Tag: melatonin

How to get back in sync with your body’s need for sleep . . .

If you are like many people, the shift in time and “springing our clocks forward” with the passing of day light savings time arrived with a loss of an hour of sleep, a decrease in energy, forgetting important meetings you had planned to attend and the inconvenience of having your day hit by an unexpected “detour.”

More than a simple inconvenience, the consequences of inadequate sleep are very damaging to you as adequate sleep is essential for you to regulate numerous hormones in your body, like testosterone, estrogen, melatonin, leptin and ghrelin that help you to lose weight.^1,2 Insufficient sleep also increases your risk for many mental health problems like depression and cognitive problems like ADHD.³

Getting sufficient sleep is also important for you to minimize the damaging effects of stress, support your brain’s detoxification system and repair your body. Making sure that you get adequate sleep will also reduce your risk for many types of cancer, like prostate cancer (i.e., melatonin is a very powerful antioxidant).

Before I talk about simple strategies to help you improve your sleep, there is no “magic” number of hours that you need. Listen to your body. Your needs for sleep will vary according to the cycles of nature (e.g., with the spring season now beginning and the summer approaching the days are longer and there is more sunlight; in the fall and winter the days are shorter and there is less sunlight) because your sleep and wake cycles are regulated primarily by your exposure to external cues that influence your circadian rhythm and your lifestyle.⁴

Exposure to sunlight during the day (or high lux artificial lights) suppresses your secretion of melatonin and helps to reset your circadian rhythm. More than practicing sensible sun light exposure, having good sleep hygiene is important. So if you have tried different approaches and still experience problems getting back in sync with your body’s needs for sleep or wake up in the middle of the night, follow my simple recommendations below:

The most effective and simplest strategy to improve your quality of sleep is going to bed at the same time each evening and waking up at the same time every morning.
You also want to develop a night time ritual to help you transition into sleep. Try reading or meditating (e.g., Mindfulness Meditation or Loving Kindness Meditation) an hour before you go to bed.
To help you sleep more easily, it is also important to avoid certain stimuli and avoid drinking or eating within 3 hours of your bed time. Eating before you sleep can interfere with restful sleep as your body is still digesting food.
As a rule of thumb, you also want to dim the lights in your room or house 2 hours before bed time to help your body produce more melatonin. Instead, keep a Himalayan salt lamp in your bedroom as the amber lighting will help to increase your melatonin levels and help to purify the air to help you breath more easily.
Wear a sleep mask or install black out curtains in your bedroom to keep artificial lights from interfering with your sleep.
Minimize or avoid your use of electronics like your T.V., computer or smartphone as they emit a blue spectrum light that can interfere with your body’s secretion of melaton.
If you must work and use a computer or your smartphone, use software like f.lux to reduce the interference on your computer and IPhone or EasyEyez for Android. Or wear orange or red tinted sunglasses like BluBlockers to protect you from blue spectrum lights.
Set your smartphone on “airplane mode” and unplug your Wi-Fi router at home as you will not be using the internet during your sleep and the nnEMFs produced by your phone and Wi-Fi router may interfere with your sleep. Invest in scalar energy devices such as the Airestech to help mitigate the harmful effects of nnEMFs.
Set the ambient temperature in your bedroom down to at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Your core body temperature drops during sleep and setting your climate control higher can contribute to restless sleep.

Upon waking, take a moment to notice how you feel. If you feel refreshed and alert, make a mental note of what you did the prior night and repeat the cycle. Ideally, you will wake up without the need for an alarm. Otherwise, you need more sleep and need to adjust your schedule so that can go to bed earlier. It’s best to set your intention and go to bed by 10:00 pm and allow for eight to nine hours of sleep.

To your health and success,

Dr. Sandoval

To learn more about how working with a psychologist and holistic health coach can help you to enhance your health and well-being, call or email Dr. Sandoval to schedule a free consultation.

Czeisler, CA, Klerman, EB. “Circadian and sleep-dependent regulation of hormone release in humans.” Recent Progress in Hormone Research. (1999). (54):97-132.
Van Cauter, E, Knutson, K, Leproult, R, and Spiegel, K. “The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Hormones and Metabolism.” (2005). Medscape Neurology. (7):1.
Ilardi, S. (2010). The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs.
Wiley, TS & Formby, B. (2001). Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.
Stalgis-Bilinski, KL, Boyages, J, Salisbury, EL, Dunstan, CR, Henderson, SI, and Talbot, PL. “Burning daylight: balancing vitamin D requirements with sensible sun exposure.” Medical Journal of Australia. (2011).194(7):345-8.

mitochondria melatonin sleep sensible sun light exposure Miami psychologist Miami holistic health coach

How to rekindle the fire that burns inside . . .

