Insomnia: Why can’t I sleep

Insomnia has become a pandemic.  There is always a reason.

History will give an indication of why a person cannot sleep.  Then different things are tried, and we look at the response.

There is a tiny little gland in the base of the brain called the pineal gland and the pineal gland releases four hormones every night, and in the winter, they are released between 9 pm and 2 am.  In summertime are released between 10 pm and 3 am.  One of these hormones and why it is only released in that time, has to do with the Circadian Rhythm. 

The circadian rhythm is basically set by light and dark signals exposure in the eyes, the moon, the tides have to do with the light and dark signals. These are fed through the optic nerve to a control centre in the brain where the body clock is situated, and the body clock communicates with the pineal gland, and that’s why it is released at these times.

These hormones are:

Serotonin, that’s your mood hormone. If the children have a late night, they are not happy children in the morning. If you want happy kids, put them to bed early.  If you want to feel good go to bed early.

Melatonin is called the fix and rejuvenate nighttime hormone.  It is responsible for the increase in healing, repair of the body and rejuvenation.  It’s released in those hours.

Arginine Vasotosin is a hormone that puts us into a deep sleep. It is our natural painkiller.  So, if you have pain and go early to bed, your natural painkiller will kick in.  For your natural painkiller to work you must be asleep in these hours.  And as your natural painkiller is used it gives off a waste and this waste hangs about in the body unless you exercise.  The exercise that is the most powerful at boosting sleep is high-intensity interval training. This exercise is also the best exercise to create a little perspiration; and when we sweat or perspire with exercise, we release the waste that is built up from using our natural painkiller, Arginine Vasotosin.  So next night when we go to sleep, we have a fresh dose of Arginine Vasotosin.  This hormone is not only our painkiller but puts us into a deep sleep.

Epithalamin is a hormone that is released in these hours and Epithalamine increases learning capacity.  And we all want to increase that capacity.  Actually, we should be learning until the day we die.  So, to be able to learn new things right up until the day we die we need to go to bed early to ensure that we are getting proper amounts of epithalamin. Epithalamin slows down ageing as well.

There are studies that light night can have a similar effect on the body to even drug addiction or alcoholism which we all know are damaging to the body.

In order for the “pineal gland” to release those hormones we have to be asleep in those hours.  There are some things that can stop the release of those hormones:  stress and light.  Light and dark light signal to the optic nerve to a control centre where it communicates with the pineal gland.  And that’s why when the sun goes down our brain and our eyes know it.  So, it’s important to sleep in the dark, if you have a light at night, it’s important to have it very light in a corner, like a Himalayan salt lamp, and that soft light will not interfere with it.  Moonlight will not interfere with it.  It’s bright lights that interfere with it.  Today, this is a contributing factor to why people aren’t sleeping well, as the electric lights in the house can be lit up at night.

Scientists have discovered that when the eyes are moving rapidly the brain is moving, but when the eyes are still the brain is still.

Still-time non-rapid eye movement (NREM):

• All through the day, everything that happens to us is stored in our short-term memory storage unit which is the hippocampus at the back of the head.  While we are sleeping in NREM, there is a courier service that is taking the short-term memory unit memories up to the long-term memory unit which is in the Cortex at the top of the head.  That’s the courier service moving the day’s memories up to the long-term memory unit.
• NREM has a cleaning system, this cleaning system is called the “glymphatic system” and the glymphatic system is made up of “glial cells”. There are more glial cells in the brain than brain cells, we have one trillion brain cells.  The glymphatic system does a cleaning-up job while we sleep, getting rid of waste from neuronal activity, and waste from the combustion of oxygen and glucose at a cellular level.  There is a fair bit of waste with the running of the brain.

Busy time rapid eye movement (REM)

• We have a filing system; this is where the brain files all the memories that came in throughout the day.  Dreaming happens in REM.  There are many theories about dreaming.  Dreaming is important for the brain to know how to file.  With dreaming you might be gathering things from long ago, a year ago, what happened a week ago, or yesterday.  All the things come together in a jumbled way, and all come in a certain way to be able to be filed.
• It was found that if something happened throughout the day that we did not like or maybe it upset us, then it actually put it in a negative file and something wonderful happened throughout the day that was put in a positive section.
• There is a consolidation of things we learn throughout the day in REM.  Consolidation or confirming of things that came in.
• This is also an invention time, and this happens in 90 minutes cycles.

We should be getting 8 hours of sleep every night, this is non-negotiable. 8 hours of sleep could be 8 pm to 4 am or 9 pm to 5 am or 10 pm to 6 am.  Let’s see what happens when we sleep.

TIME	NREM	REM
10:30 pm – 12:00 am	80%	20%
10:30 pm – 12:00 am	60%	40%
12:00 am – 1:30 am	50%	50%
1:30 am – 3:00 am	40%	60%
3:00 am – 5:00 am	20%	80%

You see the importance of sleep and the incredible effect that it has on the mind. Especially because all the systems that are absolutely vital for the proper functioning and healing of the human body depend on it.

