I suffered from insomnia for 20 years. Aside from all the helpful tips above, the thing that really made the biggest difference was sleeping in a QUIET place. We bought a house a few years ago that has no car noise, no overhead airplanes, no police/ambulance sirens, no noisy neighbors - nothing but nature. I really think that noise pollution is severely underrated in how much is disrupts our sleep.
I used to love my eye masks, but likely need to make my own, as the materials in them make me break out. I miss them - just that subtle cue that the eyes don't need to work anymore.
I used to struggle with sleep. I have found profound benefits with meditating at night, similar to reading a really challenging book that is boring. Try to read a mathematic book. Promise you’ll be sleeping in five minutes.
So true about reading. It even helps me to read a good book (especially a good spiritual sense of well-being book) I've spent my whole life with sleep problems and anxiety about not sleeping. Wanting to stay awake to read paradoxically puts me to sleep!
Try reading a mathematics book before going to bed - OMG I LOVE THAT!!!!!! what’s cool is that I’m getting older and I’d love to brush up on some old algebra. What an amazingly wonderful idea. 😁❤️
Thank you for all you do in shining sunlight on pervasive corruption! It's hard not to be skeptical and even cynical where all things governing bodies are concerned.
For myself, I find that if I go too many days in a row without strenuous physical activity (i.e. exercise) my sleep quality goes down. I get restless legs and I can't shut my brain off.
By the way, the BEST physical activity is digging a hole in the ground, especially one deeper than you are tall (so you have to shovel dirt out above your head). I challenge any structured gym exercise to provide a more effective whole-body workout. I'm 46 and I just finished digging a seven-foot deep by about 20 feet long trench for a water line project. I've dug out egress windows by hand along with shallower drainage ditches. I own a backhoe but going out of my way to perform manual labor seems to keep me young!
Thanks Midwest Doc! So the FDA figured out with the help of Big Pharma to classify GHB as a Class I drug when it is found naturally in the human brain. They are also pushing to have NAC reclassified as a Rx drug which is a precursor to glutathione that is essential for hepatic function. GABA is related chemically to GHB and I will take it tonight. Have been recovering from knee surgery for two months and my sleep pattern has been dysfunctional due to knee pain and the fact that Narco which is oxycodone and Tylenol is a double whammy on GI gut mobility and a negative on hepatic function. I hope this is the answer. Great article on the value of a good night's sleep!
I started a minor stockpile of NAC when I heard there was going to be regulation and that Amazon was going to stop selling it around 2 yrs ago. Just re-checked Amazon and you can still buy it.
For most of my life I have suffered with too much REM sleep. I remember as a small child my sleep was fine but at some point that stopped and I started having too much very vivid dreaming. It could be around the same time I was vaccine injured as a child (I also started having issues with my energy levels because of it). At any rate, I had terrible nightmares as a child. As an adult I have too many dreams, most very vivid and it always leaves me tired.
What has made a significant difference to me is cannabis. I started with CBD which helped a little, then a balanced THC/CBD formula which helped more again. But when I started having full doses of THC before bed (alongside every day CBD oil use), my sleep became almost completely normal.
The last piece of the puzzle to tip me over into a full restful night is a supplement that is a mix of hemp oil, tart cherry and 5-HTP. I take it with food about 5 hours before bed (taking it right before I sleep actually makes me have too REM sleep again!) and it gets me through the whole night.
So if you're the type of person who dreams too much and tends to wake often in the small hours of the morning, this combo may be worth a shot :)
I, too, used to dream a LOT and especially lucid dreaming!
My wife observed that I had sleep apnea, which was causing me to stop breathing for as much as 12 seconds at a time. I am guessing that's when I was experiencing the most vivid dreams too.
I ended up getting turbinate reduction surgery and that made a giant difference. My sleeping quality improved, but unfortunately my lucid dreaming all but vanished. I miss having "control" over my dreams like that. I've entire notebooks filled with story ideas inspired from dreams I remembered, and many of those found their way later into novels I published.
But as much as I miss lucid dreaming, better sleep quality means a healthier life.
I'm not super familiar with US laws (I'm in New Zealand) but it's the case in many countries where pharma (or the chemical industry or crude oil industry or manufacturing...) can't profit off nature so they make it illegal. New Zealand has only just started allowing it as as prescribed medicine in the past few years but it's been a hard slog to get here, you still have to jump through hoops to get it and it's a class 1 controlled drug so there are some pretty heavy restrictions on prescriptions.
It's been life changing for me with regards to my sleep, chronic pain and anxiety. But for choosing to use nature to help my body instead of expensive synthetic drugs to artificially suppress symptoms at the cost of adverse reactions and side effects, I'm still treated like criminal at times or at minimum with suspicion and distrust.
Even though cannabis causes far, far less destruction to our society, I could walk down the road, buy enough alcohol off the shelf to kill me and no one would bat an eye.
It's always the same tired similar story - those with the big bucks don't want the average person knowing they can improve their wellbeing and life with much cheaper and/or better alternatives.
Breathe, it was like that in Oz for about 5 years, then, over COVID, they decided that a sedated population was easier to control, and loosened up the guidelines.
I have never been physically seen by a cannabis doctor. I report to them over the phone, and they prescribe. Sometimes excessively so (see above).
I have stoner mates who just say "sleep" or "anxiety" so they can puff their brains away. They like the products that buzz them out (so - edibles & oils are no fun, they are truly good medicine), and so - aren't really getting the medicine aspects of it. But they get their monthly package just like I do.
I no longer "get high," but instead knock about 30% off my pain levels so that I can act human in public (most of the time - I went to a play last month, and twice people stopped and asked me if "I was right" when really, it's just how things are for me.).
CBD/THC are life savers for me, too. Sometimes I get a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep, but I'm always down for 9 hours (with potty breaks). Sleep is one thing I don't worry about, though it could be earlier. And I do miss having dreams, they sort of helped me structure my waking reality.
But I wouldn't have much quality of life in the waking reality without the relief provided by cannabis. On the Australian medical program, it took me 2 years to finally get enough CBD in my life (the first outfit kept pushing higher and higher T on me! $2500 / month worth - which I never bought it all). Now have a stable, functional dose - and with the addition of DMSO, it can only get better.
DMSO note: I did 3 days oral 1x small tsp 99.5% DMSO in lemon juice (and barley grass and ACV etc) daily. Tastes bad, yes, and by the 3rd day, my skin was itching and poo was burning. Three days is my current limit. I will now do this only one day at a time on "recovery days."
BUT - (and here's the part relevant to your post) - after that 3 days DMSO trial, when I took my regular cannabis oil dose, it knocked me out! Unusually so, you know the feeling where - you have no choice, you will sleep, unconscious, now! I believe it made my medicine stronger, or more effective, or something!
This inspired me to try 0.5% DMSO in my homemade (mostly T) cannabis oil. It doesn't taste as nice, but I now use less of it.
DMSO = cheaper than cannabis, and does different things.
Listening to a TV show (but not watching) reliably puts me to sleep. Often it's the same one. These nights, I don't last for more than 5 minutes with the Psych pilot episode. Without that, my mind could zig and zag wide awake for hours.
I use a calcium-magnesium powder, put in enough hot water to dissolve it and add cold water so that it's easier to drink. This helps with overall muscle relaxation, any muscle cramping or restless leg kinds of feelings. I take a cup in the evening and it's been working for me for years. It goes under various names, but I use the Sunshine Vitamins "CalMag-C". Not exactly flavorless, but put in some juice if you want to kill the taste.
I'd be inclined to find a mag only product. Lately, I've been fond of Natural Calm - comes in powder or gummies. But I'm a magnesium fiend - love magnesium baths, and take glycinate & taurate every evening. Natural Calm is for just when I need that little extra.
I've been on clonazepam for decades and it definitely helps me sleep but I mainly keep taking it because it works great for me as a mast cell stabilizer. I am cutting back, and filling in with trazadone to help me stay asleep longer. My sleep is still hit and miss, and other than alcohol I've never figured out what makes the difference. I tried all the things like blue blockers and my Oura showed no relationship. It could just be my immune deficiency.
But my husband has lyme and he's lucky to get 6 hours of sleep a night so at least I'm better than that. As I'm working off the clonazepam I started getting restless leg (which I honestly thought was a bullshit diagnosis before I got it), and Gaba fixes that. I've also taken melatonin for a long time, and at high doses since I had cancer. I would love for us both to be able to try GHB instead of all this.
