digest
Introduction: The best natural remedy for sleep
I want to share a very exciting natural remedy that you can take to enhance your sleep. As you know, sleep is so important, and there's one remedy that I think will work really well. You just take a half cup of this before bed, and you will sleep better. That thing is kefir.
What is kefir?
Now, what is kefir? Well, it's similar to yogurt, but it's better than yogurt. It has a lot more microbes. It has between 12 to 50 different strains, whereas yogurt only has between one and three, maybe four or five. As far as the quantity of microbes, not just the strains, kefir has five times more microbes than yogurt, and a lot of these microbes survive the stomach acids, whereas they don't with yogurt.
The real unique thing about kefir is that it has not only friendly bacteria but also friendly yeast. The combination of friendly yeast and friendly bacteria is very important in their functions.
Kefir benefits
Also, with kefir you're going to get fewer problems with lactose intolerance, because the microbes in kefir eat lactose, or milk sugar. So you're going to have less milk sugar, and you're just going to have fewer symptoms, especially gas, when you have kefir versus when you have yogurt. There are a lot of other benefits with kefir. You'll have less liver fat, fewer allergies, less constipation, an improved immune system, better blood sugars, better blood pressure because of how it acts as an ACE inhibitor, and fewer pathogens.
Kefir for better sleep
Regarding sleep itself, let's talk about what kefir can do directly for your sleep. Your microbes make serotonin. In fact, 90% of all the serotonin in your body comes from your microbes, so the more of the right microbes, the more serotonin. Serotonin is a feel-good hormone. It is a hormone that can affect your mood and can help reduce stress. Not to mention, kefir makes microbes that can make melatonin directly.
There are several things in your body that make melatonin. In fact, all your cells can make melatonin, but mainly people think of the pineal gland in your brain. Your gut also makes melatonin, both through the microbes and through certain cells, specifically an interesting cell called the enterochromaffin cell. It's an interesting cell because it's a neuroendocrine cell, so it's half neurological and half hormonal. Those cells make melatonin, they control inflammation, and they also control acids.
Kefir makes microbes that make the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan turns into serotonin, and then it turns into melatonin. So again, that is another thing that will help you sleep. Kefir also has a really good source of bioavailable calcium, which can also help you get to sleep and stay asleep.
The microbes in kefir also make certain B vitamins, including B1, thiamine, which greatly helps with stress, especially if you're trying to go to sleep, you're thinking and thinking, and you can't turn it off. B1 is what you need. The Lactobacillus microbes in kefir help reduce cortisol. When your cortisol is too high, it's impossible to sleep, so anything you can do to reduce cortisol will help you sleep. That's quite a few things that directly help your sleep and stem from kefir.
The best type of kefir to consume
As far as the type of kefir I'm going to recommend, I highly recommend you make your own. There's a really great website that I get my kefir crystals from. It's like a starter, a little group of microbes. It's called Kefir Live Grains, but there are no grains in it. The website I go to is called Happy Herbalist.com. It's just a really good source of high-quality, very inexpensive starter kefir grains, and I would highly recommend it. If you have the choice, use goat's milk, but you can use cow's milk.
How to make kefir
On their site they explain how to do it. They send you a little guide, and I will put the link below. Basically, you take one tablespoon and put it right into two cups of milk. You don't need to heat it or anything. You just take it out of the fridge, put it on your counter, and cover it with a little cloth top or even a paper towel secured with a rubber band. Then you wait a day, 24 hours, and you have kefir. It's not as thick as yogurt, but you get a huge benefit from all these great microbes.
You can experiment with the temperature to make it a little warmer or more concentrated, or leave it out a little longer to make it more sour. That means there will be less lactose in there and more lactic acid. The cool thing is you can take these grains out, keep them in a little milk, and reuse them over and over, so you have a fresh batch of kefir on a regular basis.
Check out my video on other things that help promote sleep!
I think the next best video for you to watch would be the one on using other things to help yourself sleep better.