Your tap water affects your sleep

The Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research had a *great* lecture last week about how the environment affects women's reproductive health in later life. They highlighted several studies showing that in menopausal women, high blood levels of phthalates are correlated with worse sleep. Phthalates are added to plastic to make it more pliable-- they're in shower curtains, vinyl flooring, and other personal care products, and they easily make their way into our water supply. In fact, drinking water is one of the main ways we're exposed to them. They're endocrine disrupting chemicals, and amazingly, also have a very similar shape to melatonin. That means, in the brain, they actually disrupt melatonin receptors! Melatonin is, of course, the main hormone making you feel sleepy, but it's important for all of your body's clock-dependent processes.

You can test your water for phthalates and use a water filter to remove them from your tap.