Chronic Conditions
Jigsaw Health Products
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Circadian Rhythm Disorder can be a Common Cause of Chronic Conditions
Sleep
Sleep is crucial to your central nervous system because of the amazing things
that happen during sleep. This is when the body repairs itself, detoxifies
itself, and replenishes its energy stores. Sleep is the one thing that humans
have never been able to give up for any length of time. We can go without food
for long periods. And we can go without water for several days, but go
without sleep? It cannot be done, and everyone must have it on a regular basis. Many
people with chronic conditions typically suffer from sleep disturbance, which
slows down and hampers the body’s healing abilities.
Circadian Rhythm Disorder
Often, sleep disturbance is caused by out-of-sync circadian rhythms. Circadian
rhythms are our body’s natural cycles that control appetite, energy, mood,
sleep, and sexual drive. They are involved in practically every aspect of our
lives. A
circadian rhythm disorder (CRD), occurs when our body produces
hormones, chemicals, and neurotransmitters in the wrong amounts, at the wrong
time of day. The sleep/wake cycle is driven primarily by melatonin, the “sleep”
hormone, and serotonin, the primary “awake” hormone.
Our bodies are basically designed to sleep when it’s dark and wake up when it’s
light. But Thomas Edison changed all of this! And today, the average person in
America gets exposure to effective sunlight only 21 minutes a day—21 minutes is
not enough for the body to receive the signals it needs to regulate its
circadian rhythm from light.
CRD is usually involved in most sleep and mood disorders including depression,
anxiety, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, insomnia, mood swings,
premenstrual syndrome, elongated and irregular menstrual cycles, menopause,
prenatal depression, postpartum depression, ADD/ADHD, and chronic fatigue
syndrome.1
Research has shown that mercury, a heavy metal that leaches from dental amalgams
(aka “silver fillings”), has a high affinity for the hypothalamus and pituitary
glands. And both of these glands are crucial to the proper functioning of the
hormonal systems. Inside the hypothalamus are two clusters, comprised of fifty
thousand neurons, called the “suprachiasmatic nucleus,” or SCN. The SCN is the
“master clock” that controls the circadian rhythm. If you have mercury amalgams
in your mouth, chances are very good that mercury is affecting your circadian
rhythms. And this may help explain why one of the common symptoms of
mercury poisoning is sleep disorders. You can easily have a circadian disorder
without having mercury poisoning just by not getting enough sunlight at the
right time of day. But if you have high amounts of mercury stuck in your
hypothalamus, you can develop a circadian rhythm disorder much more quickly.
The removal of mercury from the body can have a positive impact on sleep
disorders. Additionally,
blue light therapy is very effective in resetting the
body’s clock and restoring the natural sleep and wake cycle.
The tips below may also help to restore sleep:
- Do NOT use supplements of L-theanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, or 5HTP in the
evening. While this does go against the conventional wisdom, these substances
actually raise serotonin levels—the “awake” hormones. This is particularly true
of 5-HTP. These can be used during the day to make you feel more alert, but keep
away from them at night.
- Establish a rhythm where you go to sleep and wake up at close to the same time
each day. This should include weekdays and weekends.
- Sleep in as dark a room as possible. Total darkness is best.
- Don’t drink much water after 8:00 p.m. This will limit your need to use the
bathroom in the middle of the night.
- Do stretching exercises before you go to bed.
- Do not do strenuous exercise late at night.
- If possible, take a hot bath or sauna in the evening.
- If you are hypoglycemic or your adrenals are weak, eat a small, balanced snack
before bed. Also, keep something healthy around, like almonds or pecans, to
snack on if you wake up. Low blood sugar can keep you awake.
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- All meals should have a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. However,
you should eat more protein in the morning and more carbohydrates in the
evening. Carbohydrates tend to make you sleepy.
- No colas or coffee, including decaf, at any time throughout the day.
- Consider taking a “timed release” melatonin 30 to 60 minutes before you want
to sleep. Timed release, also known as sustained release, is important because
the half-life of melatonin is only 20 minutes. If the melatonin supplement is
not a timed release, the melatonin will be “dumped” into the body all at once
and it will be used up too quickly. Most people need the effect of melatonin to
last several hours or more to gradually put them into a deep and restful sleep.
- If you do wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back to
sleep on your own, this is the time to use non-timed release melatonin.
- And when you wake up after a good night’s sleep, expose your eyes to sunlight
as soon as possible. Sunlight helps you wake up and feel less groggy in the
morning.
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< Back to
Circadian Rhythm Disorders Homepage
1“Sleep Disorders? goLite P1™ by Apollo Health” Collection of light therapy research. http://www.jigsawhealth.com/document_manager/LightTherapy-Q&A.pdf
Accessed August 2005
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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