
Sleep Well For Health
Sleep is a fundamental of health. Good sleep helps every aspect of your health that you can imagine, and probably other parts of your health that you mightn't even think about.
For starters, sleep is when your body does most of it's growth and repair. Even if you are not growing, your tissues need to be repaired and worn out tissues need to be replaced. That's growth! Sleep is a time of increased melatonin production, which is a fantastic antioxidant and brain tonic. It's also when you make most of your growth hormone. Look at Sylvester Stallone- a man with an enviable physique and rugged good looks, at over 60- well he was caught smuggling growth hormone- what does that tell us?
Learn much more about this fantastic hormone on the Anti-Ageing page! Speaking of anti-ageing pages, I believe sleep decline is a contributing factor to many negative aspects associated with aging; loss of muscle mass, hormonal decline, and overall decline in health and immunity. Sleep is a big deal.
Your sleep needs to be high quality and deep, in order to maximise the production of healthy hormones like growth hormone and melatonin. It affects multiple aspects of health, which is why I mention it on the fat loss section
Thing is, lots of us don't get sufficient sleep, or enough deep quality sleep for a number of reasons.
Sleep is a fundamental of health. Good sleep helps every aspect of your health that you can imagine, and probably other parts of your health that you mightn't even think about.
For starters, sleep is when your body does most of it's growth and repair. Even if you are not growing, your tissues need to be repaired and worn out tissues need to be replaced. That's growth! Sleep is a time of increased melatonin production, which is a fantastic antioxidant and brain tonic. It's also when you make most of your growth hormone. Look at Sylvester Stallone- a man with an enviable physique and rugged good looks, at over 60- well he was caught smuggling growth hormone- what does that tell us?
Learn much more about this fantastic hormone on the Anti-Ageing page! Speaking of anti-ageing pages, I believe sleep decline is a contributing factor to many negative aspects associated with aging; loss of muscle mass, hormonal decline, and overall decline in health and immunity. Sleep is a big deal.
Your sleep needs to be high quality and deep, in order to maximise the production of healthy hormones like growth hormone and melatonin. It affects multiple aspects of health, which is why I mention it on the fat loss section
Thing is, lots of us don't get sufficient sleep, or enough deep quality sleep for a number of reasons.

Perhaps you stay up late, to get more done. Maybe you aren't making sufficient melatonin to drive really deep quality sleep. Maybe your sleeping area is an electromagnetic field hotspot, interfering with healthy sleep. Maybe you have nutritional deficiencies that prevent your body from the best sleep possible.
I have researched this topic greatly, because I was a "light sleeper" for years, and I noticed a huge difference in my mood and energy according to how well I slept. I have high motivation indeed to find the best answers for my sleep and therefore my life quality!
Big Bad Cortisol
Poor sleep drives up cortisol levels. Cortisol is one hormone you definitely want to keep low, because elevated cortisol does nasty things to our health, including; causing depression and lethargy, lowering immune function, raising insulin and therefore bodyfat and appetite. Elevated cortisol tends to lower sex hormone levels, which is not good news for anyone, particularly those of us over 40, who can use all the sex hormones we can get, for good health. Andropause and menopause are driven by lower levels of hormones- more on that in the man page, the Woman page and the Anti-Aging page.
The catch-22 with cortisol is that high cortisol interferes with sleep, and yet poor sleep raises cortisol.
One of the best cortisol lowering supplements ever is called 'Sleep Tonight' by Enzymatic Therapy. Pricey, but a worthwhile intervention to get your sleep on track.Also good for lowering cortisol is StressCare, by Himalaya. Also like 4-Stress, by Flora.
Good Sleep lowers Cortisol
And lower cortisol leads to lower insulin levels, resulting in a leaner body (along with the higher growth hormone you'll get from quality sleep). And you'll feel better and happier. Doesn't that make some effort, including going to bed early, worth it? The unfortunate catch-22 is that bad sleeps raise cortisol which in turn reduce our ability to sleep and "catch up". Hence the need, particularly for those of us over 40, to get some extra help to lower cortisol.
Magnesium lowers Cortisol
Magnesium is my favourite mineral and for good reason- it is a major anti-stress nutrient, and it lowers cortisol in many human research studies. It massively promotes sleep quality, in research and in real life. The number of people that have told me magnesium has improved their sleep is truly impressive; more than one person said it actually changed their life! I don't use the oxide form, but other forms listed below since they are much better absorbed. Oxide is mostly not absorbed, and just makes you go "number 2". If you are constipated, magnesium oxide is probably the safest laxative one can take. Most people, the majority of us, are woefully deficient in magnesium, which hurts sleep quality!