Yes, the benzodiazepines are known to be mast cell stabilizers and after finding out I was retaining toxic gadolinium, and having the magnet on my head pulling it up into the brain multiple times, I believe this is why I cannot sleep. On pubmed there are multiple articles in which gadolinium disrupts physiology. I was a great sleeper until that first injection of this heavy metal. My brain was on fire for 19 years. Chelation has helped. The gadolinium can be seen on my scans that was still there with a washout period of 12 years, and where it is, must be what is hurting that part of the brain. My basal ganglia lights up. My doctor told me it was a mast cell stabilizer and alprazolam has saved my life. I have no side effects from it. This procedure was all done for pituitary diagnosis. I would like to try GHB to help quality of life.
Sitting here drinking my coffee, I know it's the last thing I need to give up but it's a hard one (that and doom scrolling.. I know, I know.) Water process decaf just doesn't taste the same, even though the chemical compound of caffeine is not supposed to have any detectable taste/flavor. The NASA spider web has put me on notice, so thank you.
I come from a long line of insomniacs but I have a strategy that has worked for me since I was in my 50's going through menopause. I taken NOW brand 5-HTP, 50 mg every night, and I take it with Magnesium Glycinate and Vitamin D3/K2 (Mercola). When stress is bad and I need additional help, I add inositol powder (1/8 tsp) and Glycine Power (about half a teaspoon) and mix it in a small glass of water.
I struggle with giving up my coffee too. So far I've given up wheat, all refined sugar, seed oils, alcohol and everything in aluminum. I don't have trouble falling asleep I have trouble staying asleep. Magnesium helps a lot. Daily exercise definitely helps and plenty of sun exposure too. But I would LOVE the opportunity to try GHB at 3:30 every single morning when my eyes pop open and I cannot fall back asleep if my life depended on it. 4-5 hours of sleep per night is leaving me exhausted during the day. Benadryl noticeably wrecks my brain. Source Naturals Theanine Serene with Relora helps me sleep through the night on some days, but not consistently. I just want two or three hours more deep sleep every night.
I feel your pain. Some things work once in a while and you could try the inositol (NOW brand) and the glycine powder (Designs for Health). Also if you take magnesium it's really important to take D3/K2 with it. I do not have a television or cable box in my bedroom - imperative to get the box out if you have one, not the same as just turning off the TV. I also unplug my wifi at night. One last thing is I try to go to bed fairly dehydrated if that makes sense, so I'm not woken up to hit the bathroom.
Don't give up coffee. Coffee being bad is just another huge lie. Make sure you drink it black and organic. Also, use RO water and a French press (no plastic, no chlorine, no fluoride).
Try mixing frankincense essential oil with a carrier oil such as almond oil and applying that to your eyelids before bed. You'll get awesome sleep (be sure to turn off WiFi and remove all electronics from bedroom).
Don't give up coffee. Coffee being bad for you is just another gigantic lie. Just be sure to use organic coffee and use RO water and a French press when you brew it. Caffeine has tons of medicinal properties. Studies show that it reduces the risk for strokes and other things. Coffee also has a lot of antioxidants and other nutrients, as long as it is organic.
I've used an Oura ring and a garmin watch, both of which monitor my sleep (reporting fairly different values), and I have tried hard for the last four years to get the right amount of sleep. I have paid attention to the suggestions: get to bed early enough to wake up comfortably at the same time every morning (4:30am in my case); no caffeine after 2pm; don't eat anything after 6pm; take a cool shower and cool the bedroom down, as you mention; don't use the blue light phone screen once in bed; etc. I still have a hard time getting much more than 6.5 hours. Walk/ jog 2.5 to 5 miles every day. I'm 60, in good shape, no chronic conditions, and I quit drinking alcohol entirely thee plus years ago. I'm surprised you didn't mention melatonin in your article. I find it drives me right to sleep, but I'm slightly uncomfortable that it's a crutch. What are your thoughts on melatonin and the proper use and dose?
If you take melatonin, your body will produce less of it. Using electronic devices in your bedroom and leaving the Wifi router on all night will disrupt your sleep.
1. Eat only a light meal no later than at least 3 hours before bedtime (I usually have a small salad and half of a cup of kefir).
2. Turn off the WiFi router.
3. Install Stetzer Filters in a couple of outlets (prevents dirty electricity).
4. Get rid of any electronics in your bedroom.
5. Apply a carrier oil with a few drops of frankincense essential oils on your eyelid and perhaps your navel. You can also use almond oil on the sole of your feet (I don't like this method because if I have to get up at night....). Some people use castor oil on their eyelids, but I find that too sticky.
I find relaxing music very helpful. You can set the sleep/timer function on many electronic devices for automatic shutdown. I like chillout/downtempo/ambient music.
This is also why they banned incandescent lights to help make us more sick and sleep deprived. We need to get rid of that BS legislation. Never mind how Wifry radiation impacts us in that regard as well. And then they go installing "smart" electrical meters on every home across this country. They really can't kill us off fast enough can they. Bastards. Then there is the whole issue with under developed palates from not breast feeding that occurs. Kids are sleep deprived from the get go in many cases if they have lip and tongue tie issues. The best sleep I had in years recently was when I did an experiment to see if I was electro hypersensitive and shut off our wifi router for a night, It was so profound how damn amazing I felt when I woke up and the irregular heart stuff waking me a dead sleep stopped as well. If people have sleep issues and are waking up at the same crazy time every night. You should go look up a chinese medicine meridian clock, because it could be related to some organ dysfunction as well that you need to address.
Most doses of melatonin are too high. Usual dose out there is 3 mg. Puritan's Pride has them as small as 1 mg.
Get it in a liquid, dilute the liquid if you must, and start more like 0.5 mg.
Melatonin is a trigger, and most of us can respond to that trigger - better - at smaller doses. I've had reports of people doing well on 0.25 mg. When I last took it, I was taking 1 mg daily.
I discontinued it, because I had a DUTCH test done (expensive, but valuable information!), which showed my melatonin was off the charts (something like 20x the peak value).
Every day, in the Australian sun (often at Prime Hours), I take a 15-20 minute walk, wearing singlet & shorts. I'd wear less, but don't wish to frighten the neighbours. This is enough melatonin. I no longer need to supplement.
Now to do the Jack Kruse thing, and "make like the Sphinx" at sunrise. If only there weren't ants.....
Amazon has incandescent bulbs available. Hubby prefers LED for reducing the power bill to which I agreed except for the bedroom where I relax in the evening.
This is my problem. Hubby is an efficiency expert. Our house runs itself, our electricity (no longer using gas) is something like $330 / year, with very little attention paid to A/C or hot water.
I'm like: natural lights, halogens! Full Spectrum, please! When I moved into his house, it was all fluorescents in the kitchen & bath & work areas. It's taken 20 years, and I had halogens in the kitchen for awhile, much to his dismay. They were always blowing, anyway, and were a true hassle on AU 220V systems.
FINALLY, they started producing warmer LEDS, and we reached a compromise. BUT I've seen the charts now, the difference between the "warm" LEDS and incandescent is remarkable. There's more too - LED is a point generating light, while incandescent is a glowing, radiant light. The light emitting from a point is more harmful to eyes (think car headlights, for example). Now I see blue light everywhere = ouch!
So - we're in a state of compromise, and the efficiency is only going to get worse. I'm certain that the solar panels aren't particularly clean energy, and that smart meter is not my friend. But also - we're less reliant upon "out there," 3 steps closer to off grid. (all we need is a battery)
On the other hand, if governments start seizing "inefficient carbon footprint" properties or insisting on compliance with certain standards - we are tighter than any standards the government would produce. Hubby's a greenie.
I may be wearing my blue blockers more often. Still too vain to wear them publicly, but after teaching for 3 hours under fluorescents - I may go there.
In Texas we made our Legislature pass an OPT OUT law for smart meters. I still have my analog meter on my house for electricity. Unfortunately they are making everything "smart" now.
Here in Seattle we were given a choice to install smart meters or not. Of course those of us who opt out are being charged about $16 on every electric bill.
Jaydolf's Washington State is schizophrenic! On one hand they are trying to ban natural gas for heating and cooking and making everyone go electric, including for cars, while at the same time trying to breach hydroelectric dams and shut down any electrical production that isn't "renewable". I believe they call this the "California Model" wherein brownouts and rationing are the order of the day. What good is an electric car you are not allowed to charge?
Of course those of uS who opt out are being charged about $16 on every electric bill.]
Which is HILARIOUS, because prior to smart meters, they had to read ALL of them manually.
Now, they charge you for what they used to do as a matter of practice.
Note that those who do use the smart meters see no credit added to their bills.
Also, when they instituted smart meters, were power rates reduced to reflect the labor savings of not having to employ meter readers?
I suspect not.
So glad the power company was charitable and merciful enough to allow you to "opt out"... and pay them more money for something they used to do at no extra charge.
We got an opt out for our community fighting them for almost 4 years, was not part of their original plan, but there are some hefty extortion fee’s to get people to go along with it and a monthly penalty. Even so my ignorant neighbors meters now blanket my neighborhood. And every place else because the ignorant over educated useful idiots still believe going all electric will save the earth from Carbon. Wish more People would read the Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg.
