Virtually everyone has experienced insomnia from time to time, but a very large number of people experience it on an almost constant basis. 1 in 7 adults suffer from insomnia with 1 in 4 of them being female. In fact, 10-30% of the population has insomnia at any given time. In my over 20 years of clinical experience, I noticed that patients with scoliosis seemed to have sleeping problems even more than the general population and wondered if there was a link between scoliosis and insomnia.
Insomnia can generally be separated into 2 categories. Can’t fall asleep or can’t stay asleep. Each can be equally miserable, but have different effects and causes ranging from poor sleep habits, to stress, and even hormone imbalances.
Signs and symptoms of insomnia
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Inability to stay asleep or get back to sleep
- Waking feeling tired or exhausted
- Irritability, depression, anxiety
- Lack of focus or concentration
- Prone to errors of mistakes
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Causes of insomnia
The causes of insomnia are vast and different depending on the type of insomnia you are experiencing. Stress is one of the leading causes of insomnia for many people. Mental or emotional stress causes your body to create a hormone called Cortisol. This is your body’s main “stress hormone”. It increases your blood sugar and ramps up your body’s “fight or flight” systems. In short, it ramps you up for action. Obviously, this is not a good strategy for a full and restful night’s sleep. An all-natural approach to managing cortisol levels with RENEW can significantly improve your body’s response to cortisol and help you sleep deeper and longer throughout the night.
A poor sleep schedule may be problem and triggering insomnia. It is important to wake up and go to bed at similar times each day, while avoiding bright light at least 60 min before bed. Also, napping is a “no, no” if it can be avoided.
Anxiety or depression can also affect your ability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Your mental and emotional health has profound affects on your neurotransmitter levels, which are directly related to your sleep patterns.
Believe it or not, hormone imbalances often play a large role in our body’s sleep patterns, especially during time of significant changes like menopause. Spikes in estrogen or testosterone and low progesterone can wreak havoc with your sleep schedule. A hormone detox product like BALANCE can help your body rid itself of excess and old hormone remnants that are throwing you and your sleep cycle of balance.
Chronic pain is a common cause of not being able to sleep. Tossing and turning, rolling around to find a comfortable position do not lead to a healing and reviving night of rest. Unfortunately, most people experience pain because of multiple sources, so the standard over the counter pain pills don’t get the job done. Soothe is a non-drug, no addition, comprehensive pain reduction compound that targets the 4 most common sources of pain to help you feel better and sleep more.
Idiopathic scoliosis is caused by combinations of 28 genetic variants groups. These groups have widespread effects on the body including neurotransmitter and hormone metabolism. The end result are neurotransmitter imbalances and hormone dominance issues that cause scoliosis, and many other health concerns including insomnia. Genetic variants groups like the MAOA, MTHFR, BH4, and B12 factors heavily influence your body’s ability to make melatonin and other sleep inducing chemicals in your brain. Fortunately, all of these and more are easily treated with the natural supplement MTHFR Support.
Negative effects of insomnia
- Daytime fatigue or sleepiness
- Gastro-intestinal symptoms (COMFORT)
- Low motivation or energy (SPARK)
- Poor concentration (FOCUS)
- Shortened life span
Non drug treatments for insomnia
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule. No naps
- Avoid bright light 1 hour before bed
- Increase melatonin production with all natural ZZZ’s sleep aide
- Practice meditation 20 minutes before bed
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