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clear search termsInsomnia: Relief for Night-time Racing Mind
With new clients, there are two high-impact symptoms that I prioritize and address rapidly and aggressively: constipation and insomnia (or poor-quality sleep). To become wildly satisfied clients, they need to see major results – and fast. Helping your clients to get quick relief increases their confidence in you as a practitioner and also their faith in their own ability to feel better and be truly well.
I have written before about various causes of insomnia and how they can be supported quickly and effectively. This week’s video focuses in particular on those client who lie down to sleep but find their mind racing with worries, responsibilities, fears, and their ever-present “To Do” list.
Biochemically, there are two key processes which our clients must master each night in order to sleep well:
- Secreting Melatonin. And in particular, secreting enough melatonin to overcome their level of cortisol. An adrenal stress hormone, cortisol should naturally be low at night, allowing melatonin to become dominant in brain receptors. Our behavioral choices affect cortisol levels directly.
- Shifting from Glutamate to GABA. When we are wide awake during the day, Glutamate is the dominant neurotransmitter which is stimulatory. At night, GABA, our primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, should become dominant. Sufficient GABA inhibits neural transmissions enough to allow sleep. Our behavioral choices affect this balance.
Of course, we’re all going to help our patients and clients to reduce stress by understanding and prioritizing their primary foods. But it takes time to build rapport and trust. As a first priority, make sure your client has good “sleep hygiene”. When we expose our brains at night to full-spectrum light – which mimics daylight – the pineal gland secretes less melatonin which can delay or prevent sleep. This includes TV and computer screens. Individuals with chronically elevated stress, who have recently endured great trauma/crisis, or who suffer from inflammatory disorders may also have inappropriately high levels of cortisol at night. When we expose our brains to highly stimulatory activity such as video games, unsettling email, stressful discussions, or alarming/violent television, we promote more secretion of the stimulatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Encourage your clients to choose only dim-light, relaxing activities in the evening, especially the full 1-2 hours prior to bedtime e.g. warm bath, calming music, meditation, gratitude journaling, light and fun reading. Most people have no idea how much they might be impairing their sleep by doing email or searching the web for a couple of hours leading right up to bedtime. These simple things matter! Here is a patient/client handout about Sleep Hygiene that you can use in your own practice.
As bedtime nears, the brain should naturally make a smooth transition from predominantly glutamate to predominantly GABA, the most prevalent inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. This transition can be impaired and/or delayed in our clients who are chronically stressed, have genetic impairment in the ability to balance neurotransmitters, and/or have neural toxicity e.g. mercury. We can gently boost this transition and thus calm the brains of clients wide awake with “racing minds” by supporting them with two key amino acids about 6o minutes prior to bedtime (both together, on an empty stomach):
- Taurine. Both an amino acid and a neurotransmitter itself, taurine increases GABA receptor sensitivity. I recommend clients with these symptoms take 1ooomg taurine. Many common brands are available; Jarrow is one I often recommend for ease of access.
- N-acetyl cysteine. This amino acid suppresses the brain’s synthesis of glutamate and promotes conversion to GABA. I recommend 5oo-1ooomg NAC. As with taurine, it is easy to find.
So many of our clients are desperate for sleep. And unfortunately end up turning to highly-addictive sleep medications which can present major drug withdrawal challenges down the road. Give them a reliable alternative. Help them to address the true root cause of their challenges. And watch how quickly they become wildly satisfied with your support!
P.S. If you are passionate about transforming healthcare through the power of functional medicine, we encourage you to learn more about our training program here.
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Can you please tell me if it is safe to take NAC and CBD together, and if so how far apart they should be spaced?
There is currently no research that looked at NAC and CBD intake and the effect on sleep. There are some in-vitro studies that involved these two compounds and showed their effect on cellular apoptosis, with the observation that NAC can block the effect of CBD. However, given the safety of these two substances, one could imagine trying the CBD first and then NAC 2-3 hours later (an hour or so before sleep) to help promote GABA and more restful sleep. Of note, when choosing a CBD supplement please always keep the quality and the source in mind as different preparations can contain variety of contaminants. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723146/
Hi Tracey, I have had insomnia for 2 years and 9 months since weaning off of three depression medications. I have tried everything, including taurine, which actually made the insomnia worse. I have been taking 500 mg of NAC in the am and about 30 minutes prior to lunch for a couple of weeks. Should I try the second dose an hour before bed?
We appreciate you stopping by and sharing your personal experience. Alas, we are not able to provide any personalized recommendations in this venue. We can recommend working with a functional medicine-trained practitioner to help you get to the root cause of your sleep issues. You may want to start your search for the practitioner that resonates with you here:
https://afmccertification.com/
Can NAC just be taken for sleep?
Hello. You said “N-acetyl cysteine intake needs to be balanced with glycine” So how do we do this? Do we need to take glycine with NAC? Also, I’m suffering from severe insomnia caused by a combo of moderate tinnitus and perimenopause (onset of Tinnitus last year, surgery 5 months ago so I’ve been stressed). Do you have any other suggestions? NAC is recommended to prevent Tinnitus from getting worse. But can that make insomnia worse? Also can NAC & taurine be taken with magnesium, theonine, and CBD oil, all of bedtime (and melatonin)? I’ve had some success with that combo but trying to improve further bc still not sleeping enough. I would be glad to meet with a functional med doctor but no one seems to be as good as you sound. Do you do consults? Thanks very much.
