Chiropractic Elk Grove

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) Millions of Americans have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, resulting in excessive fatigue and even more serious consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): “Insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression…it is also responsible for motor vehicle and machinery-related accidents.”

Of course, Big Pharma has come up with a huge array of supposedly easy solutions for those who have a hard time getting enough shut-eye. All you have to do is pop a pill such as the heavily hyped Sonata, Rozerem, Lunesta or Silenor and you’ll soon be snoozing away happily, the drug advertisements promise. Of course, you might decide that’s not the healthiest idea if you check out the side effects which can include hallucinations, thoughts of suicide, loss of coordination, fever, “sleep driving” while not fully awake and memory problems.

But here’s good news for people wanting a more sensible, safer way to help sleep problems. Researchers say they’ve found what could be a natural and tasty solution for insomnia — drinking tart cherry juice daily.

In a pilot study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester and the V.A. Center of Canandaigua tested the effects of tart cherry juice on the sleep habits of 15 older adults. The research subjects drank 8 ounces of the beverage every morning and night for two weeks. Then, after a two week “wash out” period of no juice, the study participants were switched to another juice drink containing no cherry juice.

The results? During the weeks the study participants drank the cherry juice, there were significant reductions in reported insomnia severity when compared to the weeks when they were consuming the non-cherry juice drink. What’s more, drinking the tart cherry juice appeared to help people sleep through the night better, without waking up.

In a statement to the media, the researchers noted that tart cherries’ natural sleep-enhancing benefits could be the result of their relatively high content of melatonin — a natural antioxidant that has been shown in previous research to help induce sleepiness at night and wakefulness during the day.

In addition to normalizing sleep, scientists are discovering other health benefits of tart cherries and tart cherry juice, too. For example, University of Michigan research published last year in the Journal of Medicinal Food, suggests tart cherries may help to control weight and to prevent metabolic syndrome, the cluster of symptoms including high blood pressure and high cholesterol that ups the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Oregon Health and Science University’s Department of Medicine researchers have also found that drinking tart cherry juice for 7 days before and during a strenuous running event minimizes post-run muscle pain. Their study was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…
http://www.icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2010/fe…

I hope not.  We really do need 8 hours of sleep, well at least most of us do.  This is when water is able to reenter the discs of our spine.  This is why we might seem a little taller when we first wake up.  At night, our body repairs itself.  We also spend time “figuring” things our in our subconscious when we are dreaming.  If you aren’t getting enough rest it may be the cause of your retention or increase in weight.  On a more serious note, if you aren’t sleeping you are running the risk of increasing your blood pressure.  Insomnia is also associated with suicidal attempts/thought.  So for those of you that are having problems sleeping, I have 4 natural ways of getting to that REM mode asap:

1. Do same thing every night before bed.  If you make a ritual of this activity you body will start to prepare itself and know it’s time for bed.  Make it something that is calming and soothing if you can, like meditation, read or write, play music that helps you drift off, maybe even rub your feet.  Take a warm bath. Take this moment to wind down.

2.  Try and eat your big last meal of the day as early as possible without leaving too much time before you go to bed to get hungry all over again.  This time may be different for each person so I don’t want to tell you a particular time.  Let’s just say eat as soon as you get home, if that is possible, whatever time that might be.  Let’s say it is 5pm.  Let’s say you normally go to sleep at 9pm.  That gives you four hours to digest your food and not take it with you to bed.  There should be at least 3 hours of digestion before you go to bed.  If caffeine affects you by keeping you up make sure it is taken in at least three hours before sleeping.  If you stay up longer, past 9pm, or by 9pm you start feeling hunger pains BE PREPARED.  You might have to go to the store for these things so you can be ready for these midnight or late night hunger pains.  It wouldn’t hurt you to have a couple of celery sticks or carrots, a glass of water,  a handful of almonds, a snack, a healthy snack.  Have a cup of calming tea.  Or you could try and go to bed with the hunger knowing that those hunger pains is when our body will go into our extra storage resources and are on our way to losing weight. 

3. Retreat to a Relaxing Bed/Bedroom.  Take a look at your room.  Is it decorated like a room someone could relax in?  Rearrange it if you have to make it so.  Is it inviting.  Are there candles?  Soothing music or sounds that you could play? Is your bed big enough for you and your partner or pet?  Is there a noisy computer in the room or tv?  Does your partner snore? Do you need ear plugs? Did you just watch a scary movie?  Keep those movies for nights you don’t have to wake up early in the morning or when you get better at this sleeping thing.  They just aren’t a good idea for right before bed.  They keep our mind racing.  Is it pitch dark when all the lights are out?  It should be.  Your natural sleep hormone, melatonin, won’t be secreted if it’s not pitch dark.  Do you need a sleeping mask?  Is the room too hot?  Do you need to turn down the temperature?  Do you need to put a fan in your room?  Too cold? If you wake up because your feet are too cold wear socks. 

4.  Just like you do with children and dogs so that they go to bed - wear yourself out.  Make sure that the energy you are supposed to spend in a day is spent.  One way is by exercising but really what I mean is MOVE!  DO ANYTHING!  Your body wants to spend the energy before you go to sleep plus if you are exhausted your body will have no choice but to fall asleep!  Do any form of activity:  walk, jog, go for a bike ride, lift weights, do yoga or play golf.  Your body will thank you.  You will decrease your stress.  You will lose weight and sleep better because of it.  The best thing you could do to try and go to sleep is stretch.  So if you find yourself up and thinking about counting sheep stretch and try and go back to sleep.  If you are finding yourself worrying or thinking about something too much, get up and write down what you are concerned about or your thoughts, so that you can back to it in the morning.

Try anyone of the things or try them all.  Let me know which worked.

Good Luck & Good Night,

Dr. Munoz