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A healthy sleep pattern and cycle is one of the greatest practices to maximize health and optimize daily energy, function and performance.

Good sleep patterns is of critical importance if you have

fibromyalgia ,
chronic fatigue,
pain
inflammation or an immune disorder.
A majority of people in our community have or will have at some time in their life one or more of these problems.

Melatonin is the hormone that is produced in the body and helps initiate the sleep cycle. This hormone is also known to enhance healing and regenerative processes within the body.

How to increase melatonin secretion naturally and improve the sleep cycle?

Melatonin is a critical hormone produced by the pineal gland in the absence of light stimulation. This hormone is responsible for inducing a state of sleep and regulating circadian rhythms that govern our sleep-wake cycle.

5 strategies to maximize your melatonin secretion:

1. Go to Sleep Early: Be in bed by 10PM..No kidding!

Hormone secretion, body temperature, digestion and tissue restoration are governed by 24 hour cycles ( circadian rhythm) linked to natural light exposure.

Up to 80% of melatonin secretion takes place between the hours of 11pm and 1am. Individuals that are in bed by 10pm are maximizing this restorative hormone`s ability to heal and regenerate body tissues.

2. Practice intentional quiet time before you go to bed:

Meditation helps boost melatonin. This process speeds up the time from lying down to falling asleep and boosts the quality and satisfaction of the sleep.
Take 15-20 minutes before bed and relax your mind and concentrate your breathing.
To lean to meditate or boost your meditation skills and stamina join us on our next More Than meditaiton course. Click here for details.

3. Reduce sugar, artificial flavorings & preservatives, processed foods, caffeine and any other sort of stimulant.

All these stimulants reduce melatonin and growth hormone secretion in the body.
Another toxic stimualnt to avoid before going to bed is the flickering light of TV.

4. Hydrate effectively:

Dehydration causes chronic stress responses in the body that minimize healthy melatonin and growth hormone secretion.

5. Keep Your Bedroom Dark:
Any sort of light stimulation will inhibit the pineal gland from forming melatonin. This will disrupt sleep and minimize melatonin`s beneficial effects in the body.
Wearing an eye mask achieves the same effect.

6. Synthetic Melatonin (this needs a prescription)

If you have trouble falling asleep, consider melatonin. . Using melatonin as a sleep aid causes an increase in dreaming in most people, but otherwise synthetic melatonin has no known side effects and may even enhance immune function. It can be effective for jet lag – try 2.5 mg of melatonin under the tongue (look for a sublingual tablet) at bedtime at your destination.

For regular use, recent studies have indicated that much lower doses (.25 to .3 mg) are actually more effective.