I've tried a lot of things over the years to help me sleep, most of them were various supplements like copper, iodine, glycine, etc. Many of them helped for a few days and then I was right back to where I was before. I have no issue falling asleep, but exactly five hours into my sleep cycle, I wake up with a racing mind. I'm thinking about everything and can't go back to sleep. I think I've finally cracked the code on that one, it only took me about 15 years.
Our neurotransmitters in our brain act like they are on a see-saw. Our main stimulating neurotransmitter, glutamate, opposes our main inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. When the level of one goes up, the other goes down. In my case, glutamate was high so I tried to increase my GABA levels. Looking at how GABA is made in the body, I always assumed that I was low on active ingredients to make it, primarily glycine. This can be the case for some and that is why supplementing glycine or TMG (Tri-methyl-glycine) can be beneficial. I would supplement and get benefit, but two or three days later, I was right back to where I started. I now believe I failed to achieve a balance in electrical charge and some of my chemical reactions couldn't take place because of an increase in electrons. With my background in Chemistry, I should have seen that and didn't.
All I have done differently the past several weeks is alter my nightly routine. Just before bed, I usually let the dog outside and brush my teeth. Now, I go outside with my dog and then brush my teeth. I make sure I walk bare footed on the grass for several minutes. I take at least 30 steps but I don't know if that matters. I know it sounds odd, but this has completely changed the way I sleep at night. If I do happen to wake up at 1 or 2 am, I can quickly fall back to sleep and I can now remember my dreams for the first time in many years. All I am doing is grounding, what some people call earthing. It sounded like hogwash to me, but it's cheap and I'll try anything once. I'd like for some of you to try it and see if it makes any difference in your sleep patterns. Come back to this thread in a few weeks and tell me if it had any effect.
I wear an Oura ring so I have a lot of metrics on my health. I know things like the length of my REM sleep, deep sleep, awake time, etc. These past few weeks have shown a huge improvement in all my sleep metrics and I can feel the difference. All from walking bare footed outside for a few minutes. The only days since I started doing this where my sleep wasn't great are days when I ate a late supper and the increased food close to bedtime negatively affected my sleep. I can't eat within 3 hours of sleep and get a good night's rest.
I was talking to a patient yesterday about Rheumatoid arthritis and when I finished, she told me I should write a book. Congratulations Bunk, this post is my book.
Our neurotransmitters in our brain act like they are on a see-saw. Our main stimulating neurotransmitter, glutamate, opposes our main inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. When the level of one goes up, the other goes down. In my case, glutamate was high so I tried to increase my GABA levels. Looking at how GABA is made in the body, I always assumed that I was low on active ingredients to make it, primarily glycine. This can be the case for some and that is why supplementing glycine or TMG (Tri-methyl-glycine) can be beneficial. I would supplement and get benefit, but two or three days later, I was right back to where I started. I now believe I failed to achieve a balance in electrical charge and some of my chemical reactions couldn't take place because of an increase in electrons. With my background in Chemistry, I should have seen that and didn't.
All I have done differently the past several weeks is alter my nightly routine. Just before bed, I usually let the dog outside and brush my teeth. Now, I go outside with my dog and then brush my teeth. I make sure I walk bare footed on the grass for several minutes. I take at least 30 steps but I don't know if that matters. I know it sounds odd, but this has completely changed the way I sleep at night. If I do happen to wake up at 1 or 2 am, I can quickly fall back to sleep and I can now remember my dreams for the first time in many years. All I am doing is grounding, what some people call earthing. It sounded like hogwash to me, but it's cheap and I'll try anything once. I'd like for some of you to try it and see if it makes any difference in your sleep patterns. Come back to this thread in a few weeks and tell me if it had any effect.
I wear an Oura ring so I have a lot of metrics on my health. I know things like the length of my REM sleep, deep sleep, awake time, etc. These past few weeks have shown a huge improvement in all my sleep metrics and I can feel the difference. All from walking bare footed outside for a few minutes. The only days since I started doing this where my sleep wasn't great are days when I ate a late supper and the increased food close to bedtime negatively affected my sleep. I can't eat within 3 hours of sleep and get a good night's rest.
I was talking to a patient yesterday about Rheumatoid arthritis and when I finished, she told me I should write a book. Congratulations Bunk, this post is my book.
