Can't sleep, no energy?

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So many people are dealing with a cycle of poor sleep and lack of energy through the day, to the point that we could almost consider this an epidemic.

The interesting aspect of the sleep is that many individuals are not even aware that they are not sleeping well, so let's define this first. Optimal sleep is going to be somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30PM depending on the time of the year and waking near the time that the sun comes up. You would of course fall asleep very quickly and the sleep is unbroken  and if you happen to wake to use the bathroom, you will quickly fall back into a deep sleep. At the conclusion of the optimal nights sleep, you will wake ready to rock and roll and take on your day. So ask yourself, does your sleep pattern look like this?

If it does not, you have some work to do. We'll chat about that in a bit.

Since most of you are not hitting and optimal sleep cycle what do you think this is going to effect throughout your day? If you guessed energy, you are right on. This is not just physical energy though, this is also mental energy, emotional energy and even what some would consider either vibrational or spiritual energy. I don't know about you, but I want this to be at the most optimal level that I can. Most of us are attempting to play a really big game in life but if we are doing this with poor sleep and energy, the game we're playing is severely limited.

If you are the person we are talking about here, what's the next step? First off I will share that based on my thousands of clients at Depke Wellness, a poor sleep cycle is generally either a digestive issue or a hormone issue. Let's look at hormones first.

When I am testing adrenal panels with my clients, I am not only looking at the typically cortisol and DHEA, I am also looking at other end result hormones, one being melatonin. Let's first understand that melatonin levels and cortisol levels should be an exact opposite. With this said, when melatonin is high, cortisol will be low and likewise. So if we see a low night time melatonin, we would typically recognize an elevated night time cortisol. This would tell us that if we could lower the night time cortisol, we would most likely see the melatonin go up simply due to the natural hormone rhythms of the body. This would then be defined as a sleep issue that has a deeper hormone tie as the core.

With this said, what if the night time cortisol is actually optimal, yet the night time melatonin is actually low? This is when we would look at this as a digestive issue.

My first point to make, it we do not recommend melatonin if melatonin is low. We are not saying that those that make this recommendation are wrong, we'll just say that we are different, and here's why. This is the natural flow from food consumption to melatonin.

• Proper consumption of protein
• Optimal digestion
• Proper breakdown of the amino acid L - tryptophan (essential amino acid)
• Most of this L - tryptophan moves toward assisting B vitamin production and absorption but this also goes down this sleep cycle
• Production of 5 - HTP from L - tryptophan
• Production of serotonin from 5 - HTP
• Finally the production of melatonin from serotonin

So you can see that while taking melatonin may actually help with sleep but it still leaves so many other deficiencies in the body. So if the night time melatonin is low along with a normal night time cortisol, this tells us to work on digestion.

Here are some of the basic levels to understand to enhance digestion.

• Take 3 to 5 deep belly breaths prior to your meal to ease any stress
• Chew your food thouroughly
• Take your Prebiotic/Probiotic Formula daily
• Take your Prime Enzyme Support with each meal
• If stomach acid is low take a Prime Stomach Acid Support after your meal
• You may want to also assess potential food sensitivities 
• If digestion has been a long term chronic issue, you may also want to look at the potential of pathogens

If we go back to the beginning here though, to understand if your sleep and lack of energy issue is either a hormone or digestive issue, assessing adrenal function as well as end result hormones is a must.

If you do not have a deep understanding of adrenal function, it's holistic effect on the body and it's underlying triggers, be sure to take a look at the Adrenal Summit. This is a complimentary event that will answer your questions and provide further information by the industry leaders listed below.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts "experts". This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this. Visit the Adrenal Summit for further information and registration for this complimentary event.