• Psychedelic Medicine

INSOMNIA | +30 articles

mr peabody

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Finally, a safe and affordable treatment for insomnia that really works!

mr peabody | Sep 19 2019

MAKE YOUR OWN CBD TINCTURE

Following is the result of 5 years of my own exhaustive research into how to make an effective CBD medicine that I could use to treat my 30-year chronic insomnia condition.

I personally find commercially available CBD unaffordable, and edibles contain too much sugar. They are also inconsistent in terms of dosage. Instead of paying high prices at the dispensary, I've developed a home remedy I can dose precisely which has completely cured my insomnia. After sleeping no more than 4 hours a night for 30 years, which I attribute to sustained hormonal imbalance precipitated by childbirth, I now sleep 8 hours every night. I'm not drowsy the next day, and my overall health has improved dramatically.

A few drops will enable deep, restful sleep all night. Allow two hours for the medicine to work. The best cannabis to use is a non-hybrid Indica containing CBD with a low level of THC. (Cannabis must contain some THC to activate the CBD.)

CAUTION! Never use this method near an open flame, natural gas or propane burner, or permit smoking around the cooking area. Remove paper, towels - ANYTHING flammable nearby! Always use in a well-ventilated area!

SUPPLIES

MagicalButter MB2 Botanical Extractor Machine
LoveGlove (comes with the machine)
PurifyFilter (comes with the machine)
Decarboxylate box with temperature gauge
Full face organic vapor gas mask
1 ounce cannabis flower (Indica recommended)
2 cups Everclear Food Grain Alcohol 190 Proof
2-cup Pyrex (glass) measuring cup
10ml dosing syringe
Dark glass bowl
Cheesecloth

1. Prepare oven
- Test the oven to verify temperature accuracy - it must be 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius)
- Use your empty Decarboxylate box and temperature gauge (supplied with the box) to do this
- Preheat oven to "true" 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius)

2. Prepare cannabis
- Measure 1 ounce cannabis flower
- Break apart flowers to uniform size, do not pre-grind
- Place cannabis in the Decarboxylate box along with the temperature gauge (included)

3. Decarboxylate (dry) the cannabis
- Set temperature for the Decarboxylate box at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) using the gauge
- Place in the oven on the center rack and bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes
- Temperature gauge will sound when the correct internal temperature is reached
- After 30 minutes remove from the oven, and spread cannabis out on tray to cool completely

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4. Tincture extraction
- CAUTION! When working with 190 proof food grain alcohol, wearing the gas mask is necessary to avoid inhaling toxic fumes
- Wearing gas mask (see above) and gloves, using the glass measuring cup, measure 2 cups of 190 proof Everclear Food Grain Alcohol
- Place the cannabis and grain alcohol into your MagicalButter MB2 Botanical Extractor Machine, and follow the manufacturer's instructions
- Press the 130 Temperature button, then press "4 Hours/Tincture"

5. Evaporation of alcohol
- After the cycle is complete, unplug the unit and remove the head of the appliance
- Put on your LoveGlove and pour the pitcher contents slowly through your PurifyFilter into a dark glass container
- Cover with cheesecloth and allow the alcohol to evaporate (away from all flammables!) for several days
- Refrigerate the filtered tincture in an air-tight glass container.

6. Yield
- 1oz cannabis = @ 400ml of tincture
- 1ml of tincture = @ 12mg of CBD
- Recommended starting dose = .5ml

7. Dosing
- Draw .5ml of tincture into the 10ml syringe
- Add tincture to your drink of choice & ingest
- Wait at least 2 hours before taking any more
- Increase in increments not greater than .5ml

If this seems like a lot of hard work, imagine never having insomnia again!​
 
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How CBD can help you get a good night’s sleep

by Marisa Losciale | Daily Dot | 26 March 2020

Not just any product will do, though. So here's your guide to finding the best CBD for sleep.

If you suffer from insomnia, PTSD, or other rest-inhibiting disorders, it’s likely that someone you know has recommended you try CBD oil to help you sleep. But not all CBD products are alike. Before you grab the first one you see off the shelves, read our guide to learn which ones are the best fit for you.

What is CBD?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main chemical components (or cannabinoids) found in the Cannabis sativa plant. Unlike THC (another cannabinoid), CBD is not psychoactive. Meaning, it won’t get you high or alter your perception and it can be harvested for agricultural purposes via the hemp plant.
How does CBD help you sleep?

Its effects, according to the British Pharmacological Society Journals, can help relieve a wide range of symptoms including those associated with mood disorders, chronic pain, anxiety, seizures, and insomnia. However, since most CBD products are listed as supplements or all-natural sleep aids (versus medications), both the products themselves and their effects have not been regulated or substantiated by the FDA.

How does CBD help you sleep?

Remember how I mentioned CBD belongs to a group of cannabinoids found in hemp and marijuana plants? This is important because it makes CBD one of many chemical compounds that interact with our endocannabinoid systems, triggering one of two receptors: CB1 or CB2. Since our focus is on CBD (and not CBG, CBA, CBN, etc.), I’m only going to focus on the affected antenna–our Cannabinoid Type 1 (CB1) receptor.

CB1 receptors are found all over the body, more importantly, they’re a prominent subtype of the central nervous system (AKA our brain and spinal cord). Because of where the majority of these receptors are located, it’s safe for you to assume that they play some sort of role in regulating mood, thought pattern, and other synaptic transmissions (or information sharing processes).

Usually, assumptions are the wrong move but in this case, it’s alright because studies have actually linked the activation of CB1 receptors to both “short-term and long-term changes in the efficacy of synaptic transmission.” In plain English, this means that trials have shown triggering CB1 receptors proves to be an effective treatment for both short-term and long-term changes in behavioral patterns caused by internal factors (psychological disorders, metabolism issues, you get the idea).

Now, you’re probably wondering how this connects to your poor sleep cycle. Well, The National Sleep Foundation reports that among the many factors that can contribute to restlessness and insomnia, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain are among the most common causes. I could let you connect the dots, but for accuracy’s sake, I’ll just tell you that these are great examples of “internal behavioral patterns” that have the potential to be corrected by consistent CBD use (researchers suggest taking CBD at least one hour before bed so it has time to take effect). User trials have also suggested that unlike other sleep aids and pain medication, taking the correct dosage of CBD won’t leave you in a haze the next morning.

(Disclaimer: it’s important for you to speak with your doctor before consuming any CBD products, as CBD is known to interfere with certain medications and if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding the FDA advises against the use of any hemp or marijuana products).

What is the correct CBD dosage for sleep?

Like most things in life, this can vary person-to-person depending on a variety of factors (weight, tolerance level, how you’re consuming the CBD, the specific benefits you are seeking, etc.). However, most reputable CBD companies will provide you with a recommended dosage. And like weed edibles, the effects of consuming CBD edibles aren’t immediate so it is suggested that you wait at least six hours before re-dosing (or upping your dose). Otherwise, you may feel the effects of both doses at once or feel groggy upon waking up.

Best CBD for sleep and where to buy it

If you’ve left your house or turned on your TV in the last few weeks, you may have noticed that everyone from vape and smoke shops to hairdressers and boutique retailers are pushing CBD products. This doesn’t mean you should buy it from them, no matter how “great” they say the products are. Because at the end of the day, this isn’t a regulated industry. And there actually have been instances where companies have falsified how much CBD is actually in the products, attempting to get away with using synthetics and even going as far as adding obscene amounts of melatonin to CBD edibles so consumers “feel” something. All of this is gross and potentially dangerous, so I’m going to tell you how to avoid it: READ THE LAB REPORTS AND INGREDIENT LABELS. I cannot stress this enough, and any reputable company will provide third-party lab results for all its CBD products. Why third-party? Because outside, unrelated labs have nothing to gain from their conclusions. This ensures that the accuracy of the data they provide is never compromised.

So to help you stay out of harm’s way, listed below are a few of my top picks that adhere to strict ethical and safety standards. You can find most of these products online, but if for some reason they’re unavailable or you want to shop local, I suggest stopping at the CBD dispensary near you (yes, those exist) and see what the person behind the counter there would recommend.

Medterra CBD

Available online and at participating retailers, Medterra CBD is one of the most well-known and trusted brands in the space. All Medterra products are third-party lab tested and so high in quality, Medterra actually works in partnership with the Hemp Pilot Research Program.

Medterra offers all sorts of CBD products, including broad-spectrum and CBD products for pets. For those looking to order online, the site offers free shipping on orders $99+ and 15% off for those who choose the subscription option.

Best product for promoting sleep: CBD + Melatonin capsules ($55.99)

JustCBD

JustCBD is another great online CBD retailer. JustCBD offers more of a variety than Medterra, so if you want to try CBD in all of its forms this is definitely the place to go. The company also does third-party lab tests for all its products, blogs recipe ideas, and regularly runs sales. Online customers can take advantage of free shipping and score 20% off their first order!

Best product for promoting sleep: JustCBD Watermelon Gummies (on sale for $32.50, regularly $40)

Extract Labs

The madmen behind Extract Labs’ are actually a key reason this stuff works so well. Instead of formulating with heat (like traditional processes call for), the developers whip all their simple and natural ingredients together. By doing so, Extract Labs’ products are able to retain more of the helpful and highly sought-after compounds the hemp plant is known for.

Best product(s) for promoting sleep: Sleep CBD Bath Bomb ($16), Grandaddy Purp or G-Rilla CBD Shatter ($45 each)

Select CBD

Select CBD is my go-to for CBD tincture because it’s one of the few brands that not only nailed the flavor but the consistency of the drops, too! Which is a big deal for anyone who’s tried tincture before, as you probably know just how hard it can be to find a product that won’t make you gag.

Select CBD is not for sale online and can only be purchased at participating retailers, so yeah, you’ll have to leave your house to get your hands on it, but it’s well worth the extra effort!

Best product(s) for promoting sleep: Lavender or Peppermint CBD Tincture drops or Rest CBD Gel Capsules (not available online, prices vary by retailer)

 
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Trouble sleeping? A dose of saffron might help

by Murdoch University | Medical Xpress | 28 Feb 2020

New research out of Murdoch University has shown that saffron can enhance the quality of sleep in adults who have been experiencing poor sleep.

Lead researcher Dr. Adrian Lopresti, whose earlier research found saffron to be an effective natural agent for the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression, said one of the features of that research showed improvements in sleep.

"This new research used volunteers who were not being treated for depression, were physically-healthy, had been medication free for at least four weeks—apart from the contraceptive pill—and had self-reported symptoms of poor sleep."

"This is a serious issue as poor sleep quality can have a negative impact on both mental and physical health and can interfere with daily function,"
Dr. Lopresti said.

"Our previous research showed saffron was an effective add-on to pharmaceutical antidepressants in patients experiencing mild-to-moderate depression. Because many of these people reported improvements in their sleep, in this study we focused on healthy adults who were generally medication free but had experienced poor sleep lasting greater than four weeks."

Dr. Lopresti said the results from the Murdoch University study indicate a standardized saffron extract (affron) at a dose of 14mg, twice daily for 28 days improved sleep quality in adults with self-reported poor sleep, with most of these changes occurring in the first 7-days of treatment.

"In addition to the improved sleep, the study showed that saffron was well tolerated with no reported adverse effects," Dr. Lopresti said.

However, the researchers reported that even though the results were positive, the findings require replication using a larger sample size and differing populations.

"Our early research is indeed positive and there is evidence that taking a standardised saffron extract is associated with improvements in sleep quality," Dr. Lopresti said.

"However, to verify these findings, further studies using larger sample sizes, treatment periods and volunteers with varying characteristics is required."

 
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CBD oil for sleep: benefits and research 2020

by Jessica Gayo | Inquirer.net | 10 March 2020

Emerging research has people flocking to the stores to get CBD oil for sleep.

One of the hundreds of cannabinoids found in marijuana and hemp plants is cannabidiol. The general public refers to this cannabinoid as CBD.

Unlike its sister compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD does not contain psychoactive properties. It does not produce the usual euphoric effects associated with taking cannabis.

Hemp plants produce CBD or hemp seed oil through a thorough process of extraction.

Hemp-derived CBD products are quickly finding their way into many medicine cabinets for those looking to alleviate chronic pains like migraines, joint arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and aid in cancer treatments.

CBD health benefits

Recent studies find cannabis as a promising medicinal plant.

