Natural sleep remedies

[Calathea]

Darkness therapy works really well for me. Instead of taking artificial melatonin, you're getting your body to produce its own melatonin by blocking blue light in the evening, since blue light suppresses melatonin production. I ended up writing a site about the whole thing here.

There are links between shift work/disrupted sleep/insufficient melatonin and various hormonal problems such as breast cancer, by the way. Some articles can be read here. Maybe there's something melatonin-related with you as well, since you report breast problems?

I have to say that I still get PMDD after using darkness therapy, so it hasn't magically treated my hormonal problems, but hey, I'm just happy that it's improved my sleep so much. And I'm not you!

 

[heapsreal]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but a couple of possible reasons for inability to sleep may be elevated cortisol (which is common, before it eventually drops to low), and also high copper levels, often from not getting enough zinc in the diet (as zinc competes with copper).

Melatonin helps me, as does the amino acid ornithine.

Whats your reasoning behind ornithine? Do u use it to help with growth hormone secretion or does it have a sedative like effect on you?
I take or tried many things for sleep, its sort of like the holy grail for me, i dont think i will find it but i keep looking, lol. My sleep has been tolerable of late and while googling came across lithium orotate, thought some in this thread would have had some more experience up on it. I use melatonin as well as rotate between a few different sleep meds. A good night is sleep 4 hours straight then wake and a couple hours later maybe get another hour or two, so i want to improve this some more and have good nights consistently.

My cortisol is quite flat(imagine cortisol results graphed) but was too high at night for any great sleep and my dhea was tanked. I have been slowly bringing this up with supplements, im on 20mg a day but cant say i have noticed a great difference yet. I also use it as it is suppose to help counteract IL6 cytokines which can cause insomnia. I also use phosphatidylserine to help with cortisol at night?? I am over due for a 4 times a day saliva cortisol test.

Adreno, i have been looking into taurine, its seems to be a calming amino.

cheers!!!

 

[heapsreal]

Darkness therapy works really well for me. Instead of taking artificial melatonin, you're getting your body to produce its own melatonin by blocking blue light in the evening, since blue light suppresses melatonin production. I ended up writing a site about the whole thing here.

There are links between shift work/disrupted sleep/insufficient melatonin and various hormonal problems such as breast cancer, by the way. Some articles can be read here. Maybe there's something melatonin-related with you as well, since you report breast problems?

I have to say that I still get PMDD after using darkness therapy, so it hasn't magically treated my hormonal problems, but hey, I'm just happy that it's improved my sleep so much. And I'm not you!

interesting, i have heard of another person who has had some success with this. DO u have to buy a special light and can u explain the eye wear worn before going to bed?

cheers!!!

 

[Calathea]

It's on the site, but basically I tried it cheaply first by buying a couple of yellow light bulbs and getting hold of an orange filter for the laptop. Once I realised that it works really well for me, I tried "fitover" glasses which were horrible, and then got a pair of prescription specs made up in a 50% orange tint. Glasses are a lot more convenient than changing all the lights, especially if, like me, you have a partner who dislikes coloured light. Anyway, a screen filter (which I got as a free sample) and a light bulb or two are certainly cheap to try out.

 

[dannybex]

Whats your reasoning behind ornithine? Do u use it to help with growth hormone secretion or does it have a sedative like effect on you?
I take or tried many things for sleep, its sort of like the holy grail for me, i dont think i will find it but i keep looking, lol. My sleep has been tolerable of late and while googling came across lithium orotate, thought some in this thread would have had some more experience up on it. I use melatonin as well as rotate between a few different sleep meds. A good night is sleep 4 hours straight then wake and a couple hours later maybe get another hour or two, so i want to improve this some more and have good nights consistently.

My cortisol is quite flat(imagine cortisol results graphed) but was too high at night for any great sleep and my dhea was tanked. I have been slowly bringing this up with supplements, im on 20mg a day but cant say i have noticed a great difference yet. I also use it as it is suppose to help counteract IL6 cytokines which can cause insomnia. I also use phosphatidylserine...

Ornithine...I'm not sure how I stumbled across it, but the theory is that it lowers ammonia, which may cause insomnia, so people have found it helps them sleep. Definitely has a sedative effect...about an hour after taking it.

Also...I'm not sure if this is a 'fact', but several docs online insist that 'Seriphos' is more effective than phosphatidylserine. My new doc agrees with that as well. They recommend taking it a couple hours before your high cortisol levels.

Another great sleep aid and/or relaxing supplement is inositol. You can get it quite cheaply in powder form. It helps with one of the detoxification pathways, but the claim is to help with 'dream sleep', like vitamin b6. I'm finally starting to remember dreams during the past 2 months or so....

 

[health_seeker]

problems. In the years leading up to the onset of my illness I had great difficulty staying asleep and would lie awake for half the night, especially in the second half of my menstrual cycle. When I started on hormone supplementation my sleep improved dramatically. But in the last year it has deteriorated again somewhat. Right now I take 3 mg of melatonin an hour or so before bedtime, and an herbal supplement. The herbal formula relaxes me and I find Melatonin helps keep a good circadian rhythm for me as I have pinhole light perception and my visual field is pretty much a grey void. My biggest problem is frequent urination during the night as I have difficulty retaining fluid. Unless I ingest at least a tablespoon of sea salt throughout the day, Im up for or five times during the night, and by the morning Im dehydrated and have a splitting headache.

Ornithine...I'm not sure how I stumbled across it, but the theory is that it lowers ammonia, which may cause insomnia, so people have found it helps them sleep. Definitely has a sedative effect...about an hour after taking it.

Also...I'm not sure if this is a 'fact', but several docs online insist that 'Seriphos' is more effective than phosphatidylserine. My new doc agrees with that as well. They recommend taking it a couple hours before your high cortisol levels.

Another great sleep aid and/or relaxing supplement is inositol. You can get it quite cheaply in powder form. It helps with one of the detoxification pathways, but the claim is to help with 'dream sleep', like vitamin b6. I'm finally starting to remember dreams during the past 2 months or so....