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You are here: Home / Archives for better sleep

Blue light, your brain and your health

March 22, 2016 by drchrista 2 Comments

Blue light is much more common in our environment than it ever has been. It’s affecting your eyes right now as you read this on your computer screen or device. I’m not going to tell you it’s all bad. In fact, sunshine has been providing our eyeballs and brain with a source of blue light since the very beginning of time.

The problem is that our brains are still very much attuned to natural rhythms of dark and light. When bright sunlight hits the backs of our retinas first thing in the morning, it actually helps us wake up. Melatonin production is turned off and cortisol production begins. Cortisol should be at its highest levels first thing in the morning.

blue light

blue light

Throughout the day, cortisol levels will gradually decline, with the lowest levels occurring just after dark. Since cortisol is antagonistic to melatonin, it is extremely important that this occurs. People who have trouble falling asleep at night, especially if they feel their minds are too ‘busy’ to fall asleep, often have cortisol levels that are too high in the evenings.

This often happens due to stress, but it also occurs because of all the stimulatory blue light we expose our eyes and brains to at night!

In the evenings and after dark, the bright, blue wavelength light fades away in favor of the orange wavelengths. Without the blue wavelengths stimulating the pineal gland and the rest of the mesencephalon (the top part of your brainstem), cortisol production decreases and melatonin production proceeds.

What’s interesting to note is that melatonin may do more than just help us sleep. There is research that suggests it has cancer-fighting properties; that one of the important things that happens while we sleep is immunosurveillance for precancerous and cancerous cells. In this study, women who worked at night had an elevated risk of breast cancer. Here, it was associated with an increase incidence of colorectal cancers (see citation 12-17 in this last article for physiological mechanisms of melatonin’s anti-cancer properties).

So we need to limit our exposure to blue light after sundown, but how? One of the biggest ways is to eliminate the use of electronic devices at night. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops have all become regular interlopers in our evening routines. For purposes of stress reduction as well as melatonin, it would be optimal to not use these device at all after sunset.

That may not be reality for most of us though. I use a free program on my laptop called f.lux that determines what time of day it is in my next of the woods and then automatically filters out the blue light from the screen. You have to jailbreak your phone or tablet to use it on those devices and I’m not just not up for doing that, so if I have to use one of those devices, I wear a pair of orange googles that filter the blue light. Rumor has it that the new iOS update (9.3) includes a native blue-light filter function , though my phone is not new enough for me to have tried this personally.

One thing I would like to note here-  though there are ways to mitigate the harmful effects of blue light exposure at night, that doesn’t mean you can continue using your device at night with impunity. The postures we tend to use when staring at a small screen, as well as the effects to the muscles of our eyes from focusing on a close up object for long periods of time, all take their toll on our bodies and our health as well. For some of us, the stress caused from social media interactions can be detrimental. For these reasons, it would be best not just to mitigate the harmful effects of blue light, but also to be more conscious and aware of our electronic usage in general. You’ll probably find more high quality, fulfilling interactions with the people next to you then the ones on the other side of the electrons.

Want to learn more about lifestyle factors may be eroding your health? Interested in working with doc that “gets it” and sees the bigger picture of health? Give my office a call today at 845-687-6387 and see how I can help you.

Or sign up for my email list with the link below to get my free report and to receive emails with important information for living your best, healthiest life!

Filed Under: Brain Tagged With: better sleep, blue light, cancer risk, cortisol, melatonin

Collagen: The ONE biohack for better skin, hair, muscle tone, gut function & sleep

February 10, 2016 by drchrista 2 Comments

collagen

Collagen has been getting a lot of press lately- and for good reason! It’s an amazing nutrient with a plethora of health benefits. It can improve wrinkles & cellulite by increasing skin elasticity, contributes to hair & nail growth, gut healing and repair, helps maintain muscle mass and even improves sleep.

What is collagen?

Collagen is a structural protein that is used in the building of many different types of soft tissues including skin, hair, nails, blood vessels, ligaments & tendons. It’s rich in amino acids glycine and proline. Vitamin C is a key nutrient needed to synthesize collagen.

What are some of the benefits?

  • It improves skin elasticity, moisture, wrinkles and roughness.
  • It improves the appearance of moderate cellulite in women of normal weight.
  • It may improve UV-damaged skin.
  • It can improve body composition and muscle mass.
  • It helps improve bone density, even in osteoporotic bone tissue.
  • It can reduce local as well as systemic inflammation.
  • It may help reduce blood pressure.
  • It may improve the pain associated with osteoarthritis,  particularly in lower limbs.
  • Improves sleep.

