tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post4636034473953811001..comments2023-06-05T11:51:38.383-04:00Comments on Evolutionary Psychiatry: The Neurobiology of SleepAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-88992419154109977452011-01-23T21:52:29.409-05:002011-01-23T21:52:29.409-05:00Emily
The vitamin D I use and suggest for my pati...Emily<br /><br />The vitamin D I use and suggest for my patients comes in a dropper form, containing d3 and olive oil. I theorize it gets absorbed quickly peaking vitamin d levels within an hour of supplementation. I am trying to figure out the quicker time to sleep and the vivid dream scenario, which has occurred in a large number of my patients.<br />So perhaps the dropper form is responsible for the nighttime dosing as opposed to mid afternoon dosing?<br /><br />Steven Horvitz, D.O.Steven Horvitz, D.O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10168991089931167753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-88245204633036162652011-01-19T21:32:48.976-05:002011-01-19T21:32:48.976-05:00Sorry, mike, I didn't mean to ignore you! I d...Sorry, mike, I didn't mean to ignore you! I do wonder about melatonin and down regulation. I'm going to look into it as part of this series.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-17885151091757178162011-01-19T13:47:11.988-05:002011-01-19T13:47:11.988-05:00Emily,
That's very interesting. I certainly f...Emily,<br /><br />That's very interesting. I certainly feel like the effervescent is working better than the capsules. <br /><br />It's called Juvamine Fizz Magnésium. <br /><br />Here's a link :<br /> <br />http://www.maboutiquesante.com/magnesium-vitamines-b6-b2.htmlAnomadichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12611887849679251756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-10596799971840130272011-01-19T10:27:27.200-05:002011-01-19T10:27:27.200-05:00Dr. Horvitz - I find your experience with D3 at ni...Dr. Horvitz - I find your experience with D3 at night intriguing, mostly because everyone suggests taking it midday is best (to emulate midday sun exposure) and I know I've read that some people may experience insomnia with D3 at night, but I've never seen any data either way. I'll have to look more into that.<br /><br />Anna - I don't know for sure, but I do know that musculoskeletal injuries seem to release (my personal theory, anyway) a lot of nasty cytokines into the system, so that I see plenty of people after injuries or bone surgery with recurrences of depression. It seems that inflammation might affect sleep as well (or be part of conditioning). <br /><br />Thanks Chris, Chris, and Katherine, as always, for your comments! <br /><br />Anomadic - that's interesting to know, as I did read a study as part of my magnesium series that demonstrated that the bioavailability of mg oxide in the effervescent tablets was quite robust in humans - I googled looking for some but couldn't find any available. What is the name of the French tablet, if I may ask? I'm always looking for cheap products that are just as effective.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-63554229963528246492011-01-19T10:10:01.519-05:002011-01-19T10:10:01.519-05:00Great tips, Dr. Deans. In my experience, darkness...Great tips, Dr. Deans. In my experience, darkness is very important, but a cool temperature is equally important (for me, <65F), and waking up in the morning and immediately getting lots of bright light and some exercise is also helpful.<br /><br />ChrisChris Masterjohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09922003080748568167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-67885049478345237912011-01-18T21:52:32.066-05:002011-01-18T21:52:32.066-05:00Here in France we have 100 mg magnesium oxide tabl...Here in France we have 100 mg magnesium oxide tablets that dissolve in water to form a non-carbonated drink that tastes like a sweetened, watered down milk (kinda like Calpis if you know it). Its a delicious way to get magnesium and perfect before bed. <br /><br />Does anyone know if this this available in the states?Anomadichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12611887849679251756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-15201124394519675502011-01-17T15:18:41.311-05:002011-01-17T15:18:41.311-05:00Katherine, thanks for the correction. I thought i...Katherine, thanks for the correction. I thought it looked "off" when I typed the post.<br /><br />I take magnesium citrate from Source Naturals, and have been happy with it.<br /><br />Yes, the MoM/seltzer water does have that special effect sometimes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-88326326611387900912011-01-17T14:37:19.945-05:002011-01-17T14:37:19.945-05:00Phosphatidyl serine can be helpful in restoring th...Phosphatidyl serine can be helpful in restoring the integrity of the hippocampus, which plays a role in regulating circadian rhythms. And of course adrenal adaptogens like eleutherococcus, ashwagandha and panax ginseng will also help modulate cortisol output (which in turn affects melatonin). But more important than anything else in my experience is managing blood sugar. Blood sugar fluctuations throughout the day will torpedo the cortisol/melatonin rhythm faster than anything else.<br /><br />Thanks for the great article!Chris Kresserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16374375198215570796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-90725045751467569972011-01-17T12:14:01.229-05:002011-01-17T12:14:01.229-05:00Hi everyone,