CBD products are often used as dietary supplements in their food or as drink add-ins for the daily source for vitamins and minerals

Science shows that CBD is useful for reducing anxiety, alleviating symptoms, and side effects of pre-existing medical conditions.

There is a myriad of health benefits that can be gained from adding CBD oil to one’s daily healthcare routine.

Mental focus and attentiveness can be improved because of its calming effect. CBD can also reduce stress, which leads to the improvement of mental and physical health.

It also has anti-inflammatory properties that can provide temporary relief from aching injuries or muscles.

According to the World Health Organization, there is no potential for abuse and dependency when using CBD because of its non-psychoactive nature.

Currently, there are no federal laws that prohibit non-prescription CBD products so long as they do not contain more than 0.3% THC.

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CBD side effects: Will it make you sleepy?

Irregular sleeping patterns are common among Americans in this day and age of never-sleeping technology.

According to a recent study conducted, 30-35% of adults have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.

For others, insomnia can be mild and they are able to adapt. For some, it is a serious illness that hinders them from achieving tasks and feeling productive.

Chronic insomnia can have serious effects on the body if not taken seriously and immediately remedied.

A list of negative health impacts including an increase in the risk of depression and high blood pressure. It also can lower the quality of daily life due to fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell.

Common symptoms of insomnia include:

Poor memory
Inability to focus or concentrate
Trouble staying awake in the daytime
Drastic mood changes and disturbance
Low energy and motivation to do anything especially physical tasks
Increase in accidents and errors due to slow reflexes

CBD oil for sleep can help alleviate these symptoms by calming and relaxing users to improve sleep and stay asleep longer.

Products also help calm the racing thoughts associated with anxiety, allowing better sleep and relaxation.

A regulated sleep cycle has also been observed by regular takers of the product. This allows them to be productive the following day.

Because of CBD’s pain relief properties, insomniacs are able to rest without waking due to recurring or chronic pain throughout the night.

For people without these symptoms and people who have regular sleeping patterns, it is easy to assume that CBD and drowsiness go together.

Good news for those who worry about this because CBD does not cause sleepiness at all.

Unlike the sedative effects of THC and other sleeping aids, CBD combats insomnia at the source.

This means that instead of making users sleepy, it alleviates and combats symptoms that stop them from getting a good night’s sleep and rest.

Though statements about its effectivity in treatments have not been evaluated by the FDA, CBD products have risen in markets partly due to the legalization of industrial hemp.

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Will CBD oil make me sleepy?

With today’s strain of increasing demands from work, school, family, and the economy, along with emerging health conditions and unhealthy lifestyle choices amidst a busy fast-paced world, stress levels in every individual are also increasing at an alarming rate.

While it’s true that there are many other factors that may cause insomnia or lack of proper and regular sleep, stress is one of the major causes of restlessness and agitation that leads to insomnia.

Known for its relaxing properties, CBD is a natural way to combat stress because of its calming effect on the mind and body.

Though CBD can aid in managing symptoms of insomnia, it does not cause sleepiness or drowsiness at all. In fact, CBD interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system or ECS.

The body’s ECS is mainly responsible for supporting primary systems such as the nervous system by regulating the inner and physical well-being through the immune system, digestive system, and metabolic system.

Receptors of the ECS are mostly located in the brain and CBD interacts with these receptors to continue functioning properly amidst different levels of stress.

By improving the brain’s capacity to respond to stressful situations, CBD products can help manage current stress levels, while serving as a preventative measure against future stress.

Is there a specific CBD product that works better as a sleeping aid? That depends on how quickly CBD takes effect on the body.

Pills and tinctures are the easiest and quickest way to administer the products as they are taken orally.

Capsules are usually small in size and easy to swallow down with water. Consumers use tinctures by placing a few drops under the tongue. This popular method of sublingual consumption is the fastest way for CBD to enter the blood.

In a nutshell, people suffering from sleep issues may find CBD oils helpful in alleviating symptoms of their insomnia and help them get the rest they need at night to conquer the world during the day.

SUMMARY

Can you use CBD oil for sleep? Though CBD oil for sale can be a great alternative to prescription medications and their myriad of side effects, it is important to remember that the product is not intended to replace prescriptions by medical professionals.

CBD oils and other CBD-derived products may serve as a supplement. People should not use CBD to diagnose, treat, or prevent any pre-existing medical conditions.

The FDA does not approve of non-prescription CBD products aside from Epidiolex. However, more research and trials can change this in the future.

Combating insomnia and other sleep-related disorders by improving and restoring our stress response, CBD aids common causes of insomnia like pain and anxiety.

Offering the body reprieve from its daily stress is no small feat. With consistency and the right product, CBD can be of great help to those who need it.

Is CBD Legal? Hemp-derived CBD products (with less than 0.3 percent THC) are legal on the federal level but are still illegal under some state laws. Check your state’s laws and those of anywhere you travel. Moreover, keep in mind that nonprescription CBD products are not FDA-approved.

 
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Finally, a cure for insomnia?

by Simon Parkin | The Guardian

We are living through an epidemic of sleeplessness, but the medical establishment has largely ignored the problem. Can a radical new therapy help you get some sleep?

We live in a golden age of sleeplessness. The buzz of the all-night streetlamps, the natter of 24-hour news anchors, the scrolling Niagaras of social media feeds have built a world that is hostile to sleep. Night is no longer clearly delineated from day. The bedroom is no longer a refuge from the office. The physical and psychic walls that once held back the tides of work and social interaction have failed. As the essayist Jonathan Crary put it, sleeplessness is the inevitable symptom of an era in which we are encouraged to be both unceasing consumers and unceasing creators.

To the wakeful, insomnia can feel like the loneliest affliction in the world. But an estimated third of British adults suffer from chronic insomnia, defined as having adequate opportunity but inadequate ability to sleep, for a period of at least six months. Insomniacs dutifully set aside a seven-or-so-hour stretch for rest. They make the bed. They draw the curtains. But when ear kisses pillow, they are suddenly wakeful. Many have sought help. Between 1993 and 2007, the number of people in the UK who visited their doctor complaining of insomnia nearly doubled, while NHS data shows, in the past decade, a tenfold increase in the number of prescriptions written for melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep.

The effects of insomnia can be ruinous. In his recent bestseller, Why We Sleep, the neuroscientist Matthew Walker wrote: “The decimation of sleep throughout industrialised nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health, our life expectancy, our safety, our productivity and the education of our children.” A 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, claims that insomnia increases the risk of heart attack, cancer and obesity. Insomniacs are far more likely than sound sleepers to suffer from chronic depression. Insomnia is related to all major psychiatric conditions, including suicide risk (although there is still a debate as to whether sleeplessness is the cause or the symptom). Each year, as many as 1.2m car crashes in the US can be attributed to tired drivers.

None of this is news to the droopily Googling insomniac who, fearing obesity, heart disease, accident and poverty, is subjected to yet further sleep-skewering anxiety. Fearing their problem is untreatable, or that no doctor will take them seriously, many people who suffer from insomnia never seek medical advice. And in Britain, where doctors are hesitant to prescribe sleep drugs for longer than a week or two, who can blame the insomniac? There are a few NHS sleep clinics in the UK, where patients can be tested for the respiratory issues that often cause sleeplessness, but waiting lists are dispiritingly long. Moreover, for decades, inside the British medical establishment there has been only a glancing interest in insomnia, a specialism that one consultant refers to as the “Cinderella of medicine.”

“We have very little at our disposal,” Clare Aitchison, a GP with a practice in Norwich, told me. “In a 10-minute consultation it’s impossible to teach people to break bad habits.” With so few options, doctors resort to advisory cliches. Take a hot shower before bed. Eat a banana. Switch off your phone. Read a book. Masturbate. These titbits often have some basis in science or logic. But when the insomniac has tried them all (sometimes simultaneously) where do they turn?

There is, it turns out, a London clinic that has achieved remarkable results. Founded in 2009 by Hugh Selsick, a South African psychiatrist, the Insomnia Clinic in Bloomsbury has revolutionised treatment for sleeplessness in the UK. As Britain’s only dedicated insomnia facility, more than 1,000 patients have passed through the clinic at a rate that has quickened to, in 2018, 120 new cases a month. According to the clinic’s figures, 80% of patients report major improvements, while almost half claim to have been fully cured. This success has earned the clinic an enviable reputation and a waiting list to match; patients can wait two years for a consultation.

At the root of Selsick’s approach is a revolutionary assertion that has led to a new approach to treatment, quite unlike the old wives’ tales with which, in the absence of a coherent medical solution, every insomniac will be familiar. Where, for decades, insomnia has been treated as a symptom of another issue (if indeed it has been treated at all) Selsick contends that insomnia is not merely a symptom, but a disorder in its own right. This remains an unorthodox view. Yet, for Selsick’s patients, the approach does more than fix a category error: it provides a life-changing validation, a route out of helplessness, a way of getting to sleep.

I have come to hate my bedroom. What should be a place of rest and, in a good month, the odd romantic scuffle, has become a psychic battleground. Since I turned 18, the process of drifting off has become ever more easily torn. The pops and creaks of the settling house are enough to pull my wary brain from its slow descent. "The sound of a lorry, or an orgasmic fox, can keep me tossing fretfully till 3am, the hour at which," as Ray Bradbury put it, "we insomniacs glumly watch as the moon rolls by ... with its idiot face."

In the nagging light of the alarm clock, emotions grow heightened. The slightest wiggle, tut or guff from a bed partner is enough to arouse fury, as I’m whooshed back to a state of bounding wakefulness. The paradoxical exasperation of the insomniac is this: the more you try to sleep, the more you fail. So here I must lie, tipping from fury to dismay, contemplating the various ways in which the coming day is fucked.

It is impossible to explain to the sound sleeper what it is like to not sleep. Still, the writers and artists try. “Night is always a giant,” wrote Vladimir Nabokov, of the foreboding sense of peril he felt on entering his bedroom. (One of Nabokov’s insomniac characters wished for a third side after trying and failing to fall asleep on the two he had). Chuck Palahniuk, whose novel Fight Club was inspired by insomnia, would have to imagine picking and losing fights in order to drift off. F Scott Fitzgerald, not a writer prone to hyperbole, described insomnia with sullen childishness as “the worst thing in the world.”

Over the years I have developed rituals and incantations: the solemn depositing of the phone in a separate room, the scorching shower, the banana nightcap. As the fear of sleeplessness builds over weeks and months, obsessive, quasi-superstitious behaviours become established. Vincent van Gogh would pour a turpentine-like liquid on his mattress, a decanting intended to cast the spell of sleep. WC Fields claimed he could only fall asleep to the sound of rainfall, and his dutiful lover Carlotta Monti would spray water from the garden hose against the bedroom window till he dropped off (today, a range of apps can provide similar soothing soundscapes).

These eccentricities have, perhaps, enabled the rest of the world to view insomnia as a minor affliction. As well as feeling scorned, the insomniac comes to develop a sense of shame. Sleep is the most natural thing in the world; to fail makes the sufferer somehow unnatural. So it was with panda eyes and an anxious mind that I slipped through the front door of the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine in Great Ormond Street, London, to meet the doyen of insomniacs.

Hugh Selsick cannot be absolutely certain, but he estimates that he has met more insomnia sufferers than any other person in Britain. Yet, when he enters the waiting room for his insomnia clinic, he has no idea which one of the expectant faces is his patient. Most long-term insomniacs show none of the telltale physical signs of fatigue. It’s a hidden, private affliction.

Selsick places extraordinary importance on this initial meeting with a new patient. He knows that they may have been suffering from insomnia for decades, a period over which they have seen multiple family doctors, who have time and again given them the kind of advice you might give a fretful child: take a warm bath or a glass of milk before bed. When he sits down with the patient for the first time, Selsick’s primary goal is simply to let them know, perhaps for the first time in their lives, that someone is about to take them seriously.

“For years nobody has understood what this person is going through,” he told me, as we sat in his narrow office. “Then suddenly they are sitting in front of someone who says, ‘Yes, I can see this is a problem, and yes, we can treat this.’” Some patients well up. Others hold their heads in their hands, in shocked relief. Whatever the reaction, Selsick, who is soft-spoken, kind-eyed and bald as an acorn, said that, in that moment, a bond of trust is established that is stronger than any other he has known in his career as a psychiatric doctor.

