But
what if it was the other way around? What if the sleeplessness
was actually the root of those troubles?
British
researchers put this theory to the test and published the results in Lancet Psychiatry. What they discovered may surprise you.
They
recruited 3,755 insomniac students from 26 British universities with an average
age of 25, all experiencing some level of stress,
anxiety or depression.
The
students were randomly divided into two groups. Half received 6, 20-minute
online sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy and the other half received no
treatment but just advice for countering their insomnia.
The
program ran for 10 weeks, and the students’ mental health was assessed via
online questionnaires before commencement of the therapy, at week three, week
10, and at week 22, (12 weeks after the program ended).
Compared
to the students receiving only the advice, the students who received the
cognitive behavioral therapy showed a large improvement with sleep.
They
also experienced a reduction in their depression,
anxiety, and nightmares, and an improvement in general psychological well-being
and work and home functioning.
Up
to now, insomnia
treatment has not been used as part of a treatment program for depression,
anxiety, and other mental health problems, as it has been seen as a symptom of
these conditions, and not as a cause.
This
study suggests that it is time to treat the insomnia of people who suffer from
psychological disorders, because it seems to be a contributing factor to these
disorders.
Do
you feel a little down from time to time or have you been diagnosed with
depression?
If
you answer one or more of the above questions YES, then you absolutely must
read on here. Because a new study found some terrifying connections between one
of these conditions and undiagnosed problems with the other two.
In
a recent study published in the journal Respirology, researchers
teased out the prevalence of depression in people who suffer from either sleep apnea or insomnia
or the two conditions simultaneously.
They
recruited 700 men with an average age of 58 who had not previously been
diagnosed with sleep apnea.
They
were then tested for sleep quality as well as level of depression.
5.3
percent of the subjects suffered from insomnia
alone, while whooping 46.2 percent suffered from undiagnosed sleep apnea, surprisingly making the latter a far more common phenomenon.
Furthermore,
6.7 percent of the subjects had both insomnia
and sleep apnea together.
Only
8 percent of the subjects with sleep apnea alone suffered from depression,
compared with 22 percent of those with insomnia alone.
But
43 percent of those who suffered BOTH sleep apnea and insomnia also had
depression.
This
indicates that if people are able to beat either their insomnia or sleep apnea
… or better yet both, it will drastically improve their mood and even reverse
depression.
Treating Insomnia - This
ONE Healthy Drink Helps You Sleep through the Night
Sleep
is important to you. It’s refreshing when you get enough of it.
It
keeps you going throughout the day.
The
problem: you’ve been having sleepless nights. Nights when counting sheep just
didn’t cut it. Bad for health. Bad for keeping you from yelling at your boss
out of frustration from lack of sleep.
But
there’s a tasty drink that can change all that.
Researchers
from Louisiana State University have discovered that a glass of tart cherry
juice is what you need to sleep better and also increase your sleep time by up
to 90 minutes.
For
the study, seven volunteers who were elderly people suffering from insomnia
were advised to drink 8 ounces of tart cherry juice twice a day for two weeks.
This
was followed by 2 weeks of abstinence from cherry juice. For the next two weeks
after that, the volunteers were instead given a placebo beverage in the place
of cherry juice.
The
researchers monitored the sleep pattern of the volunteers for the entire period
of the study. They also surveyed the volunteers about fatigue, sleep, anxiety
and depression.
The
research revealed that those who consumed cherry juice in the morning and
night, on an average slept about 84 minutes longer than usual and also enjoyed
better quality of sleep.
It
has been concluded that the compound in cherry juice helped to stop the breakdown
of the amino acid tryptophan, which is necessary for synthesis of the hormone
serotonin that induces good sleep.
An
increase in the levels of serotonin has other beneficial effects too – it can
decrease inflammation and improve the mood! The juice itself contains a small
amount of tryptophan which makes it a great natural choice for fighting
insomnia. Say goodnight to your sleeping medication and instead enjoy a glass
of cherry juice!
This post is from The
Insomnia and Stop Snoring Program offers a revolutionary new approach to help
people stop snoring. Snoring is not only disruptive to our partners, but it
poses health risks as well, especially for those folks who suffer from sleep
apnea.
Christian Goodman,
the creator of the program, has discovered that a selection of specific
exercises can actually correct the issues that lead to excessive snoring, and
help snorers and their bed mates get a better night’s sleep.
The program will
allow you to shake your pesky and unhealthy snoring habit using only easy to
perform natural exercises. No drugs, surgery, funky contraptions to sleep with,
hypnosis or any other invasive techniques. If you can spend 7 minutes per day
performing these exercises you can say goodbye to snoring for good.