How do you get it in your diet?

Traditionally, we would have acquired collagen from gelatin-bone broths, chewing the articular ends of bones and using the whole animal including shanks, marrow, skin, cheeks, feet, oxtails and ribs.

A nightly cup of bone broth is an easy way to take in collagen while also helping to get a good night’s sleep. Considering the skin-enhancing properties of collagen, this is really a fantastic way to make the most of your ‘beauty sleep.’

If bone broth isn’t your thing, (though it really should be!) another option is to use powdered collagen hydrolysate and/or gelatin supplements. I find it most convenient to add a tablespoon or so of either of these to my morning coffee. I prefer the collagen peptides only because they don’t gel, potentially creating annoying clean up. I find that when I use them regularly, my hair & nails grow very quickly!

Gelatin, because it does gel, is a natural thickener and can be used in soups, stews, sauces, smoothies, desserts- anything you want to firm up and thicken up really. You can even make healthier “gummie” treats for kids with some fruit juice and gelatin.

The best supplements to use are ones such Vital Proteins, that are made from pastured & grassfed animals.

Filed Under: Nutrition, Paleo diet Tagged With: better sleep, bone broth, bone growth, collagen, hair growth

Should you try The Paleo Diet?

December 21, 2015 by drchrista 1 Comment

paleo diet Paleo. Some call it a “fad diet.” Many associate it with uber-lean, muscle-bound Crossfit-types. It’s been confused with Atkins and the low-carb craze. It’s philosophical underpinnings have been the subject of TED talks and scathing critiques throughout the media. Maligned by vegetarians and vegans, this juggernaut diet trend isn’t going anywhere.

The Paleo Diet is here to stay.

You may be curious about it yourself. You have a coworker or neighbor or fifth cousin-twice removed who lost a ton of weight and swears by it. Or maybe you are thinking that any diet where bacon is heartily embraced is your kind of diet. Perhaps you are enticed by the idea of not having to count calories and still losing weight.

Is The Paleo Diet the right choice for you?

Despite what the detractors say, the Paleo diet is not about trying to recreate the life of a caveman. We can, however, gain some important insights into how our bodies function best by looking to our past. The fact is there is a lot of very modern scientific research that backs up this intuitive & ancestral approach to eating. That’s why having my patients adopt a Paleo-type diet is one of the first steps in their nutritional treatment protocol. It’s about more than just rock hard abs. Here’s why I recommend it and why I think you should do it too:

  •  Nutrient-density. The Paleo Diet is the most nutrient dense diet on the planet. A paper published by Mat LaLonde, a chemistry professor at Harvard, showed that for the same number of calories, a Paleo Diet contained more vitamins, minerals and essential fats than the SAD (Standard American Diet.) Not especially surprising, but what was enlightening is that even when he tried to add dairy or whole grains, he could not come up with more vitamins & minerals without adding more calories. This raw data for this came straight from the USDA’s own database of the nutritional content of foods. When you give the body the nutrients it needs, it doesn’t crave more empty calories in a misguided attempt to get them. While eating a nutrient-dense, whole-foods diet, most people spontaneously lower their calorie consumption, without trying or having to resort to willpower.
  • Anti-inflammatory. Wheat, dairy, soy and peanuts (a legume) are common allergens, yet are absent from a typical Paleo diet. Gluten in particular has been shown to increase the amount of an inflammatory protein in the gut called zonulin. This protein opens up spaces between cells of the gut lining called tight junctions. When these tight junctions are opened up, it leads to a leaky gut. (In the scientific literature this is referred to as ‘increased intestinal permeability.) Pieces of undigested proteins than cross the gut lining where they meet the GALT- Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue. Made up of the same white blood cells as the rest of your immune system, its estimated that up 70% of your immune system is hanging out in your gut. When the GALT starts having to react to pieces of undigested protein, it creates inflammation, both in the gut itself as well as the rest of your body. If you have aches or pains, brain fog or memory loss, depression or hormone imbalances (all of which can be caused by inflammation), you really should give the Paleo diet a try.
  • Whole-foods based. We can argue all day long about what cavemen did or didn’t eat and whether those foods still really exist, but at the end of the day I think we can all agree that whole-foods are way better and more nutritious for you than anything processed. Fresh meats and eggs from pastured and grassfed animals, wild seafood, plenty of vegetables in an array of colors and some fruits. Nuts and seeds. These are not controversial health foods, they’re just common sense.
  • Sustainability. Diets that leave you hungry and starved are not sustainable. For sustained fat loss and long-term recovery from inflammatory conditions, a diet has to be one that you can follow over the long haul. There are so many resources now; the number of Paleo cookbooks has exploded in recent years and the number of Paleo recipe blogs has grown exponentially. There really is no legitimate reason for getting bored on the Paleo Diet.
  • Lifestyle Factors. There’s more to health & fitness than just food, yet so many ‘diets’ fail to account for this. Many people will say that Paleo isn’t just a diet, it’s lifestyle. What that means is that food is just the start. Beyond diet, a healthy lifestyle should also include plenty of quality, restorative sleep, stress management, frequent movement & exercise, good posture & alignment, relaxation and time in nature. To heal from a chronic disease, all of these factors must be addressed.

