Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that makes falling asleep or staying asleep difficult. It affects how you feel, think, and function throughout the day. If it becomes chronic, insomnia can lead to a variety of long-term health consequences and mental health disorders.
Insomnia affects 1 in 3 adults in the US. Our on-demand, 24/7 lifestyles, with fast food, reliability on phones and screens, and increased stress have contributed to the increased incidence of insomnia.
Regardless of the cause, insomnia can be treated safely and naturally.
Naturally Sue Wellness in NYC provides a naturopathic approach to insomnia treatment in-person (in NYC) and online, nationwide. As naturopaths, we dig deep into the underlying reasons for each patient’s sleep issues so we can tailor treatment effectively.
Holistic and tailored insomnia care plan includes an approach that combines evidence-based treatments, lifestyle changes, and traditional medicine. Rather than just cover up symptoms, our approach offers a much more viable and long-term solution to recovery from insomnia.
Whether it’s because you can’t fall asleep, or you frequently wake in the middle of the night, lack of sleep from insomnia can interfere with the way you feel, think, and perform and takes a toll on your physical and mental well-being.
If you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at least three nights a week and it continues for at least one month, you may have insomnia.
Insomnia is usually a symptom of a larger issue. Lifestyle and environmental factors, mental and emotional health, and problems with physical health can all contribute to long-term sleep problems. Common causes of insomnia include:
Insomnia has many long-term health consequences. It is an early predictor of depression. Depression and insomnia can each cause the other. When you have depression, you’re at higher risk for insomnia. People with insomnia are twice as likely to get depression.
In addition to depression, other long-term health consequences of insomnia include:
The causes for insomnia are different for everyone. That’s why it’s important to not just treat the symptoms, but to identify and treat the underlying cause of your insomnia. At Naturally Sue Wellness, getting to the root cause of your condition is essential for effective, long-term treatment and prevention.
A natural approach to treating Insomnia aims to recalibrate your body clock and rebalance hormones to ensure the normal sleep rhythms. As a result, symptoms improve and sleep is restored.
Naturopathic Medicine uses a blend of modern scientific medicine with traditional and natural remedies to treat the whole-person. We gain an understanding of your unique circumstances to curate a personalized and tailored plan.
As Naturopaths, we believe in the body’s natural ability to heal when given the right conditions. Depending on your specific needs, we use a variety of natural therapeutic tools to foster the body’s innate healing process. We use therapeutics, such as:
Natural treatments for insomnia have little to no side effects and are more effective than medications and sleep aids at improving your sleep in the long term.
The doctors at Naturally Sue are insomnia experts. Contact us to get an individualized health plan for insomnia care in NYC and start healing now.
During your first visit with Naturally Sue Wellness, we will conduct a full evaluation to understand the circumstances around your sleep issues in order to figure out the cause of your insomnia.
The evaluation includes a review of the following:
We may conduct the following diagnostic exams to look for underlying hormonal imbalance or infection that may be contributing to your inability to sleep, such as:
Most of us will experience sleep disturbances at some point in our lives. But having chronic or recurring insomnia can be debilitating. With so many reasons for insomnia, successful treatment depends on an accurate and precise diagnosis.
We integrate several therapeutic techniques when curating care plans for insomnia. We combine herbal medicine, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and mental health care to treat the root of what is causing insomnia for each patient.
When using herbs for insomnia, we look for specific herbs that have a calming effect on the nervous system. Common herbal and supplemental treatments we use for insomnia include:
Other herbs used to calm the central nervous system and support sleep include:
Herbal sleepy-time teas can be beneficial for sleep. If using these teas, don’t drink them too close to bed, as you may end up waking up to go to the bathroom.
Dr. Sparks also practices Chinese Herbal Medicine and can recommend herbal formulas for insomnia that are based on your personal Chinese Medicine Diagnosis. There is an additional intake form to fill out to gain understanding of your special Chinese Medicine symptoms. She had one patient who had insomnia but also had palpitations, a poor appetite and other digestive concerns. She gave her a Chinese Herbal formula specific for this diagnosis and within a week she was sleeping through the night.
