Get Better Sleep Now
People can be proud of how little they sleep. But in reality, not getting regular, quality sleep eventually takes its toll, leaving them perplexed when issues like fatigue, depression, lack of motivation, inability to lose weight, and/or brain fog surface. When someone tells me they only need 6 hours of sleep, I know deep in my heart they are fooling themselves and I am going to have to burst a bubble. I get it - Many times in our lives we feel invincible, until we don’t.
The number of hours a human needs to sleep has been studied for decades. The American Academy of Sleep recommends an average adult should sleep 7.5-9 hours per night.1 Sleeping at night for at least 7.5 hours is very important for liver detox pathways, hormone regulation, tissue healing, memory formation, metabolism, nervous system regulation, and immune function. Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, dementia, and anxiety disorders have been negatively impacted by impaired sleep.2
Mollie Eastman, the creator of “Sleep Is A Skill” podcast, talks about our body’s circadian rhythms, the sleep/wake cycle. She brings up zeitgebers - environmental variables that build our sleep-wake pattern, such as light, meals, and physical activity. When these are misaligned, our sleep trouble begins.3 The most powerful zeitgeber is light.
We know we are not nocturnal (night-time) animals because our pineal gland secretes melatonin (the hormone that initiates sleep) when the sun sets. When we are in front of blue-light computer screens during the day, the pineal gland of the brain misses the cue to release melatonin.4 Another reason we know humans keep a diurnal (daytime) schedule is because our cortisol spikes at dawn, waking us up. The less we sleep, the more this cortisol spike misfires. This contributes to adrenal fatigue, or cortisol dysregulation. Do you ever feel tired during the day only to not sleep at night? It’s a cruel irony, but this basic complaint is the first sign of adrenal fatigue, or feeling “wired and tired.”
With adrenal fatigue, salivary or urinary cortisol measurements show only slight elevation upon waking and through the morning, only to drop to lowest levels midday. At night, you may even see the cortisol level rising. This correlates with fatigue levels a person experiences. Cortisol is a stress hormone secreted from the adrenal glands. As we become more stressed, worried, afraid, unsettled, pressurized, we begin to work our fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system more, to a point where it dominates us. I usually tell people, you are becoming more of a flight animal. Testing cortisol through a 4 or 5 point salivary or urinary test that also includes measuring melatonin is a vital tool for understanding sleep-wake patterns in people with sleep issues.
Are you sleeping like a flight animal?
Flight animals don’t sleep long. I love horses and have been with them my whole life. They are great flight animals and they only get about 5 hours of sleep, with only 2 hours of REM sleep. They can sleep standing up - why? To run from predators.5 In addition, horses sleep as a herd, with one or two staying awake to watch for mountain lions.
Interestingly, cats have a cortisol rhythm spike at dawn and dusk - to support their hunting habit.6 This also explains why our house cats begin zooming at that hour.
Are you basically sleeping like a horse? You have to feel safe and secure to sleep. Your habits are vital.
You may need to evaluate your blue light exposure and take measures to block or change that. Computer settings and blue-light blocking glasses help.
Eat your bigger meals at the start of the day. A light dinner makes sense for your circadian rhythm.
Additionally, exercise is the best way to tone your sympathetic nervous system. When you get your heart rate up, you actually reduce cortisol and adrenaline spikes. The rest of the day the parasympathetic (rest and digest) tone is improved.
As you are sorting out your circadian rhythm, there are supplements that help sleep train you. Melatonin is a great start. As mentioned, our pineal gland becomes out of sync with that secretion. Twenty minutes before bed, taking 1-6 mg of melatonin for 1-4 weeks can help you re-establish sleep cycles. If you take melatonin and feel nothing, likely you need to balance your adrenal response and/or sympathetic nervous system. Supplements like Insomnitol by Designs for Health, and Tranquinox Deep, and Kavinase OS by NuMedica are designed to support parasympathetic tone.
Is Melatonin Safe?
I get this question a lot. People often ask, “if I take melatonin, won’t my body stop making it?” Short answer - No, that is why melatonin remains over-the-counter. If that were the case, it would be prescription-only.
Melatonin is extensively studied and demonstrates a favorable safety profile, particularly at commonly recommended doses. A systematic review of 37 randomized controlled trials found that melatonin was well tolerated, with few adverse events.7 Another systematic review examining higher doses of melatonin (≥10 mg) found no statistically significant increase in serious adverse events.8
Long-term clinical studies have demonstrated favorable safety outcomes when following adults taking 2 mg of prolonged-release melatonin for 6–12 months. The researchers found no evidence of tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, rebound insomnia, or suppression of the body's natural melatonin production.9 Similarly, Wade et al. (2010) reported no significant endocrine disturbances or withdrawal effects following six months of supplementation.10
Get To Sleep
Using sleep support for 1-4 weeks, and then taking a few nights off to see if you sleep on your own is a great approach to balancing your circadian rhythm. We don’t want to create dependency; we want to sleep train you. If you still struggle with sleep, it is worth it to get a sleep study to rule out apnea, you may also want to see your healthcare provider about blood sugar or cardiac issues. Sometimes pain or the sensation to urinate wakes people. These are things to have assessed to determine the root cause of what is truly waking you.
Sleep is vital to virtually every animal. With healthy habits, occasional supplementation, and commitment to your body’s circadian rhythm, you will be getting back to sleep in no time. Don’t fool yourself, you need more sleep. Let’s normalize a full night’s sleep.
References:
Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G, et al.. Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015;11(6):591–592.
Reddy S, Reddy V, Sharma S. Physiology, Circadian Rhythm. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519507/
Wahl S, Engelhardt M, Schaupp P, Lappe C, Ivanov IV. The inner clock-Blue light sets the human rhythm. J Biophotonics. 2019 Dec;12(12):e201900102. doi: 10.1002/jbio.201900102. Epub 2019 Sep 2. PMID: 31433569; PMCID: PMC7065627.
https://icatcare.org/understanding-the-hunting-behaviour-of-pet-cats-an-introduction/
Besag FMC, Vasey MJ, Lao KSJ, Wong ICK. Adverse Events Associated with Melatonin for the Treatment of Primary or Secondary Sleep Disorders: A Systematic Review. CNS Drugs. 2019 Dec;33(12):1167-1186. doi: 10.1007/s40263-019-00680-w. PMID: 31722088.
Menczel Schrire Z, Phillips CL, Chapman JL, Duffy SL, Wong G, D'Rozario AL, Comas M, Raisin I, Saini B, Gordon CJ, McKinnon AC, Naismith SL, Marshall NS, Grunstein RR, Hoyos CM. Safety of higher doses of melatonin in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Pineal Res. 2022 Mar;72(2):e12782. doi: 10.1111/jpi.12782. Epub 2021 Dec 30. PMID: 34923676.
Lemoine P, Garfinkel D, Laudon M, Nir T, Zisapel N. Prolonged-release melatonin for insomnia - an open-label long-term study of efficacy, safety, and withdrawal. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2011;7:301-11. doi: 10.2147/TCRM.S23036. Epub 2011 Jul 26. PMID: 21845053; PMCID: PMC3150476.
Wade AG, Ford I, Crawford G, McConnachie A, Nir T, Laudon M, Zisapel N. Nightly treatment of primary insomnia with prolonged release melatonin for 6 months: a randomized placebo controlled trial on age and endogenous melatonin as predictors of efficacy and safety. BMC Med. 2010 Aug 16;8:51. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-8-51. PMID: 20712869; PMCID: PMC2933606.