Insomnia

Insomnia

Sleep disorders may result from a range of problems besides stress. The most common cause is the elevated cortisol levels resulting from your body’s response to stress.

Elevated cortisol is a trigger for anxiety, rapid heart rate, indigestion, and/or the inability to calm down. It puts you into a state of hyperarousal to stop you from sleeping even when you are exhausted.

This cortisol release may become a long-term pattern, requiring your intervention. S

tress hormones rapidly lead to the release of Glutamate in the brain. Glutamate is the neurotransmitter associated with excitement and works in opposition to GABA, the calming neurotransmitter.

There are numerous herbs and nutrients known to quiet your mind and reduce the anxiety response your body has developed to cope. For instance, under stress, you use more magnesium than usual. Magnesium is a natural muscle relaxant.

Calcium deficiency may be an underlying cause of early waking insomnia, as calcium is a sedating mineral. Likewise, iron deficiency is linked to insomnia.

Treatment for stress-induced insomnia

Treatment options include herbal medicine and specific nutrients that influence GABA, the neurotransmitter directed at reducing high cortisol levels. Minerals often help with muscle relaxation.

A laboratory test of your saliva cortisol levels checked four times over the day may be done. Saliva Cortisol testing provides for more targeted treatment and monitoring. Melatonin levels are also screened via saliva testing. The most comprehensive test is full neurotransmitter screening done through a urine test.

Importance of Melatonin

Melatonin is your body’s neurohormone to give you a sleepy, drowsy feeling. Our present-day lifestyle has messed with this mechanism, with some people more affected than others.

Melatonin requires two equally important steps.

First is the daily production of Melatonin. This happens when your brain receives stimulation via sunshine. It is important to begin sunlight exposure first thing in the morning and make further instalments throughout the day as you can.

Going out for a lunchtime walk is a great way to boost Melatonin, with the aim of getting one hour of total outdoor time daily. Note that it is ideal to get outside exposure to sunshine. If you are indoors, spend time sitting next to a window where light exposure is good.

The second step is to release your stored Melatonin to begin the normal sleep cycle. This happens in the evening and is stimulated through diminishing light, as when the sun sets. The big problem here is the use of bright lighting and computers in the evening.

The newer LED lights have a larger portion of the blue spectrum light. This specific type of lighting greatly interferes with Melatonin release, as it is the light you would be exposed to with noon-level sunshine. The blue spectrum lights are very bright and release a pure white light.

There is now an easy option for computer screens to filter out the blue light. Simply do a free Google download of the Flux software. Flux makes your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, dimming the white and blue hues from your screen from 8:00 throughout the night.

In the morning, your screen automatically reverts to the brighter hues. Another option is to wear specific sunglasses that block the blue spectrum each evening from 8:00 until bedtime. These sunglasses are either brown or amber-tinted.

In some instances, insomnia has no link with stress or cortisol

• High thyroid
• Low iron levels
• Histamine Intolerance
• Hormonal imbalances
• Irregular blood sugar levels- may result from being on a keto diet or doing Intermittent Fasting
• Low Vitamin D levels are associated with poorer sleep quality and duration.
• Copper to zinc ratio imbalance (closely linked to insomnia)
• Low melatonin levels (common as we get older)
• Sleep apnea- another common development with ageing. Airflow into your lungs may be reduced when the tissues of your throat become “floppy”. The result is frequent pauses in breathing, particularly in a deep sleep.
  Those with this type of sleep apnea wake unrefreshed and may have continued brain fog throughout the day. A sleep test to check if this is your problem may be arranged through your doctor.