Thank you for your kind comment. Indeed, it sounds that you would benefit from a thorough functional medicine assessment to get to the root cause of your sleep issues and also help you navigate the various supplement combinations. The graduates of our program provide clients consultations. You can find the directory of our certified students here: https://afmccertification.com/
We wish you the very best on your healing journey.
Is it safe to take NAC and Taurine with l-tryptophan and magnesium?
We do not know of any contraindications for this combination. However, it is always best to work with a certified practitioner or a functional medicine doctor. It is also recommended to introduce the supplements sequentially in order to avoid adverse effects.
Is it safe to take 5 HTP (200mg) as well as Taurine (1000mg) and N-Acetyl Cysteine (1000mg) at bed? I have trouble with a racing mind and also staying asleep.
We appreciate your interest and exploration. Alas, we are unable to give individual case guidance in these threads. We recommend you work with a practitioner skilled in understanding functional medicine interconnectedness who could help you assess and address the actual root causes (and thus best support remedies) in your unique case. You may wish to explore our certified practitioner site: https://afmccertification.com/ . It’s not one-size-fit-all! And in some cases, what works for one might be counterproductive for another. 200mg 5-HTP may be helpful for some and way too much for others – and interacts with a number of medications. N-acetyl cysteine intake needs to be balanced with glycine. One of the most important considerations, however, is that how we spend our time in the 1-2 hours before going to bed plays a HUGE role in the type of sleep we experience. It’s a major way in which our choices are communicating to our nervous system about the status of our world… how safe it is and whether deep, sustained sleep can be safely done without threatening our survival. It’s a seemingly “too simple” concept that actually has dramatic biochemical power. You may wish to explore this “sleep hygiene” further here;… Read more »
What would be the benefit of taking Taurine over GABA? Could someone just take GABA?
Taurine and GABA are both natural amino acids with a wide occurrence and both are inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters in the context of the nervous system. Yes, one could just take GABA, but those two compounds have a slightly different mode of action and some people may respond better to one over the other. Here is a reference that may be of interest to you:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30892104/
Thus, when considering one or the other one could think of a much broader impact of taurine that also supports detoxification, bile formation, and can have an impact on heart rate, while GABA acts primarily on the nervous system. So the choice is really informed by a unique client situation.
Would you recommend this combination (NAC and taurine) with someone taking Ambien CR?
I am not aware of any reason why taurine and/or NAC would interact with Ambien. You can always check the many drug/supplement interaction websites available such as https://reference.medscape.com/drug-interactionchecker and https://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html
I am taking a small dose of Mirtizipine for sleep, it is working (I could hardly sleep at all for over three months) . Is NAC and taurine safe to take in combination? I want wean off this drug
We appreciate your sharing and question, Jessica.
Mirtazapine is a prescription medication and we advise weaning off of it under the care of your prescribing physician and a functional medicine-trained practitioner that will help you with resolving the root causes of your insomnia.
What is interesting is that both NAC and taurine support liver function and it is possible that they can diminish the efficacy of certain medications by increasing their turnover time and thereby shortening the half-life of the drug in the body. Also, these two supplements can exert antioxidant functions, which in some cases can be an added benefit to medication therapy. This is an interesting double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trial of NAC and antidepressants:
https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1845-1
I am working with a college student who is experiencing episodes of insomnia due to high levels of stress. I have introduced Mag-Mind, as well as, taurine, however they do not seem to be helping him. Melatonin is not effective either.He is in an apartment by himself so he is able to cook healthy meals and is not exposed to loud noise from roommates. Currently, he cannot get his body to fall asleep until 4am and then he wakes naturally by 8am. I am suspicious of possible adrenal fatigue, either too high or too low cortisol levels. He’s concerned for his health which adds to the stress. My next step would be to introduce L-theanine and see how that works. He had basic blood work in August by a primary care doctor. That was another time when he experienced a 2 week period of insomnia. Nothing appeared out of sorts. Basic Thyroid panel was normal but it did not test for antibodies. Is there a better combination of supplements that would help him fall asleep at a normal hour?
Alas, we cannot provide advice on specific client cases in this venue. However, when you think in more systemically and really look at what may be going on for your client through the FM lens, you may ask some deeper questions. Are there any other issues than sleep itself; how are his digestion and blood sugar balance; is it possible that his cortisol is high in the evening, and if so what is the driver for that; is there a significant toxic load that the body is struggling with; does he need more of psychological support for trauma or being overly worried about his health; is his lifestyle predominantly sympathetic, if so what needs to change. Only when you know answers to these questions will you be able to address the true root cause of the sleep problem here.
Can a drug like mirtazapine in combination with supplements that affect MAO create the opposite symptoms such as anxiety, restlessness?
In some sensitive individuals, mirtazapine could cause anxiety and restlessness on its own. Combination with supplements that affect MAO – we assume that this is a boosting rather than inhibiting effect – can exacerbate the issue. Here are a couple of publications that you may be interested in to get a deeper understanding of how mirtazapine works and what to watch out for:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519059/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12404669