Sounds familiar. I have had insomnia issues for nearly my entire adult life and I'm now Medicare age. Whenever the power in our neighborhood has been out during an extended period I have had a PERFECT night's sleep. Makes me look forward to those infrequent outages.
In another oddball reaction, I have found that traditional sleep aids act just the opposite for me. Melatonin did nothing to help me sleep at night but resulted in my needing to sleep for the entire next afternoon. And taking valerian at bedtime acted like a pot of caffeinated coffee --- kept me awake for the entire night. I wonder if these reactions are somehow related to genetics.
Turning off the electricity to your bedroom (or even whole house) can be very beneficial to your overall health whether or not it cures your insomnia. If you are exposed most of the day to wireless radiation (like cellphone, wifi, or even nearby celltowers, etc), that will still be affecting you in the night, even with all devices off. There is a residual effect, just like with sunburn - the sunburn does not show up immediately as you are getting overexposed; it is an after-effect. This is one of the most misunderstood things about wireless radiation - most people think that the minute you turn devices off, the effect on the body and mind ends, like switching off a light makes it dark, but that is not how it works.
Didn't help me, either. The fact that electricity going out in the whole neighborhood did the job made me think that everyone else's WIFI, smart meters, smart appliances, etc. were still affecting me even when my own home environment had improved.
You also have to turn the Wifi router off and remove all electronic devices from your room. Using a meter to figure out what type of EMF you're getting in your room is also helpful.
But here's the thing. Even if I shut down my entire house - everyone has smart meters and the whole neighbourhood still pulses every 6 seconds, with a huge download at 2:30 am.
Don't most states or locales have an opt out option for "smart meters"? Illinois does. Now the utility makes you pay a monthly fee for having to have the meters read, but if it keeps one or two people employed, that's fine with me! Last town, one person read both gas and electric meters, same utility company. In this tiny town of under 1,000 people, same utility company, one person can't read both (!), but, hey, I'm keeping two people employed!
I had my smart meter removed. Boy was that a fight. I noticed a little improvement. I unplug wifi, turn my phone to airplane and I bought up a bunch of incandescent bulbs but I cannot get around everyone else using the fake lights.
One thing to remember - airplane mode only turns off the cellular signal your phone emits - not wifi, bluetooth or anything else. (this change began back in 2018 with iphone leading the way, and they downloaded the new OS onto their older phones as well). To eliminate all signals you need to power the phone completely off.
I bought some lantern candles to use as Sun goes down. I live in a large city so 5G is unavoidable. Plan to move to SW America in the mountains but prices too high for a value investor like me.
I've been shutting down my WiFI every night for at least the past 12 years. Read the 2012 Bioinitiative report which goes into great deal of how EMF, radio frequencies and dirty electricity harms us.
For some strange reason, anything that helps me sleep, such as Benedryl or prescription narcotics, has the opposite effect if I use it three days in a row.
Big thanks! Thorough and authoritative as always. I have had many patients benefit from calcium lactate at bedtime. The most plentiful and most commonly deficient mineral comes in many forms ant the ionizable version affords neurological relaxation and therefore muscle relaxation. Some subjective indications include restlessness, twitches and/or cramps at night, etc. Usually effective within days if this is a problem.
Glad to see this abridged article on sleep. One thing i really don't get. Why is the most likely cause of insomnia barely mentioned, and then almost as an afterthought? That is exposure to radio-frequency / MICROWAVES / wireless radiation from close-range devices like cellphones, wifi routers, laptops, kindles, tablets, baby monitors, security systems, "smart"watches, "smart home" devices, smartmeters, automobile "sensors" like RADAR and on and on.
I am old enough to remember when insomnia was a RARE problem for most people. I never even heard of children with insomnia in the 1950s, 60s or 70s - just an occasional unusually compromised adult. Insomnia really seemed to increase in the late 1990s, coinciding exactly with the 1996 Telecom Act which allowed the mass rollout of celltowers and was the beginning of the mass adoption of cellphones.
I am not sure MWD, if you are just so habituated to wireless exposure that you don't feel it or if you just don't want to understand its VAST influence on all bodily, mental and even psychological processes. It interferes with the delicate signaling of our internal electrical circuitry. Consider how we check heart and brain function with EKGs and EEGs. Check out Arthur Firstenberg's substack or his book "The Invisible Rainbow" where he cites numerous scientific studies demonstrating the effects on human, animal and even plant health.
I did mention it and I've discussed it in more detail in the past. For context, EMF exposure this is never mentioned when sleep hygiene is discussed. This is an abridged post so I can't write 5 paragraphs about every subject. It's really hard to shorten these and an immense amount of time goes into it.
I understand your concern with abridging articles. But as far as "this is never mentioned when sleep hygiene is discussed" the question is why? I also read Matthew Walker's book and was pretty amazed he primarily skirted the profound microwave exposure issue. The kicker was near the end of his book when he had a chapter featuring the use of wireless devices to monitor your sleep and/or sleep hygiene! I could hardly believe it.
Most people just don't know anything about this subject or follow an ideology that rejects things like this. One of my main rules with sleeping (in terms of what I need) is to be in low EMF environments.
That's great and it certainly helps. But the radiation has long-lasting effects on our biological systems. So while turning everything off at bedtime is crucial, the daily hours spent on or near wireless devices is still affecting us throughout the day and night via all of our systems whose circuitry is much more delicate than these devices and is altered by them. You are right that most people don't want to know. Just like vaccine damage . . .
Are you familiar with grounding? Some people suggest standing on a sheet of tin foil before going to sleep to discharge these energies -- you also can attach devices to electrical outlet to stop their discharge. Before I got a wifi monitor with a shutoff switch I remember getting up at 3 am very frequently, because a signal would be sent out to alter our sleep ( this is a theory) putting àn aluminium ( or maybe it is steel? Screen around those nasty digital electrical meters and grounding it also helps -- you can find them online. Another method is to shutoff the breaker to the electricity in the room where you sleep if you are in an urban area it sometimes helps to screen energies with aluminum screening on your windows. Tin foil hats were invented for a reason-- we are just sensitive,not nuts!
I got rid of my smart meter which was on the other side of the bedroom wall. Also turning off the router and power to the bedroom at night. I use Shungite and salt lamps to counter the effects of electro magnetic discharge
Thanks Eunice - yes, grounding is great although it is best done outside on the natural earth, wet grass, beach, ocean, lake or even concrete. A sheet of tinfoil or aluminum foil under you will reflect any wireless radiation hitting it back at you, not so bueno. Turning off the breakers at night is also a great idea.
I’m very curious about biphasic sleep patterns. I find that I enjoy a nap around 5PM, and then stay up until around 1PM and sleep until 6:30am and feel great.
I know many people who do this.
People used to go to sleep with sundown, and then wake up for a few hours, and then sleep again. They had a name for this was the Watch or First Wake, or something, hard to know, I’ve seen it described in books.
I wonder if biphasic sleep patterns are healthy and sustainable? They have been for me but I’ve only been doing it for 20 years, and have no idea epidemiologically what effect it has on longevity and health span.
I also have been experimenting with melatonin. A mg or so can help us sleep better, I find, in some hard-to-define way, and I think it is beneficial for our eyes as it can turn into 10-methoxy harmalan that is a powerful antagonist to serotonin.
I remember reading about a phenomenon from past generations called “second sleep”, where folks would go to bed early and wake up for a few hours in the middle of the night, before going back to sleep again.
We've always called sleeping in two parts separated by a break a 'Tudor night'. I believe the pattern was quite common in Tudor England if not elsewhere.
A sad, but now familiar story. The FDA is captured by the pharmaceutical industry, as are the CDC, NIH, NIAID, our institutional heath care training, medical boards and particularly the United States Government. We now have no choice, but to be our own health care advisors. M.D. council should be considered, but never acted upon without personal investigation. The skepticism created by pandemic corruption greed will ultimately be the undoing of that greed. Many more Lemmings will die undiagnosed drug deaths, but those capable of independent thought will not. Naturopathic care is exponentially safer.
Falling asleep isn’t my issue. Staying asleep is the problem. I keep my room pitch black dark and quite chilly. And after 6 hours, or so, I’m simply wide awake. I don’t feel tired and always just figured it was normal for me to sleep less. But there are times I wish I could sleep past 5:00am!
Started to make my own home made (Not the crap you buy online or in smoke shops) decarboxylated CBD oil and at 61 Y.O. I am sleeping through the night like I did when I was seventeen! It only takes a rice size dose on the end of a saltine cracker that goes under the tongue one hour before bedtime. No morning handover or grogginess, just good deep sleep. I Give it out to friends! If you are interested in the recipe email at James@medicaltruthpodcast.com
Your comments on allopathy are quite interesting. It's also interesting that many of the commenters immediately turn to other drugs for relief. Has anyone thought to explore homeopathy, a non-drug approach?