Is Paleo the right choice for you? I think it happens to be the right choice for anyone who wants to build or maintain their health. Want some help getting started on your journey to more energy, less fatigue, clearer skin and less pain? Call my office today at 845-687-6387. I help people like you implement and tailor a Paleo approach to meet their health goals.

January is just around the corner. If you have been thinking of starting a Paleo diet as part of your commitment to get healthier in the coming year, but are a bit overwhelmed or unsure how to get started, check out my New Year, New You! whole-foods based cleanse program. To learn more, click here. 

Filed Under: Nutrition, Paleo diet Tagged With: alignment, anti-inflammatory, autoimmune, better sleep, gluten-free, inflammation, mineral absorption, nutrient deficiencies, nutrient-density, Paleo diet, whole body movement

6 “hidden” sources of stress

July 21, 2015 by drchrista Leave a Comment

Stress. It is ubiquitous in this modern age, so much so that most of us consider it inevitable. However, our relationship with stress over the last hundred years or so is vastly different from our relationship with it for the vast majority of our evolution as a species.

For most of our time on this Earth, stress was a punctuated, limited experience. The saber-tooth tiger chased us, we ran away and once safe in our cave, we could rest, relax and repair wounds, tissue damage and even metabolic damaged incurred on our getaway.

Unfortunately, nowadays that ‘rest, relax and repair’ phase never comes and so the damage builds and builds. Even if we don’t feel ‘stressed,’ our bodies may be experiencing stress. Though most of us associate ‘stress’ with psychoemotional stressors, we can experience ill effects from physical stressors too- and the body does not distinguish between physical and mental stresses.

So what are some ‘hidden’ sources of physical stress that might be contributing to your overall stress and slowly eroding away your health?

1. Food intolerances. Intolerances are different immunologically than a true food ‘allergy’ so the symptoms can be a lot more subtle. Headaches, fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes, and other chronic conditions can be symptoms of a gut being assaulted regularly by foods it doesn’t tolerate. Since the majority of the your immune system resides in your gut, this can create imbalances that can set the stage for autoimmune disease.

2. Poor sleep. Not just a lack of sleep, which most of us have experienced as a stress, but a lack of quality, restorative sleep. Sleep apnea is an all-to-common manifestations of this. If your body is not getting enough oxygen and alarms are constantly going off in your brain to wake up and breathe, you can be in bed ‘sleeping’ for 8-10 hours and still be tired and fatigued throughout the day. Another thing that can negatively impact your sleep quality is electromagnetic radiation from any electronics. Current evidence suggests that EMR disrupts the circadian rhythms that govern our sleep-wake cycles deep in a part of the brain called the pineal gland. Set your phone to ‘airplane mode,’ turn off the wireless router and unplug whatever electronics you can at night. They draw a small current even if plugged, but ‘off.’ Put all bedroom electronics on a power strip so you only have to unplug one thing to kill the electricity to them all at night.

3. Nutrient deficiencies. Most of us have moved away from eating nutrient-dense whole foods for most of our calorie intake. Modern farming practices can often deplete the soil of important minerals like magnesium and selenium and because of this, even organic produce may not be as nutrient dense as the food our grandparents ate. Additionally, in trying to digest process foods, our bodies are often depleted of more vitamins and minerals that we receive from the food itself. In dealing with increased stress, we use up our stores of B vitamins, Vitamin C and magnesium.