In this, our first meeting, I felt something of that emotional intimacy. Through shame, or a worry that he might think I was trying to jump the waiting list, I had not mentioned my own struggles with sleeplessness. His kind manner, and open acknowledgment of the pervasive awfulness of insomnia, was both comforting and thrilling.

Still, the insomnia clinic’s reputation has not been made on bedside manner alone. Selsick has designed a five-week programme that combines cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), designed to break a person’s negative associations with their bedroom, and the entire business of drifting off, with something Selsick terms “sleep efficiency training,” a calibrated reduction of the amount of time the patient spends in bed.

Today, Selsick and another consultant run the clinic with support from a GP who works one day a week and an associate specialist psychiatrist, who is supported by a trainee. Patients travel from around the country to visit, and about 80 patients visit the clinic’s weekly group classes. “We are constantly expanding, but we are still battling to meet the demand,” Selsick said.

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Hugh Selsick (right) with Andrew Eaton, a clinical scientist, at the Insomnia Clinic.

How is a central London clinic successfully treating an illness that, for decades, medicine has failed to adequately address? The answer appears to be rooted in Selsick’s belief that insomnia is not merely a symptom of another, higher-order condition. For decades doctors would treat the primary condition – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems – expecting that fixing this would help the patient to sleep. This approach would often fail because, as one study puts it, insomnia is maintained by the “behaviours, cognitions and associations that patients adopt as they attempt to cope with poor sleep but that end up backfiring.”

Selsick believes that only by treating insomnia as a psychiatric disorder, with degrees of severity that range from mild to chronic, can the health service begin to develop and prescribe appropriate treatments. It is a pioneering attitude that is motivated not only by scientific curiosity, but by personal experience; Selsick knows insomnia’s debilitating effects first-hand.

Selsick became an insomniac in 1993, when he was 19 years old, staying on a kibbutz in the desert in Israel. It wasn’t just the heat that caused his sleeplessness; it was also the routine built around the heat. With temperatures reaching 40C, desert-dwelling people typically sleep from 11pm through to 3am, at which point they start work while it is still cool enough. At lunchtime, when the heat is at its most ferocious, they take a siesta. It was a custom that Selsick’s mind resisted; he would lie awake in the afternoons, feeling exhausted, but wired.

When he returned to South Africa to start his first year at university, studying medicine in Johannesburg, Selsick’s insomnia persisted and intensified. “It’s almost impossible to describe what it’s like, to someone who hasn’t had it,” he told me. One day on campus he saw an advert posted on a wall requesting volunteers for a sleep study. Selsick enrolled in the hope that he might discover what was happening to him.

The study hoped to find what effect, if any, calorie intake had on a person’s ability to fall asleep. Each experiment lasted for four days, during which Selsick and the other volunteers would stay overnight at the sleep clinic, one monitor strapped to their head, another, to monitor core body temperature, inserted into their rectum. Volunteers were kept to a specific diet. One week they would fast for 24 hours; the next eat three times their typical calorie intake. Then they were monitored to see what effect the food had on their sleep. “It turned out to not make a difference,” he recalled.

Inspired by the professor who ran the course, Selsick began a postgraduate degree in physiology, based within the sleep clinic, where he studied the functions of REM sleep – a phase that occurs sporadically through the night, characterised by rapid eye movements – then carried out research on the impact of central heating on sleep patterns. (The ideal temperature in which to sleep is cooler than you might think: just 18C. This is one of the reasons why insomnia affects a disproportionate number of people in nursing homes, where round-the-clock heating makes it harder for the human body to cool down in readiness for sleep.)

At this time, the use of psychotherapy to treat insomnia was still in a relatively early phase. Selsick estimates that it was 2005 before therapists began to undergo insomnia training, in order to apply research findings. When Selsick came to London in the late 90s as a trainee doctor at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, his own insomnia had passed. Still, he was astonished to find a widespread lack of interest within psychiatry toward insomnia. “Ask any patient with psychiatric conditions what troubles them,” he said. “Sleep is almost always at the top of the list.” Selsick started a mailing list for any psychiatrists who were interested in sleep and held a conference at which members shared their findings. The group caught the attention of his supervisor, Charlotte Feinmann, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) who, while Googling “insomnia,” recognised Selsick’s name in a search result. She sent him a text message asking whether he would be interested in founding an insomnia clinic at the hospital.

“At that time nobody was treating insomnia,” Selsick recalled. “Mental health units weren’t taking insomnia patients; sleep disorder centres were not treating insomnia, partly because they were being run by respiratory physicians screening for sleep apnoea, who didn’t have the relevant skills.

A patient who did not fit that box would be bounced around the NHS,”
Feinmann said. "While staff across the health service were aware of the need," Selsick said, "they knew that if they were to take insomnia referrals they would be inundated."

Selsick accepted Feinmann’s offer and, in November 2009, his first two patients walked into the clinic. He started small – one afternoon a week. “I had no idea what I was doing,” he recalled. Indeed, in its early months, Selsick’s consultancy offered little more than routine advice on basic sleep hygiene, such as limiting caffeine intake (“not effective”) and some general tinkering with the dosage of whatever medication the patient was already taking (“not very effective”).

Then, a few months later, Selsick began to explore CBT. For those who suffer from insomnia, the bedroom is so strongly associated with wakefulness that the mere act of going to bed wakes the patient up, in much the same way that walking into a dentist’s office makes you anxious. CBT, which at the time was just starting to be used to treat insomnia in North America, works to change patients’ automatic, often unconscious, association of the bedroom with wakefulness and replace it with bedroom and sleep. “Immediately,” Selsick said, “our results were enormously better.”

Not everyone was convinced by the new programme. Selsick’s clinic is situated within the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, formerly known as the Royal London Homoeopathic hospital, a controversial centre for alternative treatments. The pharmacologist David Colquhoun once described the hospital as a “great national embarrassment.” Selsick believes that this association caused some GPs to not refer their insomniac patients. “When we explain that we are a psychiatry-led service that practices evidence-based medicine, those issues usually melt away,” he explained.

For those who make it through the door, Selsick provides an initial assessment in an attempt to find out what, of a constellation of different possibilities, is causing the sleeplessness. He screens for sleep disorders such as restless leg syndrome, which affects 2%-10% of people. Like other sleep clinics, he screens for sleep apnoea and other respiratory problems. But this is merely the first step in the process. Once these possible causes have been ruled out, Selsick asks a long list of questions, both practical (“What time do you go to bed?” “How long does it take to fall asleep?”) and probing (“What was occurring in your life when you first started suffering from insomnia?”).

Ideally, the patient’s answers establish a pattern, which can lead to a diagnosis. Sometimes that diagnosis is narcolepsy, nocturnal epilepsy or sleepwalking – one of the scores of conditions that can lead to sleeplessness. In other cases it is, simply, psychiatric insomnia.

When she was 13 years old, Zehavah Handler took a pen and scrawled a dot on her bedroom wall in north-west London. Lying on the bed, she could just pick out the mark in the milky glow of her nightlight. There, as the house settled around her, she would challenge herself to stare at the dot for as long as possible without blinking. The game became a ritual and, eventually, became the only way, she believed, that she could fall asleep – although it was often 4am before she finally drifted off.

In adulthood Handler, now 40 and a mother of four, still suffered from insomnia. She would wake at 7am to drop her children off at school, then lie down on the carpet of her bedroom. There she would watch the ceiling till mid-afternoon, her heart palpitating with exhaustion, when she would leave for the school pickup. After feeding and bathing the children, Handler would retire to her own bed. She would lie in bed for 12 hours, only sleeping for an hour or so before the dawn broke and the day’s grim routine began again.

When she began to experience memory loss and irritability, Handler visited her GP. After an 18-month wait, she entered Selsick’s office. “It was the first time I met a professional who acknowledged the problem and was truly empathetic.” Handler was admitted to UCLH’s clinic to be monitored overnight for sleep apnoea. On arrival, Handler found the consultant in charge that night “extremely dismissive” of Selsick’s clinic. She spent the first night in a nest of wires, like an android recharging its batteries, lying awake worried about whether or not the machines would know that she was just pretending to be asleep. Nevertheless, the results came back clear: she had no breathing issues, no twitching muscles. Selsick concluded that Handler was one of his many patients for whom insomnia is not a symptom of some other disorder, but the disorder itself.

In May 2016, Handler joined Selsick’s five-week course, along with nine other anxious patients. The programme takes place in a small room in the bowels of the hospital. Handler remembers that none of her fellow patients talked and few made eye contact, paralysed by the secret shame of the insomniac. “Everybody was very self-conscious,” she recalled. “We were wondering: ‘How’s it going to work? How much will we have to reveal of ourselves?”

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“The first thing I do on the programme,” Selsick told me, “is dispel the myth that there’s a certain number of hours you are supposed to get. It is ingrained in us as if it’s absolute gospel that you are supposed to sleep eight hours a night. But it’s not true. Just like there is variation in shoe size," Selsick says, "there is variation in the amount of sleep an individual requires. Some people need six and a half, some people need nine and a half. It doesn’t make anyone abnormal.”

To figure out how much sleep they need, each attendee is told to start a sleep diary, recording what time they go to bed, what time they get up, how long it took to fall asleep and how many times they wake during the night. Next Selsick undoes the idea that a person should have a set bedtime. Typically, insomniacs will go to bed earlier or stay in bed longer in order to increase their sleep opportunity. The logic appears sound – if I’m not getting enough sleep, I should spend longer in bed to give myself more opportunity to sleep – but the anxiety invariably exacerbates the problem. Instead, patients are told to set a hard-and-fast time to wake up. “We tell them to always get up at the same time every day, regardless of how much they’ve slept, what time they’ve gone to bed, or what they’ve got to do that day.”

There must never be any lie-ins, and never any naps (chewing gum, Selsick says, keeps napping at bay). The theory is that if you get up at the same time every morning, you begin to feel sleepy at the same time every night, and, over the weeks, your bedtime will naturally become consistent. “We compress their time in bed down so that their sleep is more compact and tighter,” explained Selsick. "A patient might start with a goal of six hours’ sleep. If they need to be up for work at 7am, this means they are forbidden from entering the bedroom till 1am. That’s now your earliest permitted bedtime.”

Once a patient finds they are asleep for 90% of the time that they are in bed, they move that earliest bedtime forward by 15 minutes at a time. This behavioural technique is termed sleep efficiency, and despite its disarming simplicity, patients report astonishing results. “It was very hard going,” said Laurell Turner, a medical student who completed the programme in 2016. “By the end of the course I was exhausted. But despite my scepticism, the results were immediate.”

Selsick worked to break the negative associations Handler had with her bedroom. When insomniacs go to bed they often feel afraid of having to lie there frustrated and increasingly irritated. After a while the simple act of going to bed begins to wake an insomniac up. The bedroom becomes a trigger toward alertness, even fear. To counter this, Selsick urges patients to leave the bedroom after just 15 minutes if they are not yet asleep. All activity apart from sex and sleep is barred from the bedroom. Patients are even told to change their clothes in another room.

“Before, I would go to sleep in the afternoon and be in my room for 12 hours,” said Handler. "I would make all my phone calls there, work on my laptop there, eat and watch TV in bed. That’s gone. All gone. I say goodbye to my room at about 7.20am and I don’t see it again until 1.30am when I go to bed.” The technique often feels counterintuitive; on the initial nights that a patient shuffles between bedroom and lounge every 15 minutes, they often sleep worse. “It’s extraordinarily hard to do,” she said. But after about five weeks, the negative psychological association of the bedroom with wakefulness has been broken, and replaced with new, positive connections. Selsick claims that, "using these techniques alongside the moderation of stimulants such as caffeine, eight out of 10 patients get better, and half of these go into," he said, “complete remission.”

Studies show that CBT is the most effective long-term treatment for insomnia. But in order for it to be effective, it requires the patient to establish and maintain a stable routine. For patients who regularly cross time-zones, who often stay in unfamiliar hotel beds or who are unable to form a nightly ritual because of work, Selsick’s plan presents an impossible target. These patients want not a timetable to which they must stick, but a pill they can swallow.

Surprisingly perhaps, for a doctor who strongly advocates the use of CBT in treating insomnia, Selsick believes that sleeping pills should be far more widely prescribed in the UK. “There’s an incredible conservatism in the British medical establishment about prescribing for sleep,” he said. Much of this anxiety is focused on the addictive qualities of benzodiazepines. According to the neuroscientist Matthew Walker, "sleeping pills do not provide natural sleep, can damage health and increase the risk of life-threatening diseases.”

