Research shows that as much as 50% of the population will deal with a sleeping disorder at some point. This is an important issue to address because sleep is necessary for maintaining good health. If you’re not getting the appropriate amount of sleep, you’ll quickly begin to see the negative effects. If you’re one of the many adults who struggle with insomnia, you may be wondering what can be done for you. You’ve probably tried a variety of options for overcoming your insomnia with little or no success. New Health Montana has good news for you! With Nutraceutical products, you could be back to sleeping well in no time.
In today’s article, we’ll discuss why lack of sleep is so detrimental and how Nutraceuticals can help treat it.
The Importance of Sleep
Sleep management has always been an important part of treating New Health Montana patients because if people don’t sleep, they don’t get better. That applies to both emotional and physical problems.
One part of our practice is functional psychiatry, and we have found that the majority of those patients have trouble with sleep. We also work with a lot of menopausal and post-menopausal women. Menopause disrupts women’s hormones, as well as their sleep.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SLEEP
Here are just a few of the physiological effects of high-quality sleep:
- Your body rebuilds cells.
- Metabolism is boosted, which increases energy.
- Your immune system function is improved.
- Brain function is improved.
- Toxins that have built up are cleared.
- Lymph channels open up.
- Cerebral spinal fluid is increased.
In addition to these effects, a major function of sleep is to detoxify the brain. Sleep may be a way of clearing the brain of all the toxins that have accumulated from metabolism during the day.
While you’re awake, toxic substances, like free radicals, accumulate in the brain, and you have to get rid of them. You have to have a way of clearing the brain, and it happens in sleep.
Sleep is so important that if you go for a prolonged period without sleep, you can become dissociated from reality, and come into a state of psychosis. I treat a lot of patients with bipolar disorder. If they don’t sleep for a couple of days, they can exhibit psychosis related to sleep deprivation.
Amyloids—protein fragments that are associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, which we will talk about in a later chapter—are cleared during sleep.
Memorization—the consolidation of memory—occurs with sleep. Your memories are stored for retrieval at this time. If you don’t get good sleep, therefore, your ability to store memories for retrieval may be compromised. If you’re wondering why you have so much difficulty memorizing things, it may be because you’re not consolidating your thoughts at night while you’re sleeping.
Sleep is critical, but its importance is often unappreciated. In our society, when we are extra busy, one of the first things that we sacrifice is sleep. You start to say things like: Oh, I’ll get up at 3:00 in the morning and finish that, or, I’ll just stay up late and finish that project.
We give up sleep so easily when we should really be guarding sleep ferociously.
In addition to the physiological health benefits of sleep, your willpower increases when you have good quality sleep. Everything that has to do with health has to do with willpower. When sleep quality goes down, willpower goes down, so your chances of eating the pizza, the fries, the donuts, the sugar, and the ice cream all go up. Sleep is critical for the willpower that it takes to start and maintain an exercise program, buy and eat the correct foods, and do the right things for your body.
Treating Sleep Issues With Nutraceutical Products
Many nutraceuticals and botanicals can improve sleep.
Nutraceuticals are medicines derived from food sources. Pharmaceuticals are developed in labs and frequently use components that are far from food and plant sources.
If you go to a primary care doctor, it is likely you will get a prescription for Ambien or Lunesta. There are lots of prescription drugs for sleep, but all of them have side effects. Sometimes side effects can include sleep behaviors like night walking, eating during the middle of the night, or going outside and driving during the middle of your sleep. In these cases, prescription medications may not be the safest way to go.
Some nutraceutical products that may help with sleep are listed below:
- Melatonin
- Progesterone
- Gaba
- Valerian
- Magnesium
- L-theanine
- Tart cherry juice
- Passionflower
Some of the natural products may be more potent if you take them together if you have a lot of trouble sleeping. Melatonin is an over-the-counter product that you can easily find, and I usually recommend one to three milligrams. Our body makes melatonin, but you might just need a little bit more. If you’re a woman with sleep difficulties and your progesterone level is down, you can see if taking progesterone at night will help you. You would have to ask your primary care doctor or your functional medicine doctor about that.
Other choices are Gaba (gamma-aminobutyric acid), valerian, and magnesium. Magnesium is a wonderful sleep enhancer, and it also relaxes your muscles. If you’re dealing with restless leg system, which a lot of people have, a little magnesium can help with that. You can try l-theanine, tart cherry juice, or passionflower. There are many nutraceuticals available for you to try, and you may find that taking several in combination works better than just one or two. See your health professional for advice.
Get Better Sleep With Nutraceutical Products Available at New Health Montana
As Montana’s premier wellness and medical weight loss center, we pride ourselves on meeting and treating our patients’ whole selves. We specialize in Functional Medicine, Mental Health, Aesthetic Medicine, Medical Weight Loss, and more.
We also transform lives by treating conditions such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, menopause, andropause, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction.
Get on the road to new health today by requesting a consultation or calling us at (406) 721-2537! You can also get more information about how functional medicine can be used to effectively treat chronic conditions in Donna Kay Jennings’ book, Your Journey to New Health: Lifestyle Approaches to Address Chronic Health Conditions.