Insomnia

Even though human sleep may be the least understood process, it is vitally important for your health.  Without good sleep you cannot enjoy life or work productively.  According to statistics about every 4th person in the US is suffering from some forms of Insomnia.  This means that conventional medicine cannot offer reliable and safe ways to treat Insomnia. There are seveal reasons for this:

1.  Because Insomnia is the result of some underlying problem, it can be treated only if the root cause of the problem is found.

2.  Not every drug for Insommia is safe.  Some of them have addiction potential.  It means that if you start this kind of drug, you may not be able to stop it.

Insomnia dietary suggestions:

1.  Increase intake of cold water fatty fish like salmon, herring, sardines, mackerel, provided that it is low in mercury, PCBs and Dioxines.

2.  Increase intake of fruits and vegetabes expecially green leafy vegetables, lettice, basil, dill, brown rice, nuts and seeds.  Tart cherries may be especially benefitial because of their high Melatonin content (1).  As you know Melatonin is very effective as a sleep aid, but only if its level is low (2).

3.  Glass of milk with honey before bedtime if not provoking urination.  Milk may increase your serotonin level.  Serotonin is very important in the sleep initiation and maintenance.

4.  Bed time snack may be helpful if low blood sugar during night time in the reason for insomnia.

5.  Stay away from caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, processed food, spices and MSG.  Even though alcohol has sedative effect, it disrupts the sleep cycle, leading to nonrestorative sleep or even early awakening.

Of course only diet is not very likely to cure insomnia.  You might have much more serious problem then nutritional deficiences.  Hormonal imbalance, Drugs, Toxins, Neurotrransmitter Imbalances as well as Infection like Lyme disease may be the cause of Insomnia.  To find out you need to find a Functional Medicine Doctor to go to the root cause of your problem and correct it.

Good luck!

References:

1.  Burkhardt, Tan, et al, Detection and Quantification of Antioxidant Melatonin in Montmorency Tart Cherries. Journal of American Chemical Society 49, 4898-4902.

2.  Nave, Peled, Lavie.  Melatonin improves evening napping.  Europena Journal of Pharmacology. 1995, 275: 213 -- 216.