Quote · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Vitamin D Expert: The Supplement World Is Giving The WRONG Advice!
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The Best Diet To Boost Vitamin D And Improve Gut Health
At 1:43:32 · chapter starts 1:42:43
Bartlett notes that many listeners will have been told their sleep problem is a named disease — sleep apnea or narcolepsy — and asks whether the vitamin protocol applies to them. Dr. Gominak argues these patients are not in a different category but at the severe end of the same spectrum: their sleep switches are so chemically depleted that going outside and eating kimchi will not be enough. They require professional guidance through a protocol that will trigger transition states — including nightmares and apparent worsening — as the brain begins re-entering REM sleep but cannot yet sustain it. She then delivers the episode's most counterintuitive clinical story: a patient with narcolepsy has completely resolved her attacks using nicotine patches worn around the clock. The logic: nicotine is the only known pharmacological duplicate of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine governs both waking attention — focus, distraction recovery, concentration — and the brain's ability to enter and maintain REM sleep. This same logic, she adds, explains why Parkinson's disease patients who smoked throughout their lives have historically shown better outcomes: Parkinson's is an acetylcholine deficiency state, and the nicotine was incidentally compensating for it.
Nicotine is the only known drug that duplicates acetylcholine — the neurotransmitter that controls both waking focus and REM sleep entry. One patient resolved her narcolepsy using nicotine patches around the clock. Parkinson's patients who smoked have also fared better.
