Tag Archives: gaba

What’s clinically behind your stress?

Posted on August 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Recent surveys have found that the majority of Americans are living with either high or moderate levels of stress on a daily basis. What triggers the body’s response to stress? Cortisol, secreted by the adrenals, peaks and falls with emotional response. In addition there is a daily cyclical rise and fall of cortisol levels that govern the level of wakefullness during the day, spiking just after we wake up in the morning (like your body’s natural cup of coffee). The trouble arises when stress levels are maintained throughout the day. Your cortisol is working overtime and can stay at a high level putting you at risk for heart disease, sleep problems, digestive problems, depression, obesity, memory impairment and skin eruptions.

So what can you do to help yourself besides try to reduce the stress in your life? A supplement, PS (phosphatidylserine)  helps by decreasing cortisol levels and distress. In addition anxiety can rear its nervous head during high cortisol secretions. Neurotransmitter imbalance (GABA, serotonin, dopamine) can trigger anxiety responses along with the adrenals releasing high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline which can cause increased heart rate and breathing. Rather than just popping supplements to try to get these secretions under control, we advise getting a proper neurotransmitter test (the one we took was a saliva, urine test given to us by Certified Nutritionist Kristine Bahr www.kbahr.co ). Once you know what is being over or under excited, she can then advise you on what supplements to take to temper your response. I did this and it “cured” my anxiety attacks.

Too many companies will try to sell you on their pills to fix your problem. If you don’t know what the problem is exactly, how do you know you are not making it worse by following their protocol? You may be causing your stress through your thought processes and emotions, but there also could be a clinical explanation. Better to get to the root of the problem before your try to self-diagnose and self-treat.

-Nina Anderson, Specialist in Performance Nutrition

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Posted in Diseases of aging

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Need sleep?

Posted on July 24, 2012 | 2 comments

In this era of news reporting, sleeping pills have been getting a bad rap lately. We never favored drugs to get sleep but desperate folk need something. Here are our suggestions:

L-Tryptophan which is an amino acid (actually the thing in turkey and warm milk that makes you drowsy) that is safe and effective. Great to use unless you are taking antidepressants (warning).

Melatonin, a hormone naturally produced by the body that normally helps you sleep, but we recommend a hormone test (saliva or blood) that can tell you if you are deficient. We never advise taking any hormones unless you know you need them. The one we use is in a cream. There is an easy saliva hormone test kit at http://www.foreveryoungcooperative.com/testing-kits.html

Magnesium. An Australian study found that a combination of magnesium and zinc was effective especially when used with melatonin.

Gaba (gamma aminobutyric acid) is a relaxant especially for folk with anxiety or panic attacks. This neurotransmitter is made in the brain from the amino acid glutamate with the aid of vitamin B6. Best used in a supplement with 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid because its better able to cross the blood-brain barrier. We recommend getting a neurotransmitter test (saliva) to determine if your brain chemicals are out of balance and if that is the reason for your insomnia and anxiety. We have a test kit that can do this that in most cases is covered by insurance. Call Kristine at 617-360-1929 for more info.

 

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Posted in Supplements

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