“The drugs, like any drug, are not without risk,”
said Selsick. “But having untreated insomnia also comes with risks.” Selsick has met patients who, because of insomnia, have been forced to leave work and abandon careers. “I’ve had patients where it’s destroyed their marriages, where they have lost access to their kids because they are so tired that they can’t look after them properly.” Nevertheless, Selsick perceives a blanket policy among doctors whereby they refuse to medicate for sleep. "This policy," he says, "does patients a disservice. Yes, CBT should be your first port of call prior to medication. But most places in the country do not have access to CBT. And not everyone who does CBT for insomnia gets better.”

The arrival of any epidemic brings commercial opportunities. In 2006, the manufacturer of the non-benzodiazepine sleeping pill Ambien estimated that the drug had been taken 12bn times worldwide and is worth $2bn a year in American sales. Pharmaceutical companies hoping to replicate this success are locked in a race to design a new sleeping pill without side-effects. The discovery, in 1998, of orexin, a hormone that essentially works as the brain’s alarm clock, turned the long march to develop a new kind of sleeping pill into a sprint.

For the past 15 years Jean-Paul Clozel – a cardiologist turned pharmacologist who in 1997, co-founded the Swiss biotech firm Actelion with his wife, Martine – has been leading the development of what he claims to be the side-effect-free sleeping pill. “Most sleeping pills are benzodiazepines,” says Clozel. “They induce something that feels like sleep, but in reality, it’s closer to anaesthetic sedation.” (Benzodiazepines are often used by anaesthetists.) Clozel’s pill, which he hopes to take to market in 2020, and which goes by the generic name Nemorexant, works differently. It limits the production of orexin, the hormone that keeps insomniacs awake, or causes them to wake up at the mildest provocation.

Nemorexant is not the first sleeping pill to target orexin. Since August 2014, more than a decade after work began on developing the drug, American doctors could prescribe Belsomra, also known as Suvorexant, which targets the same hormone. Within a month of its release, US doctors were writing an average of 4,000 Belsomra prescriptions a week. But the drug is not without risks. An FDA report on the safety of Belsomra, which is closely related to Clozel’s drug, quoted one patient who “woke up several times and felt unable to move her arms and legs and unable to speak.”

Nevertheless, in a country that is seemingly years away from rolling-out nationwide CBT programmes to treat insomnia, Selsick welcomes the chance to prescribe Neomorexint. “As it acts through a completely different pathway than other hypnotics, it would be nice to have it for those patients who have not responded to the standard treatments.”

In the meantime, Britain remains both ill-equipped and, seemingly, unwilling to deal with the growing insomnia epidemic. As victims of the woefully ignored Cinderella of medicine, sufferers struggle to stick with anything that claims to be a cure, leaving us stuck in folklore, with its colourful but contradictory advice. No sleeping pills are licensed for long-term usage, and apart from Selsick’s clinic, only a handful of private psychology services offer CBT to treat insomnia.

A plan to open an insomnia clinic at the sleep disorders centre at Guy’s hospital was scrapped due to fears that the demand would be too great. “They were concerned that demand would be so massive they would never meet their waiting list targets, which would result in being financially penalised,” Selsick said. "This has resulted in the perverse situation where the more demand that exists to treat insomnia, the less likely it is to be met."

In May, to help ease the pressure on his oversubscribed clinic, Selsick commissioned the first insomnia training programme for GPs, an attempt to equip doctors to run, within their local surgeries, CBT sessions similar to those held at the clinic. Eventually, he hopes, this will mean that only the most extreme cases will need to be referred to him. Selsick hopes to run these courses, which are also open to nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists and mental health workers, twice a year and, in doing so, speed up the NHS’s capacity to deal with insomnia at a national scale.

Selsick’s clinic is the only surgery to consistently see a significant volume of patients. "And consistency is," he said, "the key. The treatment is not rocket science,” he said. “It really isn’t. Our job, primarily, as therapists, is not so much to tell people what to do – because we could just give it to them as a handout – but to convince them to do it for long enough for it to work.”

For patients who successfully complete Selsick’s programme, the ability to sleep well changes life at an elemental level. To begin sleeping again is to feel as though you are being realigned with the universe and its guiding, imperceptible rhythms. “I am happier,” Handler told me, of her new life, post-insomnia. “My relationships have improved. I have more patience. I’m no longer walking in a permanent fog. I am available.”

"There are occasional relapses,"
Handler said, "usually brought on by a change in routine – a holiday away, Christmas – but by waking at a set time, leaving the bedroom after 15 minutes if she remains awake and re-implementing all of the rituals she learned at the Insomnia Clinic, it only takes a few nights to re-establish the routine."

The effect has been so transformative that Handler has decided to close her tourism business and, with Selsick’s support, retrain as a sleep counsellor. So great is her relief at learning how to sleep again that Handler wants to dedicate her life to helping others do the same; she plans to open her own insomnia clinic next year.

 
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Treating insomnia: Antipsychotic drugs usually not the best choice

ABIM Foundation | Choosingwisely.org ] 22 April 2020

If you often have trouble falling or staying asleep, you have insomnia. It can get in the way of working, driving, and even thinking. And it can cause health problems.

To treat insomnia, doctors sometimes prescribe drugs called antipsychotics. The U.S. FDA has but not approved these drugs to treat insomnia, however, doctors can legally prescribe them. This is called “off-label” prescribing. not to treat insomnia.

But these drugs should not be the first treatment for sleep problems, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Here’s why:

ANTIPSYCHOTICS DON'T HELP MUCH

These drugs are known as atypical antipsychotics. They include aripiprazole (Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), risperidone (Risperdal), and others. The drugs often make people drowsy, but there is little evidence that they actually help you fall or stay asleep. Antipsychotics don’t have clear benefits, and the risks can be serious.

ANTIPSYCHOTICS CAN HAVE SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS

Many people who start taking an antipsychotic drug, stop because of side effects:​
  • Dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and a higher risk of falls and injuries.​
  • Weight gain.​
  • Diabetes.​
  • High cholesterol.​
  • Muscle twitches, tremors, and spasms. These may not go away even when the drug is stopped.​
  • Blood clots. These can lead to serious problems and death if not treated.​
OTHER APPROACHES OFTEN WORK BETTER

It is almost always best to try other approaches first.

Get short-term relief. If you need help sleeping for only a night or two, ask your doctor about an over the counter sleep aid. A low dose of Melatonin taken three hours before bedtime can help, especially if you have jet lag.

Talk to a doctor. You may have a medical problem if you often have trouble sleeping—three or more nights a week for a month or more. Your doctor may be able to help treat insomnia caused by arthritis pain, hot flashes, anxiety, depression, and medications. Other treatable causes may include:​
  • Sleep apnea—severe snoring.​
  • Restless legs syndrome—a strong urge to move your legs.​
  • Urinating often at night—this may be a sign of diabetes, enlarged prostate, or a urinary tract infection.​
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) — frequent heartburn.​
Behavioral therapy. A therapist who specializes in insomnia can often help you “cure” it. Pills only treat symptoms.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CONSIDER ANTIPSYCHOTICS FOR INSOMNIA?

The FDA has approved these drugs to treat adults with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and—in some cases—depression. Consider them if:​
  • You have a serious mental illness, such as bipolar disorder with mania, which is keeping you from sleeping.​
  • Other steps, including prescription sleep drugs, have failed.​
  • You are very distressed due to lack of sleep.​
Start the drug at the lowest possible dose. Check with your doctor that there are no serious side effects. Stop the drug if it is not helping or you no longer need it, but don’t do this on your own. Talk to your doctor.

 
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Considering melatonin for sleep? Here’s a guide to help

by Anna Goldfarb | New York Times | 24 April 2020

It’s understandable that you may be struggling to fall asleep these days. Our world has been turned upside down, so it is especially hard to unplug from the day and get the high-quality sleep your body needs.

“Almost every single patient I’m speaking with has insomnia,“ said Dr. Alon Y. Avidan, a professor and vice chair in the department of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the U.C.L.A. Sleep Disorders Center. “Especially now with Covid-19, we have an epidemic of insomnia. We call it Covid-somnia.”

An increase in anxiety in both children and adults is affecting our ability to fall asleep. Additionally, our lifestyles have changed drastically as people observe sheltering in place guidelines. With more people staying indoors, it can mean they are not getting enough light exposure.

“Without light exposure in the morning,” Dr. Avidan said, people “lose the circadian cues that are so fundamentally important in setting up appropriate and normal sleep-wake time.”

There are nonmedical ways to help you sleep better: Meditation, turning off screens early in the night, warm showers and cool bedrooms can help your body rest better. But if these options don’t work, or if you are ready for the next step, you may have considered trying melatonin supplements. These pills are commonplace enough that you have most likely heard of them and seen them in your local pharmacy.

Here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of using melatonin supplements for sleeping difficulties.

What is melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate sleep timing. It is produced in the pea-size pineal gland, which is nestled in the middle of your brain and syncs melatonin production with the rising and setting of the sun. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the gland remains inactive during the day but switches on around 9 p.m. (when it’s generally dark) to flood the brain with melatonin for the next 12 hours.

Melatonin itself doesn’t make you fall asleep; it just tells your body that it’s time to fall asleep by lowering alertness and reducing your core body temperature. It works in tandem with the body’s circadian rhythms to let you know when you should rest and when you should be awake.

“Melatonin is the hormone of darkness and you need it to start falling asleep,” Dr. Avidan said. “The reverse also happens. If you expose yourself to too much light at night, you actually delay the production and release of melatonin.” This is why experts suggest you avoid computers and smartphones before bedtime.

You can buy synthetic melatonin supplements over the counter. They are generally considered safe and nonhabit-forming. Dr. Avidan says melatonin supplements can be effective for most people: “For all practical purposes, it probably helps.”

However, he cautions, melatonin’s success depends on three things:

- When you take it
- How much you take
- If the amount you take is the actual dose written on the box

These products work best for two kinds of short-term sleep problems.

First, melatonin supplements are useful when you have a circadian rhythm disorder such as jet lag or sleep pattern disruptions resulting from shift work. When used to treat these conditions, melatonin supplements signal to the brain that it is nighttime and the body should start winding down.

In these instances, said Dr. Bhanu Kolla, an associate professor in psychiatry and psychology and a consultant in sleep medicine at the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, it is best to use low doses of melatonin supplements. Consult with a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.

The second use for melatonin supplements is when you have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. "Over all," Dr. Kolla said, "melatonin supplements, if taken before bedtime, do reduce the time to fall asleep." In one study published in PLOS One, people who took melatonin supplements fell asleep seven minutes faster and increased overall sleep time by eight minutes. Researchers found that overall sleep quality was improved too.

For those addressing sleep regulation issues, experts suggest taking 0.5 milligrams two to three hours before bed. For people with insomnia who need help falling asleep, you can take 5 milligrams 30 minutes before bedtime.

“We try to recommend low doses,” said Dr. Rachel Marie E. Salas, an associate professor of neurology and nursing at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Again, this is not a prescribed medication, so there is a great deal of variability.”

Most people end up taking melatonin supplements without consulting a physician, Dr. Kolla said. “If you have any major health conditions such as liver failure, renal failure or are pregnant,” he said, it is always best to consult your physician before taking melatonin supplements.

"Melatonin supplements can cause dizziness and headaches. Occasionally, people might feel a little groggy during the day, but over all,"
Dr. Kolla said, "melatonin is safe to take." Because melatonin can cause daytime drowsiness, the Mayo Clinic warns that you shouldn’t drive or operate machinery within five hours of taking it.

In contrast to most available sleep medications, melatonin seems not to be habit-forming and typically produces no hangover effects.

Make sure you are getting what the label says

Before you buy melatonin, it’s important to make sure you are getting it from a reputable place. “The F.D.A. does not regulate supplements,” Dr. Kolla said. “So you’re trusting the manufacturer in terms of the dosing.”

A 2017 study in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that the melatonin content of dietary supplements often varies widely from what is listed on the label. The study found that even within the same batch of product, variability of the melatonin varied by as much as 465 percent.