Sleep apnea
is becoming one of the most worrisome condition for health advocates. It’s been
linked too many diseases to list here and cripples the life of sufferers.
But
nobody was ready for what a new study published in the journal Sleep revealed.
Apparently,
one of the effects of sleep apnea is to prevent you from doing the one thing you need to do to
combat the disease.
Fortunately,
there is a way around this.
The
researchers wanted to find out whether the bodies of sleep apnea sufferers were
less capable of physical exercise than those of good sleepers were. To be more
precise, can their hearts and lungs handle the same amount of exercise as those
of good sleepers can?
They
surveyed already existing literature on the subject and identified 45 studies
with 5,379 subjects that met sufficiently strict scientific study criteria.
They
firstly discovered that people without sleep apnea could use 3.096 milliliters
per kilogram of body weight per minute more oxygen than those with sleep apnea.
If
your body can consume a lot of oxygen during exercise, you are healthy and
don’t strain your body beyond safe limits during exercise.
But
if you cannot get enough oxygen around your body while exercising, your ability
to exercise productively will be impaired, and you will have to strain
unacceptably hard to get your exercise done.
And
whereas healthy people’s oxygen consumption increases over time as they
workout, the same thing doesn’t happen for those suffering sleep apneas.
Moreover,
people without sleep apnea had a maximal heart rate 8.423 beats per minute
higher than those without sleep apnea, meaning that their cardiovascular
systems could handle a faster heart rate during exercise than those of sleep
apnea sufferers could.
This
is especially worrisome since sleep apnea is very often caused by being
overweight. And to lose weight, we need to exercise, which, according to this study, people
with sleep apnea have very difficult time with.
38.8%
of daily users had insomnia,
compared to 10.3% of non-daily users, and 20% of non-users.
This
indicates that Marijuana is rather more harmful than helpful when it comes to
sleep.
But
when they took into account their subject’s levels of depression and anxiety, they could no longer find an association between
daily marijuana use and insomnia.
This
suggests that the negative mood that marijuana brings about in some people
plays a larger role in insomnia than the marijuana itself.
So,
if you’re being prescribed medical Marijuana for pain or whatever other reason,
pay attention to the mood effects it has on you.
If
your mood doesn’t change (or improves) keep on, but if you begin
experiencing depression or anxiety it’s
better to find other medicine.
This post is from The
Insomnia and Stop Snoring Program offers a revolutionary new approach to help
people stop snoring. Snoring is not only disruptive to our partners, but it
poses health risks as well, especially for those folks who suffer from sleep
apnea.
Christian Goodman,
the creator of the program, has discovered that a selection of specific
exercises can actually correct the issues that lead to excessive snoring, and
help snorers and their bed mates get a better night’s sleep.
The program will
allow you to shake your pesky and unhealthy snoring habit using only easy to
perform natural exercises. No drugs, surgery, funky contraptions to sleep with,
hypnosis or any other invasive techniques. If you can spend 7 minutes per day
performing these exercises you can say goodbye to snoring for good.
Fall Asleep in 60
Seconds Using this Simple Technique
If
you’ve been suffering severe (or mild) insomnia,
chances are you’ve tried everything from warm milk and counting sheep to
alcohol or dangerous sleeping pills.
But
nothing has worked to get you fall asleep. Has it?
That’s
why, today, I’m going to teach you one of the most powerful techniques I know
to fall asleep. It only takes 60 seconds to learn, and you can use it tonight.
Simpler
is often better. So, let’s dive right into this easy technique.
Lie
comfortably on your bed, loosen clothes, and turn off the lights.
1)
Begin by exhaling completely through your mouth while making a low “whooshing”
sound. Completely empty your lungs.
2)
Now inhale through your nose while counting from 1000 to 1004 (one thousand
one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four).
3)
Hold your breath while counting in the same way from 1000 to 1007.
4)
Exhale through your mouth, making the “whooshing” sound while counting from
1000 to 1008. Empty your lungs completely.
Repeat
steps 2 – 4 five times.
This
is an extremely powerful technique that removes all tension from your body and
mind. Try to do it in a relaxed manner without worrying about doing it perfectly.
Wait
for a while after doing this technique once. If you still can’t fall asleep or have poor sleep quality, you may repeat the process 2-3 times.
Snoring
and even sleep apnea have long been considered as draining annoyances. But
according to a new study published in the
journal BMC Medicine, they can actually be lethal.
