I’m so happy to have Dr. Stasha Gominak back again to give us a review and update on the importance of the hormone, Vitamin D, and how it affects everything, including your brain, gut, skin, pancreas, bones, and your sleep.
Dr. Stasha Gominak is a Baylor College of Medicine alumna and completed her Neurology residency at the Harvard-affiliated, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She has utilized her skills to assist 1,000s of clients. Now retired from daily practice, Dr. Gominak, MD is committed to helping people across the world achieve pain-free lives through sleep repair.
In this 47 minute interview, Dr. Gominak will reveal the following:
- The link between Vitamin D, headaches and sleep apnea
- The link between Vitamin D and B12, and sleep problems
- Vitamin D receptors in the sleep nuclei in the brain
- Vitamin D as the primary endocrine/reproductive control center for seasonal changes
- Vitamin D receptors in the brain, pancreas, GI tract, ovaries, fallopian tubes, etc.
- Timeline in Vitamin D deficiency and sunscreens, computers, and more indoor activity
- Why becoming hairless made humans Vitamin D deficient
- How your skin color affects your sleep
- Why Vitamin D dosing levels are inaccurate
- Can Vitamin D prevent the Flu?
- The ideal level of Vitamin D for great sleep
- The ideal Vitamin D level for fertility, the bones, etc.
- Why having normal levels of Vitamin D is not good enough
- Why we’re still in the 1940s with our Vitamin D understanding
- How Vitamin D cells can cure skin cancer cells in culture
- The link between Vitamin D deficiency and heart disease
- How you as the patient need to educate your physicians
- The important link between Vitamin D and the gut biome
- And much more.
Shownotes:
The world epidemic of sleep disorders is linked to vitamin D deficiency (Gominak & Stumpf) PDF article
Thanks so much! Excellent presentation.
Thank you Dr Park and Dr Gominak for another stellar podcast! It is so exciting to hear you find more puzzle pieces on the critical functions of D and B and the microbiome, and to empower patients to become involved in their own health. Dr Park– I know you were on the Oral Health Summit still underway– and that Methylation expert Dr Ben Lynch is also on it. I would love to hear a 3 way conversation between the both of you and Dr Ben Lynch! I have been reading Dr Lynch’s book “Dirty Genes” and have run his Stratagene genetic report thru my 23 and Me genetic profile. I will bet you ANYTHING that your patients are much more likely than the average population to have Vitamin D receptor issues like I do. (It takes me 10,000 units of D to get to a level of 63.) I am ++ on VDR Fok 1, and +/- on Taq 1 and Bsm 1. (and also Methylation issues with the B’s less effective as I have.) Dr Lynch is currently working with world renowned UCSD geneticist Dr Robert Naviaux (author of the Cell Danger Response theory) on a new much more detailed version of the 23 and Me data– coming out possibly by the end of the year!
I predict this genetic information will skyrocket your puzzle pieces falling into place– and link the gut microbiome, as well as the function of the brain. I don’t know the cost of the new gene testing– but I am sure it will not be more than the current 23 and Me 200.00 fee, and probably less as Drs Naviaux and Lynch are both humanitarians. I can tell you that as a patient, to have wait to the current medical model gets around to catching up the the current Vit D research is a waste of critical time– when so many leaps forward are already happening under the Integrated model of medicine with a motivated patient participation and self funding of data collection so readily available.
It would be straightforward to put together a collection of data on a survey website using your database of patient contacts– requiring just the price of a home 200.00 gene saliva test, a 40.00 Stratagene interpretation report, and a 17.00 “Dirty Genes” book to get a baseline— (with a small fee to cover expenses of the site) to amass data showing the difference in the OSA/UARS population. And then— empowering the patient to correct through lifestyle choices the B levels (Methylation)– understand why they might need more Vitamin D, and what kind of Vitamin B is right for them (not folic acid)— how this might relate to sleep function, headaches, etc. Ideally– this would include self reporting labs tracked in time– and a detailed set of Q’s— ie: did your mother have excessive morning sickness during her pregnancy with you? (If she did not have Vitamin B-6– she did not pass it to you– an epigenetic change.) Which latitude were you born in? Is this where your mother/father grew up? (This would track the epigenetic changes for Vitamin D)
Thank you SO MUCH for your work. Very exciting times to be alive. On a personal level– I hope to inspire a similar study for the Primary Immune deficiency crowd (CVID)– of which I am one. I firmly believe that poor gut health is linked to OSA. When i was on an anti-parastic 2 years ago— Alinia— on day 5 I got an overnight sleep study. My usual baseline of an AHI of 17 went to 4.5! Very inspiring info. It went right back when stopped. The health of the microbiome is linked to everything.
Looking forward to part 2, and further dialog with relating it to Methylation. Dr Lynch’s message is that— you are not your genes— you may have genes that predispose— but that though lifestyle modifications you can vastly improve your health. You are all heros in my book— more power to you!
Great popcast, I always try to keep my levels of Vitamin D at the right levels. Thank you Dr. Stasha Gominak and Dr Park.
My husband suffers from headaches and sleep disorder breathing and his D levels have been low. Great information
Thank you very much, Dr. Gominak, for analyzing to tell me the effect of vitamin D on sleep. I have heard that fish are rich in vitamin D. I will eat fish more often
Dr. Gominak,
Also, thanking you for the plethora of information on your website about the Vit B12 correlation. My B12 is low (312) and I have taken steps and will keep getting it and other B’s tested too.
Thanks and Regards