each other. For example, when you don’t get enough sleep
you are going to be tired and your body will feel stressed easier. This
causes you to eat more food to try and get energy, especially if you’re
having a stressful day after a poor night’s sleep.
have a high likelihood of turning into extra pounds on your gut, hips,
or thighs. Furthermore, the extra fat blobs in your blood (triglycerides)
reduce how well leptin gets into your brain, making you hungrier and less
likely to sleep well – a vicious circle.
naturally rise in a 24-hour pattern (as different from the mealtime full
signal). The highest natural level of leptin should be at night right
before bed, so it can enter your brain and conduct the proper hormonal
orchestra that synchronizes rejuvenating sleep.
an “opposite” hormone signal called ghrelin, which stimulates
your appetite (especially for carbohydrates). Ghrelin is made in your
stomach, and needs to be working in harmony with leptin. When you have
too much ghrelin you are too hungry too often, with difficult cravings
after dinner. As ghrelin problems lock into place over time it is typical
that glucose problems also occur, meaning that both are too high before
shows that problems with excess ghrelin and blood sugar are a form of
stress that causes excessive arousal, interfering with your sleep department’s
efforts. Some people are certain they must eat before bed or they can’t
get to sleep. If this is the case with you then you need to read the section
below “Pleasure, Arousal, Stress, & Food – Does Sleep
Have a Chance?”
If you must
eat something then have the smallest amount of carbohydrates that let
you get to sleep (which does turn down the arousal system), but then work
on actually solving the problem so you simply aren’t hungry before
bed or feeling revved up when its time for sleep (real health).
any of the advice that pertains to you in the previous sleep sections
will help with this issue. However, you may need some extra nutrient support
to neutralize nighttime cravings. Any one or any combination of these
supplements can be taken after dinner or before bed to help you out, as
needed. You will notice that when the cravings are better you fall asleep
Your Fat Burning During Sleep
In the course
of a 24-hour time period your prime fat burning opportunity is at night
while you are sleeping – but only if you allow it to happen. Of
course you burn extra calories when you exercise or are physically active,
but in terms of your basal metabolism of fat – nighttime rules!
a meal you tend to burn calories for energy mostly from sugar (60% glucose/40%
fatty acids). After three or four hours you will start burning higher
amounts of fat, which is why it is important to go 5-6 hours between meals
– as the Leptin Diet recommends. Doing so helps clean fat blobs
(triglycerides) out of your circulation during the day, so that leptin
can enter your brain better at night and help you sleep properly.
are sleeping, and around 7-8 hours after your last meal, if your liver
is working right, you will now burn 60% of your calories from fatty acids
and 40% from glucose. This is your prime fat burning time, and the easiest
way to create it is by following the Leptin Diet and by doing regular
aerobic exercise (which also helps clear fat blobs out of your circulation
by using them for fuel).
training, done at any time of the day, can also enhance this nighttime
result. This is because the need to repair your muscles from the workout
helps maximize the release of growth hormone during sleep, which increases
muscle metabolism of calories. If you are doing the Leptin Diet properly,
then those extra calories will come mostly from stored fat.
taken before bed may enhance calorie burning as well as the overall repair
response, as desired. While I do not consider this type of nutrition as
a primary weight management strategy, it may help out a little bit. In
my mind the main thing to notice is that you wake up feeling like you
slept better, meaning that your muscles feel great and the sleep was more
rejuvenating in nature. Nutrients do not replace the importance of exercise,
but often enhance your recovery from exercise (which takes place during
– Please Pass the Oxygen
a common problem that interferes with the health of the person who snores
and the person who is disturbed by their partner snoring. The number one
cause of snoring is how much fat you consume. The number two cause is
what you weigh. If any factor in each of the previous sections is a problem
for you, it typically is contributing to your snoring issue and may be
the cause of it.
that the air passage in your throat has narrowed and is vibrating, in
turn causing the snoring sound. This reduces your ability to get oxygen
into your body, which not only stresses your circulatory system it stresses
your ability to move nutrition in your blood while you sleep. Snoring
invariably reduces sleep quality.
not related to fat have been given to help people reduce snoring: reduce
or eliminate alcohol, sleep on your side, don’t take muscle-relaxing
medications, elevate the head of your bed, and employee strategies to
clear your nasal and sinuses of congestion.
tips may help, they usually don’t solve the problem. In my opinion,
snoring is an inflammatory problem wherein your inflammation burned interferes
with the fitness and tone of the autonomic system that regulates your
breathing while you sleep.
are many sources of inflammation, being overweight is right at the top
of the list. This means that as you lose weight you will eventually get
to a weight where you are much more likely not to snore.
