Insomnia: What’s Your Story?

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Scared to take Seroquel

I’ve recently been prescribed Seroquel to treat my chronic insomnia. But I’ve not taken any yet because I’ve since found out that Seroquel is used to treat schizophrenia. I’ve not been diagnosed as schizophrenic. It’s just that I can’t sleep. I’ve read that a lot of people are prescribed Seroquel for chronic insomnia to prevent them from having psychotic episodes. I’ve also heard that it’s an effective method for sleeping problems because it just knocks you out. But I’m nervous of taking a drug for an illness that I don’t have.

Medication for insomnia (or sleeping problems that are unrelated to other illnesses) should really be taken as a last resort after all other measures have been proven to be ineffective.

So if you haven’t started taking this medication as yet, perhaps you should first explore the root causes of your insomnia to determine best how it can be treated.

Potential Causes of Insomnia

1) For example, your insomnia may be occuring because your body clock (located in the brain) has become disrupted and out-of-sync with your natural environment.  This can happen for many reasons such as working changing shift patterns or nights, travelling across different time zones, the menopause,  melatonin deficiency or eyesight problems.

In this case, insomnia can also affect your moods,your appetite, your hormones and your metabolism.

Click here for more information about treating your body clock and insomnia with natural remedies.

2) On the other hand, your insomnia may be the result of “monkey mind” – where your mind is forever restless and jumping from one topic to another.  If your thoughts can’t stop racing at night, it may be due to a lack of GABA.

GABA is a neurochemical that is often described as one of the brain’s natural tranquilizers. Studies have indicated that people with primary insomnia tend to have a greatly reduced amount of GABA.

When we’re awake, working, stressed or mentally stimulated, our brains are vibrating at the Beta brainwave frequency. In order to get to sleep, your brainwaves need to vibrate at one of the lower frequencies (alpha and theta). This can be a big challenge for people who are undergoing constant daily stress.

Cognitive behaviour therapy, sleep coaching programs, guided meditation recordings or recordings that contain binaural beats can help people in this situation.

In a free audio recording called Calming the Monkey Mind, you will get more information about how to relax your brain, body and mind.

To get immediate access to this recording, enter your email address in the form below:

3) Chronic insomnia may also be caused by nutritional deficiencies which are often accompanied by specific symptoms (for example, spasms, muscle twitching, palpitations, dry skin). If you suspect that you fall into this category, you may wish to consult a nutritionist to find out which essential minerals and nutrients your body lacks.

Introductory Nutrition Guide

It tends to be more effective if you match the cause of your insomnia to a corresponding remedy rather than looking for a one-size-fits-all cure.

Then if none of the natural remedies or techniques prove to be effective for you, you may wish to return to your doctor and ask for a form of medication for your insomnia that you won’t feel overly anxious about taking.

Does the Full Moon Cause Insomnia?

I usually sleep very well apart from a couple of days before a full moon when I have trouble falling asleep and then during the full moon, I have really disturbing dreams.  Is there a connection between the full moon and insomnia or is it just a coincidence?

Although many scientists and psychologists say that there is no strong evidence to demonstrate that the moon affects human behaviour (including our sleeping patterns), I have heard too many instances where people have reported having trouble sleeping or having vivid dreams during the period of a full moon – so personally I believe there is a very strong connection between lunar rhythms and the circadian rhythms of the body.  (The circadian rhythm is also known as our internal body clock.)

Sometimes “full moon insomnia” seems to run in families. In addition, many people who can fall sleep easily report experiencing insomnia on the night of a full moon, in many cases, not finding out until the following day that there was a full moon. Others experience warning headaches or migraines a couple of nights before the full moon.

Many people also report being able to sleep more soundly and deeply on the night of a full moon.

So I wouldn’t say that a full moon creates insomnia but I do believe that it can affect how individuals sleep. How and if it affects us would depend on our individual biological or genetic makeup.

Racing thoughts stop me sleeping

For about 18 months, I’ve had trouble sleeping. My mind doesn’t shut down to allow me to sleep. It’s not like I’m even worrying about anything. It’s just my mind won’t stop thinking about stuff whether it’s trivial or meaningful or important issues or garbage or a song playing over and over again in my head. It’s uncontrollable.  The scary thing is I only feel sleepy during the day…when I’m driving. I don’t have any physical health problems or emotional worries – apart from this. A friend suggested meditation but I don’t think that would be very effective for my problem.