Lack of sleep
can actually increase your risk of dying from this by a scary 123%.
And
the reason these conditions are so dangerous are not just because they lead to
obesity, high blood pressure and other serious diseases.
People
who are sleep deprived, either by insomnia
or sleep apnea, are often aware that they are sleepy during the day. But when
the long lasting sleepiness reaches a certain level, the awareness of it
declines, probably because it begins to feel normal.
The
question is, after you stop feeling tired, is your attention normal or are you
a ticking time bomb ready to go off?
To
find out, the researchers collected the medical information of 1,745 men and
1,456 women from the previously conducted Sleep Heart Health Study. This information included sleep apnea
scores and the nightly sleep duration of the participants.
After
two years, they gave these people a questionnaire to find out about their
driving habits and motor vehicle crash histories.
Compared
with those with no sleep apnea, those with severe and mild-to-moderate sleep
apnea were more likely to have been in a road accident, which was often a 123%
more in severe cases and 13% more in mild-to-moderate cases.
Compared
with people who slept seven hours per night, those who managed only six hours
were 33% more likely to have been in a motor vehicle crash.
When
testing for people’s awareness of daytime sleepiness, they found that this was
not relevant at all.
Just
as high percentage of people who felt properly awake (but were actually sleep
deprived) had car accident as those who felt fatigued.
Thinking
of the 1.250.000 deaths every year in car accidents and you’ll realize just how
serious a 123% increase in car accident risk is.
This post is from The
Insomnia and Stop Snoring Program offers a revolutionary new approach to help
people stop snoring. Snoring is not only disruptive to our partners, but it
poses health risks as well, especially for those folks who suffer from sleep
apnea.
Christian Goodman,
the creator of the program, has discovered that a selection of specific
exercises can actually correct the issues that lead to excessive snoring, and
help snorers and their bed mates get a better night’s sleep.
The program will
allow you to shake your pesky and unhealthy snoring habit using only easy to
perform natural exercises. No drugs, surgery, funky contraptions to sleep with,
hypnosis or any other invasive techniques. If you can spend 7 minutes per day
performing these exercises you can say goodbye to snoring for good.
A
friend of mine was laughing about her daughter, who has one of those little
dorm fridges in her dorm room at college. Mostly, she keeps some fresh
fruit, a few cans of soda, and several bottles of water.
But
recently, she had started keeping some deli meats and cheese in there for
studying. The first tests were going to be starting soon and apparently, she
needs sustenance.
What
made my friend laugh was that her daughter asked if it was okay to eat cheese
if it was starting to turn green.
“How
long has it been in there?” Her mom asked with a chuckle. Apparently she
bought it with the first batch of drinks and sodas, but didn’t know exactly
when that was.
Her
mom was trying to explain that some foods need to be tossed after a couple
days, and some last longer. Then she asked where she was for the last 18
years and why she didn’t remember the “fridge cleaning out days.’
Her
daughter always thought that on those days, her mom was just really
enthusiastic about cooking…mom would pull eggs, cheese, meats, biscuits and
vegetables every now and then and cook up several dinners and freeze them.
Her
daughter hadn’t realized that what Mom was doing was cooking everything that
would be expiring soon in order to be able to freeze it.
This
is a pretty good practice, especially considering that some foods are just
really nasty when left in the fridge too long, like souring milk, browning
ground beef and moldy cheese.
Other
foods, however, can affect your health long before the expiration date is even
reached, and not because of anything food manufacturers do or don’t do to it
before you buy it.
Foods
that sit in the refrigerator, once cooked, begin a build-up of a chemical
called tyramine. This amine is a by-product of an amino acid called
tyrosine.
As
tyrosine breaks down – this is a natural process- it produces tyramine.
This is actually a chemical that has an important role in the body as it helps
to regulate blood pressure. However, too much of it can cause serious
problems for some people.
The
problem with this chemical is that it has been shown in many studies and
through years of research to trigger migraines
for people who suffer the dreaded cluster monsters.
The
foods most likely to be offensively high in tyramine levels are foods that are
more than 24 hours old, such as leftovers sitting in the fridge. Deli
meats, aged cheeses, and many nuts are also on the list of foods to either consume
in moderation or even avoid altogether.
Some
whole meals can therefore be off the list even before they make it to the
fridge, such as pizza. If pepperoni, sausage, and mozzarella cheese can
trigger a migraine
when it’s fresh-baked, refrigerated pizza leftovers are going to be worse.
Additionally,
people who take Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) such as those for depression,
are at increased risk of negative effects from aging foods. MAOIs are
designed to suppress the enzyme monoamine oxidase. This enzyme breaks
down tyramine.
