Peter Smith - Sleep Better with Natural Therapies: A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Insomnia, Moving Sleep Cycles and Preventing Jet Lag

Contact Details and Getting the Free Recordings

To receive the digital recordings to accompany this book simply send me an e-mail asking for the sleep better recordings. My address is: sleep@the-sleep-solution.com.

N.B. The recordings are large files and may need to be sent one at a time.

For more information on sleeping better and the techniques in this book, see my website: www.the-sleep-solution.com.

For more information on neurotransmitters and treating depression, bipolar syndrome and anxiety with natural remedies, see: www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk.

For more information on healthy diet, how to detoxify, weight-loss and naturopathic medicine, see: www.PeterSmithUK.com.

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is correct, but it should not in any way be substituted for medical advice. Readers should always consult a qualified medical practitioner before incorporating any of the therapies or supplements mentioned in this book into their treatment plan. Neither the author nor the publisher takes any responsibility for any consequences of any decision made as a result of the information contained in this book.

First published in 2014

by Singing Dragon

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.singingdragon.com

Copyright Peter Smith 2014

Front cover image source: iStockphoto. The cover image is for illustrative purposes only, and any person featuring is a model.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Smith, Peter K.

Sleep better with natural therapies : a holistic guide to overcoming insomnia and restoring a healthy

sleep cycle / Peter Smith.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-84819-182-2 (alk. paper)

1. Insomnia--Alternative treatment. 2. Sleep disorders--Alternative treatment. I. Title.

RC548.S65 2014

616.84982--dc23

2013016024

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84819 182 2

eISBN 978 0 85701 140 4

Further Reading

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2008) Bright light therapy may improve nocturnal sleep in mothers. Available at www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=878, accessed on 3 June 2013.

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2010) Bright light therapy improves sleep disturbances in soldiers with combat PTSD. Available at www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=1719, accessed on 3 June 2013.

Figueiro, M. G. and Rea, M. S. (2010) Evening daylight may cause adolescents to sleep less in spring than in winter. Chronobiology International 27 , 6, 12421258.

Figueiro, M. G. and Rea, M. S. (2012) Short-wavelength light enhances cortisol awakening response in sleep-restricted adolescents. International Journal of Endocrinology . Available at www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2012/301935/, accessed on 3 June 2013.

Figueiro, M. G., Bierman, A., Plitnick, B. and Rea, M. S. (2009) Preliminary evidence that both blue and red light can induce alertness at night. BMC Neuroscience 10 , 105.

Hartmann, E. (1974) L-tryptophan: A possible natural hypnotic substance. Journal of the American Medical Association 230 , 12, 16801681.

Kloog, I., Stevens, R. G., Haim, A. and Portnov, B. A. (2010) Night-time light level co-distributes with breast cancer incidence worldwide. Cancer Causes and Control 21 , 12, 20592066.

Kripke, D. F. Brighten Your Life: How Bright Light Therapy Helps with Low Mood, Sleep Problems and Jet Lag . Available at www.brightenyourlife.info/, accessed on 3 June 2013.

Spivey, A. (2010) Light pollution: Light at night and breast cancer risk worldwide. Environmental Health Perspectives 118 , 12.

Turner, P. L., Van Someren, E. J. and Mainster, M. A. (2010) The role of environmental light in sleep and health: Effects of ocular aging and cataract surgery. Sleep Medicine Review 14 , 4, 269280.

Glossary

ADENOSINE

A chemical that is a by-product of energy production that builds up continuously in our cells as we produce energy every hour we are awake, and is broken down as we sleep. In the brain adenosine acts like a tranquillising neurotransmitter gradually building up a strong pressure to sleep so that after 1618 hours without sleeping adenosine makes it increasingly difficult for us to stay awake, requiring ever-increasing levels of cortisol and adrenaline to override it.

ADVANCED SLEEP PHASE DISORDER (ASPD)

People with ASPD are early birds: the timing of their sleepwake cycle is advanced compared to the average population, so they fall asleep too early in the evening to take part in a normal social/family life and wake up too early in the morning.

AMYGDALA

A region of the brain that stores emotionally significant memories of scary and threatening experiences and automatically triggers a stress response whenever it detects a similarity with whats currently going on around you. The amygdala can become inappropriately programmed to produce stress responses when there is no real imminent danger. Retraining the amygdala is possible with hypnotic and NLP techniques.

APNOEA (SLEEP)

With sleep apnoea people periodically stop breathing throughout the night and wake up to catch their breath. Breathing may become interrupted from 10 seconds to over a minute from 530 times or more an hour. Sleep apnoea can cause a tremendous strain and should be taken very seriously. Obstructive sleep apnoea is caused by physical collapse of the respiratory airways; it is typically associated with being overweight and radical weight loss should be undertaken as soon as possible once a proper diagnosis has been made; one should also master Buteyko breathing which reduces the likelihood of the airways collapsing. Central sleep apnoea is a problem in the brain with the control of respiration and breathing; unfortunately I have no therapeutic suggestions for this type of sleep apnoea.

BIOLOGICAL CLOCK

See suprachiasmatic nucleus.

BLUE LIGHT

White (normal) light contains a spectrum of colours, all the colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Only the cyan-green-blue part of the spectrum is detected by the cells in our eyes that tell our biological clock what time of day it is.

BRIGHT LIGHT THERAPY (BLT)

Positioning a very bright light device ideally predominantly blue light within ones visual field for 1020 minutes at a specific time of day to deliberately set the timing of ones biological clock.

BUTEYKO BREATHING

A breathing method that people with anxiety and panic attacks find helpful. It involves letting your breath become shallow, relaxed and minimalistic.

BUTEYKO BREATHING VERSUS PARASYMPATHETIC BREATHING

For a few people performing slow parasympathetic breathing produces a paradoxical effect and actually increases levels of stress and anxiety. For these people the very relaxed minimalistic Buteyko breathing is the solution; it helps reduce psychological feelings of stress and anxiety and facilitates inducing the relaxation response.