You’re describing the phenomenon of ‘monkey mind’ (a Buddhist term) where the mind jumps uncontrollably from one topic to another like a monkey jumping from one tree to another.

You’re also experiencing microsleep during the day which can happen in the afternoons especially after eating lunch.  Getting more sleep at night will obviously help to prevent the problem with microsleep, which as you’re aware, can be dangerous.

Tips for Calming the Mind

1) Avoid mental stimulation in the hour before going to bed – reading newspapers or watching the news, texting or tweeting and surfing the net.

If, for example, you are doing an academic course of study or you have to bring a lot of paperwork home from the office, make sure that you wait an hour between the time that you finish your last mental or intellectual activity for the evening and going to bed. Otherwise your mind will tend to regurgitate everything you have been mentally absorbing and this will create a form of mental indigestion. Don’t worry, if it means you’ll be going to bed later as you will be awake in bed anyway, if you attempt to go to bed earlier.

2) As your friend suggested, meditation can help and can be very effective. But it depends on the type of meditation that you practice.  Exercises where you attempt to make your mind blank or empty your thoughts can be counterproductive and futile especially if your mind has an addictive habit of jumping from one topic to another.

Meditation exercises or relaxation techniques where you focus on relaxing the physical body can be effective – in your case – because it removes the performance anxiety of having to empty or relax your mind.  Isometric exercises or progressive muscle relaxation techniques can be helpful in this regard.

A free audio recording called Calming the Monkey Mind includes 6 ways to get your body and mind into a state of deep relaxation so that you can go to sleep.

To get access to Calming the Monkey Mind, enter your email address in the form below:

Can insomnia cause weight gain?

Contrary to widespread belief, getting more natural sleep can help you to maintain your ideal body weight, while sleeping less over a long period of time can lead to significant weight gain.

Weight gain can occur during bouts of ongoing insomnia even if you lose your appetite and are eating less.

16 Year Study

During a period of 16 years, 70,000 women, over the age of forty, were studied and the results were revealed at an international conference in 2006 by the American Thoracic Society.

The study demonstrated that most of the women who slept for a period lasting less than five hours a night, tended to weigh considerably more than women who slept for a period of seven hours each night.

The women who slept for less than five hours were also more likely to develop obesity.

2009 Study

Another study, which lasted eleven days, was presented by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in 2009.

During this study, 92 healthy people (52 male and 40 female) took part in a controlled sleep restriction experiment.

Nine of these individuals were the control group who slept for ten hours a night during the experiment.

The rest of the group had their hours of sleep gradually reduced during the eleven day period.

They were all given free access to food during the day.

Most of the subjects whose sleep was restricted, lost the desire to eat, did not have any food cravings and ate a great deal less – yet they still put on an average of 1.31 kilograms over the 11 day experiment.

The nine people in the control group, whose sleep was not restricted, did not experience loss of appetite and yet didn’t gain weight.

Eat to Sleep and Slim

If you have ongoing problems with sleeping and have noticed that you put on more weight, the less you sleep, you may be interested in reading my ebook: ‘Eat to Sleep‘.  In this book, you will:

• Learn about the links between getting less sleep and putting on more weight
• Find out which foods help you to sleep more and which keep you awake, stimulated or anxious
• Discover how to balance the hormones that regulate sleep, appetite and mood
• Get practical action steps about how to incorporate these foods into your diet so that you avoid both insomnia and weight gain

To download this ebook now, click on the Buy Now button:

Eat to Sleep Ebook

Information about foods that help you to sleep or keep you awake, why insomnia can cause weight gain, the links between nutrition, sleep and mood swings plus much more

Price: £5.97

USD $9.61

Natural Sleeping Remedies: Q & A

Question:

I have tried trazodone, melatonin, hydroxyz pam to help me sleep.  Rarely worked.  Any ideas on natural remedies that can help me sleep?

Answer:

Firstly, always consult your main healthcare providers (doctor, psychiatrist etc.) for general or specific advice about your medication and how it is affecting you.

Trazodone is an antidepressant.  Hydroxyzine pamoate is an antihistamine.  But they are often prescribed for insomnia symptoms.

Trazodone works by balancing the levels of serotonin in the brain. 