I do a mix of valerian, skullcap, passionflower, chamomile & a wee bit of licorice root. Keep a tincture(dropper bottle) of this combo at my bedside if I think I need it.
🍼 Speaking of the importance of sleep, in respect to obstructive sleep apnoea, you might be interested in the work of Dr Brian Palmer (now deceased), whose decades of research were focused on malformation of the infant airway through the actions of intense infant bottle-feeding. Dr Palmer, who was a US dentist, went so far to argue that obstructive sleep apnoea is essentially a modern disorder only, that it did not exist prior to the invention of the baby bottle in people of normal weight. Certainly, Dr Palmer's large lab collection of prehistoric skulls was testament to his claims, where the nasopharyngeal anatomy of these skulls proved to be significantly more accommodating than what is seen today in those who present with the modern airway. Below is my summary of how I understand the main aspects of Dr Palmer's work as well as the link to the website now largely dedicated to his research.
Depending on intensity, frequency and duration, infant bottle-feeding can lead to oral cavity malformation. As a baby has soft, malleable bones, bottle-feeding, depending on the above three factors, can malform the maxilla through the implosion effect of sucking on a bottle. The outcome, then, can essentially be a high-arched hard palate and narrowed dental arch. With the consequent elevation of the hard palate and its narrowing, the posterior nasal accommodation above is then unavoidably compromised (as the roof of the mouth is also the floor of the nasal cavity). And with this reduced nasal accommodation, pneumatic pressure during sleep is reduced (due to a reduction in the volume of air) as well as there being a prevailing inefficacy in the exchange of gases - since any one sleep phase accordingly dictates the respiratory drive. Further, if the raising of the hard palate is extreme, the nasal septum above can collapse and deviate, causing further ventilation problems.
Another profoundly negative aspect of infant bottle-feeding, again, depending on the three factors as highlighted above, is where the epiglottis settles into an unnatural position in the airway after its natural descent. During the first few months of life, an infant is able to swallow breastmilk and breathe at the same time, and this is because the epiglottis is temporarily connected to the soft palate. Following this period, if a strong feeding infant is being intensively bottle-fed, the epiglottis can finally settle too low into the airway after its separation from the soft palate. The result here can mean not only a narrowed pharyngeal airway, but also an epiglottis that, apart from its primary function of capping the airway during swallow, cannot serve to properly brace the back of the tongue during sleep. Arguably, along with the high-arched hard palate problem, such an occurrence can lead to sleep apnoea and sleep hypopnoea - for life if left untreated; and, worse, in the case of the infant, SIDS.
Breastfeeding involves a peristaltic action of suck, hence breastfeeding is still far superior to any form of infant bottle-feeding, Dr Palmer had argued. Not all infants who are bottle-fed will necessarily end up with compromised airways; however, if a mother can make an informed choice to breastfeed (and given adequate time), then she has, along with the benefits of breastmilk, another very good reason to do so.
When I once sent Dr Palmer’s research to scientists at the University of Sydney, Australia their reply was that empirical evidence of the cause, being that of intense infant bottle-feeding, would still be required. My suggestion was that when midwifery nurses check for cleft palate in newborns that they also examine the hard palate for anything that deviates from what should be low and wide in formation. Any degree of narrowing and elevation thereafter, in the months ahead, in previously confirmed normal maxillae, would surely then be proof of the effects of implosion.
Interestingly, in the state of New South Wales, Australia the NSW Health 2016 report on breastfeeding (link below) states the following: “Babies who are breastfed have higher IQ scores and better jaw development.” Better or ideal jaw development can only mean here normal jaw development, with anything less having to be regarded as abnormal jaw development. Further, abnormal jaw development, if indicative of malformation of the oral cavity, could well mean a less than patent airway. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/kidsfamilies/MCFhealth/Publications/breastfeeding-your-baby.pdf
Such an important topic. Modern man is never sleeping adequately. Living in a world where new methods to kill people are more important than to bring about healing is in itself sleep depravation.
As someone who has not been sleeping proper for over ten years, I have come full circle regarding sleep. There are a few important aspects that should be considered. The Midwestern Doctor has already mentioned breathing. Not only "nose breathing", but sequential breathing - counting to a comfortable number (I do 5) breathing in through nose - holding - breathing out through mouth as if blowing out a candle - holding - breathing in...
My Grandmother and my Mom always told us that the sleep before midnight is the most important. Between 10pm and 11pm is now my personal "going horizontal" schedule. Above all however, is the emptying of the mind. The "getting rid" of the day. Being "done" with it. That in itself has a philosophical touch - as the "past" won't be altered through thinking about it. Telling myself "that's all folks" brings the day to an end and opens the door to the night.
Each and everyone has individual needs, of course. But the mind at peace is the best night cap of them all. As the Doctor says: the body will take care of the resting, healing. It might also be helpful to have a dream diary handy to write down the dreams that wake us up. It will be much easier to fall asleep again and one can ponder about what rocks the subconscious when reading it later.
I also find that B1 can help eliminate much sleep apnea via the mechanism of carbonic anhydrase inhibition. Sleep apnea when it is mild is actually protective of health and health span.
I posted another study above not nested into other comments for visibility. I really think this is very important for people with sleep difficulties.
D3 is linked with sleep apnoea, as well. It has to do with the signal for sleep paralysis. There is a window where it is best - too much D3 doesn't help.
In my opinion, one of the best approaches to sleep is: habit!
Follow the recommendations in the article (I have a slightly different take) and build the good habits (dark bedroom, cool sleeping temperatures, regular bedtime *every* night, etc) and sooner or later sleep should be good! Of course, significant chronic stress in your life can mess up anything!
I rub magnesium cream on my feet and legs. Also, I spoon a teaspoon of glycine into water with a little lemon to drink. The glycine is slightly sweet, so I call it my sleep lemonade! This also helps if I wake in the middle of the night. I use a half teaspoon in a small amount of water and I generally fall back to sleep quickly. I’m not really sure where I got this advice from, but for me it does the trick!
Feel free to share your preferred sleep remedies in this thread or what didn't work for you. I am sure everyone here would appreciate them.
I suffered from insomnia for 20 years. Aside from all the helpful tips above, the thing that really made the biggest difference was sleeping in a QUIET place. We bought a house a few years ago that has no car noise, no overhead airplanes, no police/ambulance sirens, no noisy neighbors - nothing but nature. I really think that noise pollution is severely underrated in how much is disrupts our sleep.
Totally agree. I also use an eye mask from time to time based on where the sun in coming in, but yes, the noise pollution is a real thing.
I used to love my eye masks, but likely need to make my own, as the materials in them make me break out. I miss them - just that subtle cue that the eyes don't need to work anymore.
I used to struggle with sleep. I have found profound benefits with meditating at night, similar to reading a really challenging book that is boring. Try to read a mathematic book. Promise you’ll be sleeping in five minutes.
So true about reading. It even helps me to read a good book (especially a good spiritual sense of well-being book) I've spent my whole life with sleep problems and anxiety about not sleeping. Wanting to stay awake to read paradoxically puts me to sleep!
Lol with depression one gets the early wake up. This morning i was lucky it was at 5 am and I had this from AMD to read!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Try reading a mathematics book before going to bed - OMG I LOVE THAT!!!!!! what’s cool is that I’m getting older and I’d love to brush up on some old algebra. What an amazingly wonderful idea. 😁❤️
Thank you for all you do in shining sunlight on pervasive corruption! It's hard not to be skeptical and even cynical where all things governing bodies are concerned.
For myself, I find that if I go too many days in a row without strenuous physical activity (i.e. exercise) my sleep quality goes down. I get restless legs and I can't shut my brain off.
By the way, the BEST physical activity is digging a hole in the ground, especially one deeper than you are tall (so you have to shovel dirt out above your head). I challenge any structured gym exercise to provide a more effective whole-body workout. I'm 46 and I just finished digging a seven-foot deep by about 20 feet long trench for a water line project. I've dug out egress windows by hand along with shallower drainage ditches. I own a backhoe but going out of my way to perform manual labor seems to keep me young!
Wow, you’re amazing. I admire you.!!!!
Thanks Midwest Doc! So the FDA figured out with the help of Big Pharma to classify GHB as a Class I drug when it is found naturally in the human brain. They are also pushing to have NAC reclassified as a Rx drug which is a precursor to glutathione that is essential for hepatic function. GABA is related chemically to GHB and I will take it tonight. Have been recovering from knee surgery for two months and my sleep pattern has been dysfunctional due to knee pain and the fact that Narco which is oxycodone and Tylenol is a double whammy on GI gut mobility and a negative on hepatic function. I hope this is the answer. Great article on the value of a good night's sleep!
