When 73 year old Gertrude came into my office complaining of numbness in her face that her MD has not been able to diagnose, it was quickly determined that she also was not getting the sleep she needed at night. The same is true for Sally, a 54year old professional woman who is depressed and anxious since being menopausal. Harold, age 64, is also feeling very tired and depressed and said if he could only get a good night sleep everything would be a lot better.

The first thing I recommend is that people take a good quality calcium magnesium hydroxyapetite mineral combination at bedtime along with magnesium glycinate. I suggest no computer or TV watching for at least the last hour before bed. Exercise, lowering caffeine consumption and taking a hot epsom bath before bed are all proven sleep aids.

Is the bed in the correct position? Geopathic stress occurs in the ground that affects the human body especially at night because that is the place we spend the most time in one place. A simple test that I perform in the office confirms if this is the case. Then I diagnose what position of the bed would be better and send the patient home with a homeopathic remedy to help speed things up. Usually within 2 months the geopathic stress in the body is gone.

There are 3.3 million Canadians age 15 years or older who suffer from insomnia. Part of the reason for this is that our diets are greatly lacking the amino acid tryptophan, that supports the serotonin and melatonin pathways. Serotonin production during the day helps us feel calm, happy and confident and melatonin production at night helps us sleep. Foods that contain tryptophan are turkey, bison, milk, gourds and nuts. So in place of the hot milk before bed, I suggest more calcium and magnesium. Tryptophan was made prescription back in 1989 due to a contamination problem, this drove the price up and the use way down. 5HTP is the readily available precursor of tryptophan and taken along with St. John's Wort, glycine or other homeopathic and herbal remedies (such as valerian and hops), prescriptions for depression, anxiety and insomnia may be replaced. Benzodiazepines , Valium type drugs, are the most common drugs used to treat insomnia but they are very addictive with over 10,000 Canadians addicted! They should not be taken for more than two consecutive weeks otherwise addiction begins to set in.

Sleep apnea is also a growing concern in North American societies for similar reasons. This is a group of disorders in which breathing stops for 10 seconds or greater 20 times per hour causing measurable lack of oxygenation of the blood. (Snoring is very common and only rarely indicates a sleep apnea problem). This disorder can be dangerous leading to a thickening and lack of circulation of blood to the brain in the early morning. It can also lead to inflammation of the cardiovascular system increasing the risk of heart disease. Sleep apnea patients also have an increased risk of having traffic accidents. The cause is multifactoral and includes: obesity, food allergies, depression, underactive thyroid function, toluene toxicity, and excess caffeine consumption. Some sleep apneic patients only experience it when they are lying on their backs and placing a tennis ball in a sock pinned to the pyjamas between the shoulder blades is very effective at preventing this. Others find that wearing a dental night guard to change the position of their jaw while they sleep is very helpful. If these avenues are treated and found not to be effective the CPAP machine is prescribed by MD's.

Sleep is crucial to healing to allow time for the liver to rejuvenate. If this does not happen healing cannot take place. Central to any naturopathic treatment program is assisting the body to rest and finding the underlying cause or causes is crucial for treatment. For Gertrude, Sally and Harold the comments I received were: "I am sleeping better" , "I am waking more rested", and "I am not snoring as much" telling me that we were on the right track.

Allow yourself the hours you need to get enough rest, for some that is only 4 hours per night for others it is 10 hours. Listen to your body and remove the many distractions of day to day living including light and sound. Make your bedroom very dark to improve the body's production of melatonin and use ear plugs (I recommend Orhropax made in Germany) to block out noises that will wake you. Make sure you have a comfortable bed and a supportive pillow (I recommend the Tempur brand).