New Research Shows How Sleep Clears Toxins from the Brain

[Jmac]

Happy to entertain suggestions??? I will do more than entertain them, I will implement them

JMac, sorry to hear of your frustrations with "sleep doctors." Some things I didn't see on your list that have helped me are:
1. Taking fish oil with dinner. The moment I started taking fish out at night, my sleep improved significantly. There's a study out there that shows that children slept an hour longer or so when taking fish oil with dinner.
2. Alpha Lipoic Acid with breakfast. This one is also not conslusive, but I stopped taking Lipoic Acid recently and noticed a change in my sleep for the worse. I then started again and am back to sleeping well. It appears that alpha lipoic acid helps set your circadian rhythm? I haven't dug deep into this at all, though.
3. You could potentially try the sleep consolidation plan that my sleep psychologist gave me. It didn't work for me, but I can find the sheet that he gave me and give you the details. Just let me know.

I will definitely add those to the list! I do take ALA in the morning, hadn't really connected it with sleep though. I alternate days with it so am going to move it to all days, see if that helps! I will try the fish oil with dinner --- I take one with breakfast and have in my afternoon bin but forget half the time to take. I will make sure I am consistent! And will watch to see if either/both of those help.

Yes, happy to try the sleep consolidation plan. I will try pretty much anything within reason!

[Jmac]

Jmac that sounds horrible. Do you happen to have a university nearby with a research- connected sleep center? I’ve had two sleep studies and the university connected one, and sleep doctor, was by far the best. The other was affiliated with a reputable hospital, so not bad, but not what the research connected one was.

I noted on your blog post (a great resource for folks!), that meditation appears to be almost an afterthought, something to focus on if all else fails. Personally, I would put this at top with blue blocker devices and other standard recommendations. I think the ‘monkey mind‘ has the power to override a lot of interventions. I’ve found that any kind of relaxing movement like yoga, tai chi and qi gong are essential companions to still meditation, each providing important inputs to the overthinking and/or anxiety-prone minds and enhancing each other.

I am going to check into the university idea, hadn't thought about checking.

I don't know why I overlooked yoga, tai chi, qi gong! I had already dragged my mat out of the closet and checked into local classes but was doing it more for balance and flexibility. Makes sense that it might help with sleep.

I will expand on meditation as a good idea. I use the Insight Timer meditation app most nights, sometimes when initially falling asleep and then if I wake up and can't shut my mind down. I probably need to consider doing more in that arena, just use my time painting and creating ceramic art as my meditation (although I also listen to podcasts fairly often so guess that negates the relaxation aspect).

Thank you!

[lamb chops]

[quote My two cents, and there is some scientific literature supporting the concept, is to give binaural beats at the delta wave frequency (slow) a try for 20min before bedtime. The concept is that your brain gets synced to this frequency associated with deep sleep, and over time you actually have more deep sleep. (and there are no side effects except sleepiness, and the cost is essentially free because you can download all sorts of these things for free). I have been using this for years and finally got my wife to try it-- and within a few nights she was commenting on how she slept through the whole night for the first time in as long as she could remember...
best of luck,
FTG[/quote]
I am curious about the binaural. I have looked online and cannot get a clear picture of how to go about starting this. There is so much stuff on it! What's real and what's not! Is there a site you found to get some guidance on this?

[circular]

I am curious about the binaural. I have looked online and cannot get a clear picture of how to go about starting this. There is so much stuff on it! What's real and what's not! Is there a site you found to get some guidance on this?

I've been running a bit cold on binaural beats since hearing the development team behind Brain.fm say in an interview [25.30] that there's really no good science to back it up. Maybe by that they mean the science is too minimal for their standards. I'm not sure, but the brain.fm approach is entirely different, and it made me wonder how much of the binaural beat effect some people experience could be the placebo effect. That's not even a bad thing if it is, whatever works! The brain.fm team has an app to sell subscriptions to, but they were also awarded $220,000 in National Science grant money to pursue their research. I like it a lot but am not using it in the interest of trimming back subscription fees to things.

[Jmac]

I am curious about the binaural. I have looked online and cannot get a clear picture of how to go about starting this. There is so much stuff on it! What's real and what's not! Is there a site you found to get some guidance on this?

I have tried a number of apps. The one binaural beat that did have some impact was married up with a meditation. Insight Timer app.

I read that it only works if you're wearing headphones. If you sleep on your side that's not easy to do! I did try with the small buds but woke up on my side with an earache... I have BrainAurama and Atmosphere in addition to finding the one I mentioned on Insight Timer (which is a free meditation app).

