September 2015 Newsletter
September Monthly Special… all this month we are offering three treatments for only $75.00! Just pay $75 on your first visit, and you get two more visits that must be used in September. Be sure to schedule your appointments early in the month because this special has become quite popular.
Poor Sleep? Join the club… the statistics on sleep are abysmal. Close to 60% of adults report having problems with sleep. About half of sleep problems are related to stress. In the US, 60 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were filled last year. Studies on sleep started as early as the 1960’s, so the subject isn’t new. In these studies, stages of sleep were identified: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, stages 1 & 2 (light sleep), stages 3 and 4 (deep rest and repair sleep), and stage 5 (dream state, during which your brain is active and the eyes move under the eyelids). During stage 5, breathing is more rapid, shallow and irregular; and both heartbeat and blood pressure rise. REM sleep seems to be when we consolidate memory. During sleep, the brain’s cells shrink and researchers think that the cerebrospinal fluid flushes out the many crevices in the brain. Proteins are removed more efficiently than during waking hours. Perhaps that accounts for the fuzzy brain we have when we don’t get enough sleep.
Each sleep cycle is usually about 90 minutes long and then repeats. Melatonin is released during the night and is supposed to be uninterrupted until the light of the morning. Natural light seen within one hour of being awake seems to reset the cycle. Input of sunlight through the eyes is part of the sleep/wake rhythm perhaps because the optic nerve runs past the pineal gland in the brain. The pineal gland located deep in the brain makes the melatonin. Sleep studies in Norway
investigated sleep cycles, light, and melatonin in relation to the frequency of breast cancer. For women who had lost their sight before the age of 54, the incidence of breast cancer was half that of the sighted women. This supported a ‘melatonin hypothesis’: Healthy, young to middle age people generally make about 5 to 25 mcg of melatonin a night. This tends to decrease with age. Melatonin is called the sleep hormone but that is NOT correct. It is produced in the dark, whether sleeping or not. IT was named in 1958 from the Greek word ‘melas’, meaning ‘black’. In theory, you could be up and about in the dark, and still produce the same amount of melatonin. So, this is to say, if melatonin decreases the risk of breast cancer and you can’t sleep, lying in the dark is still doing some good.
In the 90’s it was said that Tryptophan taken in the afternoon was broken up into serotonin and melatonin. Typical advice for sleep inducing supplements included 1 mg tablet Melatonin (1-3 tablets before bedtime), Casein tryptic hydrolysate (from milk), Passion flower extract, 5-HTP, Theanine, and B vitamins to support balanced levels of GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid), serotonin, dopamine, and DHA to support balanced levels of dopamine.
GABA and norepinephrine are more important for cognitive function, including memory formation and information consolidation during specific sleep cycles. I have recommended drinking turmeric milk just before crawling into bed.
Some typical sleeping tips I can offer are these… Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on days off from work. Sleep in a very dark, if not pitch black, cool room. Body temperature affects both falling asleep (cooler) and waking up (warmer). Most people should not consume caffeine after 3 PM and that can even include decaffeinated coffee. However, some people are unaffected by caffeine or even have the reverse effect and calm down. Alcohol might help, but only temporarily, resulting in being wide awake at 2AM. Limit alcohol to one or two drinks at dinner. Speaking of dinner, eating a large meal past 6:30 can keep you awake. Turn off the TV, computer, and cellphone (anything that glows at you) at least one hour before going to bed. Try a clock with a dim light. If there is “too much on your mind” keep a small flash light, pen, and notebook next to the bed and jot down any thoughts that are keeping you up. Try an “afternoon siesta” after lunch, lying down long enough to slip into a dream state. This can take as little as twenty minutes, especially when done regularly.
I’ve previously written about the fact that sleeping pills of any kind can triple your risk of early death, even if you use as few as eighteen pills a year (Jul’13). These drugs are prescribed to more than 10% of the adult population. Named specifically named were Zolpidem, Temazepam and benzodiazepines (mortality rates were compared with 23,676 people who did not use the drugs).
I recently read about a sleep phenomenon that existed before we had electricity. People had first and second sleep. A researcher who was reading literature from the 1600’s and 1700’s kept seeing the terms ‘first sleep’ and second sleep’. It seems when people were not exposed to unnatural light, they went to sleep much earlier and awakened after about four hours of sleep. That was the first sleep. They would be awake for an hour or two in the dark but go back to sleep until sunrise. That was the second sleep. This phenomenon was considered normal. Some valued it as a time for deep thinking, creative problem solving, and new insights. Perhaps this information could give us a new approach to sleeping problems.