On a short
term basis, the amount of fat in your diet may be the single most significant
factor that causes snoring, whether you are overweight or not. This is
very easy to test. Begin by cutting out all (or most) fat at your dinner
meal – that solves a lot of snoring problems right off the bat.
If that isn’t good enough, cut down fat intake at other meals until
you find a level of fat intake that is below your snoring threshold.
many possible nutrients that may help snoring for one reason or another.
For example, any nutrient you use to help improve a sleep-related issue
listed in a previous section is likely to help. Similarly, any nutrient
that helps you manage stress during the day or helps correct an inflammatory
and energy-depleting health problem is also likely to help. Such nutrients
have general anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and there are
many of them.
with an overall sleep plan, healthy lifestyle, and specifically working
on reduction of fat while following the Leptin Diet, the following supplements
may also be of help:
We now know
that your immune system is intimately involved with the sleep process,
handling a great deal of the communication and housecleaning activities
that are totally different than the idea of fighting a bug. Your lymph
system is a key part of your immune system and its function during sleep
is explained above in the section “Plumbing Problems Interfere with
if your immune system is called on to battle a bug, the major battle will
take place at night while you are sleeping. If you are successful you
will feel better when you wake up. If your system is struggling then “plumbing
problems” are likely to be aggravated.
immune support before going to bed (as well as during the day) can help
the efficiency of your immune system to perform its needed tasks. Some
of the best before bed natural immune support is as follows. These nutrients
may be used in combination, as desired.
Arousal, Stress, & Food – Does Sleep Have a Chance?
think for a moment that the human brain is simple. It would certainly
be nice if there was one on switch for awake and one off switch for sleep.
As I have already explained you have a sleep department and a wakefulness
department residing within your hypothalamus gland. The new science shows
that you also have an “arousal thermostat” in your hypothalamus
gland that has a huge impact on your sleep. It is not residing in your
wakefulness department, but operating alongside.
If this arousal
thermostat is set too high then your nerves will be too stimulated, as
if in a fight or flight state, and sleep will be difficult. It has now
been discovered that this condition of heightened arousal is also linked
directly to pleasure seeking and reward, which actually explains a great
deal of inappropriate human behavior. This not only means a desire for
food, it also means a desire for any stimulus that feels good.
words, your arousal thermostat is potentially causing urges that underlie
behavioral patterns that you know are not good for you. When a feeling
of reward or pleasure is obtained from a substance such as cigarettes,
alcohol, pot, food, or risky behavior then your arousal thermostat is
temporarily soothed, enabling sleep. Because many such behaviors involve
the use of substances that may cause wear and tear to brain circuitry,
your arousal thermostat can get locked into an inappropriately high setting,
in turn re-enforcing the behavior in order to be able to sleep. On the
other hand, trying to break the bad habit may make sleep worse as the
inappropriately high setting of your arousal thermostat causes you to
feel to wound up when not being placated.
of you who are technically minded, the arousal thermostat is established
by a pair of excitatory neuropeptides produced by neurons located in the
lateral hypothalamus, and projecting throughout your brain. They are called
Hypocretins (Hcrt) and have also been called Orexins (appetite stimulating).
They are intimately involved with how awake you feel and your desire for
If you lack
Hypocretins you can’t stay awake (narcolepsy). If you have the right
amount your head is awake, your energy feels good (not hyper or anxious)
and you have a normal drive for healthy pleasures and accomplishment.
If it is set too high your nerves will feel wired (even though you may
feel quite tired), you will have trouble sleeping, and you run a risk
for substance abuse issues of one kind or another (or have a history of
Hypocretin system is directly wired to your stress response, it is likely
that a higher level of stress or ongoing stress is what pushed your arousal
thermostat into an inappropriately high setting in the first place.
