According to the Better Sleep Council, 65 percent of Americans are losing sleep due to stress. When stressed, patients may feel as if their mind won’t stop whirling or buzzing, even when they are trying to fall asleep.
Medical researchers are now discovering that sleep plays a much bigger role in a patient’s health recovery than ever before. Chronic insomnia can also bring increased morbidity, both from lack of sleep and prescribed medications.
Recent findings show that many patients who take medications or self-medicate with alcohol or recreational drugs to fall asleep do not experience restful sleep. Even though they fall asleep, these methods do not bring a true restful sleep and can actually contribute to sleep deficiencies.
Sleep needs to be restorative and to accomplish this, REM sleep must be achieved for a number of periods each night. REM sleep is best determined by asking patients if they experience dreams and, more specifically, dreams that are unusual or unrelated to their waking state experiences.
Ask your patients how well they sleep and you will find they use recreational and prescription drugs, they don’t sleep well or they do not get deep and restful sleep. Many can’t even take sleep medications for various reasons and if they do they often would like a more natural sleep aid.
While sleep meds can induce sleep they do not produce the restorative restful sleep needed to heal and therefore repair metabolism.
If your patients tend to have a lot of stress and anxiety during the day, Calm Response from Innate Response is a very well-designed collection of herbal GABA agonists and nutrients to support balanced cortisol and GABA levels for a calming effect. By reducing stress during the day, sleep is easier at night.
For the strongest relaxation support you can offer patients before sleep, look to Sleep Pro.
Sleep Pro by EnteriPhyte was designed and formulated using extra-strength extracts to achieve its proven effectiveness.
Sleep Pro is an herbal remedy containing Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) and Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata). These two herbs were selected based on their established combined use in traditional medicine, and clinical research has demonstrated the benefits of these herbs when used in combination. Health Canada recognizes that these herbs are effective at adequate doses to help relieve nervousness, as a sleep aid for cases of restlessness or nervousness, or for insomnia due to mental stress.
Sleep Pro is an effective GABA-A agonist, having similar pharmacokinetic activities to those of benzodiazepine drugs, but without the rebound and side effects. The activity of Sleep Pro relaxes the nervous system before bedtime and is a safe and effective first intervention for relaxation and restful sleep. Recommended dosage is 2-3 capsules 20 minutes before bedtime.
Where pain is an issue, or where anxiety sleep aids have not been effective, CaliQuil manufactured by Anova Health is another great choice. Caliquil is a very potent whole concentrated extract from California Poppy, which is an atypical opioid that is receiving public attention thanks to Dr. Oz shows.
California poppy (Eschscholtzia californica) contains isoquinoline alkaloids, and this class of compounds includes papaverine, noscapine, codeine, morphine, apomorphine, berberine, protopine, califordinine, escholtzine, and tubocuraine. The activity of California poppy extracts on neurotransmitter activity has also been demonstrated. One of the key clinical benefits of California Poppy is its non-narcotic effects.California poppy is sometimes confused with the opium poppy (Papaver som-niferum) but it does not produce opium. People ask if California Poppy will cause them any issues with drug testing and the answer is NO.
Caliquil can be added to or rotated with Calm Response and Sleep Pro depending on your patient’s response. It is safe and has no side effects, except inducing sleep. We have found that patients vary and some experimentation is necessary to match patients with the most effective combination.
We stock a number of other remedies for anxiety and sleep, but have highlighted our most herbal formulas that have been very effective in helping people to resolve sleep issues. Anova Health also stocks a number of homeopathic formulas that are also especially effective and can be used with children and older adults.
Restful sleep is also very important for weight loss, since sleep deprivation impacts important hormones that affect hunger and fullness.
If your patient is on medications, please consult Anova Health for an overview of safety precautions and recommended guidelines. Please contact us if you would like more information on a product, or if you need protocols or our drug risk assessment questionnaires for patients on medications.
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