A less conventional subject that also affects sleep is hypoglycemia. In general, about an hour before we awake, our system puts out a dose of growth and repair hormone called Grh. Grh helps cells do what is needed: growth for a child, and repair of the preceding day’s “wear and tear” for adults. People who are sleep deprived get fewer repairs done from Grh exposure. Perhaps there is a connection to fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia patients often have sleep problems and are prescribed drugs that act as a sleep agent. Grh hormone acts very much like insulin and lowers blood sugar. For most people this isn’t a problem. It can be a problem for people who are susceptible to reactive hypoglycemia. Typical symptoms are trembling, weakness, difficulty thinking, and fainting. In a hypoglycemic situation, the adrenal glands release epinephrine and norepinephrine to try to raise blood sugar again. That’s very like the fight or flight response and likely to interrupt sleep. Hypoglycemia can result in palpitations and pain down an arm, similar to a heart attack. Headaches are common. Vertigo, extreme dizziness, or a feeling like the room is spinning is another symptom. It is found that consuming short chain fatty acids like N-butyrate or medium chain triglycerides (coconut oil) seems to help these symptoms.
For the hypoglycemic prone, consuming flavonoids is tricky. Flavonoids must be taken early in the day with food because the majority of flavonoids will lower blood sugar by actually increasing insulin release. This improves glucose utilization in the brain which can be useful for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or dementia. Supplements most often associated with the hypoglycemic reaction are quercetin, curcumin, Apigenin, Luteolin, Hesperidin, cinnamon, ginger, Alpha-lipoic acid, R-lipoic acid, Ginkgo biloba, ginseng, and Resveratrol.
For those not prone to hypoglycemia, flavonoids are a boon. Flavonoids are considered very powerful in the prevention of a number of diseases, protecting tissues, cells, and even whole organs. However, if you are having trouble sleeping it might be low blood sugar, and you will have to avoid flavonoids before bedtime or on an empty stomach (like turmeric milk). A healthy protein snack like walnuts or cashews can help with a reaction.
September Fundraiser… this month will be held on Saturday, Sept. 26th, from 10A til 2P. Please stop by to receive an adjustment or electric acupuncture for the donation amount of your choice. Proceeds will benefit TCRAS.
Poor Sleep? Join the club… the statistics on sleep are abysmal. Close to 60% of adults report having problems with sleep. About half of sleep problems are related to stress. In the US, 60 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were filled last year. Studies on sleep started as early as the 1960’s, so the subject isn’t new. In these studies, stages of sleep were identified: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, stages 1 & 2 (light sleep), stages 3 and 4 (deep rest and repair sleep), and stage 5 (dream state, during which your brain is active and the eyes move under the eyelids). During stage 5, breathing is more rapid, shallow and irregular; and both heartbeat and blood pressure rise. REM sleep seems to be when we consolidate memory. During sleep, the brain’s cells shrink and researchers think that the cerebrospinal fluid flushes out the many crevices in the brain. Proteins are removed more efficiently than during waking hours. Perhaps that accounts for the fuzzy brain we have when we don’t get enough sleep.
Each sleep cycle is usually about 90 minutes long and then repeats. Melatonin is released during the night and is supposed to be uninterrupted until the light of the morning. Natural light seen within one hour of being awake seems to reset the cycle. Input of sunlight through the eyes is part of the sleep/wake rhythm perhaps because the optic nerve runs past the pineal gland in the brain. The pineal gland located deep in the brain makes the melatonin. Sleep studies in Norway
investigated sleep cycles, light, and melatonin in relation to the frequency of breast cancer. For women who had lost their sight before the age of 54, the incidence of breast cancer was half that of the sighted women. This supported a ‘melatonin hypothesis’: Healthy, young to middle age people generally make about 5 to 25 mcg of melatonin a night. This tends to decrease with age. Melatonin is called the sleep hormone but that is NOT correct. It is produced in the dark, whether sleeping or not. IT was named in 1958 from the Greek word ‘melas’, meaning ‘black’. In theory, you could be up and about in the dark, and still produce the same amount of melatonin. So, this is to say, if melatonin decreases the risk of breast cancer and you can’t sleep, lying in the dark is still doing some good.