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps us to sleep as well as regulating our mood and appetite.  You can also release more serotonin by taking simple exercise in the mornings or early afternoons.  It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise (walking, aerobics, cycling etc.) This helps to stabilise our moods.  Plus we can eat foods which are a natural source of serotonin. 

Physical relaxation techniques may also help if anxiety is a factor that is keeping you awake.  Sometimes if we focus only on relaxing the physical body, the mind and emotions will naturally follow suit.

I’ll also refer you to an earlier blog post which outlines foods that contain natural sources of melatonin.

Register for the Free Online “Get More Sleep Seminar” Series for more holistic tips to beat insomnia

Can’t Sleep? When Nothing Works…

Question:

I’ve been having problems sleeping for about 9 months now.  I don’t have a particularly stressful lifestyle. I never drink coffee.  I don’t exercise or work on my laptop late at night. I have a warm bath and read before bed.  I think I’m following all the sleep hygiene recommendations but I still can’t sleep.

Answer:

You say you read before going to bed.  What kind of books do you read?  Reading can keep your mind mentally stimulated and make it difficult for your brainwaves to move into the alpha state of mind that induces sleep – especially if you’re reading a gripping thriller. 

Instead of reading before going to bed, you may want to try listening to an audio book in the dark instead.  That way, your eyes and brain aren’t engaged in quite the same way. 

Or instead of listening to an audio book, try listening to slow classical music instead – like Mozart’s adagios, for example.  A recent study showed that listening to classical music for 45 minutes each night before going to sleep helped insomnia sufferers to gradually increase their ability (week by week) to fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep for longer.

Register for the Free Online “Get More Sleep Seminar” Series for more holistic tips to beat insomnia

Mood Swings and Medication: Q & A

Question:

Previously I’ve been on a sleeping medication to help with my sleep as well as my mood swings.  Recently my doctor has changed me to antidepressants for my moods plus a separate medication to help me sleep.  This has given me really bad influenza type symptoms. I also feel very isolated.  Sometimes I feel as if everyone is out to get me.  I don’t know whether this is due to the medication or down to my anxiety.  I experience extreme highs and lows.  But other times I feel numb as if everything is pointless.

Answer:

1) Talk to your doctor and ask if it’s possible to try a different combination of medication.

2) Daily exercise such as a 30 minute walk or a bicycle ride (especially early in the morning) will help to boost the “feel good” chemicals in your brain in a natural way and help to stabilise the mood swings.

3) Keeping a daily log or journal where you record your moods, the type of food you eat each day and the specific thoughts that triggered off a particular mood may help you to monitor the causes of your mood swings, your anxiety and the feeling that things are pointless.  What are the specific triggers or memories?  After about a week or two, see if you can find any patterns between what you ate and thought and the moods that you experienced. 

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Melatonin and Ambien Challenges: Q & A

Question:

I’ve only slept 13 hours in the past 4 weeks.  I’ve had problems sleeping since I was eight but lately it’s gotten worse because I’m going through a difficult time.  I’ve taken melatonin which only works for a couple of hours, then I wake up.  I was prescribed ambien but this caused me to hallucinate which was pretty scary.  I’ve tried strenuous exercise, herbal teas and changing what I eat.  But nothing works.

Answer:

You say that you’re going through a difficult time at the moment. Is this stress related to dealing with other people, studying for exams or work?

Practising physical but gentle relaxation techniques in the afternoon or evenings will help to reduce your stress and also help your brain to secrete more melatonin naturally.

You say that melatonin supplements only work for you for a couple of hours.  Have you also tried eating foods that are a natural source of melatonin such as:

• tomatoes
• cherries
• sweet corn
• walnuts

 These foods all contain small amounts of melatonin. 

Also, to increase your levels of melatonin naturally, you may want to avoid using equipment in the late evenings that delay the natural production of melatonin in your brain (such as laptops, PCs, mobiles etc.)

Strenuous exercise is not always helpful especially if you exercise in the late afternoon or evening.  It raises your heart rate and your body temperature and these physiological changes will make it difficult for you to fall asleep.

However since you have been experiencing these problems since you were eight, you may want to explore what was going on in your life when you were eight and if it’s a situation that is still going on for you now.  Often the solution to insomnia lies in the cause.

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Register for the Free “Get More Sleep Seminar” Series for more holistic tips to beat insomnia