Have you ever wondered why you felt terrible the next day when you slept poorly the night before? Or why do the same people who develop sleep issues as they age tend to be more susceptible to progressive brain disorders, such as dementia? Evidence is beginning to suggest a possible connection between poor sleep and brain health. When you’re unable to sleep soundly on a regular basis, your brain may be unable to detoxify itself fully. New research shows how the depth of your sleep can impact your brain’s ability to efficiently flush waste and toxic proteins. Because sleep often becomes increasingly lighter and more disrupted as we age, the study — co-authored by the co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, along with Danish and Finnish researchers — reinforces and potentially explains the links between aging, sleep deprivation, and heightened risk for […]
Stress
Are you an anxious over-achiever? If so, you have something else to worry about — adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue occurs when the adrenal glands, positioned on top of the kidneys, produce too much or too little stress hormones (including cortisol and adrenaline) due to long-term exposure and response to stress. That being said, adrenal fatigue is admittedly a bit of a misnomer. That’s because the brain actually signals the adrenal glands, which fatigues. Regardless, the result is the same — neuroendocrine imbalance. As a result, you may feel anxious and irritable or burned out and depressed. Or you might alternate from one state to another as your adrenal glands sputter and spit in an attempt to keep you going. Unfortunately, conventional medicine refuses to accept adrenal fatigue as an illness. It recognizes only two adrenal diseases: Addison’s Disease (low cortisol), also referred to as adrenal insufficiency, typically results from an autoimmune
So much has been written about leaky gut that is has almost become a household phrase. “Hi Mom, how’s your leaky gut today?” Well, maybe it’s not that well established, but we can tell you that when our medical team started in practice, most doctors in the conventional medical field considered leaky gut to be holistic quackery. In fact, the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research (the GI Society) continues to claim leaky gut is a myth. (Although they do recognize “increased intestinal permeability in those who have Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, in individuals receiving chemotherapy, and those who have a high intake of bowel-damaging substances such as aspirin and alcohol.”) Even though much of the conventional medical community is reluctant to recognize leaky gut as a legitimate medical condition (or insist that it is somehow different from “intestinal permeability”). We here at BioDesign Wellness are encouraged by the increased discussion