So
what are the recommendations for people who suspect they might be affected by
tyramine?
Start
with data. Keep a diary of what you have been eating and how it affects
you. If you notice that you wind up with a bad headache
within 6 to 8 hours of eating barbeque or your favorite deli sub, you might
want to consider cutting back on those foods.
Just
for the record as well, there are expiration and freshness dates on most food
packaging. Fruits and vegetables, though, won’t carry such stamps.
While
some dates are intended to be a guide that the associated food is simply better
if consumed by that date, others indicate an actual expiration.
Generally,
in order to receive maximum benefit from the foods you are eating, you will
want to consume it right away. Stockpiling food for a later day will
diminish the nutritive value of it and can also introduce chemical and
biological changes (tyramine with meats or mold on cheese) in the foods.
For
more information on natural methods to eliminate migraine activity, click here.
Relieve Migraine Pain
- Supplement and Prescription Interaction- A Bad Brew?
There
has been a lot of concerns about what people are taking and when with respect
to their prescription drugs, and they almost always will go on to disclose a
supplement (or five or ten) they are also taking.
Sometimes,
we find that folks are using the natural, herbal world to make their nutrition
a more complete picture. Other times they are taking something that helps to
correct a disease process that is a result of a deficiency, as with iron, calcium,
or vitamin D shortages.
But
occasionally, we come across disclosures that raise a flag, as in the cases
relating to people who are on serious prescription drugs and also supplementing
from nature with highly concentrated herbal supplements or mineral compounds.
Many
times, there are no interactions. In fact, some herbal supplements actually
help a drug to be either better absorbed or to be more effective. An example
might be people taking fish oil capsules as well as hormone replacement
regimens (whether natural or herbal).
Far
too frequently, though, a supplement will have a dangerous interaction with a
prescription drug, and this is generally because of “too much of a good thing”
or a duplicating effect.
An
example here may be taking St. John’s Wort for boosting your mood while you are
also taking a prescription serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Most bottles for both
products warn about the interaction, but some medicine-herb packaging might
not.
Another
place where trouble brews is where prescription blood thinners and supplements
or spices meet. Curry powder and cayenne pepper are natural blood thinners, and
when taken as an extract or a super-concentrated capsule, can pose a clotting
problem.
This
can occur anywhere in the body where blood vessels happen to be…such as the
brain, heart, and other vital organs.
Or,
you may be taking an herb or other product that renders the prescription drug
either completely useless or makes it less available for receptors.
An
example here would be the “grapefruit effect” that occurs when people eat
grapefruit or take an extract and they are also taking a statin drug for cholesterol.
Properties in the grapefruit and extracts destroy an enzyme that is critical
for the statin drug to be metabolized.
That
is also an example where many times there will be warnings on the labels of the
drug and/or the packaging of the extract.
But
what about the interactions that aren’t as famous?
Take,
for example, the simple, yet effective multivitamin. The capsules generally
include a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, and are in a chemical makeup
such that it is easily absorbed.
But
if a prescription drug is also being taken that has many of the same
properties, this can be a real problem.
Iron
in a standard multi-vitamin is great, and in a high enough amount that the
general public would really benefit from. But if you are also taking a prescription
calcium bicarbonate (or even an over the counter one) the iron will not be
absorbed.
Vitamins
or drugs not absorbed and used by the cells of their intended tissues will wind
up in the filtration system, namely the liver and the kidneys.
Sometimes,
this can be such an insult they just shut down.
The
point to this is not to say you should stop taking your prescription medicines.
It is more a call to action to talk to the doctor and/or pharmacist about
everything you are currently taking. Not just pills he or she doesn’t know
another doctor may have prescribed, but also supplements your herbalist
recommends for you.
The
dynamic that unfolds to create this is not typically forgetfulness. Usually, it
is embarrassment.
Consider
this: A person doesn’t want the doctor to know he or she is taking ginko, for
example, because he is afraid the doctor will shoot it down as so much quack
nonsense, but the person taking it knows the proven benefits.
He
also does not tell his herbalist that he is taking Coumadin, a blood thinner,
since he doesn’t want her knowing he relies on “big pharma” to get by.
The
end result to this made up scenario could possibly be death due to hemorrhagic
stroke. This is because of the “too much of a good thing” as it is proven that
ginko tends to interfere with the normal clotting of the blood, something which
Coumadin is prescribed to do on purpose, anyway.
It
might get you a lecture from one or the other (or both) providers, but the
lecture and subsequent dosage adjustment might just save your life.