4. Blood sugar imbalances. Have you ever experienced the feeling of being ‘hangry,’ when you are so hungry your mood tanks and you get mad at everyone and everything until you get something to eat? Or have you ever had that afternoon ‘food coma’ where all you want to do about an hour after lunch is take a nap? These are symptoms that your blood sugar is unbalanced. One way that your body deals with low blood sugar is to secrete cortisol, our stress hormone, which mobilizes stored glucose from the liver in order to make it available to brain cells. Though this is a key survival adaptation, particularly in times where food is scarce, when this leads to elevated cortisol levels on a daily basis, it can suppress the immune system and lead to problems regulating our inflammatory response.

5. Sex hormone imbalances. Cortisol is made primarily from progesterone, but can be made from estrogen, testosterone and DHEA as well. Poor libido, changes in menstrual cycles, changes in PMS, infertility and erectile dysfunction may all have their route cause in stress that robs of us of our sex hormone balance.

6. Exercise. Bet you didn’t see that one coming? Exercise is a stress, usually a good one. But too much, too frequently, especially ‘cardio,’ can overtax the adrenals and result in overproduction of cortisol. In a healthy person, this is not problematic, in fact, it helps the body be better prepared for future stresses, but if you have a chronic health condition, or any one of the hidden sources of stress listed above, it may useful to reevaluate what kind of exercise you are doing and for how long. Strength training workouts are less ‘stressful’ to the adrenal glands then long steady-state cardio workouts. Additionally, short, high-intensity interval workouts appear to be less taxing on the adrenals glands than a steady-state cardio workout as well. If a patient is suffering from stress from too much of the wrong kind of exercise, I will also recommend moving more and exercising less. Focus on things like walking, playing outdoors, standing instead of sitting, gardening, etc.- activities that are fun, can be fit into your daily routine (as opposed to having to carve out extra time in an already hectic schedule to go to the gym) and move your body in new and novels ways, instead of the repetitive motion of most cardio exercises.

 

Filed Under: Functional Medicine Tagged With: autoimmune, B vitamin deficiency, B vitamins, better sleep, blood sugar imbalances, cortisol, energy, fatigue, food intolerances, hormones, inflammation, mineral absorption, nutrient deficiencies, poor sleep, sex hormone imbalances, sleep apnea, stress

Ancestral Health

August 20, 2014 by drchrista Leave a Comment

We have more access to more information about health and disease than at any other period of human history and yet, we are arguably the most unhealthy we have ever been.

Here in the U.S., the sky-rocketing rates of obesity are a daily news story. Rates of chronic illness like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and autoimmune disease are increasing at alarming rates. Diseases we thought only happened in aging adults are occurring in younger children.

Ironic isn’t?

If you’re old enough, you may remember a time when obesity was rare; when cancer was rare and only your rapidly aging grandpa has developed ‘diabeetus.’ So what happened? What has caused such a profound change in our health?

There are many answers to that question and as of yet, no proven smoking gun. Searching through the myriad of possibilities would take time we don’t have. What we need is a framework for understanding what effects health and gives us a blueprint to search for the place where we seem to have gone off the map.

The concept of ancestral health is that framework.

We think that cavemen lived ‘short, brutish’ lives, but archeology says that is not really the whole story. Sure, life expectancy was low, but that was a population average, mostly skewed because childbirth was such a dicey proposition. There were plenty of early humans who survived well into old age if they managed to survive disease epidemics, broken bones or becoming a meal for another creature. The point is, even if they made it to past all those hurdles, obesity heart disease and poor health weren’t destined for them simply by virtue of having reached that age.

From what archeology studies tell us, hunter-gatherers were lean, well-built with little tooth decay and no need for orthodontics. By studying modern hunter-gatherer tribes, we have inferred that they spent an average of 20 hours a week engaged in activities necessary for survival, spending the rest of their free time visiting relatives, creating art, or engaged in other leisure activities.

Can you imagine? All your needs met in the space of a part-time job? Very little stress and plenty of time to kick back, relax and enjoy life. No running yourself ragged, running in literal circles, going to gym to keep fit. No having to watch every last piece of food you ate in order to stay trim. No smartphone constantly ringing with requests from people who need something from you…right now! Growing old gracefully, with a strong, supple body. Getting plenty of restful sleep each and every night. Unburdened joy. Not sounding so bad, eh?

So how do this relate to health?

