Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

Stop Pulling All-Nighters

By the time you’re 30, you’ve got about as much of the sleep hormone melatonin as a five-year-old. Once you hit 65, you’ve got less than you had when you were a newborn.  It’s like your natural production of this important hormone just dries up.

That’s why falling asleep easily becomes a real challenge as you get older.  Without enough melatonin you also sleep fewer hours, wake up more often during the night, and get up earlier.

Many people have tried to solve the problem by taking melatonin as a supplement. Unfortunately, this often doesn’t help. That’s because your gut destroys most of it before it enters your system. So you could be getting only one percent of what is on the label.

According to Dr. Al Sears, the best way to get melatonin directly to the sleep system of your brain is to bypass your stomach.  That means you should look for a liquid melatonin that you hold in your mouth before swallowing. The melatonin is absorbed by the blood vessels in your tongue and cheeks and won’t be destroyed by the acids in your stomach.

And speaking of sleep — Americans spend $4.5 billion a year on expensive, unsafe sleep aids. But guess what the National Institutes of Health found out? On average, sleeping pills give you only 11 extra minutes of sleep a night.

Along with the risk of addiction and side effects like brain fog and daytime sleepiness, it’s another good reason to ditch artificial sleep aids for natural supplements like melatonin.

THB’s Jim LaValle has some great advice on how to put sleepless nights behind you once and for all.  You can read more by clicking here.

Guys: Your Clock is Ticking Too

We’ve known for years about a woman’s biological clock.  But now researchers say a man’s age also affects fertility and even his mate’s chances of having a normal pregnancy.

French researchers have found that a man’s fertility starts to decline in his mid-30s.  By the time he’s in his 40’s, his fertility has dropped a lot more.

But what’s really surprising is the effect the father’s age has on healthy pregnancies.  The study found that if the father’s age was between 35 and 39, miscarriages went up to 19.5%. And if he was older than 44, the rates jumped to 32.4%.  That’s nearly one-third of pregnancies that don’t make it to full term.  Researchers believe these high rates are related to DNA-damaged sperm.

Men (and women) who want to start families later in life can take steps early to protect their DNA and raise the likelihood of a normal pregnancy. One of the best ways is to avoid chemicals in processed foods, skin care products and even polluted air.  A buildup of these chemicals enters your cells and eventually damages your DNA.

Your Brain on Coffee

Does your morning coffee do more good than just helping you wake up and face the day? Yes, according to the newest research.  In fact, the caffeine found in coffee may be one of the best natural preventatives for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.  It’s so good that a new Parkinson’s drug contains a caffeine by-product.

There’s one drawback though.  The more you add to your coffee, the less good it will do.  That’s why you need to read Dr. Al Sears’ wise words on getting the most from your morning cup o’ joe.  And if coffee isn’t your cup of tea, he’s got the scoop on caffeine-rich alternatives. Click here for more on the surprisingly good health benefits of caffeine.

First, Do No Harm

We may soon find out that even more mainstream medical advice has done more harm than good.  This time it’s chemical-laden sunscreen.  For decades we’ve been told to cover our skin with the powerful stuff to block out the burning rays of the sun — or else we might face skin cancer and premature aging.

Now we find out that the chemicals that are supposed to protect our skin could cause Alzheimer’s.  Many sunscreens contain minute particles of the same chemicals found in diesel fuel.  Researchers know that when these chemicals are inhaled by test animals, they are absorbed by the brain.  In fact, they penetrate every part of the brain and there is no way to remove them.

Scientists now believe there is a link between the inhaled chemicals and brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.  The worry is that the same chemicals in sunscreen can be absorbed by the skin and also end up permanently in the brain.

To test their theory, European researchers are about to begin a 3-year study to explore the links between sunscreen and brain diseases.

I don’t plan on waiting 3 years to find out the results.   Instead, I’ll follow the advice of Jon Herring and Dr. Al Sears, authors of a groundbreaking book on the positive health benefits of sun exposure.  They advise to forego sunscreen, if at all possible. Get out of the sun if you are burning, or use shade, clothing or an umbrella to limit your exposure.

If you must use sunscreen, choose a physical sun block, like zinc oxide.