I started a minor stockpile of NAC when I heard there was going to be regulation and that Amazon was going to stop selling it around 2 yrs ago. Just re-checked Amazon and you can still buy it.
I did exactly the same thing!
The FDA and the AMA couldn't commit any of their crimes if it wasn't for the armies of useful American idiots that cheer them on.
For most of my life I have suffered with too much REM sleep. I remember as a small child my sleep was fine but at some point that stopped and I started having too much very vivid dreaming. It could be around the same time I was vaccine injured as a child (I also started having issues with my energy levels because of it). At any rate, I had terrible nightmares as a child. As an adult I have too many dreams, most very vivid and it always leaves me tired.
What has made a significant difference to me is cannabis. I started with CBD which helped a little, then a balanced THC/CBD formula which helped more again. But when I started having full doses of THC before bed (alongside every day CBD oil use), my sleep became almost completely normal.
The last piece of the puzzle to tip me over into a full restful night is a supplement that is a mix of hemp oil, tart cherry and 5-HTP. I take it with food about 5 hours before bed (taking it right before I sleep actually makes me have too REM sleep again!) and it gets me through the whole night.
So if you're the type of person who dreams too much and tends to wake often in the small hours of the morning, this combo may be worth a shot :)
I, too, used to dream a LOT and especially lucid dreaming!
My wife observed that I had sleep apnea, which was causing me to stop breathing for as much as 12 seconds at a time. I am guessing that's when I was experiencing the most vivid dreams too.
I ended up getting turbinate reduction surgery and that made a giant difference. My sleeping quality improved, but unfortunately my lucid dreaming all but vanished. I miss having "control" over my dreams like that. I've entire notebooks filled with story ideas inspired from dreams I remembered, and many of those found their way later into novels I published.
But as much as I miss lucid dreaming, better sleep quality means a healthier life.
Wasn't marijuana a schedule 1 drug not long ago, or even still federally? Similar story, Alcohol Industry getting rid of competition...
I'm not super familiar with US laws (I'm in New Zealand) but it's the case in many countries where pharma (or the chemical industry or crude oil industry or manufacturing...) can't profit off nature so they make it illegal. New Zealand has only just started allowing it as as prescribed medicine in the past few years but it's been a hard slog to get here, you still have to jump through hoops to get it and it's a class 1 controlled drug so there are some pretty heavy restrictions on prescriptions.
It's been life changing for me with regards to my sleep, chronic pain and anxiety. But for choosing to use nature to help my body instead of expensive synthetic drugs to artificially suppress symptoms at the cost of adverse reactions and side effects, I'm still treated like criminal at times or at minimum with suspicion and distrust.
Even though cannabis causes far, far less destruction to our society, I could walk down the road, buy enough alcohol off the shelf to kill me and no one would bat an eye.
It's always the same tired similar story - those with the big bucks don't want the average person knowing they can improve their wellbeing and life with much cheaper and/or better alternatives.
Breathe, it was like that in Oz for about 5 years, then, over COVID, they decided that a sedated population was easier to control, and loosened up the guidelines.
I have never been physically seen by a cannabis doctor. I report to them over the phone, and they prescribe. Sometimes excessively so (see above).
I have stoner mates who just say "sleep" or "anxiety" so they can puff their brains away. They like the products that buzz them out (so - edibles & oils are no fun, they are truly good medicine), and so - aren't really getting the medicine aspects of it. But they get their monthly package just like I do.
I no longer "get high," but instead knock about 30% off my pain levels so that I can act human in public (most of the time - I went to a play last month, and twice people stopped and asked me if "I was right" when really, it's just how things are for me.).
CBD/THC are life savers for me, too. Sometimes I get a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep, but I'm always down for 9 hours (with potty breaks). Sleep is one thing I don't worry about, though it could be earlier. And I do miss having dreams, they sort of helped me structure my waking reality.
But I wouldn't have much quality of life in the waking reality without the relief provided by cannabis. On the Australian medical program, it took me 2 years to finally get enough CBD in my life (the first outfit kept pushing higher and higher T on me! $2500 / month worth - which I never bought it all). Now have a stable, functional dose - and with the addition of DMSO, it can only get better.
DMSO note: I did 3 days oral 1x small tsp 99.5% DMSO in lemon juice (and barley grass and ACV etc) daily. Tastes bad, yes, and by the 3rd day, my skin was itching and poo was burning. Three days is my current limit. I will now do this only one day at a time on "recovery days."
BUT - (and here's the part relevant to your post) - after that 3 days DMSO trial, when I took my regular cannabis oil dose, it knocked me out! Unusually so, you know the feeling where - you have no choice, you will sleep, unconscious, now! I believe it made my medicine stronger, or more effective, or something!
This inspired me to try 0.5% DMSO in my homemade (mostly T) cannabis oil. It doesn't taste as nice, but I now use less of it.
DMSO = cheaper than cannabis, and does different things.
Listening to a TV show (but not watching) reliably puts me to sleep. Often it's the same one. These nights, I don't last for more than 5 minutes with the Psych pilot episode. Without that, my mind could zig and zag wide awake for hours.
So true! I've recently hit on a solution of watching dateline murder mysteries.!! Five minutes tops until zzzzz
I use a calcium-magnesium powder, put in enough hot water to dissolve it and add cold water so that it's easier to drink. This helps with overall muscle relaxation, any muscle cramping or restless leg kinds of feelings. I take a cup in the evening and it's been working for me for years. It goes under various names, but I use the Sunshine Vitamins "CalMag-C". Not exactly flavorless, but put in some juice if you want to kill the taste.
Calcium & magnesium bind to the same receptors.
I'd be inclined to find a mag only product. Lately, I've been fond of Natural Calm - comes in powder or gummies. But I'm a magnesium fiend - love magnesium baths, and take glycinate & taurate every evening. Natural Calm is for just when I need that little extra.
I've been on clonazepam for decades and it definitely helps me sleep but I mainly keep taking it because it works great for me as a mast cell stabilizer. I am cutting back, and filling in with trazadone to help me stay asleep longer. My sleep is still hit and miss, and other than alcohol I've never figured out what makes the difference. I tried all the things like blue blockers and my Oura showed no relationship. It could just be my immune deficiency.
But my husband has lyme and he's lucky to get 6 hours of sleep a night so at least I'm better than that. As I'm working off the clonazepam I started getting restless leg (which I honestly thought was a bullshit diagnosis before I got it), and Gaba fixes that. I've also taken melatonin for a long time, and at high doses since I had cancer. I would love for us both to be able to try GHB instead of all this.
I use a homeopathic remedy for restless leg syndrome. It works well
Restless leg syndrome is a symptom of magnesium deficiency.
What is it??
Yes, the benzodiazepines are known to be mast cell stabilizers and after finding out I was retaining toxic gadolinium, and having the magnet on my head pulling it up into the brain multiple times, I believe this is why I cannot sleep. On pubmed there are multiple articles in which gadolinium disrupts physiology. I was a great sleeper until that first injection of this heavy metal. My brain was on fire for 19 years. Chelation has helped. The gadolinium can be seen on my scans that was still there with a washout period of 12 years, and where it is, must be what is hurting that part of the brain. My basal ganglia lights up. My doctor told me it was a mast cell stabilizer and alprazolam has saved my life. I have no side effects from it. This procedure was all done for pituitary diagnosis. I would like to try GHB to help quality of life.
Sitting here drinking my coffee, I know it's the last thing I need to give up but it's a hard one (that and doom scrolling.. I know, I know.) Water process decaf just doesn't taste the same, even though the chemical compound of caffeine is not supposed to have any detectable taste/flavor. The NASA spider web has put me on notice, so thank you.
I come from a long line of insomniacs but I have a strategy that has worked for me since I was in my 50's going through menopause. I taken NOW brand 5-HTP, 50 mg every night, and I take it with Magnesium Glycinate and Vitamin D3/K2 (Mercola). When stress is bad and I need additional help, I add inositol powder (1/8 tsp) and Glycine Power (about half a teaspoon) and mix it in a small glass of water.
I struggle with giving up my coffee too. So far I've given up wheat, all refined sugar, seed oils, alcohol and everything in aluminum. I don't have trouble falling asleep I have trouble staying asleep. Magnesium helps a lot. Daily exercise definitely helps and plenty of sun exposure too. But I would LOVE the opportunity to try GHB at 3:30 every single morning when my eyes pop open and I cannot fall back asleep if my life depended on it. 4-5 hours of sleep per night is leaving me exhausted during the day. Benadryl noticeably wrecks my brain. Source Naturals Theanine Serene with Relora helps me sleep through the night on some days, but not consistently. I just want two or three hours more deep sleep every night.