Well I’m glad you asked because you see, we have those same bodies. Bodies that want to be lean and fit and healthy and strong. It is our genetic potential and can be our genetic reality under the right circumstances. The problem is that we have changed the rules of the game much faster than our ancient bodies can keep up with and adapt sufficiently to. Since World War II, we have introduced 50,000 novel chemicals into our environment. We haven’t studied the long-term safety of most of these, let alone the combinations of them that we are exposed to daily. GMOs in our food supply, animals raised on grain instead of grass, pharmaceutical drugs, indoor lighting, smartphones, tablets and laptops, constant stress, automobiles- all are things that are completely new to humans beings in the last 100 or so years. All are interacting in ways that eroding our health.

The sad fact is that many of us don’t eat real food anymore. Many of us spend hours a day only exercising the tiny muscles in our hands while sitting on the biggest muscles of our hips and thighs. This is not how our bodies were designed to function and it is slowly killing us.

Using this framework, I make recommendations to my patients to get their current reality to be more congruent with their ancient genetics. Why? Because when these two are aligned, improved health is often the outcome. I may encourage patients to eat a more whole food diet, or to sleep in pattern that aligned with their brain’s ingrained circadian rhythms or to move and exercise in way that builds so-called ‘functional movement’ patterns. In doing so, we honor the innate wisdom of our bodies and their desire to be healthy.

Filed Under: Learn More Tagged With: better sleep, bones, fat loss, fatigue, heart disease, inflammation, obesity, Paleo diet

Sleep your way to a skinnier you!

November 5, 2013 by drchrista 1 Comment

It sounds too good to be true, right? Like one of those late night infomericals selling little more than empty promises.

I can’t promise you that just by sleeping more, you’ll lose weight. You still have to do the hard work of making better food choices and doing your workouts daily. What I can guarantee however, is that based on the research, if you are not sleeping well, you are missing an important key to fat loss success.

A 2010 study in the Annuals of Internal Medicine found that participants who got less sleep, an average of 5.5 hours a night, were hungrier during the day, lost more lean tissue and less fat tissue, despite also eating less food, then participants who slept an average of 8.5 hours a night.

How exactly does a lack of sleep stall weight loss efforts? Glad you asked! Let’s look at a couple of mechanisms at play here.

  • Elevated cortisol. A lack of sleep is perceived as a stress by the body, causing our good old stress hormone, cortisol, to be secreted. Elevated cortisol over prolonged time periods will lead to increased abdominal adiposity (fat) and will also cause our bodies to catabolize our lean muscle tissue in order to make sugars to feed brain tissue. Like the participants in the study mentioned above, when we are sleep deprived, we will tend to lose lean muscle tissue instead of fat tissue, which is what we are all trying to get rid of when we say we want to lose ‘weight.’ Chronic sleep debt is also correlated with low-grade chronic inflammation, which can also stall weight loss.
  • Poor food choices. Several studies have shown that when we are sleep-deprived, we make poorer food choices. We have a much harder time resisting the fat, sugar and calorie laden foods that block our fat loss efforts then we are well-rested.
  • Lack of recovery. Exercise is a stress, albeit, a positive one, but only if we can recover from it. When we exercise, we actually breakdown muscle tissue and in response to this, the body repairs itself, but does a better job this time around in order to handle a bigger stress in the future. This is why muscles get bigger when we use them! However, this favorable adaptation happens when we rest, in between bouts of exercise. Most people know for instance, that you shouldn’t lift legs two days in a row, but if you’re not sleeping well, you may need even more time to recover in between workouts. Pushing too hard too soon when you are under-slept can slow your progress, increase your risk of injury and even lead eventually to adrenal fatigue or burn-out.
  • Hormone dysregulation. All that cortisol running around because you’re stressed out and not sleeping enough, can be toxic to certain types of cells in the brain. For instance, too much cortisol will kill off neurons in the hippocampus, which not only converts your short-term memories in to long-terms ones, but also helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle in the first place. If you’re starting to forget little things you use to remember, or are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, this part of your brain may be affected. Cortisol can also impact your hypothalamus’s ability to regulate other hormones, such as thyroid hormone (controls metabolism), sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone as well as hormones that regulate appetite like insulin, leptin and gherlin.

As you work towards a healthier, fitter you, don’t forget to schedule time for plenty of sleep. Make it part of your routine, just like you do with your workout. Plan for a minimum of 8-9 hours of sleep a night. In this post, I’ll talk about some things to do if you’re having trouble getting a good night’s rest.