Just a heads up: Milk of Magnesia i...Hi everyone,<br /><br />Just a heads up: Milk of Magnesia isn't Magnesium Oxide but Magnesium Hydroxide. The difference is significant from a digestive perspective. Oxide won't loosen stools for most whereas Mg Hydroxide will when taken per bottle directions and still sometimes will when taken as the seltzer drink described.<br /><br />My need for magnesium appears to be pretty high and for whatever reason, magnesium oxide doesn't do the trick. Magnesium citrate is a powerful stool stoftener for me even at low doses (ie 100-200 mg per day). <br /><br />While it's pricey and I hate to spend $$ on it, I finally gave in and purchased Jigsaw Health's time released magneisum dimalate formula. Depending on a variety of factors, I take 250-1000 mg per day in divided doses. It's very helpful in keeping me sleeping well, has reduced muscle tension, eliminated muscle cramps (at night and during the day), eliminated a problematic cardiac arrhythmia and has been, generally speaking, very calming overall. Oh! And if I take the 1000 mg doses (divided) for 3 days before onset of menses, I have literally no cramping--none. Pretty cool stuff!<br /><br />Best,<br />KatherineKatherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14467976631871356999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-24653866944664432502011-01-17T09:32:52.853-05:002011-01-17T09:32:52.853-05:00Hi Anna,
Glad to see you reading Emily's blog....Hi Anna,<br />Glad to see you reading Emily's blog. Sorry to hear about your injury. Being a learning and memory psychologist, there is one thing that comes to my mind to explain your early waking post-injury. It is possible that you woke up at the earlier time on the first few nights after sustaining the injury to your clavicle. Once this pattern occurs, even after only 2 or 3 early wakings, your system might start to become entrained on this new cycle. That is, a mixture of Pavlovian conditioning (or habit learning, a form of instrumental conditioning) and/or entrainment of your circadian rhythm may have occurred. As for a solution, not sure how to do it but you need to retrain yourself to wake at the preferred time, which in part may involve methods to train yourself to fall back asleep after your early waking. Hopefully Emily will have good suggestions on how you might achieve this. Best of luck!Aaron Blaisdellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17204484453346358921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-10982203415973192522011-01-16T23:47:16.967-05:002011-01-16T23:47:16.967-05:00Great post!
I was very fortunate to have an inf...Great post! <br /><br />I was very fortunate to have an infant (now age 12) who was an unusually long, deep nighttime and nap sleeper from age 7 wks until about 5 or 6 yo (I won't gloat, because now he won't fall asleep until very late and try to sleep until noon, which is driving me nuts).<br /><br />Most of my sleep deprivation in the past decade+ has arisen from what seems like the world's longest perimenopause phase plus hypothyroidism that was undiagnosed for at least several years (I'm now 49 yoa). Compounded progesterone cream applied at night has helped my sleep, as has splitting my natural desiccated thyroid hormone dose to take 1/3 at bedtime (to prevent intense and recurring coughing attacks, which I think is a form of hypothyroid-induced apnea). <br /><br />Like you, I also take supplemental magnesium in the evening or before bed (seems to have stopped the occasional lower leg cramps, too), and since last spring I've used the transdermal magnesium oil or gel lotion. I really like the transdermal magnesium for alleviating jet lag. I also installed the f.lux software on my computer to alter the monitor light a couple years ago. <br /><br />With tweaking the details you mention in your post, and the progesterone and small nighttime dose of T4/T3, I've been able to improve my sleep immensely over the past 3-5 years, but it requires continual attention to maintain. <br /><br />The past two weeks, though, starting about a week after I experienced a distal non-displaced clavicle fracture from a hard fall on ice onto my shoulder, I routinely wake around 4 or 5 am. I don't need to wake until about 6:45 or 7am during the week, so this regular waking pattern is annoying after I worked so hard to achieve restful sleep patterns. Sometimes I'm able to get back to sleep, but too often I'm not. I am sleeping with my arm in the sling (with a strap around my lower ribs), so that does restrict my ability to change sleeping position somewhat. I only needed OTC NSAIDs for a few days after this fracture, but even if I now take an OTC ibuprofen before bed, it doesn't seem to make any difference with the 4 or 5 am waking, so I don't usually bother. I wouldn't say I wake in pain, but I do wake feeling stiff and with an awareness of my shoulder injury (and really wanting to roll over onto my preferred side, which of course, isn't possible). And I'm also probably not sleeping as deeply, because I'm again aware of my husband's snoring, something I'd been sleeping through for most of the year or so prior to my injury :-).