I take 600 - 700 mg per day, in any of the following forms;
bisglycinate by Trophic or CanPrev
citrate by Inno-Vite
glycinate by Pure Lab Vitamins
What Works
bullet list; try rotating for best effect!
Overall Sleep Enhancement
-Magnesium (my favourite mineral)
-Taurine
-White willow bark
-Evening primrose oil (EPO)
-Nux vomica (homeopathic, works well for some cases, particularly if your mind is overactive or restless around bedtime)
Cortisol lowering;
-PS (phosphatidyl serine)
-StressCare (Himalaya)
-Anti-Stress (Ultimate)
-Rhodiola (Roziva makes a good one)
-Relora (any brand)
-Pregnenolone (relative of DHEA) - 15- 25 mg at night
-Ashwaghanda * I like this one a lot
-Siberian ginseng * like this a lot too
Growth Hormone stimulators (growth hormone greatly aids sleep)
-Glycine
-Arginine +/or Ornithine +/or Citrulline (raises growth hormone)
-Glutamine
AKG/ OKG (arginine or ornithine keto glutarate)
Serotonin (and melatonin) enhancers
-Tryptophan
-St Johnswort (raises serotonin production)
-5 HTP (a metabolite of tryptophan)
-niacin, niacinamide, inositol hexaniacinate (all versions of vitamin B3)
(I find the above serotonin/ melatonin enhancers work way better for me than melatonin, which I use extremely rarely)
Sedatives
-Valerian, passion flower, lemon balm, chamomile, hops (hops for ladies only; its very estrogenic), poppy seeds
-Nux Vomica (homeopathic) - particularly good for those who awake in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back asleep.
Everyone is different, so some experimenting is in order. I don't take melatonin when I go to bed because I find it only makes me sleep a few hours then I wake up really zingy in the middle of the night. Some folks swear by melatonin, but I was never that impressed. Again, everyone is different, and some experimentation may be necessary to find your sleep sweet spot.
BEWARE of Omega 3's?
Lately I went on an omega 3 kick and it took me a week to realise why my sleep was getting progressively worse .. and thank God I did. I was taking too much, relative to my healthy low intake of omega 6's. I have never really been concerned with omega 6 fats since we definitely have too much in our diets, but I did always have an interest in Evening Primrose Oil, which I have been taking on and off for years.
Upon closer investigation, I found lots of evidence that GLA, the specialised omega 6 fat found in EPO (evening primrose oil) is evidenced to reduce excess brain activity, including seizures and in children, ADD/ ADHD.
Upon trying about 6-7 grams in the evening and avoiding omega 3's in the evening as well, my sleep quickly improved. I am a happy camper again : )
I use a liquid form, so one teaspoon is about 4 grams. Granovita is the brand I always buy.
NO CELL PHONES
Can't stress this enough; if you wake up in the middle of the night, do not go anywhere near your cell phone. No computers either. Staring into an electronic screen erases melatonin and wakes up your brain. If I wake up to use the bathroom or just randomly wake up, I funble around with the lights OFF in order to keep my brain in night mode. I may take some melatonin as mentioned above to help me fall back asleep, but all done in the dark.
Sleep Early
I was talking to my doctor about sleep, a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor, George Wang (tel 416.348.8766) after a recent checkup and we had an interesting discussion about sleep; he said that my Yin energy was down, which I have heard for the past couple of years, from him and another practitioner; an acupuncturist ND (Olivia Rose, 416.699.9990). So I asked, what can I do to really raise my Yin energy? He said "sleep early; before 11:00pm at the latest". I responded that was interesting, because in Ayurveda and also Yoga they say sleeping early is important for the best sleep. Consider that the nighttime is Yin and daytime Yang. The night midpoint is 12:20am in regular time. We want to be in a deep, advanced stage of sleep to take advantage of the restorative Yin quality of the night, so going to bed well before the night midpoint helps ensure this. In Yoga, they advise going to bed before midnight- well before, in fact.
If you can fall asleep but then wake up, even multiple times and have difficulty falling back asleep, Yin deficiency is likely to blame.
EMF Pollution
Look in your neighbourhood- do you live near a cell phone tower/ transmitter? Umm, consider moving if you do. Consider getting an EMF protective device and wear it constantly- as an example, a Q-link or a Tachyon device (I love the tachyon-partners website).
One thing I did which really deepened my sleep is the following; pull out the fuse cutting off electricity in my bedroom. You probably live in a home/ apt with circuit breakers- same thing- throw the circuit breaker that supplies your bedroom with electricity in the off position at night. Definitely don't sleep with a clock radio anywhere near you, unless it's DC (battery powered).