Filed Under: Functional Medicine, Nutrition Tagged With: better sleep

10 tips for getting a good night’s rest

October 7, 2013 by drchrista 1 Comment

a good night's sleep

While it seems like getting sleep should be pretty straight-forward, its not always as easy at it would seem for some. If you struggle with falling asleep, waking during the night and being unable to get back to sleep or waking up in the morning feeling like you haven’t slept at all, you’re not alone. These are often symptoms that there is hormone disruption or dysregulation in the parts of the brain that control our sleep-wake cycles. Because of this, if you are not working on bringing these systems back into balance, getting a good night’s rest can be much harder then simply going to bed at a certain time. Follow the tips below to make sure you are doing all you can to help your body get quality, restorative sleep.

  1. Sleep in a dark room. Light stimulates the pineal gland in the brain and begins the process of cortisol secretion. Cortisol is antagonist to melatonin, the hormone the helps us sleep. Use black-out curtains, cover up any lights from electronic devices, including alarm clocks or even remove electronics from the bedroom altogether.
  2. Sync your sleep cycle with natural light-dark cycles. Our bodies and our brains are still very much adapted to the natural rhythm of light and dark. Recent studies have shown that these natural rhythms even affect the expression of our genes.  To keep it simple, sleep when it is dark, and be active when it is light out. This also means that there are seasonal variations in how much sleep we need. In the summer, with its long days and short nights, we can function better on less sleep. In the winter, however, our bodies crave more sleep due to the longer nights and shorter days.
  3. Avoid screen time within an hour of bed. The blue light emitted from computer screens, TVs, tablets, smartphones and other electronic devices actually stimulates certain parts of the brain, leading to cortisol release and suppression of melatonin production. The corollary to this is to make sure you get a few minutes of bright light during the day.
  4. Use these. If you must use computers in the evening, wear orange lens to block the blue light. This will help protect the parts of your brain that are stimulated by the blue light.
  5. Avoid carbs before bed. Many people crave a carbohydrate-rich snack before bed. This helps boost serotonin production and melatonin is made from serotonin. However, a carbohydrate rich snack will also cause a large release of insulin. When the blood sugar then drops too low, cortisol and even adrenaline may be released to bring blood sugar levels back up by releasing stored glycogen. Since cortisol is antagonistic to melatonin and adrenaline revs up your fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system, this may result in waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to get back to sleep.
  6. Eat to manage blood sugar throughout the day. Focus on getting plenty of protein and good fats to keep blood sugar levels even. Get your carbohydrates from whole foods sources like vegetables and some fruits instead of breads, pastas and baked goods. Large fluctuations in blood sugar levels throughout the day are perceived by the body as stress, prompting the release of cortisol. Cortisol levels that are too high, especially late in the day, will impede sleep.
  7. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants, especially late in the day. Caffeine stimulates the adrenals and also certain parts the brain. While this may be helpful earlier in the day, it can negatively impact sleep later the day. Caffeine has a half-life of 12 hours, so count back twelve hours from your planned bed time to determine when to have your last cup for the day.
  8. Exercise. A survey by the National Sleep Foundation found that those who engaged in vigorous exercise reported the least amount of bad sleep. Exercise can help improve your sleep by reducing stress and helping to reduce the effects on diabetes and obesity, which can both disrupt sleep. If vigorous exercise is too much for you, even a ten-minute walk daily can be a good starting place.
  9. Meditate. Any technique that you practice regularly to reduce stress will work, the key is to pick something that you can easily make into a daily habit. By reducing stress, you help to reduce your cortisol levels and get a better night’s sleep.
  10. Get your cortisol rhythm tested. If stress has been a long-standing issue for you, your hippocampus may have been become dysregulated, leading to an irregular daily cortisol rhythm. Cortisol should be high first thing in the morning and then slowly taper off till bedtime. In some individuals, this pattern may be flip-flopped, resulting in having a hard time falling asleep and then waking up feeling as if you didn’t sleep at all. If this is your case, you may need to work with a functional medicine practitioner who can get you started on supplemental support for hippocampus and adrenal glands.

Better sleep is possible to achieve and worth the effort to improve your health! Improved sleep will not only lead to improve energy levels during your day, but also helps with your weight loss goals by decreasing fat-storing cortisol and decreasing cravings throughout the day.

Filed Under: Functional Medicine, Inflammation Tagged With: better sleep

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Dr. Christa

I am a Chiropractor helping patients to have less pain, move with more freedom and ease, and have more energy for the things they love. More…

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