Sleep helps your brain and body readjust to the stress placed upon it during the day.

Adequate sleep is necessary for long term health and regeneration.

Many of the body’s repair processes occur during the deep slow wave stages of sleep. Skin and other connective tissues regenerate themselves during the sleep cycle.

The pituitary gland secretes growth hormone, an anabolic and rejuvenating hormone, primarily at night, which is essential for maintaining strength, muscle mass and liver function, normalizing blood sugar, and keeping your immune system healthy.

Many of your neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, which are important for regulating mood and keeping you focused and alert ( Have you notice yourself in a bad mood or irritable and with lack of concentration when you don’t have a good night sleep ), are also synthesized during deep stages of sleep .

Sleep also function as a “antioxidant” for the brain because free radicals are removed during the sleep cycle. Sleep is required to ensure minimal neuronal damage occurs from free radicals acumulated through out the day.

Poor sleep can affect your health in numerous ways

• Can dampen immune defenses, leaving you more susceptible to catching a flu or a cold
• Changes your body production of and response to hunger hormones, which increases your appetite for unhealthy comfort foods  ( links to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease)
• Overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline (ephinephrine), causing a vicious cycle of stress, anxiety, blood sugar  fluctuations, and increased heart rate and blood pressure

Maintaining a healthy sleep cycle and getting an optimal amount of sleep

each night ( seven to eight hours) is imperative for staying healthy.

I see patients everyday in my office and when I ask them how is your sleep ?

I get these answers:

• It’s good I sleep 5 hours that’s a lot for me
• I go to bed at 10 but I only fall asleep at 2 am
• I sleep first on the couch and then I go to bed , sometimes I don’t
• I sleep really good I get up 6 times during the night but I sleep good

I constantly tell them why sleeping is important  and I show them ways of improving their sleep cycle

Examining closely your lifestyle habits that disrupt your body’s natural sleep-promoting mechanisms.

This will help ensure optimal sleep cycle regulation

• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule
• Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night
• Aim for 10 pm to go to bed
• Avoid caffeine after 3pm and alcohol after dinner
• Avoid visible clocks ( you will get stressed and keep track of time)
• Write down a list of tomorrows tasks before you go to bed so you can sleep worry free
• Keep the bedroom cool 65- 67degrees so your face is cool and hands and feet are warm which can induce sleep and enhance melatonin production
• Keep the bedroom dark and quiet
• Invest in a good quality pillow and mattress
• Increase exposure to bright light and sunshine in the morning
• Exercise regularly ( exercise in the morning and do relaxing yoga or meditation  at night
• Eat a high protein snack several hours before bed
• Take a warm bath
• Listen to calming music
• Stretching or read a book
• Expose your body to the natural day cycle by exposing at least 30 minutes of sunlight this will optimize your vitamin D levels
• Expose your body to the natural night cycle getting MINIMAL exposure to light or electronics(CELL PHONE,COMPUTERS,TVS) 1 hour before bedtime.
• Turning the lights  off an hour prior to bedtime will help trigger melatonin release in the brain which will trigger sleepiness.

If you have severe insomnia sleep restriction is a method commonly used to reset you body circadian clock, not taking naps  not sleeping in and extend the time to go to sleep 15 minutes every two to three days.

Also insomnia can occur secondary to psychological factors, such as stressful  circumstances, physiological factors, back pain, restless legs, biochemical and hormonal imbalances such as elevated cortisol levels or insufficient melatonin production and nutrient deficiencies

Numerous plants have a calming sedative action( Valerian root, Passion Flower,wild Jujube extract, chamomile etc) and also some nutrients ( magnesium, calcium,5-HTP,L-Theanine, Pharma Gaba, Phosphatidyl serine etc) and they will support your sleep cycle regulation.

Thyroid Patients

Because thyroid hormones are involved in so many bodily processes, when they are low you can have both daytime and night time symptoms, including fatigue during the day and poor sleep at night .

Hypothyroidism also prevents the deepest most important sleep.

Checking your cortisol levels through proper testing ( Saliva Test ) is so important for Thyroid Patients especially

Treating insomnia requires identification of the problem rather than treating symptoms

• Balancing Hormones
• Improving Body and Mind Relaxation
• Tweaking your diet
• Getting supplementation for the nutrients that you are missing
• Using less Phone computer and  TV

I hope that all of you will have a good night!

