Another Way to Get a Good Night's Sleep

Hello there! Hope you slept well last night and are ready for a nice steaming mug of coffee like I am. Help yourself and don't forget one or two of our gluten-free, calorie-free virtual doughnuts. If you're still concerned, just eat the hole! Hey...speaking of sleeping, I know I just did a post on 'believing' you got a good night's sleep. Well I just got an email from Dr Al about how you can be sure you DO get a good night's rest. Read on...

Dear Bob,

Lately I'm finding that more and more of my patients are complaining about a lack of sleep.

After a long day they collapse into bed and drift off… only to wake up a few hours later, tossing and turning the rest of the night.

Without any deep, restful sleep, they wake the next day feeling tired, groggy and one step behind their peers. But that's not the worst of it…

Sleepless nights can wreak havoc with your telomeres, the tiny caps on the end of your chromosomes that control how fast you age. Each time your cells divide, your telomeres get a little shorter. Shorter telomeres equal a shorter, less healthy life.

A Harvard University study showed that those who slept six hours or less per night had a 12% decrease in telomere length. That was equivalent to a stunning nine years of accelerated biological aging.

A good night's sleep also helps fight the chronic diseases of aging by boosting your immune system.

Researchers at the San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center found that healthy patients kept awake between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. had substantially reduced white blood cell activity, particularly natural killer (NK) cells. These are the most vital cells in protecting the body from viruses and cancer.

Most doctors treat insomnia by prescribing a number of Big Pharma "sleep aids" like Ambien and Lunesta. But those drugs have a long list of nasty side effects, such as dizziness, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, memory loss, and hallucinations. 

I don't prescribe those dangerous drugs. Instead, I help my patients get a good night's sleep safely and naturally by boosting their melatonin levels.

Melatonin is known as the "sleep hormone" because it's the hormone your body uses to regulate sleep. 

As day turns to night, your body starts to withdraw daytime hormones like serotonin, adrenaline and cortisol. And under normal circumstances, your body releases melatonin at the end of the day when you're ready for bed.

Melatonin then starts preparing you for sleep by doing things like reducing your blood pressure, body temperature, brain activity and heart rate.

As these changes happen, your body falls into a state of semi-consciousness and eventually you fall asleep. But when you don't have enough melatonin, these natural changes don't happen.

This is the start of a sleepless night. And when your melatonin levels stay low over time, you develop insomnia.

Low levels of melatonin are common — especially for older folks, because melatonin production declines with age. And it also drops when you take beta blockers, aspirin, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

That's why I often recommend that patients take a melatonin supplement. Look for drops, or a sublingual that melts under your tongue. It's easier to absorb and works fast. Take it about 20 minutes before you want to go to sleep.

Dr Al Sears

Sounds good to me, Dr Al.

See ya, eh!

Bob