Without governmental oversight, there really isn’t a way to ensure the levels of melatonin advertised on the package are accurate. Therefore, Dr. Kolla recommends looking for a GLP (good laboratory practice) or GMP (good manufacturing practice) label on the product. Both labels refer to federal regulations designed to affirm a product has the quality and purity that appear on its label. He says "this provides some assurance that you are getting close to what the label says you’re getting.”

Next steps if you’re not getting relief

"Taking melatonin supplements alone to treat insomnia won’t be as effective as taking melatonin and also working on improving your sleep hygiene," Dr. Avidan said. Sleep hygiene refers to creating an ideal environment that promotes conditions good for sleep.

These include:

- Powering down electronics and avoiding the news two hours before bedtime
- Maintaining a regular sleep schedule
- Eschewing alcohol and caffeine at night
- Trying to get as much natural sunlight during the day as possible to orient your internal clock

Dr. Avidan suggests that people both try these habits and take melatonin for two to three weeks to see if it helps.

"While melatonin can help with the promotion of sleep, for many it does not,” Dr. Salas said.

If you are stumped as to why melatonin isn’t working for you, Dr. Salas recommends talking to your physician. She says it may also be time to contact a sleep specialist, as there could be other, more serious sleep issues. Dr. Avidan says he and his colleagues are currently taking virtual appointments for anyone living in the United States, so it’s worth inquiring whether a sleep specialist can see you remotely.

 
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Using CBD to address insomnia: Is it effective?

by Daniel King | 8 Jun 2020

As more and more people incorporate cannabidiol into their daily routines, many people are becoming more curious about the medicinal effects of this cannabinoid. One of the most common use of this substance is for treating insomnia. Now, individuals with this sleep disorder who have not tried CBD might be curious as to what this compound has to offer for their condition. If you are one of these individuals and you are wondering if this substance can help you, here’s what you need to know.

When trying to understand how CBD can help with this condition, knowing its causes is a great first step. You can experience it primarily, which means that it is not related to other medical conditions and the reason for the disorder includes external reasons such as stress, jet lag and disturbances. Secondary is when a medical condition causes the insomnia such as mental health issues, medications, pain and other sleep disorders.

How effective is CBD in treating insomnia?

Now that you know what exactly this disorder is, its varieties and causes, you may be wondering how CBD can help treat it. Let us talk about the compound’s effectivity in terms of causes.

FOR PRIMARY INSOMNIA

If you are suffering from failure to fall and stay asleep as a primary condition, it is important that you take necessary steps to induce slumber and ensure that it will not be interrupted. CBD can help get you into a relaxed state to prepare your mind and body for resting. This is useful especially if the source of your disorder is stress. CBD oil and other infused products are known to calm down the nerves. It could also be helpful for jet lags and disturbances.

FOR SECONDARY INSOMNIA

Those who are suffering this disorder as condition that is secondary to another medical problem can also use this cannabinoid as treatment, especially if mental health is at the roots. Cannabidiol is used to treat anxiety, depression, PTSD and other similar disorders. Individuals who have trouble sleeping due to pain and aches can also benefit from cannabidiol, as it is known as an effective pain reliever and anti-inflammatory.
Tips for Using CBD Products for Insomnia

CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR

Sufferers of secondary insomnia are likely to be taking medications to address their other conditions. Because of this, it is important to ask your doctor if it is safe to consume CBD along with other medicines.

TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS

While CBD can definitely help get your mind and body ready for slumber, those you want to make sure that you minimize disturbances such as bright light, noise and other similar factors. You might want to wear a sleep mask and ear plugs to reduce the chances of interruptions. You can also set the temperature to a level that is optimal to you.

USE RESPONSIBLY

If you are expecting to handle heavy machinery and other tools within a few moments, it is only responsible to refrain from taking any sleep-inducing substances that can impair your ability to handle such equipment.

Cannabidiol can help you get the rest you need to get you through the next day. So, make it a point to check out what this cannabinoid can do for your disorder. Just make sure that you follow these tips and you are good to go.

 
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Pure grain alcohol. It's a brand name here. Everclear is fine. Alcohol and fats the only thing that breaks down cannabinoids from plant matter. Post harvest trimmings are the result of trimming koalas for retail sale. Personally, I'd always use a white 600 thread count sheet, sit on stool and pull my buds out of the bag and trim over the sheet. Gather the sheet and trimmings, either simmer in butter/ water ( for puna butter, butterscotch caramels🤪 and general cooking) or steep in PGA for a week for green Jack
Aka hillbilly absinthe.
For jello shots, 50/50 jack to water or juice, and your fav jello flavor. Pour in paper cups,( or MCds ketchup cups) chill til set. Btw, a tray of these will shut a party down fast lol.
 
For caramels, puna butter, sugar, vanilla and cream simmer over water bath. Drop with oiled spoon to oiled cookie sheet tsp sized dots. Chill to firm either freeze or wrap in wax paper separately. Drop one in a cup of chamomile or sleepy time tea, or just as a lozenge. They're wonderful.
 
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The best CBD gummies for sleep

by Adrienne Jordan | Forbes | 27 Apr 2020

CBD gummies have proven to be consumers #1 choice, providing an alternative to smoking or vaping that people who otherwise haven’t consumed cannabis would be willing to use. Loved among the old and young, CBD gummies are easily the premiere choice of the industry, but where should people go to get the best quality?

With so many different people trying to take advantage of the ‘green rush’ coming from CBD’s nationwide legalization, it can be tough to know who to trust. Especially with edibles, the chances of coming across some snake oil or something of underwhelming quality is not worth the risk. Here is a list of some top choices for travel, sleep, and mood:

Verma Farms

One of the best choices on the market when it comes to CBD, Verma Farms has consistently been a winner since its launch last year. Delivering upon products that not only set the standard for what natural CBD should be like; but how to continuously deliver on market trends time-and-time again is a special feat. However, it’s one that Verma Farms gets right every time, with the latest upgrades they’ve made to their CBD gummy lineup as a no exception. They have the widest selection of products on the market, so there’s something for everyone.

For their gummies, Verma Farms has designed a solid blend between flavor and quality that’s unmatched, with its most popular product being its CBD Gummy Pack. Although it sounds particular, the hardest part of designing CBD gummies comes down to the balance between bite texture and the first flavor that hits your palette; and as many CBD companies aim for their gummies to mask the flavor of the cannabis, Verma doesn’t worry about that, and instead focuses on creating something you can eat guilt-free. Regardless of how experienced someone is with CBD, having a product you can take day-in and day-out is what’s important, which Verma Farms gets right across the board.

Penguin

Another popular name in CBD, Penguin has a stellar selection of CBD gummies as well. Coming in with a multipack, the variety of flavors within are outstanding on their own. The right blend between sweet and sour, each 30 pack contains 10mg of CBD, coming in at a solid value for $45 per pack. And with a solid process to their creation, Penguin actually puts together a solid amount of value for what you’re getting in return.

Sourced from Oregon, Penguin utilizes CBD grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, harvested into the purest concoction they can yield. Distilling into an isolate, Penguin makes a great product for anyone first getting into CBD or even has been at it for a while. By creating rich, flavorful gummies that hit the sour notes without being too bitter, a lot of detail went into these - that’s clear from start to finish. All-in-all, this is a knockout choice for someone looking for a straightforward CBD gummy made by a trusted brand.

Not Pot

Another favorite brand to pop over the years is Not Pot. Often considered a case study in how CBD branding should look, Not Pot is the perfect blend of not taking themselves too seriously while investing quite a bit into the details of their product and brand. They are one of the more clever and fun CBD companies on the market, with their main product of gummies becoming a runaway hit.

Beyond the fun and playful feel, Not Pot is serious about the quality of their CBD. Not only do they offer five top-tier fruit flavors (Green Apple, Pineapple, Watermelon, Grape, and Blue Raspberry), but they put a lot of details into each jar, with each snack providing a more refreshing bite than the last.

The best part? Not Pot keeps up the inclusive attitude with their pricing as well, coming in with an entry at $39.99 for some high-strength, low-intervention CBD, becoming a favorite CBD company this year.

Lord Jones

Offering a premium for gummies, Lord Jones is the Rolls Royce of the CBD world. Unapologetic in their pricing, the quality is certainly in with them. Offering nine 20mg gummies per box at $45, what you’re buying is still competitive. However, it’s the detail, texture, and flavor that went into these that justify them as a ‘treat’.

When a brand makes its tagline ‘The World’s Finest CBD Infused Products’, that’s a steep title to live up to, and one that can often come off as corny or gimmicky; however, Lord Jones really delivers on the hype.

Although not quite offering bargains, their pricing is honest for what you’re getting, as Lord Jones develops some of the more high-quality candies on the market. It’s clear that you’re paying for an experience with them, which if you want a treat in CBD gummies, then this is an excellent company to indulge in.

Joy Organics

Another great company that lives up to their name; Joy Organics does indeed, bring you joy. Coming with two flavors of Strawberry Lemonade and Green Apple, their 30 pack of 10mg gummies is one of the best values on our list. Made with premium quality ingredients, Joy Organics also lives true to the organic part of their name as well, keeping practically everything they can in their products as organic as possible. For a broad spectrum product, this is easily a favorite among CBD fans.

The biggest thing about Joy Organics is how much pride they have in consistency. Their mission of delivering on quality CBD that’s sourced and made organically is met with every product they produce, which is a hard feat to match. This is why Joy Organics’ reputation among CBD is growing to be one of the best, proving that a lot of the mission-based products have become early frontrunners among the industry.

CBDfx

An excellent company when it comes to offering a balanced lineup, CBDfx is a smart choice. Offering a broad spectrum variety, their flavorings are based more on your CBD experience, complete with traditional Gummy Bears, Tumeric and Spirulina, Melatonin, Apple Cider Vinegar, Biotin, and gummy multivitamins. Obviously, their variety is great for using CBD and something else in tandem, and with 300mg for $49.99 across the board, they’ve ironed out a smart formula for what gummies should look like.

Granted, just because CBDfx offers a wide range of intent for their CBD, that’s not to say they skimp on ingredients. The sourcing for CBDfx is really what sets the standard for a lot of what mixtures like this should look like; providing premium ingredients for an exceptional experience. Considerably delicious for the flavor too, CBDfx is an underrated selection, hitting every single standard with flying colors.

Balance

One of the most popular names out for their pricing and variety of gummies; Balance is a brand you should get familiar with. Starting at $19.95, the highest pricing they offer is $34.95, making them an incredibly accessible brand. Offering the flavors Strawberry, Orange, Raspberry, Cotton Candy, Granny Smith, and Wildberry, as well as a Variety Pack, Balance lives up to their name for the variety of tastes. The eating experience doesn’t intrude very much, providing a simple, straightforward gummy that gets the job done. However, don’t sleep on their quality, as Balance definitely comes through with the strength of their team.

Founded by primarily those in the medical field, Balance has a team that has been evangelists of CBD for some time now. A smart group that really has honed in on the details of how to offer a quality product, Balance is out to set levels of how CBD should be done among the mix that others aren’t reaching yet. Don’t be surprised if you hear about them in the coming years when it comes to CBD advancements and research.

CBDistillery

There are certain brands that put almost all their resources into the product, which CBDistillery is a case study of. Regarded as a top CBD company among critics, CBDistillery offers an outstanding line of products, with gummies holding up to the competition just as well as any of the rest. Offering two simple selections between a regular and melatonin infused variety, CBDistillery puts everything into enabling a top-tier experience among them, putting a decently high dosage of 30mg at a 25 count for $55 each as the base (with a double pack on sale for $90). Beyond just their products, CBDistillery also is an active advocate for the CBD community, looking to lead what they consider is the #CBDMOVEMENT.

Founded by Colorado natives, CBDistillery was inspired by the opportunists in the industry looking to make a quick buck off CBD rather than actually be interested in creating a solid process. Instead, CBDistillery has offered high-quality products at an affordable price that’s helped their name quickly among the CBD community on a national scale. Now looking to become a household name in CBD, CBDistillery has certainly cultivated quite the dedicated following.

Royal CBD

Trying to live up to a title like royalty sets a high barometer, but that’s exactly what Royal CBD is doing. Coming in with a simple, elegant lineup of two gummies at 10mg and 25mg, Royal CBD has straightforward pricing that actually is accessible to the masses ($54 and $79, respectively). Utilizing a high-quality process, Royal CBD is made from organic hemp that comes with a full dose per bite. Sourced from some of the best CBD in the business, Royal CBD definitely keeps it authentic.

