Tried Everything and Still Not Sleeping Well? Consider Functional Medicine Labs!

For those of you who feel you have implemented ways to improve sleep, have ruled out sleep apnea and other sleeping disorders, and continue to struggle, then functional medicine labs may be the answer for you. These labs look at functional underlying causes for insomnia. Here are the two most common labs I run to help determine supplemental support to improve sleep.

1. Blood testing for micronutrient (vitamin, mineral, amino acid) status inside the cells:

Nutritional deficiencies can lead to several symptoms are often linked to insomnia. This test looks at the content of 35 different vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in our cells. This can help determine appropriate dosing of individualized nutrients to improve sleep and other health concerns.

2. Saliva and urine testing to determine cortisol output during the day and the bodies utilization of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine.

Our bodies sleep best when cortisol is higher in the morning and lower in the evening. Looking at this pattern can help determine supplemental support to improve sleep. The neurotransmitter levels in this panel are also useful in determining individualized supplemental support to improve sleep with a focus on balancing levels of serotonin, GABA, dopamine, glutamate, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Utilizing the results of one or both of these labs, individualized recommendations for therapeutic levels of specific vitamins, minerals and amino acids can be made. Often, improvement in sleep is seen within a short period of time and continues to improve over time.

If you suffer from insomnia and are interested in natural ways to improve your sleep, please contact me. I offer a complimentary 10 minute consult to answer questions you may have about how my services may be beneficial for your health concerns and I would be happy to talk with you.