Darkness and Melatonin
Did you know that sleeping with a night-light on has been found to elevate risk of breast cancer in women? Melatonin, mentioned above, is a huge antioxidant and is important for all around health. And it is only produced in darkness. Black out your sleeping room for your health! I sleep with dark black-out drapes as well as a Venetian blind on my bedroom window. The close you can approximate sleeping in a big dark cave, the better. Melatonin as a supplement tends to help sleep quality, especially in older people. people do well on anywhere from 0.2mg up to 10mg. Experiment if you wish, to find your best dose. For me the tiniest doses of melatonin work best since large doses cause me to sleep maybe 4 hours and then awaken wide, wide awake. Toxicity research shows melatonin to be non toxic even in ridiculously high doses taken long term.
And keep your cel phone in another room. Cel phones radiate harmful EMF's, which is why I tend to use a headset and I also attached 2 different brands of protective device onto my phone, one of which is Tachyon, in California.
I have researched this topic greatly, because I was a "light sleeper" for years, and I noticed a huge difference in my mood and energy according to how well I slept. I have high motivation indeed to find the best answers for my sleep and therefore my life quality!
Big Bad Cortisol
Poor sleep drives up cortisol levels. Cortisol is one hormone you definitely want to keep low, because elevated cortisol does nasty things to our health, including; causing depression and lethargy, lowering immune function, raising insulin and therefore bodyfat and appetite. Elevated cortisol tends to lower sex hormone levels, which is not good news for anyone, particularly those of us over 40, who can use all the sex hormones we can get, for good health. Andropause and menopause are driven by lower levels of hormones- more on that in the man page, the Woman page and the Anti-Aging page.
The catch-22 with cortisol is that high cortisol interferes with sleep, and yet poor sleep raises cortisol.
One of the best cortisol lowering supplements ever is called 'Sleep Tonight' by Enzymatic Therapy. Pricey, but a worthwhile intervention to get your sleep on track.Also good for lowering cortisol is StressCare, by Himalaya. Also like 4-Stress, by Flora.
Good Sleep lowers Cortisol
And lower cortisol leads to lower insulin levels, resulting in a leaner body (along with the higher growth hormone you'll get from quality sleep). And you'll feel better and happier. Doesn't that make some effort, including going to bed early, worth it? The unfortunate catch-22 is that bad sleeps raise cortisol which in turn reduce our ability to sleep and "catch up". Hence the need, particularly for those of us over 40, to get some extra help to lower cortisol.
Magnesium lowers Cortisol
Magnesium is my favourite mineral and for good reason- it is a major anti-stress nutrient, and it lowers cortisol in many human research studies. It massively promotes sleep quality, in research and in real life. The number of people that have told me magnesium has improved their sleep is truly impressive; more than one person said it actually changed their life! I don't use the oxide form, but other forms listed below since they are much better absorbed. Oxide is mostly not absorbed, and just makes you go "number 2". If you are constipated, magnesium oxide is probably the safest laxative one can take. Most people, the majority of us, are woefully deficient in magnesium, which hurts sleep quality!
I take 600 - 700 mg per day, in any of the following forms;
bisglycinate by Trophic or CanPrev
citrate by Inno-Vite
glycinate by Pure Lab Vitamins
What Works
bullet list; try rotating for best effect!
Overall Sleep Enhancement
-Magnesium (my favourite mineral)
-Taurine
-White willow bark
-Evening primrose oil (EPO)
-Nux vomica (homeopathic, works well for some cases, particularly if your mind is overactive or restless around bedtime)
Cortisol lowering;
-PS (phosphatidyl serine)
-StressCare (Himalaya)
-Anti-Stress (Ultimate)
-Rhodiola (Roziva makes a good one)
-Relora (any brand)
-Pregnenolone (relative of DHEA) - 15- 25 mg at night
-Ashwaghanda * I like this one a lot
-Siberian ginseng * like this a lot too
Growth Hormone stimulators (growth hormone greatly aids sleep)
-Glycine
-Arginine +/or Ornithine +/or Citrulline (raises growth hormone)
-Glutamine
AKG/ OKG (arginine or ornithine keto glutarate)
Serotonin (and melatonin) enhancers
-Tryptophan
-St Johnswort (raises serotonin production)
-5 HTP (a metabolite of tryptophan)
-niacin, niacinamide, inositol hexaniacinate (all versions of vitamin B3)
(I find the above serotonin/ melatonin enhancers work way better for me than melatonin, which I use extremely rarely)
Sedatives
-Valerian, passion flower, lemon balm, chamomile, hops (hops for ladies only; its very estrogenic), poppy seeds
-Nux Vomica (homeopathic) - particularly good for those who awake in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back asleep.
