By Tina Paulus FDNP
Many years ago I lived in a house that was over 100 years old and had a dirt floor basement. It had a creek running beside it about 20 or 30 feet away. One year that creek flooded and came over to flood the basement right up to the top step. Other than not liking it, I didn’t think too much about it since it was a dirt floor basement.
Not too long after that incident I started not sleeping at all at night. I had slept fairly well before that. I was in a very stressful relationship at the time so I thought that was the problem, and it was as any type of stress is the problem. But I spent 1 hour from 8 pm to 9 pm every evening sleeping in my recliner, the rest of the night I could not even lay still much less sleep.
The advice at the time that I could find on Dr. Google was to get up and do something else rather than toss and turn. So I did that. But what I usually did was get on the computer and do work. I have better sleep hygiene now, but that was a bad idea. I spent many more years not being able to lay still and not sleeping. That was really the beginning of my journey to finding out I had mold illness.
As any of you probably are finding out if you have mold illness, sleep is extremely important. That is when our bodies do most the work of cleaning and repairing. We need really good quality sleep to do that.
Did you know that our sleep cycle is based on a circadian rhythm that runs that cycle? The circadian rhythm uses the light from the sun to regulate sleep cycle, the blue lights mostly. Well computers and all other screens are also the same type of light. So when I stayed up all night on my computer I was telling my body that it was day time. And then, the sun came up and it thought I don’t have night time anymore. What was it to do with what I was telling it?
Let me say first that if you are not out of the mold exposure you will not be able to really help yourself. You cannot get well in the environment that made you sick. In order to sleep well enough to clean out you must be able to clean out! If you are filling up as fast as you clean out you are not getting anywhere.
There are all kinds of things that happen to your body in mold illness that can disturb normal sleep. There is nasal congestion or asthma, acid reflux, low thyroid, racing heart, migraines, hormone deficiencies, and inflammation. And generally in mold illness several things are making that happen.
There is also that your brain, in mold illness, can produce an excessive amount of excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain, like Glutamate and PEA. So then you have nervous system overload, anxiety, and insomnia. You are also in fight or flight in your brain and body.
You may have trouble falling asleep, have disturbed sleep, or not able to sleep at all. I had all of the above at different time. And every little noise woke me up. My husband and I could not even sleep anywhere near each other because everything woke me.
If you are having trouble with sleep let me tell you some things you can do to help yourself get back to sleeping so you can help clean and repair from this mold exposure.
- First of all get out of the moldy environment. I know I am harping on it, but it is the most important thing you can do to get well.
- Keep your bedroom as clean as possible. For example, no chemicals, dust, scents, or animals (or their things). Use a good HEPA vacume to clean everywhere at least once per week. At least once, if not twice, per week wash all bedding in borax and laundry soap. Make sure you and your bed clothes are clean as well. And use a good HEPA air purifier in your bedroom, like the Molekule or IQ Air.
- Remove all smart or wireless devices from your bedroom and turn them off when not in use. Mold grows exponentially in EMF (electromagnetic fields).
- Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Settle down 2 hours before going to bed. Try to go to bed no later than 10 pm, preferably by 9 pm. The best rest happens between 10 pm and 2 am.
- Exercise 20-30 minutes a day, in the morning preferably, and for sure not within 4 hours of bedtime.
- Where blue blocker glasses for at least one hour before bed if not two hours before. And keep the sleeping area dark, no blue lights at all there.
- Keep the temperature in your bedroom below 70 degrees as your natural circadian rhythm is to cool down at night. If you need to wear socks to keep your feet warm.
- Some good supplements are liposomal melatonin, non-THC liposomal CBD, GABA, magnesium, or L-Tryptophan, take a half hour to 1 hour before bed. If one doesn’t work try a combo. Don’t use over the counter sleep aids as they are addictive.
- Make sure you are getting the right amount of water every day. Do half your body weight in ounces of water every day.
So in conclusion, you really need to be sleeping well every night to have energy not only to have energy for your life but also for healing. I really hope and pray that you will get some relief with these suggestions.
If you have been dealing with mold illness and want to regain your strength and energy so you can live a normal life again, Click here to set up a complimentary Breakthrough call to see if we could work together.
