Getting to the Root Cause of Insomnia

Having trouble going to sleep or staying asleep, otherwise known as Insomnia, is a problem that as many as 30-50% of Americans experience.

A doctor practicing clinical nutrition can help a patient understand the reasons why insomnia is occurring and can provide non-drug treatments that can be very effective. The use of a drug like Ambien may put someone to sleep but it does not treat the root cause of why someone has developed insomnia, plus the drug can have additional side effects.

Is My Sleep Pattern Normal?

A normal sleep cycle would be defined as:

• a person has good energy throughout the entire day,

• as evening approaches the body becomes sleepy,

• the person goes to sleep usually around 10 or 11 pm, and

• sleeping through the night for about 8 hours without any interruption of sleep.

There can, of course, be slight variations as every person is different, but taking longer than 20 minutes to fall asleep or waking in the middle of the night is not normal and is defined as insomnia.

Normal Sleep is Regulated by Hormones

Several hormones have released that signal the brain to cause the body to go to sleep. These hormones also help maintain a deep sleep throughout the night. The hormones that most significantly regulate the sleep cycle are the adrenal gland (located above the kidneys) hormones called cortisol and adrenaline, and a pineal gland (located in the brain) hormone called melatonin.

If the adrenal hormones are too abundant and/or melatonin levels are too low when trying to go to sleep, it can take a long time to fall asleep. Once a person falls asleep the melatonin levels need to remain elevated in the bloodstream and the adrenal hormones need to remain very low, in order to maintain a deep, restful sleep. Anything that interrupts this normal pattern can be the root cause of insomnia.

The adrenal hormones and melatonin levels can be measured with laboratory tests to determine if they are being produced at abnormal levels. A clinical nutritionist often performs these tests and then looks to see what dietary and lifestyle changes need to be made to improve the production of these hormones.

What Can a Nutritionist do if I Have Insomnia?

Adrenal hormone tests reveal if a condition called adrenal exhaustion exists. When the adrenals are exhausted they will produce adrenaline at inappropriate times and can interrupt the sleep cycle.

There are definite dietary changes that can help stop abnormal adrenaline production. Removing processed sugar out of the diet is often a big step toward having a normalizing adrenal function. Identifying and removing any food allergies/sensitivities from the diet also reduces adrenal exhaustion. As an example, if a person is sensitive to gluten (found in wheat, rye, or barley) the adrenals would have a very difficult time functioning normally if the person ate gluten often.

There are many other lifestyle stressors that can affect adrenal function. The root cause of insomnia can be that a person is eating a diet and living a lifestyle that is too stressful for the body and it cannot continue to function normally. Correct diet and lifestyle will go a long way towards improving normal hormone production and therefore resolving insomnia.

As a nutritionist, I treat patients with insomnia successfully every day using these basic principles. Please let me know if this was helpful or if I can answer any questions.