Everyone is different, so some experimenting is in order. I don't take melatonin when I go to bed because I find it only makes me sleep a few hours then I wake up really zingy in the middle of the night. Some folks swear by melatonin, but I was never that impressed. Again, everyone is different, and some experimentation may be necessary to find your sleep sweet spot.
BEWARE of Omega 3's?
Lately I went on an omega 3 kick and it took me a week to realise why my sleep was getting progressively worse .. and thank God I did. I was taking too much, relative to my healthy low intake of omega 6's. I have never really been concerned with omega 6 fats since we definitely have too much in our diets, but I did always have an interest in Evening Primrose Oil, which I have been taking on and off for years.
Upon closer investigation, I found lots of evidence that GLA, the specialised omega 6 fat found in EPO (evening primrose oil) is evidenced to reduce excess brain activity, including seizures and in children, ADD/ ADHD.
Upon trying about 6-7 grams in the evening and avoiding omega 3's in the evening as well, my sleep quickly improved. I am a happy camper again : )
I use a liquid form, so one teaspoon is about 4 grams. Granovita is the brand I always buy.
NO CELL PHONES
Can't stress this enough; if you wake up in the middle of the night, do not go anywhere near your cell phone. No computers either. Staring into an electronic screen erases melatonin and wakes up your brain. If I wake up to use the bathroom or just randomly wake up, I funble around with the lights OFF in order to keep my brain in night mode. I may take some melatonin as mentioned above to help me fall back asleep, but all done in the dark.
Sleep Early
I was talking to my doctor about sleep, a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor, George Wang (tel 416.348.8766) after a recent checkup and we had an interesting discussion about sleep; he said that my Yin energy was down, which I have heard for the past couple of years, from him and another practitioner; an acupuncturist ND (Olivia Rose, 416.699.9990). So I asked, what can I do to really raise my Yin energy? He said "sleep early; before 11:00pm at the latest". I responded that was interesting, because in Ayurveda and also Yoga they say sleeping early is important for the best sleep. Consider that the nighttime is Yin and daytime Yang. The night midpoint is 12:20am in regular time. We want to be in a deep, advanced stage of sleep to take advantage of the restorative Yin quality of the night, so going to bed well before the night midpoint helps ensure this. In Yoga, they advise going to bed before midnight- well before, in fact.
If you can fall asleep but then wake up, even multiple times and have difficulty falling back asleep, Yin deficiency is likely to blame.
EMF Pollution
Look in your neighbourhood- do you live near a cell phone tower/ transmitter? Umm, consider moving if you do. Consider getting an EMF protective device and wear it constantly- as an example, a Q-link or a Tachyon device (I love the tachyon-partners website).
One thing I did which really deepened my sleep is the following; pull out the fuse cutting off electricity in my bedroom. You probably live in a home/ apt with circuit breakers- same thing- throw the circuit breaker that supplies your bedroom with electricity in the off position at night. Definitely don't sleep with a clock radio anywhere near you, unless it's DC (battery powered).
Darkness and Melatonin
Did you know that sleeping with a night-light on has been found to elevate risk of breast cancer in women? Melatonin, mentioned above, is a huge antioxidant and is important for all around health. And it is only produced in darkness. Black out your sleeping room for your health! I sleep with dark black-out drapes as well as a Venetian blind on my bedroom window. The close you can approximate sleeping in a big dark cave, the better. Melatonin as a supplement tends to help sleep quality, especially in older people. people do well on anywhere from 0.2mg up to 10mg. Experiment if you wish, to find your best dose. For me the tiniest doses of melatonin work best since large doses cause me to sleep maybe 4 hours and then awaken wide, wide awake. Toxicity research shows melatonin to be non toxic even in ridiculously high doses taken long term.
And keep your cel phone in another room. Cel phones radiate harmful EMF's, which is why I tend to use a headset and I also attached 2 different brands of protective device onto my phone, one of which is Tachyon, in California.

I have been seeing an amazing hypnotherapist; really talented, generous and a natural healer, and my latest visit was regarding my light sleep. Most of my adult life i remember my sleep being lighter rather than deeper. The above-mentioned supplements and methods have been a great help, but lately i just felt that there may be more to my light sleep than I thought. I asked my hypnotherapist Allan (listed on my Anthony + Friends page) if perhaps hypnotherapy might help; if perhaps there was some deep unconscious negative programming in my head re; sleep. Well, turns out there sure was!! Some very personal stuff was uncovered that was inhibiting good deep sleep. Thank God we uncovered and healed that hidden programming! I knew we got some big stuff, judging from how I felt right after the sessions, and definitely from my massively improved sleep immediately after! Thanks Allan!