[circular]

I read that it only works if you're wearing headphones. If you sleep on your side that's not easy to do! I did try with the small buds but woke up on my side with an earache... I have BrainAurama and Atmosphere in addition to finding the one I mentioned on Insight Timer (which is a free meditation app).

If you search Amazon for ‘ sleep headphones for side sleepers’ you’ll find burgeoning options I haven’t tried any and don’t know which of any are worth a try.

[circular]

I don't know why I overlooked yoga, tai chi, qi gong! I had already dragged my mat out of the closet and checked into local classes but was doing it more for balance and flexibility. Makes sense that it might help with sleep.

I've also found this helpful in the middle of the night when I couldn't get back to sleep.

I will expand on meditation as a good idea. I use the Insight Timer meditation app most nights, sometimes when initially falling asleep and then if I wake up and can't shut my mind down. I probably need to consider doing more in that arena, just use my time painting and creating ceramic art as my meditation (although I also listen to podcasts fairly often so guess that negates the relaxation aspect).

You might consider adding meditation as part of a morning routine. This can help reduce the day's 'thought sediment' as I think of it, and stress, so there is less to wind down from at night. Think of it like the accumulation of toxins. Would you rather try to reduce them after they've accumulated or prevent them from accumulating? I get the most benefit meditating twice a day, but I sometimes have a hard time being disciplined about that.

I think hobbies or activities we love and find relaxing and that put us in the zone are highly valuable, but that their value is very different from any number of more classic forms of meditation. I find the latter are better at actually reframing awareness to address fundamental imbalances the industrialized, hyper-logical world saturates us in and that I think chronically stress our brain, physiology and society.

Another, simpler, intervention that you could consider adding to the list, although I'm not sure whether it's something you need, is using a neti pot twice a day to keep the sinuses open and inflammation down; ie, to help keep those airways clear and open for better breathing at night. This also helps generally with daytime oxygenation and by keeping pollutants, toxins, allergens, bacteria, viruses, molds, and so on from staying in close proximity to the brain.

[TheBrain]

Jmac, I’m sorry to hear about your deep sleep woes.

I recently started doing some new things that are significantly improving my sleep. I suspect it's everything together that's helping me, but I can’t know for sure.

1. I'm rubbing essential oils on the bottom of my feet at bedtime. There are various combinations of oils one could try, per a mini-course I took, but I picked the combination that resonated most with me. I didn't jot down the other ones. I'm using jojoba as the carrier oil, along with two drops each of lavender, bergamot, and ylang ylang. The essential oils should be therapeutic grade. (I use Young Living, but there are other brands.) I put socks on my feet to keep the oils from messing up my sheets.

2. As I listen to a sleep anxiety tapping meditation from the Tapping Solution Insider's Club, I repeatedly smell the oil on my one hand. So I'm absorbing the oil through my feet and taking it in through my nose. (I've had insomnia for so long such that anxiety has become part of the problem.) You could check out YouTube for tapping/EFT videos about deep sleep (a few are specifically about deep sleep): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... deep+sleep

3. I've stopped tracking my sleep. I don't even wear my Apple watch to bed anymore. That was contributing to my anxiety about sleep. At this point, all I care about is waking up feeling refreshed. And that's happening most of the time.

4. I've started using Annie Hopper's Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) (I purchased her DVD program). This program addresses limbic system impairment. Personally, I think of myself as having an impaired stress response. Same thing, I suspect.

If these additions to my routine continue to work, I'll start weaning off my sleep meds. (I can sleep quite soundly on these meds, but they have become less effective over time, and I refuse to increase my dose.)

[circular]

Jmac, I’m sorry to hear about your deep sleep woes.

I recently started doing some new things that are significantly improving my sleep. I suspect it's everything together that's helping me, but I can’t know for sure.

So glad you hear you found some things that are working for you! It's all so individual.

[Family Tree Guy]

[/quote]
I am curious about the binaural. I have looked online and cannot get a clear picture of how to go about starting this. There is so much stuff on it! What's real and what's not! Is there a site you found to get some guidance on this?[/quote]

Here are a few delta wave binaural tracks that I can recommend. These would be a great place to start. for the youtube track you don't even need to download to your phone, you can play directly from your browser, but must use earbuds or earphones because the frequency to each ear is slightly different.

Jeffrey Thompson delta waves free from youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPv5_srmrFo

Jeffrey Thompson’s store (I love the delta sleep system), potentially high quality sound vs youtube
https://www.scientificsounds.com/store/sleep

This ‘blissful sleep’ track is my wife’s favorite, totally worth the $10
https://www.binauralbeatsmeditation.com ... ful-sleep/