I feel your pain. Some things work once in a while and you could try the inositol (NOW brand) and the glycine powder (Designs for Health). Also if you take magnesium it's really important to take D3/K2 with it. I do not have a television or cable box in my bedroom - imperative to get the box out if you have one, not the same as just turning off the TV. I also unplug my wifi at night. One last thing is I try to go to bed fairly dehydrated if that makes sense, so I'm not woken up to hit the bathroom.
Don't give up coffee. Coffee being bad is just another huge lie. Make sure you drink it black and organic. Also, use RO water and a French press (no plastic, no chlorine, no fluoride).
Try mixing frankincense essential oil with a carrier oil such as almond oil and applying that to your eyelids before bed. You'll get awesome sleep (be sure to turn off WiFi and remove all electronics from bedroom).
Don't give up coffee. Coffee being bad for you is just another gigantic lie. Just be sure to use organic coffee and use RO water and a French press when you brew it. Caffeine has tons of medicinal properties. Studies show that it reduces the risk for strokes and other things. Coffee also has a lot of antioxidants and other nutrients, as long as it is organic.
I've used an Oura ring and a garmin watch, both of which monitor my sleep (reporting fairly different values), and I have tried hard for the last four years to get the right amount of sleep. I have paid attention to the suggestions: get to bed early enough to wake up comfortably at the same time every morning (4:30am in my case); no caffeine after 2pm; don't eat anything after 6pm; take a cool shower and cool the bedroom down, as you mention; don't use the blue light phone screen once in bed; etc. I still have a hard time getting much more than 6.5 hours. Walk/ jog 2.5 to 5 miles every day. I'm 60, in good shape, no chronic conditions, and I quit drinking alcohol entirely thee plus years ago. I'm surprised you didn't mention melatonin in your article. I find it drives me right to sleep, but I'm slightly uncomfortable that it's a crutch. What are your thoughts on melatonin and the proper use and dose?
If you take melatonin, your body will produce less of it. Using electronic devices in your bedroom and leaving the Wifi router on all night will disrupt your sleep.
🍼 My brief Substack post on infant bottle-feeding and OSA: https://open.substack.com/pub/meshwork3232/p/infant-bottle-feeding-and-obstructive?r=20pd6j&utm_medium=ios
1. Eat only a light meal no later than at least 3 hours before bedtime (I usually have a small salad and half of a cup of kefir).
2. Turn off the WiFi router.
3. Install Stetzer Filters in a couple of outlets (prevents dirty electricity).
4. Get rid of any electronics in your bedroom.
5. Apply a carrier oil with a few drops of frankincense essential oils on your eyelid and perhaps your navel. You can also use almond oil on the sole of your feet (I don't like this method because if I have to get up at night....). Some people use castor oil on their eyelids, but I find that too sticky.
I find relaxing music very helpful. You can set the sleep/timer function on many electronic devices for automatic shutdown. I like chillout/downtempo/ambient music.
This is also why they banned incandescent lights to help make us more sick and sleep deprived. We need to get rid of that BS legislation. Never mind how Wifry radiation impacts us in that regard as well. And then they go installing "smart" electrical meters on every home across this country. They really can't kill us off fast enough can they. Bastards. Then there is the whole issue with under developed palates from not breast feeding that occurs. Kids are sleep deprived from the get go in many cases if they have lip and tongue tie issues. The best sleep I had in years recently was when I did an experiment to see if I was electro hypersensitive and shut off our wifi router for a night, It was so profound how damn amazing I felt when I woke up and the irregular heart stuff waking me a dead sleep stopped as well. If people have sleep issues and are waking up at the same crazy time every night. You should go look up a chinese medicine meridian clock, because it could be related to some organ dysfunction as well that you need to address.
The incandescent ban is so frustrating!
I have been ordering incandescent bulbs from ebay.
How do you do that? Are they from another country?
I think some places are selling off whatever stock they had on hand.
How do you feel about Melatonin supplement 2 hrs before bedtime? That has worked for me when I use it.
Gives me headaches the morning after
Most doses of melatonin are too high. Usual dose out there is 3 mg. Puritan's Pride has them as small as 1 mg.
Get it in a liquid, dilute the liquid if you must, and start more like 0.5 mg.
Melatonin is a trigger, and most of us can respond to that trigger - better - at smaller doses. I've had reports of people doing well on 0.25 mg. When I last took it, I was taking 1 mg daily.
I discontinued it, because I had a DUTCH test done (expensive, but valuable information!), which showed my melatonin was off the charts (something like 20x the peak value).
Every day, in the Australian sun (often at Prime Hours), I take a 15-20 minute walk, wearing singlet & shorts. I'd wear less, but don't wish to frighten the neighbours. This is enough melatonin. I no longer need to supplement.
Now to do the Jack Kruse thing, and "make like the Sphinx" at sunrise. If only there weren't ants.....
I took once and felt great the next day. For some reason it only worked once
Me, too; I use it about half the time, maybe a bit less. I also take GABA most nights.
Amazon has incandescent bulbs available. Hubby prefers LED for reducing the power bill to which I agreed except for the bedroom where I relax in the evening.
This is my problem. Hubby is an efficiency expert. Our house runs itself, our electricity (no longer using gas) is something like $330 / year, with very little attention paid to A/C or hot water.
I'm like: natural lights, halogens! Full Spectrum, please! When I moved into his house, it was all fluorescents in the kitchen & bath & work areas. It's taken 20 years, and I had halogens in the kitchen for awhile, much to his dismay. They were always blowing, anyway, and were a true hassle on AU 220V systems.
FINALLY, they started producing warmer LEDS, and we reached a compromise. BUT I've seen the charts now, the difference between the "warm" LEDS and incandescent is remarkable. There's more too - LED is a point generating light, while incandescent is a glowing, radiant light. The light emitting from a point is more harmful to eyes (think car headlights, for example). Now I see blue light everywhere = ouch!
So - we're in a state of compromise, and the efficiency is only going to get worse. I'm certain that the solar panels aren't particularly clean energy, and that smart meter is not my friend. But also - we're less reliant upon "out there," 3 steps closer to off grid. (all we need is a battery)
On the other hand, if governments start seizing "inefficient carbon footprint" properties or insisting on compliance with certain standards - we are tighter than any standards the government would produce. Hubby's a greenie.
I may be wearing my blue blockers more often. Still too vain to wear them publicly, but after teaching for 3 hours under fluorescents - I may go there.
In Texas we made our Legislature pass an OPT OUT law for smart meters. I still have my analog meter on my house for electricity. Unfortunately they are making everything "smart" now.
Here in Seattle we were given a choice to install smart meters or not. Of course those of us who opt out are being charged about $16 on every electric bill.
Jaydolf's Washington State is schizophrenic! On one hand they are trying to ban natural gas for heating and cooking and making everyone go electric, including for cars, while at the same time trying to breach hydroelectric dams and shut down any electrical production that isn't "renewable". I believe they call this the "California Model" wherein brownouts and rationing are the order of the day. What good is an electric car you are not allowed to charge?
Couldn't agree more. Insanity rules the day in this state.
that's cheap health insurance.
That's what I thought.
Of course those of uS who opt out are being charged about $16 on every electric bill.]
Which is HILARIOUS, because prior to smart meters, they had to read ALL of them manually.
Now, they charge you for what they used to do as a matter of practice.
Note that those who do use the smart meters see no credit added to their bills.
Also, when they instituted smart meters, were power rates reduced to reflect the labor savings of not having to employ meter readers?
I suspect not.
So glad the power company was charitable and merciful enough to allow you to "opt out"... and pay them more money for something they used to do at no extra charge.
Who's your daddy?
We got an opt out for our community fighting them for almost 4 years, was not part of their original plan, but there are some hefty extortion fee’s to get people to go along with it and a monthly penalty. Even so my ignorant neighbors meters now blanket my neighborhood. And every place else because the ignorant over educated useful idiots still believe going all electric will save the earth from Carbon. Wish more People would read the Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg.
You are very lucky! Never give it up!
Sounds familiar. I have had insomnia issues for nearly my entire adult life and I'm now Medicare age. Whenever the power in our neighborhood has been out during an extended period I have had a PERFECT night's sleep. Makes me look forward to those infrequent outages.
In another oddball reaction, I have found that traditional sleep aids act just the opposite for me. Melatonin did nothing to help me sleep at night but resulted in my needing to sleep for the entire next afternoon. And taking valerian at bedtime acted like a pot of caffeinated coffee --- kept me awake for the entire night. I wonder if these reactions are somehow related to genetics.
I have tried for a week with turning off the electricity to my room at night. Did not change thing.