Dr. Michael Gorgas

referred to as the

“Silent Killer”

Your body was designed to respond to short bursts of stress, followed by long periods of rest and relaxation. In today’s world, however, time to relax is considered a luxury, while stress levels are at an all-time high.

The short -term release of cortisol and adrenaline into the blood stream prepares the body for an essential and quick response to potential danger. Chronic stress causes a continuous release of cortisol and adrenaline into the blood stream which can be damaging to the body if left unresolved.

As the body “stress hormone “cortisol provides the body with quick bursts of energy and has additional benefits such as reducing inflammation. DHEA is your body anti-cortisol hormone. Without DHEA, long term elevated cortisol levels would wreak havoc on the body. As a stress – buffering mechanism, DHEA directly binds to receptors in the brain that promote a sense of relaxation and decreased pain. DHEA also supports insulin sensitivity, maintains tissue strength and repair, boosts immune function and promotes a sense of well-being.

It is important that cortisol and DHEA levels remain in proper ratios in order to maintain the optimal balance that is required by the body.

Additional stress buffering mechanisms include the brain chemicals (NEUROTRANSMITTERS) Serotonin and Gaba. These two are chemicals once released from the nerve cells create a sense of positive mood and relaxation they are very important counterparts to the fight-or-flight chemicals epinephrine and norepinephrine which put the body in over drive, to heighten awareness and sharpen your reflexes. Maintaining healthy serotonin and GABA levels can help the brain put the brakes on your stress response so you can remain calm under pressure.

Also adrenal stress has direct impacts on thyroid function it reduces conversion of T4 to T3, also promotes autoimmunity by weakening immune barriers and causes thyroid hormone resistance.

Proper thyroid function depends on healthy adrenal glands

Under stress, your body releases the hormone cortisol too much cortisol can interfere with thyroid hormone production : It can stimulate the thyroid to work harder to create sufficient amounts of thyroid hormone.

Testing your Cortisol and DHEA levels can be a valuable tool for determining if your body is functioning properly

We test Cortisol levels and DHEA from saliva, with this test we also included Male and Female Hormones and food sensitivity to milk, eggs and gluten.

Please click on this link SALIVARY ADRENAL STRESS AND HORMONE  TEST if you are interested in purchasing it to  help identify additional imbalances that may be affecting your health.

There is 3 Stages of STRESS

• Alarm Phase-(Hyper Cortisol )

stressful situations are causing high cortisol production and you feel restless,irritated or “wired”. When symptoms are left unchecked they can eventually affect other systems in the body such as weakening of the immune response as well as contribute to loss of sleep, anxiety,weight gain,insulin resistance and blood sugar fluctuation

•  Resistance Phase-(Cortisol Dominant)

This stage maybe the result on going acute adrenal dysfunction or the accumulation of years of mild stress without adequate relaxation and recuperation. Lab testing may indicate erratic patterns of cortisol production, inadequate diurnal rhythm, as well as reduced levels of DHEA.

•  Exhaustion Phase- (Hypo Cortisol)

This later stage of dysfunction is typically associated with with a multitude of issues, including fatigue, severe insomnia, depression, hormonal imbalances, or an increase in pain and inflammatory conditions. Tests results will show depleted levels of Cortisol and DHEA. Individuals will have the most difficult time doing the simplest tasks.

People think of STRESS as only emotional or mental but there is 4 keys stressors

1. Blood Sugar Control

2. Mental and Emotional

3. Insomnia

4. Inflammation

As examples you may have a low level of anxiety in your life, or you may be getting enough sleep each night, but if you are consuming a diet high in sugar, your cortisol, as well as insulin, levels will be on a continuous roller coaster ride.

Another example would be someone who eats a balanced diet, has a low level of anxiety but has a high degree of inflammation in his or her body. That inflammation is sending signals to the HPA AXIS to secrete the cortisol needed to put out the inflammation fire.

The driver of HPA axis dysfunction is required to work over time, cortisol and DHEA levels will eventually become imbalanced, along with other systems in your body.

So the question is Which of the 4 Key Stressors are contributing to constantly triggering a stress response in your body

BECAUSE

Please understand stress it’s just not emotional!

Take  control of your health!

DR. GORGAS

Please click on this link SALIVARY ADRENAL STRESS AND HORMONE  TEST if you are interested in purchasing it to  help identify additional imbalances that may be affecting your health.