Insomnia | My Healing Kitchen

The Top 12 Insomnia Healing Superfoods

Welcome to My Healing Kitchen! As a member, you will receive weekly articles featuring the top Insomnia Healing Superfoods. (If you’re not yet a member, we invite you to join us!) Over 9,000 studies confirm that food is your best medicine. If you struggle to get more ZZZs, that’s encouraging news. Recent studies show that certain foods have the ability to increase melatonin production, restore exhausted adrenal...

Insomnia Responds to Stress Relief

Intense, prolonged stress is devastating to your health, as the recent Nurses Health Study of 20,000 women reveals. Whether the source of the stress you’re experiencing is physical, emotional, mental or environmental in nature, it drains your hard-working adrenal glands of critical hormone reserves needed to respond to stress in the body. It may seem macho — particularly in Western society — to live an...

Exercise Improves Sleep

When you’re pooped out, the last thing you probably feel like doing is exercising. But graded exercise introduced over a period of time is one of the single best things you can do to improve fatigue and insomnia. Fatigue specialist Dr. James Wilson, author of Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st-Century Stress Syndrome, recommends you do any light, easy exercise you find enjoyable that doesn’t overstimulate your system. Try...

Omega-3 Fish Oils Smooth Insomnia

People with insomnia and fatigue are usually deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fatty acids that support the manufacture of cell membranes, the brain and mood-calming transmitters like serotonin, the brain chemical that allows neurons, or nerve cells, to communicate with one another. Serotonin deficiency particularly affects sleep, because serotonin converts to melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone, which is...

Melatonin Melts Insomnia

People who suffer from insomnia are usually not manufacturing enough melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone secreted by the pineal gland, the part of the brain in charge of sleep-wake cycles. The problems are exacerbated as we age, because melatonin production drops off after the 20s. Research shows that eating foods rich in tryptophan and taking extended-release melatonin supplements offer real help to those with insomnia by...

Magnificent Magnesium to the Rescue

Trace minerals are the unsung heroes of the nutritional world. This is particularly true of magnesium, which, according to recent research, is deficient in people living with chronic fatigue and insomnia. Magnesium is responsible for an astonishing 300 or more essential metabolic reactions in the body and is key to a healthy nervous system. Some of its most important tasks are helping manufacture serotonin, the mood-calming...

Glossary

ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) is an omega-3 fatty acid that is found in flax and walnuts. It is an anti-inflammatory and helps maintain a steady heartbeat. The body can transform a small portion of ALA into EPA and then DHA, which are more potent omega-3 fatty acids. Adrenal cell extracts come from the adrenal and thyroid glands and the gonads of healthy cows and pigs. These extracts provide the exact nutrients needed to heal...

What is Insomnia?

Every night, 70 million Americans toss and turn, minds racing, unable to sleep and panicked over their wakefulness. Over-busy during the day and only able to quiet our minds enough to process our worries at night, we are rapidly becoming a nation of insomniacs. The word insomnia comes from Latin and means “no sleep.” Insomnia is not a disease in and of itself but a symptom of some other, underlying problem that must be...

Don’t Depend On Alcohol

Anxious and worried at night? Self-medicating with alcohol is an understandable if misguided solution. In moderation, alcohol allows you to relax, and in greater quantities knocks you out — for a few hours, anyway. But once your body has metabolized most of the alcohol and its sedative effect has worn off — well, you know the routine: Suddenly you’re jolted wide awake, tossing the covers off because your body...

Can the Coffee

Ahhhh! The smell of freshly ground coffee in the morning. All by itself, that’s enough of an incentive to lure anybody out of bed — even those insomniacs who have managed just a few scant hours of sleep. But caffeine works so well because it’s a stimulant — a little helps you perform well; too much brings on the jitters, throwing you into that hyper-aware, extra-awake state. If you have insomnia, coffee,...

Sugar Is Not Your Friend

When you’re suffering from insomnia, too often you wake up feeling as if a truck ran over you. With deflated energy, foggy thinking and low stores of either patience or enthusiasm as yet another dawn breaks, it’s tempting to turn to that chocolate doughnut breakfast or the box of highly sweetened cereal to jump-start your sleepy bones. Sorry, folks! Sugary foods are no friend to the weary. They spike your blood sugar...

10 Tips for Better Sleep

1. Program your body’s sleep/wake cycle. Go to bed at the same time every night — preferably by 10 pm — and allow morning sunlight to awaken you, including on weekends. This gives your body a natural cue for transitioning into sleep and into wakefulness. 2. No naps! Sleep primarily at night. Napping robs you of valuable sleep later on. Take some time in the late afternoon to meditate if you need to recharge your...

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The information on this site is intended solely for general educational purposes, and it is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or before making changes to your medication program, diet, or exercise regimen. Reliance on any information provided on this site is solely at your own risk.