OPTIMIZED MEDIC
November 5, 2020
Hello my fellow optimizer-medics...
Sorry to have been so "quiet" lately!
There are a number of projects on the go right now, and I've let my writing slide a bit.
Last time I wrote how a simple change to the practice of shift scheduling could DOUBLE the nights the average paramedic experiences adequate sleep quality and quantity...
Well... apart from petitioning our unions and employers to consider at least a little experiment with that there's just not much that the average medic can do with that info...
SO... I thought I'd share something that you COULD do that might improve your sleep quality and quantity.
Ashwagandha is the... number one.......
Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb. Until relatively recently it hasn't received much attention from researchers.
The name literally means... "horse smell"... And, that might be just a bit too kind a description. Yes... it smells awful... and tastes pretty bad too.
It has traditionally been used for its anxiolytic effects. There is fairly good evidence that it has a notable effect in decreasing anxiety, and nearly as much evidence that shows that part of that mechanism is by decreasing cortisol.
A recent randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of ashwagandha is what I'd like to write about today.
In this study researchers recruited 80 study participants. 40 had been diagnosed with insomnia. And 40 were healthy volunteers.
They divided each group into 2 so that they had 4 groups of 20 participants. One group of 20 with insomnia and one group of 20 without insomnia were given the intervention of 300mg ashwagandha twice daily. The other two groups were given a placebo. Both the participants and the researchers were blinded.
They measured all groups on a number of factors related to sleep including:
- sleep latency (how long it takes to fall asleep)
- sleep efficiency (how much of the time spent in bed is spent sleeping)
- total sleep time
- total time in bed
- alertness upon waking
In both groups which received the ashwaganda intervention all factors improved, but they improved more significantly in those who were living with insomnia.
There were no adverse results reported. But, this being said, there is an insufficiency of long-term studies to say that ashwagandha supplementation is totally safe. Most studies on the herb terminate after 6-8 weeks.
So... use your own judgment. Do a bit more homework (I always recommend checking your supplement recommendations at examine.com). If insomnia is an issue for you, you might be interested in running a short-term experiment where you follow the same parameters as the study and see if it works for you.
I believe that optimizing our sleep is one of the most important things we need to do within the constraints of our reality as 24x7x365 service providers. Whatever we can get our hands on that helps us do that is worth taking a look at!
Kindly yours,
Brendan Sonnichsen
P.S. I have ONE exercise program design spot available right now. If you're interested in getting some personalized exercise program design done then get in touch soon!
P.P.S. This skit from SNL is the only funny material on the internet that mentions ashwaganda... in case you need a little chuckle.
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