The
problems arise when you fail to tell your prescriber that not only do you
prefer natural treatments, but you are also currently involved in their uses.
Let
us know if you have had problems with interactions. The advice you give may
help someone and keep him or her from making a mistake in what they ingest,
inject, or inhale.
Relieve Migraine Pain
- I Won’t See the Doctor Because I Hate Pills
This
statement occurs so much it leaves me wishing I could have a dime every time
someone mentions it.
Some
of my own staff have even said variations of it from time to time.
While
I understand the sentiment, it does concern me a lot since a licensed health
care provider someone who can accurately diagnose health conditions. Someone
off the street or in a health food store is not someone who can do that.
That
said, it can be very frustrating when you are trying to live according to
healthy, natural rules and your doctor hands you a prescription sheet after
spending 45 seconds with you. Does he or she even really understand the issue?
Does he or she respect my wishes to try natural methods first?
Only
you can answer this, and the only way is to develop a better communication
channel with your provider. Avoiding even seeing the doctor is the opposite of
this.
Many
times people write in with their frustration of the tendency their provider has
with reflexively reaching for the prescription pad to ink out some pill
regimen. When this happens, we are faced with 3 choices:
–
Agree with the doctor, fill the prescription, and take the pills, accepting
blindly any side effects that come along for the ride
–
Disagree with the doctor and not tell him or her, refuse to fill the
prescription and possibly suffer an even worse outcome
–
Disagree with the doctor and advocate for a better, more natural and healthy
treatment alternative
Drugs
can alleviate a lot of problems, but only if taken properly. Non-compliance is
actually listed as a drug ‘misuse’ problem for the Centers for Disease Control
and the Department of Health. They also carry frustrating or even dangerous
side effects, which is one key factor for non-compliance in the first place.
This
scenario can leave a person with a “rock and a hard place” kind of feeling. And
for what? Because our doctor doesn’t listen to us? Or how about maybe that we
haven’t tried hard enough to get our message across.
I
do understand that insurance limitations and economic factors play a role in
how easy it is to “fire” your doctor if you aren’t happy, but you might be
surprised at how easy it is to do just that.
If
you feel that you just can’t leave your physician, then honesty will get you a
lot further than agreeing to a course of treatment and then not carrying it
out.
Your
doctor may already suspect that you are not complying with the prescribed
treatment plan, especially if you keep appearing in the office with the same
treatable, chronic problem.
So
why not just have out with it if you know you won’t take the drugs? Your doctor
deserves to know when your non-compliance may endanger your life. And you
deserve for him or her to try harder to find an acceptable alternative.
The
only way this can happen is to be honest and open up that very candid dialogue.
A
friend of mine said once, “My doctor is so stubborn. He thinks he’s God or
something and that his opinion about my health is the only one that matters.”
There is a little bit of truth to his thinking in the vein of having had many
years of advanced training and experience…so his opinion is very valuable.
But
that’s where the truth in his statement ends. She acknowledged that she is a
very important player on the healthcare team because it’s HER health. She
finally up and told him, “Look, Doc, I appreciate where you are coming from but
the ‘cure’ is worse than the disease. I absolutely will not take those pills.
What else ya got?” this was in reference to a migraine issue she had been
having for a very long time.
Sure
enough, he said something to the effect that he suspected she was going to
eventually say that and put it back on her to understand fully what that
refusal means. It means that while there alternatives, she is the one who has
to do the work to make them effective, which was part of her problem.
Honesty
is an uncomfortable thing. It forces the lines of communication to be awkwardly
open and in this case makes it a 2-way street. She knew that if she stood up to
him on her behalf, that he likely would, too. And he did. He detailed the
laundry list of things that were causing problems for her, and even had a lot
of patient education materials related to treating migraine naturally.
He
had never offered it before…she wasn’t ready before. But the honest
announcement of “not gonna take the pills” was the sign that she actually was
ready.
The
point to all this is that you can decide you don’t like a treatment plan, but
you also have to decide to do the right thing and tell your doctor. Be open to
the truth about your condition; even if that means you have to change something
significant in your life. It might be easier than you think, though.
This post is from The
Migraine and Headache Program, which was created by Christian Goodman. This
program first explains how you can cure headaches and then gives you a simple,
step-by-step approach to deal with it through easy exercises.
This program can free
you up from the costly drugs and supplements which can pose adverse side
effects. It enhances your brain’s oxygen level and gets rid of pain through
exercises. Most importantly, it permanently treats your migraine and other
types of headaches.