There are some studies showing that in people with Alzheimer’s; the amyloid plaques are building up in the front part of the brain.  And that’s where our reason, intellect, and judgement are.

Studies have also shown that if you go to bed early your glymphatic system, your cleaning system helps to prevent the build-up of amyloid plaques.  There are two very famous people who boasted of only five hours of sleep a night and spent their last 15 to 20 years with severe Alzheimer’s, one of them is Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the UK; and Ronald Reagan, US president.  They both did 5 hours of sleep at night and that five hours of sleep doesn’t usually start at 8 o’clock.  They usually start at 1 am or 2 am in the morning.  There can be several contributing factors to this issue.  But certainly, sleeping the right number of hours and at the right time is a priority!

Boosters

• Exercise HIT
• Sleeping in the dark
• Our eyes need sunshine in the day, early morning because it resets the Circadian Rhythm.
• Early nights
• Don’t eat before going to sleep.  Eat something light.  If you go to bed with a large meal, your stomach can stop digesting, and that interferes with peaceful sleep.
• Keep your hydration level up during the day.
• Be mindful of the last hour before you go to bed.  If you are watching a horror movie or something wild on TV before going to bed.  It is impossible to just instantly calm down.  If you are answering emails, just having that blue light it will be more difficult to get asleep quickly.
• Having a hot shower or a hot bath before going to bed.  You can put Epsom Salts in your bath, Epsom salts are Magnesium sulfate and magnesium relaxes the muscles.  You can also put some lavender essential oil, that’s also a calming herb.
• Soft music.
• Put 2 or 3 crystals of Celtic Salt in your mouth until they dissolve and drink half of a glass of water an hour before going to sleep and then drink the other half of the glass just before getting to bed.
• Some women apply Anna’s yam cream.  It contains progesterone and progesterone is the happy hormone.  It helps to sleep better.

Bedroom

• Fresh air.  Open your window a little bit.
• Sleeping in the dark
• We should be sleeping in an electromagnetic-free zone.  No cell phones in the room. No technology in the bedroom.  You should charge your cell phone outside the bedroom. Have a special place for charging cell phones for the family: Study, kitchen, hallway, office room, etc.  The technology interferes with the frequencies that your body uses to sleep, it also interferes with the frequencies your body runs at when you are awake.  So, if you need the phone for the alarm, put it in the hallway.
• Sleeping in the dark.  Again, no cell phones, computers, tablets or Ipads in the room.  All of them have blue light and that blue light has a different frequency to the sunlight.  That blue light tells your brain through your eyes “Daytime, wake up”.  It is almost impossible to go to sleep if your eyes have been on that technology, because of the message that gives to the brain.
• Check the pillow. You should sleep without an old or mouldy pillow.  Every pillow should have a protective pillowcase on it.  Every 3 years you should buy a new pillow.  We lose a lot of moisture at night.  Pull the sheets of your bed back, so that fresh air comes to your bed and make the bed later.  The air allows the moisture that came during the night to evaporate.
• Natural fibre in the bedding.  Natural fibres breathe which contributes to you getting fresh air.  Cotton blankets or feather quilts.  That makes a big difference.
• Your bedroom must be dusted and cleaned.

What can you do if you can’t sleep?

• The first thing is to be thankful for all the blessings, people, family, community, jobs, activities, health, and all the things you have in your life.  Often as you are thankful it changes the way you see it, and you can get a better attitude and you will often fall asleep.
• NO technology in the room.  If you need a light, put a Himalayan salt lamp, that gives off negative ions and negative ions help to purify the air.
• Start a routine of GOING TO BED EARLY.
• Nutrition is important (High fibre, generous proteins, healthy fats, good water intake).  This diet gives everything to your body that it needs to be able to run effectively and sleep well.

A lot of bodies are wearing out because they are not getting the restorative and regenerating effects of proper sleep.  And this is one of the reasons so many people are suffering from insomnia.  Sometimes when people implement all these things they still can’t sleep.  But the good news is that you can rewire your brain.  How do you rewire your brain? Actually, being thankful for life and being patient.  It takes a while to put a new pattern in your mind and body.

What do we have to stop?

• Caffeine.  It is one of the biggest sleep disruptors. It inhibits the release of those hormones that we talked about.  It stimulates the crisis response.  In the afternoon/evening, we should be winding down.
• Alcohol. It inhibits the release of those hormones.
• Refined sugar.  It has a stimulating effect on the body.
• Meat.  It has a stimulating effect on the body. How many people have steak with a glass of wine, a sugary dessert, and coffee after their meal?  They are doing everything to wake the body up, to stimulate the body.

I hope it gives you some clarity on the topic and some encouragement!