Sleep Affects Your
is a precious thing. But when you lay your head down on the
pillow, do you get a fitful, peaceful rest? Or do you toss and
turn? Or wake up intermittently? Even worse, are you tormented
these problems assume you can fall asleep in the first place.
How many sheep do you have to count before you doze off?
generally are the result of a calcium/magnesium and/or a zinc/copper
imbalance. These two ratios, of course, also determine your
basal body metabolic rate (translate: how much fat you'll burn
every day.) If you get these two ratios into a healthy balance,
you'll have better ZZZZZs and lose Lbs. (as in pounds!)
with a magnesium
deficiency suffer from "Type II insomnia." They fall asleep
easily but only experience a relatively short period of deep,
restful sleep, that delicious time when your body is able to
rebuild muscles, skin and bones. Most of the night they are
trapped in light, useless sleep. They toss and they turn. Then,
they wake up exhausted.
people with too little magnesium in relation to calcium develop
this trouble because they don't have enough energy to sleep
fitfully. Restful sleep requires a certain amount of energy
to reach the stage of rejuvenating rest, which is characterized
by rapid eye movement (REM). When you can't maintain REM sleep
for a prolonged period, fatigue eventually becomes chronic during
your waking hours. (Your energy is zapped because you have too
much calcium in relation to magnesium.)
under stress are prone to this kind of insomnia because stress
sops up all the magnesium it can find, creating a shortage.
(the Type I kind) has been associated with calcium
for centuries. Did your Momma serve you a warm glass of milk
and cookies before bedtime?
who don't have enough calcium have two sleep-related problems.
First, they have great difficulty falling asleep. In most cases
this occurs because low tissue calcium produces irritability.
They're just too upset to be able to fall asleep.
people with low calcium levels are plagued with muscle cramps
at night. These painful cramps occur even without any real exertion
during the day. A calcium to magnesium imbalance causes these
muscles to remain in a constant state of contraction. Ouch!
(without the cookies, of course) before bedtime can help people
lacking calcium fall asleep faster. But more dietary changes
are needed to deal with the muscle cramps.
urination at night is one symptom of too much calcium. When
excess calcium settles in the muscles surrounding the bladder,
it reduces the bladder's holding capacity. Frequency and urgency
are increased. It's hard to have a good night's sleep when you
constantly have to get up and go.
levels affect the neurological system. They also stimulate the
right side or creative hemisphere of the brain. (Artists typically
have higher copper levels than electrical engineers.) Unfortunately,
too much copper causes nightmares. Don't eat chocolate, peanut
butter or grapes before bedtime if you want to have sweet dreams.
weight loss have to do with this?
minerals are also crucial to the weight loss process. Calcium
and copper can sedate or overstimulate the adrenal and thyroid
glands, basically snuffing out your weight loss efforts with
an ineffective metabolic rate. Fix the cal/mag and zinc/copper
ratios and you can burn off those pounds, even while you sleep!
the scientific, the proper calcium to magnesium ratio is 3 to
11 milligrams per 100 grams. The healthy zinc to copper ratio
is 4 to 12 milligrams per 100 grams.