A wound up
Hypocretin system gravitates to pleasure seeking and reward. There is
a craving for a burst of endorphins (natural opiates) and/or dopamine
(a reward). Impulses to use substances that cause damage to health must
be replaced with consistent healthier behaviors. Also, the relaxed reserves
in your nerves must be replenished and nutrition that supports changes
in brain plasticity can be employed to help reset the arousal thermostat
to a proper setting. While improvement in sleep can typically be noticed
early on, it will take a bit of time to reset the arousal thermostat to
a consistently lower and more appropriate setting.
this issue you need to build up a better supply of endorphins (natural
opiates) from positive behaviors. By far the best exercise for endorphins
is aerobics, which should be done at least three times per week on a consistent
basis. Other endorphin-releasing activities include smiling, laughing,
and sex. Anything you do that is fun, which does not involve substances
or some form of harm, tends to be helpful. At the same time you need to
do some constructive goal setting with tangible plans for accomplishment
so that a sense of reward based on productivity is charted out. There
should be obtainable steps along the way, as the smaller accomplishments
add up eventually to completion of a larger or longer term objective.
it is vital to replenish the reserves of relaxing nutrients. Thus, nutrients
like Sleep Helper and RelaxaMag should be taken during the day as well
as at bed. Use enough during the day to take the edge off.
nutrients can help you build endorphins or enhance the release of BDNF
(brain-derived neurotrophic factor) – a substance that helps repair
and protect excited nerves. Top choices include:
Excessive Substance P
Substance P in your nerves will also interfere with sleep, making you
feel wired or anxious, similar to how a Hypocretin problem feels (explained
in the previous section). However, Substance P is not involved with pleasure
urges or reward behavior. It is part of a natural system that processes
pain and inflammation.
problems are associated with your hypothalamus gland (subconscious control
center) whereas Substance P problems are associated with your brain stem
and nerve endings all around your body. Many people have features of both
problems and need to address both issues; others mostly just have one
of these issues.
Part of your
awakeness team is your brain stem, which is constantly processing sensory
input. If sensory input contains too much physical or emotional pain then
your brain stem itself “heats up.” This raises Substance P
levels within your brain stem and locks this part of your awakeness team
into a hyper-vigilant on mode, thereby interfering with sleep.
P problems do not occur from moderate day to day stress. Extra substance
P kicks in when stress is more intense. This could be an acute high level
of emotional stress, physical pain, injury, an accident, fibromyalgia,
or ongoing stress of an energy-depleting emotional nature. Substance P
is highly inflammatory by nature, a natural method of helping to deal
with acute stress but problematic if stress is ongoing. Individuals with
a history of such stress are more likely to experience Substance P issues
later in life from the ongoing stress of day to day life, especially if
such stress is energy-depleting and tends to be chronic.
to sleep issues and a wired/anxious feeling signs of too much Substance
P involve symptoms in large nerves and nerve endings, especially at night
when you lay down to sleep or while you are sleeping. Classic symptoms
include one or more of the following: wrestles legs, painful feet, upset
digestion, vaginal discomfort, and chest-related symptoms (including funny
pains that move around). These symptoms are caused because your brain
stem tries to discharge the build up of Substance P down primary nerve
structures so that it can cool off and you can go to sleep.
P excess also manifests in skin and muscles. Your skin may itch in a generalized
way, as Substance P is released out nerve endings (a problem that can
happen during the day or at night). It sometimes feels like something
is crawling around under your skin. In some cases individuals with too
much Substance P are sensitive to physical touch – meaning that
touch is uncomfortable or even painful to a greater or lesser degree.
P may also be released at the point where nerves connect to muscles, causing
muscles to be much tighter than normal and oftentimes sore or achy.
physical exercises for Substance P overload are stretching and hobbies
you enjoy that use your fingers over and over in a repetitive way. Stretching
discharges Substance P from nerve endings, as well as helping to put motion
back into tight muscles. Hobbies send pleasant sensory input through your
brain stem, as well as accessing your hypothalamus gland (through your
cerebellum or motion control center) and delivering the message in “machine
language” that “everything is fine so calm down.”
can be used to help discharge Substance P out of your nerves DURING THE
DAY, so that less of it is sitting there in your nerves at bedtime getting
in the way of your sleep. The following nutrients taken during the day
are generally helpful and may be used in any combination.