How To Improve sleep quality!
No one will dispute how important sleep is to our overall well being and sense of happiness. We humans are meant to sleep deeply every night to ensure good brain and metabolic health. But why are so many of us struggling with getting consistently good sleep?
The answers to this question are varied and highly individualized. The intention of this article is to help you identify your potential sticking points and see what you can address on your own, or if you need to seek additional help.
Here are my top five reasons for poor sleep:
1. Blood sugar imbalances
This is by far the most common reason I see in my practice for poor sleep quality. So many of us have pancreatic (“blood sugar”) imbalances, due in part to the highly processed/highly sweetened nature of the foods we commonly eat.
One of the markers for functionally low blood sugar is fasting glucose below 85 mg/dl or an HbA1C level of 5.1%, or less. These markers are indicators and may not be clear-cut, but this is the most common presentation.
So here’s what happens: The pancreas produces too much insulin in response to a high sugar/refined carb meal, thus sweeping much of the glucose from the blood all at one time. When we go to bed, we are effectively fasting from the time of our last meal until breakfast. (Ironically, people with low blood sugar don’t usually like eating an early breakfast!) After a few hours of sleep, often around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, the brain is out of glucose. Brain’s primary job is survival, even if it is at the expense of the rest of the metabolism, and this is a perfect example. The brain will cause the adrenals to release adrenaline in order to access our stored glucose reserves. Brain does indeed get fed, but now we lie awake for about two hours while the adrenaline courses through our system. This is a very common reason for this type of interrupted sleep pattern—-waking from about 2 or 3AM til about 4 or 5AM.
2. Hormonal Changes and Imbalances
This is often the culprit for someone who used to be a good sleeper until they hit the hormonal changes of menopause (women, in their 40’s-50’s ) or andropause (men, 50’s-60’s). Often adrenals and glucose are involved as well (see #1), but establishing a good hormone environment can make a huge difference for sleep. High intensity exercise helps accomplish this, as well as managing adrenal health with adaptogenic herbs, along with a diet rich in organic vegetables and quality fats and proteins.
3. Stress and Anxiety
The adrenals are mentioned in every angle of the sleep discussion, and for good reason. If stress is “eating your lunch”, you would be wise to proactively develop strategies to address this, from Network Chiropractic—-great for stress!—to adaptogenic herbs—-I like Apex’s Adaptocrine—-to practicing mindfulness, exercising outdoors, and developing fun and creative artistic projects.
4. Sleep Apnea
This is a very common problem but often goes undiagnosed. If your partner says you snore, or you wake up “snorting” or choking, this may be your issue. A sleep study can determine if this is relevant for you.
Many people avoid sleep studies because they would rather deal with poor sleep than with a C-PAP machine! However, there is a good alternative to the unwieldy C-PAP machine. Some wholistic dentists are screening airway health and are able to identify various types of sleep apnea. The client is fitted with a custom night-time oral appliance that holds the lower jaw in a slightly different position to open the airway so that apnea may not be a problem. Panthera is a company that produces this oral appliance and is available in many cities.
Mouth taping is another strategy that can help mild snorers or people who use the apnea appliance described here.
5. Medications and stimulants
Opioid pain meds
Obviously caffeine is a sleep-deprivation culprit. Never drink coffee after noon, and many people who are sensitive need to drink less coffee overall, if any, and/or stop consumption earlier in the day,.
Chocolate contains caffeine and is probably not a good night-time treat. And it can mess with your blood sugar too!
Many medications have potential side-effects that interrupt sleep. Here is a partial list:
SSRIs (like Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, etc.)
Steroids
Decongestants
Headache meds (often contain caffeine)
Diuretics (cause night-time peeing!)
Diabetes med Metformin
Alpha Blockers (prostate treatment)
And for the record: I do NOT recommend using melatonin for sleep. There are several reasons, not the least of which is that naturally-produced melatonin, released at the right time (around 3-4 AM), and in the right amount, is one of our front-line cancer cell detectives. Taking exogenous melatonin (is it really bioidentical?) likely interferes with our body’s own production and release of melatonin, and likely is not seeking out unusual cellular activity in the same way, if at all.
Some additional sleep strategies include:
Valerian, chamomile, magnolia flowers—-various herbs. There are many wonderful herbal tea formulas available on the grocery shelves.
Magnesium, specifically magnesium l-threonate (only magnesium that crosses the blood-brain barrier), taken at bedtime.
Please call me to schedule a more in-depth analysis of your sleep concerns!