Originally Posted On: https://thesleepdetective.com/post/the-many-ways-a-parasite-leads-to-insomnia
If you can’t sleep, you could have a parasite that is contributing to your insomnia. About one third of my clients do!
However, it’s not just the parasite itself that affects your sleep. It’s the many different ways that the parasite wreaks havoc in your body that are also affecting your sleep.
In this video, I explain all the effects a parasite has on the different systems in your body and why it’s going to take more than getting rid of the parasite to sleep better. (Or you can keep reading below.)
Parasite → inflammation → high cortisol at night → insomnia
Parasites are most active at night. They eat, excrete, and release a lot of toxins, causing lots of inflammation. Whenever there’s inflammation, your body releases cortisol to deal with that inflammation because it’s an anti-inflammatory hormone. The surge in cortisol is going to wake you up, possibly with your mind and heart racing.
Parasite → damages gut → inflammation → high cortisol at night → insomnia
When the gut wall gets damaged it’s called leaky gut. This is because toxins and undigested food particles “leak” through the gut wall into the bloodstream which causes lots of inflammation. When you have a leaky gut, there’s inflammation day and night and so your body releases cortisol day and night which will keep you up at night.
Parasite → damages gut → decreases good bacteria → decreases neurotransmitters → insomnia
Parasites also affect the levels of good bacteria in your gut. And the good bacteria are supposed to make 90% of your neurotransmitters. So if you don’t have enough beneficial bacteria, you won’t have enough dopamine, serotonin, GABA and melatonin to help you feel calm and relaxed so you can sleep.
Parasite → damages gut → nutrient deficiencies → mineral imbalances → insomnia
When your gut wall is damaged, you don’t absorb nutrients from food well. This can lead to deficiencies in certain minerals which can lead to mineral imbalances. When minerals are out of balance, they can directly affect sleep.
Parasite → damages gut → nutrient deficiencies → mineral imbalances → increase in heavy metals → insomnia
When minerals are out of balance, your body holds on to heavy metals! This is because heavy metals can do some of the job of minerals (even though they’re toxic). So the heavy metals accumulate in your liver and brain, putting an extra burden on your liver and causing neurological issues such as insomnia.
Parasite → cortisol out of whack → sex hormone imbalance → insomnia
When your body is making cortisol all the time to deal with the inflammation from a parasite, it takes resources away from making sex hormones. When estrogen and progesterone are depleted, you can experience insomnia (this applies to men, too!).
Parasite → extra burden on liver → high cortisol at night → insomnia
Your liver is most active at night, trying to detoxify toxins. If you have a parasite that’s excreting many toxins, your liver can’t keep up. Those toxins end up circulating around in the bloodstream, causing lots of inflammation, causing your body to release cortisol, and waking you up.
Parasite → extra burden on liver → estrogen dominance → insomnia
Your liver is also responsible for breaking down excess hormones and removing them from the body. When your liver isn’t detoxifying properly, estrogen can build up in the body leading to a state of estrogen dominance (when estrogen is higher than progesterone in women and higher than testosterone in men). Estrogen dominance can cause insomnia.
Conclusion: Parasite → insomnia!
As you can see, a parasite affects many systems in the body in many different ways.
This is why it’s going to take more to get the body back in balance than ust getting rid of the parasite. You also want to work on healing the gut and supporting liver detox, hormone balance, heavy metal detox, and mineral balance to restore health so that you can sleep normally.
At the Complete Sleep Solution, we test for and address all of these possible imbalances so that you start sleeping better as quickly as possible.
Book a consultation to find out more and to get started today:
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