Although Royal has a premium name, they aim to offer it to as many people as possible. Offering full transparency behind their products, their full spectrum offering is one that gives a plant-to-person experience that’s unmatched. Although we’d recommend them to someone who may have had CBD a time or two, they're definitely delivering on a product that doesn’t hold back, which anyone looking to get into CBD should keep on their radar.

Premium Jane

To round out the list is Premium Jane, who although only offers one type of CBD gummy, is one of the better suppliers in the industry. This CBD company is known for delivering a top-quality product without skimping on the process. Also, they’re known for delivering an organic, pesticide-free CBD gummy that is 25mg per piece while also providing a lot of value for the price of $55 per 30 piece bottle. Packing premium value into a solid price is one of the great things about Premium Jane, with these gummies as an exceptional selection.

One thing that Premium Jane prides itself on is taste. Eliminating what they consider an ‘earthy, grassy taste’, they aim to make flavors that please the palette, however, don’t go for overly sweet or artificial flavors. Keeping it pure but expansive, Premium Jane doesn’t hold back on flavor or ingredients, making them worthy of any best CBD list. Keep an eye out for what they have coming up, as this is a brand you don’t want to sleep on.

Final note about CBD

CBD is a great substance, but it’s something you want to speak with your doctor about before consuming it. As CBD isn’t for everyone, it’s important to note what’s best for you based on your history. Even if it’s just a quick call, learning if there’s any remote danger (especially in older consumers or those with preexisting conditions) could help quite a bit in getting your CBD experience off on the right foot.​
 
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Digital sleep therapy can help people identify the underlying causes of their sleep problems.

Hope for 500,000 insomniacs in Norway

by Steinar Brandslet | Norwegian University of Science and Technology | 25 Aug 2020

Approximately 500,000 Norwegians suffer from chronic sleep disorders, also called insomnia. Researchers have long known that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is the best documented treatment, but few people have access to such therapy.

A fully automated digital version of this treatment has proven effective for many patients and can reduce the use of sleeping pills.

"Our results show that it's possible to provide very effective and drug-free sleep treatment on a large scale. This can be done without meeting with health personnel," says clinical psychologist Håvard Kallestad.

Kallestad is a researcher at St. Olav's Hospital and in NTNU's Department of Mental Health. He is also one of the first authors of a newly published article in The Lancet Digital Health.

Underlying causes addressed

Digital sleep support can help people identify the underlying causes of their sleep issues. The treatment addresses problematic sleep patterns, various stressors and other factors that interfere with sleep. Patients keep a journal that can provide insight into their own situation.

The new study in The Lancet Digital Health is encouraging.

Clear improvement following digital sleep therapy

The treatment study included 1721 participants, who received either digital sleep therapy or good sleep advice and digital information about sleep problems. All were Norwegian adults over the age of 18 who had difficulty sleeping. The findings are quite clear.

Approximately six of 10 participants (58 percent) experienced substantial improvement from the digital sleep therapy. In the control group, which received good sleep advice and digital information, only around 20 percent experienced a similar effect. The digital sleep treatment was thus about three times as effective.

Many people slept normally

Thirty-eight percent of participants achieved normal sleep quality after undergoing the digital sleep therapy. Only eight percent of the control group had similar results.

"We also found that the participants who received digital sleep treatment were able to reduce their use of sleeping pills more than participants who only received sleep advice," says Kallestad.

This form of psychological therapy for a significant public health problem could prove to be more accessible than sleep medication treatment.

Digital sleep therapy is fully automated, meaning that no appointment with a health care provider is needed for the treatment. The study interventions were also automated.

The sleep treatment takes about six to eight weeks to complete.

 
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High-resolution, relational, resonance-based electroencephalic mirroring uses scalp sensors to monitor
brainwaves to translate specific frequencies into audible tones of varying pitch in real time.


Non-invasive neurotechnology reduces insomnia

Neuroscience News | 17 Sep 2020

HIRREM, a closed-loop acoustic stimulation neurotechnology, reduced insomnia symptoms, and improved autonomic nervous system function.

For people with chronic insomnia, a good night’s sleep is elusive. But what if insomnia symptoms could be alleviated by simply listening to one’s own brainwaves?

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Health conducted a clinical trial that showed reduced insomnia symptoms and improved autonomic nervous system function using a closed-loop, acoustic stimulation neurotechnology. The study is published in the September 17 online edition of the journal Brain and Behavior.

High-resolution, relational, resonance-based electroencephalic mirroring (HIRREM) uses scalp sensors to monitor brainwaves and software algorithms to translate specific frequencies into audible tones of varying pitch in real time.

These tones linked to brainwaves are echoed back instantaneously via ear buds. This allows the brain a chance to listen to itself, to look at itself in an acoustic mirror.

“Sleep is foundational for optimal health, healing and well-being,” said principal investigator Charles H. Tegeler, M.D., chair of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.

“HIRREM is a unique non-drug, noninvasive, acoustic neuromodulation intervention that supports the brain to balance and quiet itself. Our results show durable benefit for both reduced symptoms of insomnia and significantly improved objective measures of autonomic function.”

HIRREM technology supports the brain to self-adjust, to reset from what may have become stuck trauma and stress patterns, believed to contribute to insomnia,"
Tegeler said. "The brain pattern is observed to shift toward improved balance and reduced hyperarousal with no conscious, cognitive activity required."

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, about 30 to 35% of Americans have experienced insomnia, which can reduce life expectancy and increase the risk of cardiovascular events, obesity, diabetes and other illnesses.

The study included 107 adult men and women with moderate to severe insomnia. Approximately half received the HIRREM intervention, and the placebo group received an active intervention of random tones. All participants kept a daily sleep diary, and each received 10, 60-minute intervention sessions (either HIRREM or placebo), over a three-week period.

In the study, changes were recorded on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a self-reporting instrument to assess insomnia symptoms. Researchers also recorded heart rate and blood pressure to objectively analyze autonomic cardiovascular regulation.

After completion of the intervention sessions and at follow-up visits up to four months later, subjects in the HIRREM group reported clinically meaningful reductions for insomnia symptoms. Four months following the intervention, 78% of those receiving HIRREM reported no significant insomnia symptoms. They also showed significant, durable improvements in autonomic function across multiple objective measures of heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) compared to those who received random tones. HRV is a powerful biometric that reflects the health of the autonomic nervous system, and BRS measures blood pressure regulation.

In this study, the HIRREM participants were five times more likely than placebo to have improvement in their HRV measured as rMSSD by more than 50%. They were also twice as likely to have improved BRS by more than 50% compared to placebo.

These changes may lead to long-term improvement in the cardiovascular health of the participants, Tegeler said. There were no serious adverse events, and less than 6% of study participants dropped out.

“These findings add to the rapidly growing interest in neuromodulation and demonstrate that a brief intervention with closed-loop acoustic stimulation can improve sleep in a meaningful way, while also improving autonomic function,” Tegeler said. “It’s an important alternative approach for people who suffer from insomnia.”

 
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9 home remedies for insomnia

by Joanne Lewsley | Medical News Today | 5 Oct 2020

Those experiencing insomnia who wish to avoid medication, such as sleeping pills, can try several remedies to encourage the onset of sleep and improve its quality and duration.

About a third of adults in the United States report that they get less than the recommended amount of sleep, which is 7 or more hours of sleep per night.

This article looks at some natural remedies, relaxation techniques, exercises, sleep hygiene, and behaviors that can improve the symptoms of insomnia.

1. Melatonin

Melatonin is a natural hormone that the brain produces to regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle. Liquid or capsule dietary supplements of melatonin can help people with insomnia fall asleep more quickly. Melatonin can also help improve the quality of sleep. It may be most useful for shift workers, people experiencing jet lag, or people with sleep disorders.

There are no guidelines for melatonin dosage, but experts consider a safe dose in adults to be 1–5 milligrams (mg).

2. Lavender oil

Lavender oil is a type of essential oil derived from the lavender plant. People have used it for thousands of years as a natural remedy to improve sleep and induce feelings of calmness.

A 2015 study found that lavender patches, when combined with good sleep hygiene, improved the sleep quality of college students, while a 2020 review of plant extracts for sleep disorders found that lavender improved the onset of sleep, sleep duration, and quality of sleep.

People with insomnia can use lavender oil as a pillow spray or in a patch, massage oil, or aromatherapy diffuser.

Lavender is usually safe for people to take as a dietary supplement, but it may sometimes interact with other medications. Anyone already taking sleep medication or medication for high blood pressure should check with their doctor before taking lavender oil supplements. Look for supplements with around 80 mg of lavender oil for a safe and effective dosage.

The 2020 review also highlighted other plant extracts — valerian and chamomile — that research showed to be effective in improving the symptoms of insomnia.

3. Valerian root

A 2015 systematic review found that valerian was associated with improved sleep, but there was significant variability among the studies.

People can take valerian in the form of a tea, tincture, capsule, or tablet. Speak to a qualified herbalist before preparing and taking valerian, but a typical dose would be 400–900 mg shortly before bedtime.

4. Chamomile

People can take chamomile as a tea, or they can use it as an essential oil or take it as a dietary supplement. A 2017 study in older people with insomnia found that chamomile extract can significantly improve sleep quality.

5. Mindful meditation

The positive effects of mindfulness on well-being are well-documented and include reducing stress, boosting resilience, improving mood, and even enhancing immunity. However, mindfulness may also have an improving effect on sleep.

A 2014 study on mindfulness techniques in people with chronic insomnia found that mindful meditation interventions reduced total wake time in subjects. The study authors recommended mindfulness as a viable treatment alternative to traditional treatments.

Countless free and paid-for mindfulness apps, videos, and podcasts are available online. People wishing to try mindfulness may also prefer to do a course, join a local weekly class, or go on a retreat. They can also build this practice into physical exercise, such as yoga or tai chi.

6. Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), sometimes called Jacobson relaxation, is a technique that can help the whole body relax and promote feelings of sleepiness. It focuses on tightening and then relaxing the muscles in the body, one muscle at a time. People who find it hard to drop off at night may find that this helps them get to sleep.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommend relaxation techniques, including PMR, as effective treatments for chronic insomnia. However, it can take a while to get the hang of the technique. Practicing during the day may help for the first few weeks, before trying it at night.

7. Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral that the body produces. It helps muscles relax and reduces stress. Many experts think that it can also help to encourage a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
A 2012 study found that taking a daily magnesium supplement can help people with insomnia sleep better and for longer. However, more research is necessary to confirm whether it is truly effective.

Choosing foods that are rich in magnesium, especially in the evening, may help induce feelings of sleepiness. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommend a magnesium-rich snack, such as a banana, a mug of warm milk, or a small bowl of whole grain cereal, about an hour before bedtime.

Learn more about which foods are high in magnesium here.

8. Regular exercise

Regular exercise will boost well-being, mood, and fitness levels and can even help people get a better night’s sleep. A 2015 trial by the European Sleep Research Society found that 150 minutes of exercise a week significantly improved symptoms of insomnia for participants and reduced depression and anxiety, which have a knock-on effect on sleep.

The NSF recommend low impact fitness programs, such as walking, swimming, or yoga. Exercising outdoors also exposes the body to natural light, which is important in establishing a good sleep-wake cycle.

For maximum sleep results, people may benefit from scheduling an exercise session for the morning or afternoon rather than the evening. This allows the body temperature to rise, and then fall, at the right time for sleep. Boosting well-being and fitness through exercise also helps reduce depression and anxiety, which can affect sleep.

9. Good sleep hygiene

At its simplest, sleep hygiene describes a person’s routines and activities around bedtime. Good sleep hygiene may help boost a person’s chances of having consistent, uninterrupted sleep.

People can increase good sleep hygiene by:​
  • having a consistent bedtime routine, which means going to bed at the same time in the evening and rising at the same time in the morning, even on weekends​
  • avoiding screens, laptops, cell phones, and TVs at least an hour before bedtime​
  • keeping the bedroom dark and quiet with dimmed lights, thick curtains, and blinds or by using earplugs and eye masks​
  • using the bedroom only for sleep or sex​
  • making sure that mattresses, pillows, and blankets are comfortable​
  • avoiding alcohol, nicotine, and caffeinated beverages in the evening​
  • having a warm bath or shower about 1.5 hours before bedtime​
  • refraining from eating big meals late at night​
People with insomnia may benefit from evaluating their usual bedtime habits and practices and incorporating some of these tips into their routine.