Homeopathy helps sleep
There are some well known homeopathics for sleep, two of the better known being Rescue Remedy, by Bach, and Calms Forte, by Hyland's. I prefer trying out more specific remedies, like Nux Vomica, at a 6 or 30 c strength if sleep troubles are caused especially by overwork, over-thinking, and stress or an uneasy tummy. Particularly good for people who's "brains wake them up" in the wee hours, with problems, or unresolved resentments. Coffea Cruda at a similar strength would be good for people that feel "wired" or too "up" to wind down and hit slumber-type brain waves. Try homeopathics at any point near bedtime and they may be taken again if you wake up earlier than desired.
With all remedies or ideas mentioned here, it is a very good idea to practice good "sleep hygiene", which means eating lighter late in the day, and also turning lights down. Having bright lights on past 8pm or so really keeps us more alert and less likely to sleep well. Ditto for computer screens. Try reading by a soft light; very drowsiness-inducing.
Homeopathy is a pretty unique type of natural non toxic medicine. it works on your energy field, and in turn is sensitive. Mouth needs to be neutral (mint may neutralise any beneficial effect). I use calcium powder and peroxide to brush my teeth, never toxic toothpaste. Even healthy toothpaste may neutralise homeopathics, as they are often minty. Keep the above mentioned homeopathy away from cell phones and electronics.
Big thanks to John Board, developer of the "HollyWood Survival Kit" who introduced me to the world of homeopathy and sleep. The "Kit" is available at Noah's health store, I believe.
There are some well known homeopathics for sleep, two of the better known being Rescue Remedy, by Bach, and Calms Forte, by Hyland's. I prefer trying out more specific remedies, like Nux Vomica, at a 6 or 30 c strength if sleep troubles are caused especially by overwork, over-thinking, and stress or an uneasy tummy. Particularly good for people who's "brains wake them up" in the wee hours, with problems, or unresolved resentments. Coffea Cruda at a similar strength would be good for people that feel "wired" or too "up" to wind down and hit slumber-type brain waves. Try homeopathics at any point near bedtime and they may be taken again if you wake up earlier than desired.
With all remedies or ideas mentioned here, it is a very good idea to practice good "sleep hygiene", which means eating lighter late in the day, and also turning lights down. Having bright lights on past 8pm or so really keeps us more alert and less likely to sleep well. Ditto for computer screens. Try reading by a soft light; very drowsiness-inducing.
Homeopathy is a pretty unique type of natural non toxic medicine. it works on your energy field, and in turn is sensitive. Mouth needs to be neutral (mint may neutralise any beneficial effect). I use calcium powder and peroxide to brush my teeth, never toxic toothpaste. Even healthy toothpaste may neutralise homeopathics, as they are often minty. Keep the above mentioned homeopathy away from cell phones and electronics.
Big thanks to John Board, developer of the "HollyWood Survival Kit" who introduced me to the world of homeopathy and sleep. The "Kit" is available at Noah's health store, I believe.

RLS or restless leg syndrome interferes with the sleep of sufferers by keeping them awake or even waking them up with twitchy legs and an urge to move them. It's as if the legs were awake while you try to sleep. I have heard of some strange remedies including sleeping with a fresh bar of soap in your sheets. To me, RLS is an obvious symptom of magnesium deficiency. Magnesium serves as an off switch for the nerves (and hence muscles), among it's many other essential roles in our body. People who take a good magnesium supplement report that their muscles quickly become more supple and relaxed, including a steep drop in RLS symptoms. I personally take 400 - 600 mg of magneisum daily, in divided doses. I use the mag from Trophic and/ or Pure Lab, all available in health stores (not drug stores, usually). Iron deficiency can also cause restless legs syndrome, but I would try the magnesium first to rule out the more likely cause.
Cesium
is a very interesting alkaline mineral, used extensively by Dr Hans Nieper in Germany, who treated many people for cancer some who even worked for the FDA, and of course were blocking the use of cesium against cancer in the USA to protect their pharma masters.I started taking about 1/2 to 1 gram a few days a week and overall just feel better and notice that my sleep has definitely improved, bit by bit over the past few weeks I have been taking it.
is a very interesting alkaline mineral, used extensively by Dr Hans Nieper in Germany, who treated many people for cancer some who even worked for the FDA, and of course were blocking the use of cesium against cancer in the USA to protect their pharma masters.I started taking about 1/2 to 1 gram a few days a week and overall just feel better and notice that my sleep has definitely improved, bit by bit over the past few weeks I have been taking it.