Boosting the nervous system

If you are suffering from tiredness or feel irritable and have difficulty sleeping, you could be suffering from thiamine deficiency in a condition also known as beriberi. Thiamine is part of the B vitamin complex and is essential for maintaining the brain and nervous system. Without thiamine, or vitamin B¹, the brain and nervous system network is likely to collapse.

How would this collapse manifest itself?

Arms and legs lose coordination

Irritability

Eye muscles freeze

Depression

The mind goes blank and remembering becomes difficulty

Inability to concentrate

Difficulty falling asleep

Amnesia, coma and death couldeventually result from extreme deficiency.

VITAMIN B ENERGISER TIME-SAVER DRINK

¹/²cup sunflower seeds

¹/² cup sesame seeds

¹/² cup almonds or other nut

¹/²cup of oats

1 cup powdered skim milk

1¹/²cups soy milk powder

1 ripe banana

1tsp molasses

¹/⁴tsp ground cinnamon

1cup iced water

Method

Grind the seeds, nuts and oats. Combine remaining ingredients in a blender and process, mixing thoroughly. Refrigerate in glass jars.

Makes 2 cups

Boosting the nervous system

Shortness of breath

When you experience shortness of breath which gets progressively worse over 30 hours, you may be suffering from thiamine deficiency. The condition could get so bad that hands, feet, the area around the mouth may turn blue and the heart may race and blood-pressure levels fall to dramatically low levels. The chronic thiamine deficiency condition known as acute pernicious beriberi heart disease is common among drinkers.

Over time, thiamine deficiency causes weakening of the heart muscles and may lead to cardiac failure. Cardiovascular complaints are usually more common among people with low intake of thiamine.

Coffee is considered a thiamine thief and coffee drinkers may experience thiamine deficiency by having several cups of coffee. The first cup usually perks you up, but as you drink more, you feel fatigued. Coffee, coupled with excessive sugar, can deplete the body's stores of thiamine. Decaffeinated coffee can also destroy thiamine in the body.

Sleep disturbances

In neurotic patients, thiamine levels are normally low. Researchers believe that thiamine deficiency results in mental problems by reducing the availability of serotonin, the chemical used by the brain to regulate emotions. Jagged nerves can be soothed by thiamine supplementation.According to a study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, patients with symptoms such as sleep disturbances, hostility, fevers of unknown origin and lack of appetite showed marked improvement or loss of symptoms completely when thiamine supplementation was given.