In Psychology and Wellness

You are fundamentally an energetic being and you respond to your environment. Every cell in your body has organelles known as mitochondria that extract nutrients from the foods that you eat and make energy though a biochemical process known as cellular respiration. These energy “power plants” are more accurately defined as ancient microbes that have coevolved with us and are constantly scanning our environment. They are very abundant in energy demanding organs like your brain, heart, eyes and sex organs.

Besides the foods that you eat, your cells respond to the lights that you surround yourself with every day. Sunlight is the most effective and powerful way to enhance your mitochondrias’ function. In his paper, “The 4th Phase of Water“, Dr. Gerald Pollack explains that this photoelectric effect occurs when light is absorbed by water in our cells. This effect changes the structure of water and creates Exclusion Zones (EZs) or areas of charged water (H3O2 instead of H20). This negative charge increases the mitochondrial membrane potential and improves mitochondrial function. Think of this negative charge as stored energy. Essentially, your skins melanin (the archetypal pigment molecule) can provide up to 90% of the cell’s energy needs through capturing and converting sunlight into chemical energy (specifically, disassociating and reforming H20).^1,2Stated simply, sunlight produces a beneficial negative charge inside your cells and activates your mitochondria.

In addition to optimizing your mitochondria by practicing sensible sun exposure (or alternatively, using high lux lamps which confer many health benefits), you’ll want to avoid and reduce your exposure to blue spectrum lights from electronic devices like your T.V., LED light bulbs, smartphone and computer, which unlike the sun do not emit red and orange hues to counter balance the blue spectrum frequencies that suppress your melatonin production and also are a source of nnEMFs. With many cities rolling out 5G cell phone towers, you’ll also want to cut your use of Wi-Fi to an absolute minimum as it contributes to and worsens autoimmunity (I am living proof that reducing and shielding yourself improves autoimmunity as I am fully able and functional and was diagnosed with M.S. 20 years ago and have used several technologies and methods to ground myself for many years.), mitochondrial dysfunction, damages your DNA and alters your VGCCs (Voltage Gated Calcium Channels; allowing more calcium ions into your cell membranes which increases oxidative stress), thereby increasing your likelihood of developing many cancers, mental health conditions like anxiety or depression and neurological diseases.

Instead, swap your LED lights for older incandescent light bulbs, install applications like f.lux or twilight on your smart phone if you must do anything with your phone after sunset , use Ethernet cables to connect your computer to hi-speed internet services, wear amber/orange tinted blue blocking glasses and invest in an Aires Tech or a Safe Sleeve case for your phone and use some red lights (PBM, photobiomodulation) like a Joovv panel or Vielight intranasal device (I’ve been using my Joovv and Vielight 655 with great success). Therabulb is a low cost red and rear infrared light bulb that is very effective as well. It’s a great option for targeted, precision treatment of a problem area (e.g., knee pain, shoulder pain).

Studies using photobiomodulation with M.S. patients in Brazil, Poland and at the University of Wisconsin have shown promising results. PBM also has many years of clinical research in the treatment of bone fractures and has been a saving grace in my recovery from the femur fracture I experienced on January 27th 2019 while training for the bike MS in Key Largo, Florida. Similarly, low level laser therapy lamps help to improve your blood circulation, activates your adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (your cells energy or fuel currency) , reduces pain and releases nitric oxide.³

As an energetic being, you must obey the first law of physics. By enriching your environment with the right light exposure while reducing your toxisick lights, you’ll stroke the fire that burns inside (i.e., your mitochondria) and recapture your zest for life.

To your health and success,

Dr. Sandoval

Mathewson, I. “Did human hairlessness allow natural photobiomodulation 2 million years ago and enable photobiomodulation therapy today? This can explain the rapid expansion of our genus’s brain.” Medical Hypotheses. 2015 May;84(5):421-8. doi: 10.1016.
Herrera AS, Del C A Esparza M, Md Ashraf G, Zamyatnin AA, Aliev “Beyond mitochondria, what would be the energy source of the cell?” Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry. 2015;15(1):32-41.
Pinar Avci, MD, Asheesh Gupta, PhD, Magesh Sadasivam, MTech, Daniela Vecchio, PhD, Zeev Pam, MD, Nadav Pam, MD, and Michael R Hamblin, PhD. “Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in skin: stimulating, healing, restoring.” Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery. 2013 March; 32(1): 41–52.