In the 90’s it was said that Tryptophan taken in the afternoon was broken up into serotonin and melatonin. Typical advice for sleep inducing supplements included 1 mg tablet Melatonin (1-3 tablets before bedtime), Casein tryptic hydrolysate (from milk), Passion flower extract, 5-HTP, Theanine, and B vitamins to support balanced levels of GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid), serotonin, dopamine, and DHA to support balanced levels of dopamine.
GABA and norepinephrine are more important for cognitive function, including memory formation and information consolidation during specific sleep cycles. I have recommended drinking turmeric milk just before crawling into bed.
Some typical sleeping tips I can offer are these… Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on days off from work. Sleep in a very dark, if not pitch black, cool room. Body temperature affects both falling asleep (cooler) and waking up (warmer). Most people should not consume caffeine after 3 PM and that can even include decaffeinated coffee. However, some people are unaffected by caffeine or even have the reverse effect and calm down. Alcohol might help, but only temporarily, resulting in being wide awake at 2AM. Limit alcohol to one or two drinks at dinner. Speaking of dinner, eating a large meal past 6:30 can keep you awake. Turn off the TV, computer, and cellphone (anything that glows at you) at least one hour before going to bed. Try a clock with a dim light. If there is “too much on your mind” keep a small flash light, pen, and notebook next to the bed and jot down any thoughts that are keeping you up. Try an “afternoon siesta” after lunch, lying down long enough to slip into a dream state. This can take as little as twenty minutes, especially when done regularly.
I’ve previously written about the fact that sleeping pills of any kind can triple your risk of early death, even if you use as few as eighteen pills a year (Jul’13). These drugs are prescribed to more than 10% of the adult population. Named specifically named were Zolpidem, Temazepam and benzodiazepines (mortality rates were compared with 23,676 people who did not use the drugs).
I recently read about a sleep phenomenon that existed before we had electricity. People had first and second sleep. A researcher who was reading literature from the 1600’s and 1700’s kept seeing the terms ‘first sleep’ and second sleep’. It seems when people were not exposed to unnatural light, they went to sleep much earlier and awakened after about four hours of sleep. That was the first sleep. They would be awake for an hour or two in the dark but go back to sleep until sunrise. That was the second sleep. This phenomenon was considered normal. Some valued it as a time for deep thinking, creative problem solving, and new insights. Perhaps this information could give us a new approach to sleeping problems.
A less conventional subject that also affects sleep is hypoglycemia. In general, about an hour before we awake, our system puts out a dose of growth and repair hormone called Grh. Grh helps cells do what is needed: growth for a child, and repair of the preceding day’s “wear and tear” for adults. People who are sleep deprived get fewer repairs done from Grh exposure. Perhaps there is a connection to fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia patients often have sleep problems and are prescribed drugs that act as a sleep agent. Grh hormone acts very much like insulin and lowers blood sugar. For most people this isn’t a problem. It can be a problem for people who are susceptible to reactive hypoglycemia. Typical symptoms are trembling, weakness, difficulty thinking, and fainting. In a hypoglycemic situation, the adrenal glands release epinephrine and norepinephrine to try to raise blood sugar again. That’s very like the fight or flight response and likely to interrupt sleep. Hypoglycemia can result in palpitations and pain down an arm, similar to a heart attack. Headaches are common. Vertigo, extreme dizziness, or a feeling like the room is spinning is another symptom. It is found that consuming short chain fatty acids like N-butyrate or medium chain triglycerides (coconut oil) seems to help these symptoms.
For the hypoglycemic prone, consuming flavonoids is tricky. Flavonoids must be taken early in the day with food because the majority of flavonoids will lower blood sugar by actually increasing insulin release. This improves glucose utilization in the brain which can be useful for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or dementia. Supplements most often associated with the hypoglycemic reaction are quercetin, curcumin, Apigenin, Luteolin, Hesperidin, cinnamon, ginger, Alpha-lipoic acid, R-lipoic acid, Ginkgo biloba, ginseng, and Resveratrol.
For those not prone to hypoglycemia, flavonoids are a boon. Flavonoids are considered very powerful in the prevention of a number of diseases, protecting tissues, cells, and even whole organs. However, if you are having trouble sleeping it might be low blood sugar, and you will have to avoid flavonoids before bedtime or on an empty stomach (like turmeric milk). A healthy protein snack like walnuts or cashews can help with a reaction.
September Fundraiser… this month will be held on Saturday, Sept. 26th, from 10A til 2P. Please stop by to receive an adjustment or electric acupuncture for the donation amount of your choice. Proceeds will benefit TCRAS.