Herbal therapy is highly individualized and can be dangerous if used without a professional’s advice. Be sure to work with an expert to determine the right herbs for you.
Nutrition is a first-line therapy in natural medicine for conditions like insomnia. One of the first things we do for insomnia is to make sure your food is in check. We will determine if your nutrient needs are being met, and ensure nutrition isn’t causing issues with hormone imbalances. We will also assess your use of substances that could interfere with sleep, such sugar, alcohol and caffeine.
Studies show that when sleep is disrupted it can harm the integrity of the gut microbiome. Ensuring good gut health is a good way to improve sleep.
Key nutrients to improve sleep include:
Ensure your diet is high in fiber, with foods like vegetables, beans & legumes. Fruits, like cherries, have properties that help with melatonin production, which is necessary for sleep. Lean meats, eggs, and fish are where you’ll get adequate protein, iron, B vitamins, omega-3’s, and will ensure you produce melatonin and vitamin D. Nuts and seeds, especially pistachios, will give you minerals and healthy fats, and they will help with melatonin production necessary for good rest.
Dietary adjustments for managing insomnia include reducing or eliminating the following:
We may also use nutritional supplements to help fill nutritional gaps, and aid in resetting hormone imbalances and circadian rhythms. Some commonly used supplements include:
While you may not be able to control some of the factors that interfere with sleep, there is a lot you can do to help promote better sleep. A few of the lifestyle changes we recommend at Naturally Sue include the following:
Environment: Create a restful sleep environment by trying the following:
Mindfulness: Find techniques that calm and support the central nervous system. Breathwork, such as the 4-7-8 technique, is very calming. Inhale deeply for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. Other mindfulness techniques include yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, and reiki.
Exercise: Regular, consistent exercise has been shown to improve quality of sleep and reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Moderate intensity, resistance or strength training, and mobility and flexibility training can all help improve sleep. The key is to get into a consistent routine with it.
Sleep and mood disorders, like anxiety and depression are intricately linked. Chronic insomnia can lead to mental health conditions, as can mental health conditions lead to insomnia. Addressing psychological factors and finding coping strategies is fundamental to insomnia recovery and prevention.
Natural strategies for addressing insomnia are often more effective at improving your sleep in the long term than medications and sleep aids. Before you try sleep aids or medications, strategies like making adjustments to your sleep routine, creating new habits, or addressing your nutrition will help you get to the root of your sleep problems for good.
I have many patients who have the opposite circadian rhythm where they wake up with low cortisol and have elevated cortisol in the evening.
This will cause fatigue in the day time and then a “tired and wired” feeling at night and the inability to fall asleep.
Cortisol testing can be extremely helpful to find out the root cause of your sleep issues because we can see a plotted graph of your cortisol throughout the entire day (morning, afternoon, evening and bedtime). This is tested on a saliva or urine sample through naturopathic testing in our office. You can do this test over the course of 1 day in your own home and it’s super easy!
Cortisol is a stress hormone and you don’t want to have too much at night because it will cause restlessness, insomnia and anxiety. We want your cortisol to be highest in the morning, but not too high, and then slowly go down through the day, so you can wind down and get a restful night’s sleep.
Correcting your cortisol levels can be the key to helping you solve your fatigue and insomnia.
-Dr. Sue
We understand that sleep disorders can cause debilitating symptoms and often wreck havoc on someone’s quality of life. Sleep is generally one of the first things we will help you to correct because we know every organ system will be negatively impacted by lack of sleep.
Book your free consultation with Naturally Sue Wellness and start healing now.
A naturopath can help you recover from insomnia. We believe in the body’s natural ability to heal itself when given the right conditions. By identifying the underlying cause of your insomnia, we use the many tools at our disposal to create a holistic and patient-centered treatment plan to get a restful night’s sleep, naturally.
Natural treatments for insomnia are as safe and effective as conventional treatments. Since insomnia is usually a symptom of a greater issue, and because we identify and treat the root cause, natural treatments from insomnia may be better at preventing relapse.
Since there is such a wide array of reasons for insomnia, the prognosis will be different for everyone. Results will also depend on the severity of one’s condition. Some people may see improvements within a couple of days to a couple of weeks, others may take longer.
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