Turning off the electricity to your bedroom (or even whole house) can be very beneficial to your overall health whether or not it cures your insomnia. If you are exposed most of the day to wireless radiation (like cellphone, wifi, or even nearby celltowers, etc), that will still be affecting you in the night, even with all devices off. There is a residual effect, just like with sunburn - the sunburn does not show up immediately as you are getting overexposed; it is an after-effect. This is one of the most misunderstood things about wireless radiation - most people think that the minute you turn devices off, the effect on the body and mind ends, like switching off a light makes it dark, but that is not how it works.
Didn't help me, either. The fact that electricity going out in the whole neighborhood did the job made me think that everyone else's WIFI, smart meters, smart appliances, etc. were still affecting me even when my own home environment had improved.
for sure.
You also have to turn the Wifi router off and remove all electronic devices from your room. Using a meter to figure out what type of EMF you're getting in your room is also helpful.
But here's the thing. Even if I shut down my entire house - everyone has smart meters and the whole neighbourhood still pulses every 6 seconds, with a huge download at 2:30 am.
I want a Faraday Bed!
@paula
I have paradoxical reactions to sleep aids too. In my case, I think it's caused by mercury toxicity.
Yes so true about the incandescent ban! Now i can stay awake and think about what else I need to stockpile before the crooks ban it.
Don't most states or locales have an opt out option for "smart meters"? Illinois does. Now the utility makes you pay a monthly fee for having to have the meters read, but if it keeps one or two people employed, that's fine with me! Last town, one person read both gas and electric meters, same utility company. In this tiny town of under 1,000 people, same utility company, one person can't read both (!), but, hey, I'm keeping two people employed!
Sleep deprivation is a torture tactic.
I had my smart meter removed. Boy was that a fight. I noticed a little improvement. I unplug wifi, turn my phone to airplane and I bought up a bunch of incandescent bulbs but I cannot get around everyone else using the fake lights.
One thing to remember - airplane mode only turns off the cellular signal your phone emits - not wifi, bluetooth or anything else. (this change began back in 2018 with iphone leading the way, and they downloaded the new OS onto their older phones as well). To eliminate all signals you need to power the phone completely off.
You can buy brown light LEDs
there is still the flicker rate issue to deal with. brown or white LED's are a neurobiological nightmare.
Can you, at my yahoo, send me the recipe??????surferrobin51
I bought some lantern candles to use as Sun goes down. I live in a large city so 5G is unavoidable. Plan to move to SW America in the mountains but prices too high for a value investor like me.
I've been shutting down my WiFI every night for at least the past 12 years. Read the 2012 Bioinitiative report which goes into great deal of how EMF, radio frequencies and dirty electricity harms us.
Is benadryl really linked to Alzheimer's? It is the only way I get good sleep, yet I try to use it sparingly b/c of the bad press it's gotten.
I would question if benadryl is really giving you *good* sleep and not just lots of unconscious hours.
For some strange reason, anything that helps me sleep, such as Benedryl or prescription narcotics, has the opposite effect if I use it three days in a row.
My father used Benadryl every night for decades as suggested by my RN mother. Developed Lewy body dementia and suffered for a decade before dying.
Just saying. Look up anti-cholinergics and dementia.
Diphenhydramine causes me akathisia.
Same for me
Big thanks! Thorough and authoritative as always. I have had many patients benefit from calcium lactate at bedtime. The most plentiful and most commonly deficient mineral comes in many forms ant the ionizable version affords neurological relaxation and therefore muscle relaxation. Some subjective indications include restlessness, twitches and/or cramps at night, etc. Usually effective within days if this is a problem.
I use music frequencies. Try some of these.
The DEEPEST Healing Frequency 》174 Hz 》Pain Relieving Sound Bath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK9PMr71ty4&list=RDgo99WqXWGgk
Deep Healing Energy | 528Hz Ancient Frequency | Sound Healing Session | Zen Meditation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go99WqXWGgk
963 Hz Frequency of God, Return to Oneness, Spiritual Connection, Crown Chakra, Meditation Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-7S5ZuNGQ&list=RDgo99WqXWGgk
Ultimate Solfeggio SOUNDBATH | The COMPLETE Restoration | 9 Divine Frequencies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X95arcCMAXc
10100 Hertz: Heal Pituitary Gland ❯❯❯ WAIT TILL 6 Mins! • Quantum Miracle Formula Frequency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Xn9fZaDac
741Hz, Cleanse Infections & Dissolve Toxins, Aura Cleanse, Boost Immune System, Meditation
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Glad to see this abridged article on sleep. One thing i really don't get. Why is the most likely cause of insomnia barely mentioned, and then almost as an afterthought? That is exposure to radio-frequency / MICROWAVES / wireless radiation from close-range devices like cellphones, wifi routers, laptops, kindles, tablets, baby monitors, security systems, "smart"watches, "smart home" devices, smartmeters, automobile "sensors" like RADAR and on and on.
I am old enough to remember when insomnia was a RARE problem for most people. I never even heard of children with insomnia in the 1950s, 60s or 70s - just an occasional unusually compromised adult. Insomnia really seemed to increase in the late 1990s, coinciding exactly with the 1996 Telecom Act which allowed the mass rollout of celltowers and was the beginning of the mass adoption of cellphones.
I am not sure MWD, if you are just so habituated to wireless exposure that you don't feel it or if you just don't want to understand its VAST influence on all bodily, mental and even psychological processes. It interferes with the delicate signaling of our internal electrical circuitry. Consider how we check heart and brain function with EKGs and EEGs. Check out Arthur Firstenberg's substack or his book "The Invisible Rainbow" where he cites numerous scientific studies demonstrating the effects on human, animal and even plant health.
I did mention it and I've discussed it in more detail in the past. For context, EMF exposure this is never mentioned when sleep hygiene is discussed. This is an abridged post so I can't write 5 paragraphs about every subject. It's really hard to shorten these and an immense amount of time goes into it.
⌨️🖱️In respect to EMR, specifically, NIR Bluetooth exposure, I’ve recently gone back to wired devices for the computer keyboard and mouse. The University of Essex has concerns (scrolling down to ‘Harmful effects’): https://www.essex.ac.uk/staff/working-with-physical-agents/non-ionising-radiation-safety
I understand your concern with abridging articles. But as far as "this is never mentioned when sleep hygiene is discussed" the question is why? I also read Matthew Walker's book and was pretty amazed he primarily skirted the profound microwave exposure issue. The kicker was near the end of his book when he had a chapter featuring the use of wireless devices to monitor your sleep and/or sleep hygiene! I could hardly believe it.
Most people just don't know anything about this subject or follow an ideology that rejects things like this. One of my main rules with sleeping (in terms of what I need) is to be in low EMF environments.
That's great and it certainly helps. But the radiation has long-lasting effects on our biological systems. So while turning everything off at bedtime is crucial, the daily hours spent on or near wireless devices is still affecting us throughout the day and night via all of our systems whose circuitry is much more delicate than these devices and is altered by them. You are right that most people don't want to know. Just like vaccine damage . . .
Are you familiar with grounding? Some people suggest standing on a sheet of tin foil before going to sleep to discharge these energies -- you also can attach devices to electrical outlet to stop their discharge. Before I got a wifi monitor with a shutoff switch I remember getting up at 3 am very frequently, because a signal would be sent out to alter our sleep ( this is a theory) putting àn aluminium ( or maybe it is steel? Screen around those nasty digital electrical meters and grounding it also helps -- you can find them online. Another method is to shutoff the breaker to the electricity in the room where you sleep if you are in an urban area it sometimes helps to screen energies with aluminum screening on your windows. Tin foil hats were invented for a reason-- we are just sensitive,not nuts!
I got rid of my smart meter which was on the other side of the bedroom wall. Also turning off the router and power to the bedroom at night. I use Shungite and salt lamps to counter the effects of electro magnetic discharge
It sounds like we have the same bedroom and house procedures. LOL
Thanks Eunice - yes, grounding is great although it is best done outside on the natural earth, wet grass, beach, ocean, lake or even concrete. A sheet of tinfoil or aluminum foil under you will reflect any wireless radiation hitting it back at you, not so bueno. Turning off the breakers at night is also a great idea.
The Bioinitiative Report of 2012 is a must read in terms of RF and EMF and their impact on biology.
Thank you Doctor.
I’m very curious about biphasic sleep patterns. I find that I enjoy a nap around 5PM, and then stay up until around 1PM and sleep until 6:30am and feel great.
I know many people who do this.
People used to go to sleep with sundown, and then wake up for a few hours, and then sleep again. They had a name for this was the Watch or First Wake, or something, hard to know, I’ve seen it described in books.
I wonder if biphasic sleep patterns are healthy and sustainable? They have been for me but I’ve only been doing it for 20 years, and have no idea epidemiologically what effect it has on longevity and health span.
