You can’t taste, smell, or see it.

But if you: live in a house painted before 1978, buy household objects painted in countries with poor safety standards, live near a busy road, live in an area with slightly older plumbing, use pewter kitchenware, eat canned, or live near a mine or metal factory, you may be exposed to a metal that interferes with your sleep.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania published the results of an interesting study in the December 2015 edition of the journal Sleep. The study shows that lead exposure causes insomnia in children up to 10 years after the initial exposure. It made them 2 to 3 times more likely than other children to suffer from insomnia and use sleeping pills.

And everything indicates lead affects adults in the same way.

To reach this conclusion, they analyzed the level of lead in 665 Chinese children’s blood in 2004 when they were around three to four years of age. At the follow-up investigations when the kids were between nine and eleven years old, the researchers found that those who had the highest concentration of lead in their blood were also the ones that have the most difficulty going to sleep and staying asleep. Predictably, they were also found to suffer from the worst daytime sleepiness.

The concentration of lead in their blood was not even particularly high, with an average of 6.26 mcg/dL (micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood). Those with the concentration higher than 10 mcg/dL suffered the worst symptoms.

The National Library of Medicine has compiled a long list of peer-reviewed medical books that include insomnia as a symptom of lead poisoning, and most organizations that lobby for lead-free environments claim it to be a symptom. However, until now, no systematic studies with strong scientific controls have been conducted.

The new study is important because it sheds light on the conditions in which kids in vulnerable communities in developing countries grow up. It also draws our attention to the possibility that our insomniac kids may have been exposed to lead. It is especially worthwhile to have a lead blood test performed if you live or work:

– In an old house with 1960s and 1970s lead paint
– near a busy road with masses of lead-fuel dust
– in an area with old lead-sealed plumbing
– near a mine
– as a firearms instructor or enthusiastic weapons collector
– in a battery factory

If you think you may have been exposed to lead, there are natural ways to clear your system. Chlorella, vitamin C, calcium, iron, iodine, selenium, and zinc supplements, together with a high-protein/low-fat diet, are some useful natural methods help prevent absorption so that your body can excrete the lead.

But lead is not the only thing that causes insomnia. Most people can completely overcome insomnia doing this simple technique found here…