#203: Stasha Gominak, MD- Linking Vitamin D, Sleep, Gut Bacteria and Methylation

Today’s guest, neurologist and sleep specialist Stasha Gominak, MD discusses how vitamin D (from the sun) is needed to improve the stability of gut bacteria, which in turn help synthesize B vitamins necessary to facilitate deep sleep.

Not only that, the repairs that deep sleep offers also appear to be mediated by B vitamins made by gut bacteria, according to Dr. Gominak.

She refers to these bugs as “B vitamin factories.”

Check out the show notes: http://highintensityhealth.com/203

Watch the video interview: https://youtu.be/74F22bjBmqE

(Psst … this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this. James Adams, PhD, reported similar findings from his lab at Arizona State University and discussed them during the Autism Intensive.)

Also, Dr. Gominak reveals another interesting finding about sleep: the brain stem paralyzes us while we’re sleeping (not all at once, but it’s a pulsatile paralysis needed to repair our tissues).

This is why nose breathing while you’re sleeping is super important (a topic we talk about a lot here).

02:29 Hundreds of Dr. Gominak’s patients, children, teenagers and young healthy females, didn’t have REM sleep.
04:42 Sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue were not recognized in the 1960s and 1970s, because they were not epidemic.
07:21 Vitamin D and the brain stem are major players in deep sleep.
10:03 You must be paralyzed in order to achieve the proper levels of sleep.
14:21 Why would an 8 year old have more than one sleep disorder?
16:02 There has been a major historical shift from living/working/playing outside.
17:07 Once you replace vitamin D, the body slowly changes from a vitamin D deficient body to a B deficient body.
18:08 While bears hibernate, their microbiome consumes the colonic mucus, which makes all of the B vitamins to meet the bear’s metabolic needs during hibernation. Does ours?
22:05 Why Did It Take 2 Years to Become B Deficient?
23:44 Each B vitamin has an intestinal bacterial source and a food source.
26:02 Wanted: Gut Bugs
31:39 You can fix your own bacteria with vitamin D levels above 40 and take B100 or B50 for 3 months.
32:58 The sodium linked multivitamin transport system pumps 3 vitamins, pantothenic acid, alpha lipoic acid and biotin, into our digestive system and our brain.
36:24 Dr. Gominak sees a correlation between autism and vitamin D deficiency.
38:27 The development of sexual dysmorphism and sleep.
42:34 When a child cannot get out of bed in the morning, this is may be the brain demanding that they go back to sleep to get REM.
44:03 A lack of REM sleep cheats a child of their normal development.
47:15 Children and adults normally make small subtle movements and tiny vocalizations, not talking, walking or falling out of bed.
48:27 Taking the Weston A. Price westernization theory to another level.
56:02 Breastfeeding enlarges nasal passages.
57:28 Dr. Gominak believes that vitamin D is trophic to the bacteria that we are supposed to have in our gut.
59:24 Pantothenic acid not only makes acetylcholine, it makes cortisol.
60:11 Acetylcholine is a chemical used by the vagus nerve.
01:07:46 A test result of pantothenic acid levels will parallel magnesium levels. It tells you what is in the blood, but not what is in the stores.
01:09:10 Perhaps we are completely self-healing with REM sleep.
01:12:26 Dr. Gominak’s Morning Routine
01:13:31 The ketogenic diet helps people to live longer. Being ketogenic during REM sleep helps us repair. We were probably designed to go into ketosis for at least 12 hours every night.
01:15:08 A new theory is that the tricarboxylic acid/CREB cycle, which is used when you are using fats as your energy supply, may have a different purpose. It may not be about making ATP.
0101:19:33 Dr. Gominak’s desert island herb, nutrient or supplement: Her choice is vitamin D, even on a desert island.
01:30:35 Dr. Gominak’s Elevator Pitch: We can impact our children, especially children of color. It they don’t go outside, they don’t make enough vitamin D.

 

Check out the show notes: http://highintensityhealth.com/203