Sleep is a necessary part of healing. We need sleep – and enough of it every night – to be able to function at maximum capacity. If we don’t get enough sleep, or we are disrupted, you might notice that you feel like you have poor productivity, weight gain, decreased mood/apathy, more bone and joint pain, and increased rate of aging. Insomnia is one of the most common sleeping disorders out there and it affects about a third of all Americans. Sleep patterns can be affected by your work schedule, stress levels, environment, mental fortitude, digestive bacteria, and your DNA. There are medications one can take to help control sleep but most only work in the beginning and wear off in a few months or have scary side effects.
I have been honored to work with multiple police officers and other overnight and graveyard shift workers in my practice over the years. This altered or varied sleep-wake cycle can play a role with their hormones and long term health.
Cortisol
The stress hormone Cortisol is secreted from the adrenal glands in times of stress to provide enough energy to get out of the situation. Cortisol is also the hormone that wakes us up in the morning and gradually becomes lower throughout the day until it reaches a level where we can fall asleep. Most Americans suffer from stress on a daily basis, but these higher stress levels can cause havoc with our sleeping if our Cortisol elevates and stays elevated. If our stress is chronic and unavoidable, this hormone will raise and stay raised, stopping restful sleep. You can suffer from sleep issues if this hormone is not measured or controlled.
Blood Type As and Bs naturally make the highest amount of Cortisol, and therefore are the most likely to suffer from insomnia if their hormone is not controlled.
What about Mental Health?
Mental health has a huge connection to sleep quality. Although people who suffer from depression tend to sleep more, they can have a harder time falling asleep on a regular schedule. Anxiety can prevent people from being able to fall asleep or stay asleep. Both depression and anxiety can be caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters or brain chemicals, which can surprisingly because by diet. Different bacteria in the digestive tract produce the raw ingredients needed to make specific neurotransmitters, so increasing or decreasing levels of specific bacteria could alter your neurotransmitters. DNA is important too, as genes such as ARNTL, CLOCK, CRY1, MTNR1B, and PER2 all help play a roll with your sleep wake cycle. Any over or under expression of these genes can influence your sleep through a number of natural factors.
Environment also plays a large role in quality of sleep. Having an uncomfortable bed, watching TV, a snoring partner, an uncomfortable temperature, uncomfortable lighting or excessive street noise can all get in the way of a good night’s sleep.
Quick Tips:
1). Set a bedtime and stick to it!
2). Create a comfortable sleeping environment – no lights, no noise, no TV, and clean sheets.
3). Find a preferred sleeping temperature using blankets, heat, or AC.
4.) No phone or other blue screen devices while lying in bed.
5.) Try a hot shower or bath before bed.
6.) A small amount of a healthy snack that contain some protein before bed.
7.) Plan to get 6-8 hours of sleep, and give yourself the proper amount of time to fall asleep.
Appointment
If the above tips do not work for you, it might be time to make a visit with your naturopathic physician. Licensed NDs like Dr. Brody are medical specialists that attended medical school and have studied natural medicine. To schedule an appointment, please contact the front desk at the Personalized Natural Medicine Clinic, located in the heart of Newtown, Connecticut.
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Note from Dr. Brody: Bacteria such as Coriobacteriaceae, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Erysipelotrichaceae, and Tenericutes and make it more difficult for sleep. “Changes to the microbial community in the human gut have been proposed to promote metabolic disturbances that also occur after short periods of sleep loss (including insulin resistance). In a randomized within-subject crossover study utilizing a standardized in-lab protocol (with fixed meal times and exercise schedules), nine normal-weight men were studied at two occasions: after two nights of partial sleep deprivation (PSD), and after two nights of normal sleep (NS). Microbiota composition analysis (V4 16S rRNA gene sequencing) revealed that after two days of PSD vs. after two days of NS, individuals exhibited an increased Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio and of the families Coriobacteriaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae, with decreases in Tenericutes (all P<0.05) – previously all associated with metabolic perturbations in animal or human models. [PMID: 27185560] “