Health Hotline Magazine | November 2024

The Stress Connection It’s no secret that anyone living in the modern world deals with stress, and chronic stress can be a major sleep thief. Sleep is a natural shift from the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) to the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) nervous system, and if all goes well, levels of the stress hormones cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine drop, while levels of melatonin, the hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, increase. But if you are turned on fight or flight all the time (i.e., always stressed out), with chronically elevated cortisol levels, sleep is going to be challenging, if not impossible. If stress is derailing the sleep train, focus on reducing stress levels first. Exercise, yoga, breathing exercises, daily walks, regular sauna use, and meditation can help reduce stress and support sleep. Adaptogens like tulsi (“holy basil”), rhodiola, and reishi mushroom help support the body during times of stress, helping to encourage healthy sleep as well. The Food Connection

While your diet may not be the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating a good night’s sleep, what you eat can have a profound effect on how well, or poorly, you sleep. There are obvious dietary tips, like avoiding caffeine in the latter part of the day, but did you know that a diet full of refined carbs and sugars can seriously jeopardize a healthy sleep cycle? This type of diet leads to blood sugar instability, inflammation, insulin resistance, and cortisol dysregulation, all of which can lead to poor sleep quality. A diet rich in vegetables, healthy fats, and quality protein supports healthy blood sugar balance, inflammation levels, and adrenal health. Finally, while a nightly glass of wine or a nightcap may seem like a good idea to wind down for sleep, it’s the last thing you should do. Alcohol interacts with several neurotransmitters important for regulating sleep, disrupting the normal sleep cycle, leading to poor-quality sleep. If you must have a nightcap, make it a tart cherry mocktail! Find Your Sleep Solution Along with getting your stress levels in check and sticking to a healthy diet, you can find additional support in a variety of nutrients. Most of the nutrients covered here support a healthy sleep cycle in the long term—give it time to build optimal levels in your body. Magnesium. One of the main effects of magnesium deficiency is sleep disturbance, including less deep sleep, a decrease in total sleep time, and increased waking during the night. Magnesium plays an important role in regulat ing the body’s stress response system and supports the normal production of GABA, a neurotransmitter integral to healthy sleep. Magnesium supplementation has been shown to increase deep sleep—the stage of sleep when our brains rest and recover, critical for cognitive function—and reduce nighttime cortisol levels in older adults. Magnesium threonate (commonly called “Magtein”) may be especially helpful, particularly for promoting deep sleep. A 2024 placebo-controlled study including 80 healthy adults aged 35-55 with self-reported sleep problems found that 1 gram/day of magnesium threonate taken

for three weeks improved sleep and mood. The individuals taking the supple ment saw significant improvements in sleep quality, including more time in deep sleep, improved mood (“reduced grouchiness and anger”), energy, alertness, and daytime activity and productivity. The magnesium thre onate—500 mg of Magtein taken twice daily—started to have an effect within two weeks. Magnesium threonate is unique from other types of magnesium because it can cross the blood-brain barrier, effectively increas ing magnesium levels in the brain. The RDA for magnesium ranges from 310 to 420 mg daily for adults 18 and older, but some functional medicine doctors recommend doses from 500 to 1,200 mg daily for optimal results. Vitamin D. Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with poor sleep quality and quantity, with research indicating that levels less than 20 ng/mL can significantly increase the risk of “unhealthy sleep.” Vitamin D is known to influence the activity of hundreds of genes, and now researchers have

28 | Health Hotline ®