*From the article here:
 
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Why (and how) Melatonin promotes sleep

University of Connecticut | Neuroscience News | 15 Nov 2020

Melatonin is used as a dietary supplement to promote sleep and get over jet lag, but nobody really understands how it works in the brain. Now, researchers at UConn Health show that melatonin helps worms sleep, too, and they suspect they’ve identified what it does in us.

Our bodies produce melatonin in darkness. It’s technically a hormone, but you can readily buy melatonin as a supplement in pharmacies, nutrition stores, and other retail shops. It’s widely used by adults and often in children as well.

Melatonin binds to melatonin receptors in the brain to produce its sleep-promoting effects. Think of a receptor as a keyhole, and melatonin as the key. The two keyholes for melatonin are called MT1 and MT2 in human brain cells. But scientists didn’t really know what happens when the keyhole is unlocked.

Now UConn Health School of Medicine neuroscientists Zhao-Wen Wang and Bojun Chen and their colleagues have identified that process through their work with C. elegans worms, as reported in PNAS on Sept. 21. When melatonin fits into the MT1 receptor in the worm’s brain, it opens a potassium channel known as the BK channel.

melatonin-sleep-neuroscinews.png

Melatonin binds to melatonin receptors in the brain to produce its sleep-promoting effects.

A major function of the BK channel in neurons is to limit the release of neurotransmitters, which are chemical substances used by neurons to talk to each other. In their search for factors related to the BK channel, the Wang and Chen labs found that a melatonin receptor is needed for the BK channel to limit neurotransmitter release. They subsequently found that melatonin promotes sleep in worms by activating the BK channel through the melatonin receptor. Worms that lack either melatonin secretion, the melatonin receptor, or the BK channel spend less time in sleep.

But wait, worms sleep?

Indeed they do, says Chen. There’s actually been quite a lot of research on worm sleep, and researchers found that sleep is similar between worms and mammals like humans and mice.

Wang and Chen next plan to see if the melatonin-MT1-BK relationship holds in mice. The BK channel is involved in all kinds of bodily happenings, from epilepsy to high blood pressure. By learning more about the relationships between the BK channel, sleep, and behavioral changes, the researchers hope both to understand melatonin better and also help people who suffer from other diseases related to the BK channel.

 
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How to get more and sounder sleep in 2021*

by Till Lauer | New York Times | 30 Dec 2020

For many, 2020 was a year that provided lots of worries that kept us tossing and turning at night. Tara Parker-Pope’s guide, How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep, is packed with advice:

We spend about one-third of our lives asleep, and sleep is essential to better health. But many of us are struggling with sleep. Four out of five people say that they suffer from sleep problems at least once a week and wake up feeling exhausted. So how do you become a more successful sleeper? Grab a pillow, curl up and keep reading to find out.

How foods may affect our sleep

With the coronavirus pandemic, school and work disruptions and a contentious election season contributing to countless sleepless nights, sleep experts have encouraged people to adopt a variety of measures to overcome their stress-related insomnia. Among their recommendations: engage in regular exercise, establish a nightly bedtime routine and cut back on screen time and social media.

But many people may be overlooking another important factor in poor sleep: diet. A growing body of research suggests that the foods you eat can affect how well you sleep, and your sleep patterns can affect your dietary choices.

Researchers have found that eating a diet that is high in sugar, saturated fat and processed carbohydrates can disrupt your sleep, while eating more plants, fiber and foods rich in unsaturated fat — such as nuts, olive oil, fish and avocados — seems to have the opposite effect, helping to promote sound sleep.

Let the sunshine in

A daily dose of sunlight won’t fend off or cure coronavirus, though researchers continue to explore the effects that warmer weather and ultraviolet rays might have on the virus. But scientists are finding that exposure to the sun has numerous other benefits that may be especially important now — including helping to elevate mood, to improve the quality of our sleep and to strengthen the body’s innate defenses against a variety of pathogens.

Exposure to daylight is critical for accurately setting our internal circadian clock, which in turn regulates sleep and waking, said Mariana Figueiro, the director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

Without adequate light, we can go into a kind of permanent jet lag, Dr. Figueiro explained, where we get more easily irritated and depressed, our immune function is suppressed and our overall health may deteriorate.

Whether you are a night owl or early bird may affect how much you move

People who are evening types go to bed later and wake up later than morning types. They also tend to move around far less throughout the day, according to an interesting new study of how our innate body clocks may be linked to our physical activity habits. The study, one of the first to objectively track daily movements of a large sample of early birds and night owls, suggests that knowing our chronotype might be important for our health.

In recent years, a wealth of new science has begun explicating the complex roles of cellular clocks and chronotypes in our health and lifestyles. Thanks to this research, we know that each of us contains a master internal body clock, located in our brains, that tracks and absorbs outside clues, such as ambient light, to determine what time it is and how our bodies should react. This master clock directs the rhythmic release of hormones, such as melatonin, and other chemicals that affect sleep, wakefulness, hunger and many other physiological systems.

Reader's comments

Natalie
Michigan1h ago
I am a 54 year old woman who has not had a drink in 31 years. Two years ago a friend suggested I try cannabis for my sleep issues. What a revelation! I went from a completely sober white knuckler to a very, very happy (and sleepy) person at bedtime. Plant medicine- changed my life for the better, in every way.

Pb
USA
I sleep really well unless I drink. I fall asleep after two glasses of wine and then wake up exactly at 2 am with a dry mouth and pounding heart. Sans wine, I sleep from 10-7 with no interruptions. My 2021 goal is less wine and more sleep

Reality TIme
somewhere in Texas
If you are missing out on sunlight, you may want to consider a vitamin D supplement, especially if you don't eat a lot of fish. My doctor told me to start taking D3, and I've been sleeping better as a result.

Olenska
New England
@Kay Sieverding : There’s something about a hot bath - absolutely. When I was writing my Master’s thesis I would become stuck from time to time. Invariably, soaking in the tub would not only untie the knot but elicit ideas and new thoughts for the work.

*From the article here :
 
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8 ways to fall back asleep after waking in the night

by Sandee LaMotte | CNN | 23 Feb 2021

It could be nature's call, the pitter-patter of little feet (No, honey, it's not daytime yet, go back to bed) or a squirrel scampering loudly across the roof over your bedroom -- and suddenly you are awake. Very awake.

Then before you know it, your mind is flooded with things you forgot to do, worries over finances or reliving an unpleasant experience you planned to forget. Sleep is a lost cause -- or is it?

Here are eight tips from sleep and anxiety experts on how to shut down that whirling dervish of a brain and coax your body back into much-needed sleep.​

1. Use deep breathing

Deep breathing is a well-known method of stress reduction and relaxation, if done correctly.

Start by putting your hand on your stomach. Close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath through your nose, making sure that you can feel your abdomen rise. Try to breathe in for a slow count of six. Now release that breath very slowly -- to the same count of six -- through your mouth.

"Taking slow deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth using our main respiratory muscle, the diaphragm can help relax the body and mind," said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.​

2. Try guided sleep meditations and muscle relaxation

Meditation, of course, is a great way to calm the mind. But if you're not a practiced meditator, the act of trying to keep your mind focused might become a source of stress.

"You could try a guided sleep app, some of which actually embed delta sleep waves," said stress management expert Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, an editor for Contentment magazine, produced by the American Institute of Stress.

"Put it on loop so you don't wake up," Ackrill said. "Lie there and listen and slow your breathing down. Keep focused on their guidance or if you are just listening to a music/white noise, focus on your breath. Your mind will interrupt — don't judge it, but keep coming back to your breath."

If your body is still tense, try adding progressive muscle relaxation to your breathing. Starting with your toes, breath in and tense the muscles in that area, holding the tension for up to 10 seconds. Release the tension quickly, all at once, and imagine breathing through that part of the body as you exhale. Move from your toes to your feet, calves, upper thighs and the rest of the muscle groups in the body.​

3. Stop the blame game

There is a whole channel in your brain dedicated to judging your inability to sleep, and it loves to play the "blame and shame" game, said Ackrill, a former family physician who is also trained in neuroscience, wellness and leadership coaching.

"If you have had the issue for any length of time, you have probably researched or discovered that not sleeping is not good for you. So besides your brain turning on about whatever worries are front and center, you also start repeatedly worrying about the effects of lack of sleep. And as with most worries, you probably judge yourself for it," Ackrill said.

"Throw yourself a little compassion," she advised. "It's not a reflection of your worth."

Then, to prevent the mind from revving up at night, give your brain a break a few times during the workday: "If your brain has been in high gear all day, it has a harder time shutting down. Bring it back to neutral at least a couple of times a day with 5-minute breaks of breath work," said Ackrill.​

4. Avoid clock watching

Want to feel even more anxious and guilty about not sleeping? That's what clock watching will do. So don't keep checking the time -- really.

"It's important not to get worked up about one bad night's sleep because anxiety itself makes it difficult to fall back asleep," said USC's Dasgupta.

"It can also be overstimulating," said Dr. Bhanu Kolla, an addiction psychiatrist and sleep medicine expert at the Mayo Clinic.

"You usually end up trying to determine how much time you have left to sleep and worrying about whether you will fall back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time," Kolla said. "This can in fact make the process of returning to sleep more difficult."

Don't grab a sneak peak when you go back to bed, either. Seeing the time may only rev you up again.​

5. Don't drink alcohol before bed

Don't drink before bed, said Kolla, who studies the interaction between sleep disturbances and addictive disorders.

"As alcohol is metabolized it forms acetaldehyde which is stimulating," he told CNN. "Therefore if you drink too much alcohol right before going to bed, in about four hours it is converted to aldehyde which can disrupt sleep and wake you up."

"In addition to awakenings during the night, alcohol can cause frequent trips to the bathroom because it inhibits a hormone called anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), resulting in increased urination,"
Dasgupta added.​

6. Write down your worries

It's best to try to get rid of your worries -- as much as possible -- well before bed, experts say.

"Close the day by capturing anything left to do tomorrow -- so you don't have to work on that at 3 am -- and bullet point ongoing issues so you have a clear picture," Ackrill said. "Reflect on what went well (that day) and be grateful. This is good to do at end of work day or after dinner, before evening relaxation."

However, it you missed that step or your brain still doesn't want to let go despite the use of relaxation techniques, try "dumping" as a method of stress reduction, Ackrill said.

"Keep a pad and low light next to the bed and write the list down," she said. "If that doesn't work -- your mind is really on -- get up. Leave the bedroom and do a quick writing dump of worries, thoughts and ideas. If you are really upset, write to exhaustion."

7. Beware of blue light and stimulation

Don't use a computer, smartphone or tablet to jot down your worries, though, experts warn.

"In fact, the No. 1 rule is no computers, cell phones, and PDAs in bed and at least one hour prior to bed time," said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, who directs sleep basic research in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Instead, write your to-do or worry list on paper, using only a dim light, he advised. And if you decide to read to put yourself to sleep, make sure you read in a dim light off from a real book, not a tablet or an e-reader.

"That's because any LED spectrum light source may further suppress melatonin levels," Polotsky said. Melatonin, secreted in a daily 24-hour circadian rhythm, is often referred to as a "sleep hormone," because we sleep better during the night when levels peak.

"Digital light will suppress the circadian drive," Polotsky said, "while a dim reading light will not."

Oh, and one more thing, Polotsky said: "Grab the most boring paper book you can find, because you don't want to read or do anything stimulating when you are trying to fall back asleep."

Surprise! That includes taking a warm shower or bath, he added. Why ever not?

"Because it is a significant activity, which may further disrupt sleep," Polotsky said. "By the same token, I had some patients going for a short stroll in the middle of the night or doing dishes -- no to both."

8. Get up after 20 minutes

Don't just lie there staring at the ceiling, experts say. If you can't get back to sleep after 15 or 20 minutes, get out of bed and go into another room where there is dim light and do something calming until you feel drowsy again.

(Note: We have already learned that dishes, strolls and warm baths are not calming.)

"Maybe read a boring book and try a little Sudoko, but avoid picking up that cell phone or going on your computer," Dasgupta said. "In addition to blue light, the temptation to go on social media or check your work e-mails might prevent your mind from relaxing," he said.