I also have been experimenting with melatonin. A mg or so can help us sleep better, I find, in some hard-to-define way, and I think it is beneficial for our eyes as it can turn into 10-methoxy harmalan that is a powerful antagonist to serotonin.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13774014/
I remember reading about a phenomenon from past generations called “second sleep”, where folks would go to bed early and wake up for a few hours in the middle of the night, before going back to sleep again.
We've always called sleeping in two parts separated by a break a 'Tudor night'. I believe the pattern was quite common in Tudor England if not elsewhere.
Italy & France, common to dance at that time.
If I had to guess, biphasic is good in winter and monophasic is good in tropics/summer
A sad, but now familiar story. The FDA is captured by the pharmaceutical industry, as are the CDC, NIH, NIAID, our institutional heath care training, medical boards and particularly the United States Government. We now have no choice, but to be our own health care advisors. M.D. council should be considered, but never acted upon without personal investigation. The skepticism created by pandemic corruption greed will ultimately be the undoing of that greed. Many more Lemmings will die undiagnosed drug deaths, but those capable of independent thought will not. Naturopathic care is exponentially safer.
Falling asleep isn’t my issue. Staying asleep is the problem. I keep my room pitch black dark and quite chilly. And after 6 hours, or so, I’m simply wide awake. I don’t feel tired and always just figured it was normal for me to sleep less. But there are times I wish I could sleep past 5:00am!
Started to make my own home made (Not the crap you buy online or in smoke shops) decarboxylated CBD oil and at 61 Y.O. I am sleeping through the night like I did when I was seventeen! It only takes a rice size dose on the end of a saltine cracker that goes under the tongue one hour before bedtime. No morning handover or grogginess, just good deep sleep. I Give it out to friends! If you are interested in the recipe email at James@medicaltruthpodcast.com
@medicaltruthpodcast
I will be emailing you for the recipe! Thanks for that offer.
Your comments on allopathy are quite interesting. It's also interesting that many of the commenters immediately turn to other drugs for relief. Has anyone thought to explore homeopathy, a non-drug approach?
I like these abridged articles because I often forget about the originals after a while.
I like a skullcap (herbal), chamomile and peppermint tea. Also, GABA and valerian work well too.
I do a mix of valerian, skullcap, passionflower, chamomile & a wee bit of licorice root. Keep a tincture(dropper bottle) of this combo at my bedside if I think I need it.
Great combination
That helps. I can attest to that. I use Baicalin
I'm experimenting with skullcap...i think it helps.
🍼 Speaking of the importance of sleep, in respect to obstructive sleep apnoea, you might be interested in the work of Dr Brian Palmer (now deceased), whose decades of research were focused on malformation of the infant airway through the actions of intense infant bottle-feeding. Dr Palmer, who was a US dentist, went so far to argue that obstructive sleep apnoea is essentially a modern disorder only, that it did not exist prior to the invention of the baby bottle in people of normal weight. Certainly, Dr Palmer's large lab collection of prehistoric skulls was testament to his claims, where the nasopharyngeal anatomy of these skulls proved to be significantly more accommodating than what is seen today in those who present with the modern airway. Below is my summary of how I understand the main aspects of Dr Palmer's work as well as the link to the website now largely dedicated to his research.
Depending on intensity, frequency and duration, infant bottle-feeding can lead to oral cavity malformation. As a baby has soft, malleable bones, bottle-feeding, depending on the above three factors, can malform the maxilla through the implosion effect of sucking on a bottle. The outcome, then, can essentially be a high-arched hard palate and narrowed dental arch. With the consequent elevation of the hard palate and its narrowing, the posterior nasal accommodation above is then unavoidably compromised (as the roof of the mouth is also the floor of the nasal cavity). And with this reduced nasal accommodation, pneumatic pressure during sleep is reduced (due to a reduction in the volume of air) as well as there being a prevailing inefficacy in the exchange of gases - since any one sleep phase accordingly dictates the respiratory drive. Further, if the raising of the hard palate is extreme, the nasal septum above can collapse and deviate, causing further ventilation problems.
Another profoundly negative aspect of infant bottle-feeding, again, depending on the three factors as highlighted above, is where the epiglottis settles into an unnatural position in the airway after its natural descent. During the first few months of life, an infant is able to swallow breastmilk and breathe at the same time, and this is because the epiglottis is temporarily connected to the soft palate. Following this period, if a strong feeding infant is being intensively bottle-fed, the epiglottis can finally settle too low into the airway after its separation from the soft palate. The result here can mean not only a narrowed pharyngeal airway, but also an epiglottis that, apart from its primary function of capping the airway during swallow, cannot serve to properly brace the back of the tongue during sleep. Arguably, along with the high-arched hard palate problem, such an occurrence can lead to sleep apnoea and sleep hypopnoea - for life if left untreated; and, worse, in the case of the infant, SIDS.
Breastfeeding involves a peristaltic action of suck, hence breastfeeding is still far superior to any form of infant bottle-feeding, Dr Palmer had argued. Not all infants who are bottle-fed will necessarily end up with compromised airways; however, if a mother can make an informed choice to breastfeed (and given adequate time), then she has, along with the benefits of breastmilk, another very good reason to do so.
https://milkmatters.org.uk/category/brian-palmer-dds/
When I once sent Dr Palmer’s research to scientists at the University of Sydney, Australia their reply was that empirical evidence of the cause, being that of intense infant bottle-feeding, would still be required. My suggestion was that when midwifery nurses check for cleft palate in newborns that they also examine the hard palate for anything that deviates from what should be low and wide in formation. Any degree of narrowing and elevation thereafter, in the months ahead, in previously confirmed normal maxillae, would surely then be proof of the effects of implosion.
Interestingly, in the state of New South Wales, Australia the NSW Health 2016 report on breastfeeding (link below) states the following: “Babies who are breastfed have higher IQ scores and better jaw development.” Better or ideal jaw development can only mean here normal jaw development, with anything less having to be regarded as abnormal jaw development. Further, abnormal jaw development, if indicative of malformation of the oral cavity, could well mean a less than patent airway. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/kidsfamilies/MCFhealth/Publications/breastfeeding-your-baby.pdf
David White
I have been seeking a “natural” sleep aid for years...
Such an important topic. Modern man is never sleeping adequately. Living in a world where new methods to kill people are more important than to bring about healing is in itself sleep depravation.
As someone who has not been sleeping proper for over ten years, I have come full circle regarding sleep. There are a few important aspects that should be considered. The Midwestern Doctor has already mentioned breathing. Not only "nose breathing", but sequential breathing - counting to a comfortable number (I do 5) breathing in through nose - holding - breathing out through mouth as if blowing out a candle - holding - breathing in...
My Grandmother and my Mom always told us that the sleep before midnight is the most important. Between 10pm and 11pm is now my personal "going horizontal" schedule. Above all however, is the emptying of the mind. The "getting rid" of the day. Being "done" with it. That in itself has a philosophical touch - as the "past" won't be altered through thinking about it. Telling myself "that's all folks" brings the day to an end and opens the door to the night.
Each and everyone has individual needs, of course. But the mind at peace is the best night cap of them all. As the Doctor says: the body will take care of the resting, healing. It might also be helpful to have a dream diary handy to write down the dreams that wake us up. It will be much easier to fall asleep again and one can ponder about what rocks the subconscious when reading it later.
Wishing everybody a good night. Sleep well.
Cannabis is quite good and doesn’t seem to interfere with high quality sleep. CBD, CBN and THC in equal quantities seem to work very well.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cbdv.200790150
I also find that B1 can help eliminate much sleep apnea via the mechanism of carbonic anhydrase inhibition. Sleep apnea when it is mild is actually protective of health and health span.
I posted another study above not nested into other comments for visibility. I really think this is very important for people with sleep difficulties.
D3 is linked with sleep apnoea, as well. It has to do with the signal for sleep paralysis. There is a window where it is best - too much D3 doesn't help.
I believe I got this info (a decade or more ago) from this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF24xmJQK1k Stasha Gominek: Sleep, Vit D & Heart Health
Me too. Benadryl and melatonin have absolutely no effect with me.
Benadryl acts on me like amphetamines. Forget sleep, I’m up all night on that stuff.
It's called paradoxical, many "sleep" supplements do this.
Wow
Does that differ from akathisia?
In my opinion, one of the best approaches to sleep is: habit!
Follow the recommendations in the article (I have a slightly different take) and build the good habits (dark bedroom, cool sleeping temperatures, regular bedtime *every* night, etc) and sooner or later sleep should be good! Of course, significant chronic stress in your life can mess up anything!
I rub magnesium cream on my feet and legs. Also, I spoon a teaspoon of glycine into water with a little lemon to drink. The glycine is slightly sweet, so I call it my sleep lemonade! This also helps if I wake in the middle of the night. I use a half teaspoon in a small amount of water and I generally fall back to sleep quickly. I’m not really sure where I got this advice from, but for me it does the trick!