Do you get hot and sweaty at night? Romance aside, night sweats are a sign that you don't have enough glycogen stored in your liver, according to Bev Maya, one of Canada's few medical herbalists. The liver works a lot at night, and your body relies on stored glycogen in the liver to detoxify while you're asleep. The good news is, through her work at the Maya Natural Health Clinic and the West Coast Women's Centre for Midlife Health, Bev has much success relieving night sweats with chromium.

Night sweats occur in women going through menopause and those who experience increased fat around the waist and who crave sugar―signs of metabolic syndrome and cortisol disorder. It's also a classic symptom in diabetics.

"Chromium works very well to help turn carbohydrates to sugar and store it as glycogen," Bev says. She recommends taking one dose of whole food chromium after dinner, starting with 100 mcg then going to 200 mcg in tablet form. As long as you also work on nutrition, like avoiding refined carbohydrates, and on lifestyle, like decreasing stress, you can get relief in one to four weeks.

As a preventive measure, Bev suggests taking chromium-rich foods, such as green leafy vegetables, potato skins and green peppers. About 200 grams of potato with skin has 48 mcg of chromium and one whole green pepper has 23 mcg. "You'd have to eat four green peppers a day to reach the daily recommended intake of chromium to treat the symptoms," Bev points out.

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