According to the Mayo clinic insomnia can be defined as “a common sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep.” The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has stated that 30% of adult Americans suffer with symptoms of  insomnia.

That’s roughly 76 million adults have some form of insomnia, chronic insomnia or even symptoms of insomnia.

Clearly sleep is a real issue in today’s technologically driven society.

Some people cannot fall asleep because they have broken circadian rhythms or they cannot turn their mind off. Sometimes (most times) it’s both. Does this sound like you?

Other people can fall asleep okay but they never hit that REM sleep because of these issues.

Cause #1 – Blood Sugar Swings

When you consume any food but mostly processed carbohydrates (think late night snack) these sugars are broken down into glucose. When the glucose enters your blood stream it causes blood sugar levels to rise.

As a result your pancreas releases the hormone insulin to absorb glucose from the blood stream into your cells to create ATP (adenosine tripohosphate or energy).

But why would you want energy at night when you’re trying to go to sleep? This is why I do not recommend (for most people) to eat after the sun sets.

If you’re going to eat sugary snacks before bed here are the supplements I recommend taking with them.

1. HCL – to create enough stomach acid to break them down
2. Digestive enzyme – Study
3. Chromium – Study
4. Probiotic – Study
5. Berberine – Study
6. Zinc – Study
7. Gymnema sylvestrie – Study

Better yet, don’t eat a sugary snack before bed and you don’t have to buy any of them!

Problem solved.

Cortisol plays a role here to. Cortisol is a diurnal hormone that natural elevates at certain times of the day. The fact that it is on a clock should mean something to you if you follow my work. All cells have internal clocks that get their signals from the master circadian clock in the human body called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The SCN for short get its input from specific frequencies and wavelengths (and color temperatures) of light….from the sun. If that light is from a man made source, you have internal biological clock problems resulting in an impaired circadian rhythms which controls the hormones that affect your sleep.

A better way to say it is….your body will release cortisol at the wrong time of night (waking you up) as a result of improper or unnatural light frequencies during the day or night.

Remember light is King.

But getting back to cortisol….when blood sugar levels drop too low (hypoglycemia), cortisol is released to help maintain adequate glucose levels by promoting gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources) and reducing glucose uptake by cells.

Cortisol is created by your adrenal glands as well as the hormone adrenaline. Cortisol gets created by the outer cells of the adrenal glands and the internal cells of the adrenal gland produce adrenaline.

Think fight or flight.

With low levels states of inflammation or blood sugar spikes cortisol is released to save adrenaline for more important “life and death” situations.

If you eat a meal that causes a significant spike in blood sugar, followed by a rapid drop, your body might overcompensate by releasing more cortisol.

Elevated cortisol levels, especially if they happen in the middle of the night, can interfere with deep sleep. Cortisol promotes wakefulness and alertness, which can lead to difficulty falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night. Not what you want.

Also, if you experience hypoglycemia during the night, your body can release cortisol to raise blood sugar levels, potentially waking you up. Waking up is what we’re trying to avoid here my friends.

Since the food you eat is captured photons of light, it’s important to avoid eating after sunset and if you do, take some or all of the supplements I listed above.

Cause #2 – Lack of Progesterone

We’ve already seen how hormones like adrenaline, insulin and cortisol play a key role in your circadian rhythms which impact sleep and wake cycles. Now we’re going to touch on a hormone called progesterone.

Many people know about estrogen and testosterone but what is progesterone?

“Progesterone is a protective hormone produced in large amounts during pregnancy, primarily by the adrenal glands and ovaries, and it helps to alleviate symptoms such as hot flashes and insomnia, often making the use of estrogen unnecessary. It is absorbed efficiently when dissolved in vitamin E and can enter the bloodstream quickly through various membranes.” 

Progesterone is safe for both men and women. We know that it can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep as well as help with night sweats and insomnia.

The progesterone I recommend is applied to the skin and can be found here.

Cause #3 – Gut Dysbiosis

We know that all disease begins in the gut. I would consider insomnia a disease. And we know that we now have the technology, research and science to reverse all disease. The trick is getting out of the way so we can let the body do what it wants to do…sleep and heal.

If your digestion is not working properly or you have candida, that can result in excess amounts of ammonia which can impact falling asleep and staying asleep.

Ammonia, a byproduct of bacterial metabolism of proteins, urea, and amino acids, can accumulate when digestion or the microbiome is compromised, resulting in symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness, anxiety, and insomnia.

Here are some supplements I recommend to rectify gut dysbiosis.

• L-Carnitine: Helps clear ammonia from the body by increasing ATP production and converting ammonia to urea.
• S. boulardii: A probiotic that helps clear excess ammonia by promoting microbial balance and supporting the clearance of ammonia-producing microbes.
• Magnesium: Promotes bowel movements to help clear ammonia and reduces blood levels of ammonia by increasing fecal manganese excretion.
• Probiotics: Restore the balance of bacteria in the gut, preventing leaky gut and root causes of ammonia excess.
• Digestive Enzymes: Improve digestion and reduce the entry of undigested food particles into the bloodstream, mitigating brain fog and gut inflammation.
• D-ribose: Supports mitochondrial function and hydration, helping to reduce brain fog.
• Trimethylglycine (TMG): Enhances cognitive performance and protects cells from stress.
• L-Tyrosine: Supports cognitive function and mood under stress.
• Choline: Boosts acetylcholine levels for improved memory and learning.

Ultimately correcting digestive issues or clearing candida from your digestive tract is something you can do but it’s beyond the scope of this article. Perhaps I’ll write another article on those two topics in the future.

If you have insomnia or have been diagnosed with chronic insomnia I would put money on 4 things you have going on.

1. A broken circadian rhythm
2. Gut dysbiosis
3. Lack of progesterone
4. Blood sugar issues

First fix your circadian rhythm because light is king. Then work on those other three issues and see what happens!

Do you have issues falling asleep or staying asleep?

Comment below and let me know.