. . . new study shows how your brain flushes itself of toxic waste while sleeping Wish you had an extra hour or two of sleep every night? If so, you’re not alone. Recent statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show 50-70 million US adults don’t get an adequate amount of good quality sleep. Yet with increasing sleep deprivation, Americans pay a heavy price. Those surveyed reported significant problems with memory and concentration. So much so, that it adversely affects their relationships, commuting for work or pleasure, handling of finances, and job performance. In fact, lack of sleep is increasingly being blamed for car crashes, workplace accidents, marital problems, as well as a variety of health issues including depression, weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, increased mortality, skin aging, and more. Just how serious is it? We’ve already warned about the negative impact of insomnia on health and safety. And even though Americans admit…

It’s Heart Month at Beyond Health. We recently wrote about magnesium and the heart—that magnesium is essential for a healthy heart, and that magnesium deficiency is often the real cause of cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and even heart attacks. Unfortunately magnesium deficiency is epidemic today! It has been estimated that 3/4 of the US population doesn’t consume the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for magnesium. So 75% of us may not even be getting enough magnesium in our diets to prevent severe deficiency disease, let alone achieve optimal health. But add to that the many factors that prevent full utilization of the magnesium we consume (see article below) and you’ve got a real problem that affects almost everyone. But how can you tell if you’re deficient? The blood test most doctors will give you won’t tell you very much.  The body does everything it can to keep blood levels consistent, and will keep pulling magnesium out…