Do those boring activities until you start feeling drowsy, and "only then return to bed," Mayo's Kolla said. "If you do not fall asleep in another 10 minutes, again get out of bed and do the same thing. The idea is to avoid long times in bed where you are not sleeping."

Why is lying in bed a problem?

"We do not want what we call 'dead time' in bed, time where you are in bed trying to fall asleep but not sleeping," Kolla explained. "This tends to cause some frustration and anxiety."

"In addition we want the bed to be a place that you associate with sleep,"
Kolla added. "The more you do other things including lay awake trying to fall asleep, the weaker this association gets and the more difficult it is to fall back asleep."

That's one of the reasons that all sleep experts advise against using a laptop or tablet in bed, watching television from your bed, or frankly not much of anything except ...
"Bed is only for sleep and sexual activity, nothing else!" Polotsky said.

 
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Insomnia treatment offers relief

by Flinders University | Medical Xpress | 23 Sep 2020

Insomnia causing sleepless nights, daytime fatigue and poor health outcomes is a cycle worth busting, experts say, with depression, anxiety and stress a common co-occurrence.

A study of more than 450 insomnia patients in Australia has confirmed some positive results for such patients with insomnia.

The Flinders University researchers found not only that a program of targeted cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia helps relieve insomnia—but also has a positive effect on symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.

"With COVID-19 and many other stressors in life, treating the worst effects of insomnia may have a transformative effect on a person's wellbeing, mental health and lifestyle," says lead researcher Dr. Alexander Sweetman, from Flinders University's sleep research clinic, the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health.

"We studied the impact of depression, anxiety, and stress on response to CBTi, in 455 'real world' insomnia patients, from pre-treatment to three-month follow-up," Dr. Sweetman says.

"Insomnia symptoms improved by a similar amount between patients with and without symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress."

Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress show moderate-to-large improvement following CBTi, the results published in Sleep Medicine show.

Flinders Professor Leon Lack, who runs the insomnia therapy service at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Bedford Park, says CBT for insomnia ('CBTi') is recommended as the most effective and first-line treatment of insomnia.

As well as face-to-face CBTi therapy available at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, the expert treatment is also available via telehealth options around Australia.

"The revamped insomnia treatment program at Flinders includes a range of treatments provided by experienced psychologists and physicians specializing in the management of sleep disorders, and treatment approaches which are directly based on the highest quality available scientific evidence," says Professor Lack.

"In line with many health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flinders University insomnia treatment program is also available through online and telehealth platforms to people living in rural or remote areas of Australia."

The sleep research team is also rolling out the evidence-backed insomnia CBT program for general practitioners to support people with their sleep problems and avoid the use of sedative hypnotic medication over time.

More information: Alexander Sweetman et al, Do symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress impair the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia? A chart-review of 455 patients with chronic insomnia, Sleep Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2020.08.023
Journal information: Sleep Medicine

 
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We tried the Dodow sleep aid for over two months — here’s why it’s worth it

by Benjamin Levin | CNN | 15 Mar 2021

If you’re like myself and countless others, you may have trouble falling asleep at night. Dodow is looking to change that, one insomniac at a time, with its sleep aid that focuses on calm breathing.

The device aims to help you relax and clear your mind as you prepare to fall asleep. It takes the form of a small disk, and tapping on the top will activate a slowly pulsing blue light. This dim light projects onto your ceiling to help you pace your breath.

As it expands, you inhale, and as it contracts, you exhale. When you follow along with this slow breathing, you allow your body to relax and help it enter a calmer neurophysiological state. This is often referred to as “rest and digest,” wherein the muscles relax, heart rate slows and the body generally conserves energy. You can use either an eight-minute or 20-minute light cycle and three levels of brightness.

The Dodow device costs $59 from getdodow. The company also has bundles that shave the individual unit prices.

Straightforward design

The sleep aid has a simple, elegant design. The white disk measures a little under 3.5 inches in diameter and about three-quarters of an inch thick.

There is a pattern of small perforations on the top that includes a touch control for starting a light cycle, turning it off and changing the settings. The top also features a small set of LEDs that emit the blue light, and around the edge of this surface is a thin lip that slopes upward.

On the bottom of the device is a light blue disk that serves as a base with grip. The Dodow logo is engraved on it, and below that are two images that show you how to activate the eight-minute or 20-minute light cycles.

Below that, there’s a horizontal divot you can twist to unlock the battery compartment. The device runs on three AAA batteries that you insert in this compartment, which is easy to unlock with a coin or screwdriver. It’s a nice, minimal design with a pleasing color scheme.

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Setting up for sleep

Once you’ve inserted the batteries, you’re ready to start. It’s hard to overstate the simplicity of this device’s operation. For an eight-minute cycle, just tap the top once. For a 20-minute cycle, tap it twice.

From there, all you have to do is focus on the light and match your breathing to it. If you want to manually turn off the light before the cycle ends, you can hold your finger on the surface for three seconds. It will also automically turn off the light once either of the cycle concludes. A pamphlet provides detailed instructions.

Although the light isn’t very bright, you can switch between three brightness settings with ease. While the device is off, hold your finger on the top for three seconds. Once the light turns on, release your finger and then tap the surface to switch between the brightness levels. When you’re happy with the level, hold your finger on the surface for three seconds again to turn it off and save your setting.

I have been using the Dodow for over two months and have not had to replace the batteries. And considering how little power it uses and how infrequently I run it, I don’t anticipate it running out for a long time. Plus, since it runs on batteries (and it’s so small), you can take it with you wherever you go and don’t need a cable.

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Technique and tips

Staring at a pulsing light and breathing to the rhythm might sound like an odd ritual, but I found it was easier to get used to than I anticipated.

The light is a gentle color and less than one lux, so it isn’t harsh on the eyes. And it’s easy to get used to the breathing pattern the light dictates. It doesn’t go too fast or too slow, just slow enough to get you relaxing. I found it most helpful not to worry too much about being exactly right — just do your best to follow the pattern. You may want to use the 20-minute cycle when you’re getting started. After a while, it should become easier to sync with the light and easier to fall asleep. After just a few nights, I used the eight-minute cycle and dozed off before it ended.

When I said earlier that I had trouble falling asleep, I meant it. Not only am I a light sleeper, but I often have trouble falling asleep even with a consistent schedule. Using the Dodow has made a noticeable improvement in my ability to fall asleep.

In the pamphlet, Dodow suggests concentrating on your body, in addition to the light, and attempting to breathe with your lower abdomen. I found that this technique, combined with the light, provided me with full, deep breaths as well as a way for my mind to concentrate and tune out distracting thoughts. You can even try, as the pamphlet suggests, reciting “inhale” and “exhale” as you breathe in and out. It’s all about relaxing your body and quieting your mind.

Dodow also advises not “trying” to fall asleep. If you concentrate specifically on trying to fall asleep, you may become occupied with that thought, thus sabotaging yourself. Instead, try to focus on the techniques, and sleep should come naturally. Don’t be discouraged if your first attempts don’t work very well. With practice, you should improve.

If you’re wondering if this is all mumbo jumbo, the science behind it is sound. Deliberately slowing your breathing can, in fact, shift your body into a relaxed state. This state, which operates on circuitry called the parasympathetic nervous system, slows your heart rate, relaxes your muscles and halts the release of excitatory chemicals in your brain. Breathing from your abdomen is also an efficient mode of breathing. And finally, focusing on syncing with the light and your body can help you tune out other thoughts and environmental distractions.

Bottom line

The Dodow sleep aid is a unique and useful device. It helped me fall asleep faster, and more consistently. It isn’t hard to learn to sync your breath with the light, and once you get used to the process, you’ll feel the results. Just breathe in when it expands and out when it contracts.

And it doesn’t hurt to try to breathe from your abdomen, as well as following the other advice included in the pamphlet.

Try one for $59 from Dodow’s site. If you love it, you can buy a bundle on the website that lowers the cost of the individual units, and share your secret for better sleep with family and friends.

 
9 food ideas to help you sleep well

by Lisa Drayer | CNN | 16 Mar 2021

Did you know that what you eat can affect your sleep? That's right -- there are foods that can help us enjoy a blissful night's rest, while other foods and eating habits can prevent us from getting our needed zzz's.

"Foods higher in specific nutrients can enhance our ability to go to sleep and the quality of sleep," said Vandana Sheth, a California-based registered dietitian nutritionist who provides counseling about diet and sleep hygiene to clients.

That's probably welcome news for those of us who experience sleep problems occasionally or just about every night.

Below is a list of snacks and dinner foods worth considering for a good night's sleep.

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1. Berries with yogurt

Carbohydrates in berries can help to amplify serotonin production in the brain, while yogurt is a source of sleep-promoting tryptophan. "Yogurt isn't just for breakfast, and it helps to satisfy that sweet, creamy treat that many individuals enjoy as a nighttime snack," said Nancy Z. Farrell Allen, a Virginia-based registered dietitian nutritionist and national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.


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2. Tart cherry juice with walnuts

This snack is rich in melatonin, a hormone that plays an important role in the body's sleep-wake cycle. Upon darkness, production of melatonin increases, helping to promote healthy sleep.

Though some people who have trouble sleeping may consider a melatonin supplement, tart cherries provide a natural source of the hormone. In one study, those who drank tart cherry juice had higher melatonin levels and experienced longer, better quality sleep compared to a placebo group. Tart cherry juice had beneficial effects on sleep in older adults with insomnia in another study.

Walnuts, along with pistachios and almonds, are another source of melatonin, and can be combined with a shot of tart cherry juice for a post-dinner snack, according to Sheth.


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3. Chickpeas with a glass of milk

Chickpeas and milk are a source of tryptophan, an amino acid that can help to improve sleep. Tryptophan gets converted to melatonin in the brain, as well as serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps promote sleep and relaxation.

I like roasting chickpeas with a little bit of olive oil and salt, which gives them a crunchy texture. (Simply rinse them, pat them dry, mix with oil and seasonings, then roast at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.)

Enjoy them with a glass of warm milk for a nighttime snack. (Note that both cow's milk and soy milk are sources of tryptophan.)


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4. Kiwifruit

Kiwi is a source of antioxidants and serotonin, which may help improve sleep onset, duration and efficiency -- which refers to percentage of total time in bed actually spent in sleep -- in adults with sleep disturbances according to one study.

An easy way to enjoy kiwi is to cut the fruit in half horizontally, and scoop the flesh with a spoon.


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5. Spinach salad with quinoa, avocado and pumpkin seeds

Start your dinner with a salad containing these ingredients, which are rich sources of magnesium, a mineral needed for normal sleep.

"Magnesium regulates the neurotransmitter melatonin, and helps to keep our sleep cycles in check," Farrell Allen said.

Magnesium also works by increasing the neurotransmitter GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, in the brain, which slows down your thinking and helps you fall asleep. In fact, not having adequate levels of the mineral can contribute to insomnia.

If you don't have pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds are other good sources of magnesium, Farrell Allen explained.

For a bonus hit of flavor, add a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts as well.


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6. Bananas with peanut butter

"This combination is not only magnesium-rich, it will also help to blunt spikes in blood sugar and can be particularly helpful for those with diabetes," Sheth explains.


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Salmon steak, and an omelette with herbs, microgreens and peas.

7. Protein-rich foods for dinner

Consider fish, eggs and cheese at dinnertime, as they contain the amino acid L-ornithine, Sheth explained. According to one small study, this amino acid can potentially relieve stress and improve sleep quality when it comes to fatigue.


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8. Herbal tea

A cup of herbal tea can serve as a snoozeworthy beverage. "Some of my clients find chamomile tea helpful as part of their sleep routine to unwind and go to sleep," Sheth said. "It's soothing, calming and contains an antioxidant called apigenin which may help initiate the sleep cycle."

Passionflower tea may offer short-term sleep benefits for healthy adults with mild fluctuations in sleep quality, according to one study. "It actually increases levels of GABA in our brain," Sheth said.


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9. Golden milk made with turmeric

"Turmeric is calming to the stomach, and when you add it to warm milk, it can potentially help you fall asleep faster or sleep better," Sheth explains. You can add black pepper, which enhances our ability to absorb the curcumin, the bright yellow compound in turmeric that offers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. "I also like to add cinnamon, nutmeg and honey," Sheth said.

Need a recipe? Try my anti-inflammatory golden milk.

These food items give you a variety of options and are easy to work into your weekly evening routine. Give them a try for a more peaceful night's rest.

 
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