<br /><br />I've never broken a bone before, but I have no reason to think it isn't heal well. I'm consuming lots of homemade bone broth, GF and mostly grain-less real foods with ample natural fats, complete protein, and produce, plus I'm supplementing with Vit C, magnesium, trace minerals, and I maintain a good 25 (OH)D level. <br /><br />Do you have any idea why this fracture, which isn't especially painful if I keep my shoulder fairly immobile (day and night in the sling/torso belt, which isn't too tight) and don't try to overuse/overdue the ROM exercises for the lower arm, would cause me to start regularly awakening too early, and always around the same time? I'm stumped.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17033443643442246531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-41116609705170243802011-01-16T22:35:25.756-05:002011-01-16T22:35:25.756-05:00Dr. Dean
Have you explored the use of vitamin D t...Dr. Dean<br /><br />Have you explored the use of vitamin D taken at night in doses of at least 2000iu's to help with sleep. I started supplementing this way about a year and a half ago, and my sleep improved tremendously. Not only quicker to achieve sleep, but deeper and more intense dreams, which as long as no nightmares is wonderful. <br />I read somewhere there was a D3 and melatonin connection somewhere, but now I wonder bout the circadian rhythms and d3 peaking at night when the sun goes down somehow stimulating sleep.Steven Horvitz, D.O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10168991089931167753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-42229607630712259992011-01-16T22:30:31.821-05:002011-01-16T22:30:31.821-05:00Excellent post, Dr. Deans. I've been followin...Excellent post, Dr. Deans. I've been following your blog for some time, and love the combination of evolution, nutrition, and mental/physical health issues.<br /><br />I was wondering if you could briefly elaborate on the possibility of supplemental melatonin down-regulating our own endogenous production? T.S Wiley's book "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival" warns of this very thing, yet I cannot find a reputable study reference to it.<br /><br />Personally, I have had very limited success (and rebound insomnia) with melatonin in the past, but had had great sleep success with Mg (citrate and aspartate) and GABA.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07000362967107422435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-20146497849472058362011-01-16T21:55:11.890-05:002011-01-16T21:55:11.890-05:00Agomelatine is brand spankin' new - blitz of a...Agomelatine is brand spankin' new - blitz of academic papers though so I imagine some marketing to follow. Interesting mechanism (serotonin antagonist and melotonin receptor agonist). I've never prescribed it. Melotonin in general doesn't seem to work for the toughest insomniacs, though I've seen it work great for brief interventions and phase sleep issues due to shift work or travel.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-11692057682971893132011-01-16T21:44:40.375-05:002011-01-16T21:44:40.375-05:00Thanks for your response. Sorry for the link fail...Thanks for your response. Sorry for the link fail - cut and pasted incorrectly - trying again:<br /><br /><a href="http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/7/1242?ijkey=a12d61c86759e6864952a6186ca5793db1a3ccd1&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha" rel="nofollow">Sleep disordered breathing and hypotension</a><br /><br />No behavioral interventions or meds have touched this (delayed sleep, frequent awakening and early awakening = <4 hrs sleep x years)<br /><br />However, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=DetailsSearch&term=agomelatine,+depression,+sleep" rel="nofollow">agomelatine</a> is supposed to address both depression and sleep wake cycles, so maybe it would be of use?perishedcorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522301057259965367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-85020686234081933402011-01-16T21:30:35.480-05:002011-01-16T21:30:35.480-05:00Perishedcore - very interesting links! I have pur...Perishedcore - very interesting links! I have purchased a textbook on sleep and mental illness, and there are a number of subtopics of sleep... so there will definitely be more posts (the third link is not functioning, by the way). I had not realized that UARS was associated with hypotension, though there are some parasomnias that are (I believe). Interesting connection with depression and anxiety too. I actually check a lot of blood pressures (myself) in my office and I rarely find anyone with raging hypertension, though my population will tend to be younger and perhaps healthier than who shows up in a typical primary care doctor's office. I don't generally check for orthostasis (no table, just a chair) though I suppose I could do sitting to standing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-60371080336661321112011-01-16T19:51:14.774-05:002011-01-16T19:51:14.774-05:00Addendum:
There is a free software program called...Addendum:<br /><br />There is a free software program called <a href="http://stereopsis.com/flux/#comments" rel="nofollow">f.lux</a> which when installed, changes the light wavelengths of your screen to mimic your local natural daylight/night light cycles. I have it on my laptop, and it doesn't interfere with reading. There is a way to temporarily disable it if you need to work with full screen brightness during the night.perishedcorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522301057259965367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-80611179611466760132011-01-16T19:44:41.014-05:002011-01-16T19:44:41.014-05:00Thank you for exploring this. Would you consider ...Thank you for exploring this. Would you consider looking at the following studies to see how they might fit with this and perhaps address in a future post?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801350/?tool=pubmed" rel="nofollow">Biological rhythms, higher brain function and behavior</a> <br /><br /><a href="http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/full/161/5/1412" rel="nofollow">Upper airway resistance syndrome is a distinct syndrome</a><br /><br /><a href="" rel="nofollow">Sleep disordered breathing and hypotension</a><br /><br /><a href="http://jech.bmj.com/content/61/1/53.abstract" rel="nofollow">Association of low blood pressure with anxiety and depression</a> <br /><br /><a href="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/193/2/108" rel="nofollow">Effect of anxiety and depression on blood pressure</a> <br /><br />N.B. The symptoms list for UARS describes me almost perfectly except for not being Asian heritage and since I live alone, I don't have confirmation about snoring, restless legs, apnea, etc but don't perceive that I do/have those issues. <br /><br />Sorry these are only tangentially related to the topic. I couldn't find an open thread or contact email address to submit for your consideration as a blog post.<br /><br />Thanks-<br /><br />chronically hypotensive (70's sys)and extremely sleep deprivedperishedcorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522301057259965367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-33112973529862722662011-01-16T17:49:05.243-05:002011-01-16T17:49:05.243-05:00thank you - I've been meaning to check out the...thank you - I've been meaning to check out the MOM selzter remedy - mag oxide is only a few dollars for 120 pills at the local store so I haven't blown through my bottle yet.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-75336847417969199452011-01-16T17:34:07.618-05:002011-01-16T17:34:07.618-05:00Lovely post, Dr. Deans. Thank you.
I ran across ...Lovely post, Dr. Deans. Thank you.<br /><br />I ran across this method for making magnesium water out of Milk of Magnesia, which is magnesium oxide and seltzer or soda water.<br /><br />http://www.afibbers.org/Wallerwater.pdf<br /><br />I don't know why the "recipe" recommends refrigerating the water.<br /><br />I find it very calming and nice. Much less expensive than buying magnesium oxide tablets or gelcaps.<br /><br /><br />On getting a good night's sleep, my additions to your nice list:<br /><br />I also keep the bedroom a bit on the cool side.<br /><br />No phone calls in the bedroom.<br />No business work or unpleasant conversation in the bedroom. <br />No shoes in the bedroom. <br />No television, videos, internet or similar. (I don't watch television at all.)<br /><br />An air purifier and carbon fabric curtains keep the air a little more pleasant, and sometimes a negative ionizer or salt lamp. The carbon fabric curtains also help darken the room, as they are black. They can be used as curtain liners.<br /><br />A quiet fan when there is distracting noise outside<br /><br />Only natural fiber nightclothes and bedclothes.<br /><br />Dimming the indoor lights for a period of time before bed, as though the sun were setting.<br /><br />Yoga or stretches, prayer, meditation, something to let go of the cares of the day and calm the thoughts, so that one is at peace before retiring.<br /><br />Retiring early and at pretty much the same time each night.<br /><br />Thank you very much for your blog. It is delightful to visit here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com