Mental and Physical
Chronic stress and emotional factors have been long known as major causes of insomnia.
Stress and deep-seated conflicts can disturb brain chemistry, and not only contribute to the
development of insomnia but to the worsening of it as well. Chronic stress depletes nutrient
reserves, disrupts hormone balance and creates a damaging cycle of less sleep and more
stress. If these elements are present in your life, you need to resolve and remove them.
Meditation, therapy and exercise are all ways of dealing with these problems.
Physical problems such as stomach, bladder, liver, colon and heart problems as well as
hormonal imbalances can disturb sleep. My friend, the late Dr. John Lee, used natural
progesterone to treat women with insomnia because they suffered from excess estrogen.
Many women, because of poor diets and exposure to estrogenic chemicals from the
environment become estrogen dominant, and excess estrogen causes sleep disturbances.
Fat cells produce a flood of excess estrogen, so losing excess weight can be an important
factor in restoring normal sleep patterns. On the other side of the coin, low estrogen can
diminish magnesium uptake and magnesium is needed to relax the body and prevent sleep
distur-bances. Lack of exposure to natural sunlight causes hormonal imbalances that result
in chronic sleeping problems.