Insomnia and Sleep Medications Increase Disability Risk in Older Adults
- Natural Health Quincy IL
- Jun 23
- 2 min read
Hello Everyone in Natural Health Nation –
Remember back in January when you wanted the weather to be warmer. Be careful what you wish for – ha. It just got plain hot over the weekend so I guess it’s summertime. I harp a lot about hydration when it gets hot like this, because it’s such an easy thing to do, if you remember it. Even if you’re in the air conditioning, you are dehydrating because the AC pulls humidity out of the air. My boys were involved with football and every year they would have someone pass out from de-hydration and have to go to the ER to get an IV. Of course, the IV is saline solution, which is water and salt. Everyone thinks about getting the water, but few remember you need the electrolytes too – like good quality salt. Instead, the medics are te3lling everyone that salt is bad and so they get more business in the ER. The Florida Gators even invented Gatorade which was a good electrolyte source until Pepsi bought them out and added a ton of sugar to make it taste better. I just have patients drink water with squeezed lemon juice in it and use real sea salt or pink mineral salt to get good hydration. We even have a special supplement called Cal-Amo to help with hydration and use a lot of it during the hot months. If you start feeling really tired, or have leg cramps and muscle spasms, you are dehydrated and the Cal-Amo product works wonders.
The article that I’m sending along today discusses the problems with Insomnia and Sleep Medications causing disability in older adults. It makes sense that people that aren’t sleeping well are not able to repair themselves and age, or fall apart - disability, faster. Taking drugs to sleep does not handle the underlying problem, which in my experience is a B vitamin deficiency, and they still aren’t able to repair and heal themselves from all of the day’s activities. Life is stressful and the body needs the building blocks and the down time to be able to fix itself. I also think that as a person gets older, they are carrying with them all the stress of their kids and relatives, taking care of things and the like, so lots of stress. Good sleep becomes even more important but being anxious and stressed out doesn’t allow it to happen. We have great success with a food supplement called Cataplex B2. It is a food source B vitamin complex to help the Parasympathetic nervous system to be activated for sleep. The Parasympathetic nervous system, part of the Autonomic nervous system, moves the body towards rest, relax, and repair mode. This system must be active to help the body sleep, and sleep deeply, to get the repairs accomplished. People that are consuming caffeine late, eating heavy meals late, or even watching late night news, are just asking for Insomnia. We help our patients figure out what schedule best fits their lifestyle so they can get the sleep they need for good health.
Get Healthy, Stay Healthy, Live Well
– Dr Mark
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