Category Archives: Natural Health

Are you, like 90 percent of Americans, sleep deprived? Are you experiencing lack of sleep, sleep issues, no more dreams in sleep, disturbed sleep (without being a parent of little ones), or any other sleep problem?

Sleep is the number one problem in America today. The Huffington Post describes this as leading a life unsustainable, otherwise known as, Exhaustion.

People have grown to believe the lie, or myth, that they can handle less sleep than those before them, and that 4-5 hours of sleep is enough… yet, those same people, statistically, have sleep issues that have gone deep into their systems; this is a lack of one of the most fundamental aspects in life.

Sleep has had many changes in history.  Weekends, just a few decades ago, used to be for vegging out, relaxing, resting; stores were shut down, and people socialized, or stayed home with the family.  One can look back into history and see these changes fairly easily now with the online connections, or asking grandparents (oh, that would cause person to person communication, which is nearly unheard of now).

Correlation between sleep and weight loss, sleep and choices, sleep and food, sleep and… fill in the blank. Sleep has an impact on just about everything.  One can be completely healthy, eat well, drink well, and still have issues just from lack of sleep or true rest (or the build up of such).  Many good folks confuse sleepy with hungry, are dependent upon stimulants, confuse rest with inebriation,  and try to swallow sleep.

Rubin Naiman, an expert doctor of sleep, has some good references to sleep and some good advice.  He says we consume and absorb food, information, oxygen (air), light and energy.  Much of our information, food, air, light and energy are over consumed or of poor quality.  This over consumption literally heats us up (chronic inflammation).  In general, the population has forgotten what rest is; recreation is NOT rest.  We are literally RESTLESS. Naiman tells of a story of a young child who was found on the bookshelf above the bed; when asked why she was there, she replied that she was afraid of falling off the bed so she climbed “up”.  This tells something of the human mindset. We try to get higher and higher, up our energy, and we are reluctant to go down and to let go.  We land into sleep much like a jet hitting turbulence; we go back up into the thoughts and energy. Hyper arousal is defined as insomnia, increased metabolic rates, elevated heart rates, elevated core body temperature, increased high frequency, elevated nighttime cortisol, nocturnal sympathetic activation, and over-active HPA.

Most sleep loss is in the dream state (REM).  REM is important for memory retention, cleansing of information, and absorption of information.  It is the reason memory loss is on an increase and other similar disorders; not dreaming is directly related to memory deficiency.  Dreams involve emotional healing. The brain is a second gut, and must go through the same things as the gut:  digest, assimilate, absorb, and cleanse.  When dreaming is suppressed, the pattern matches mood patterns.

One last thought:

Light is important. Dark is important. We have been trained to think dark is bad. I think differently on this. Dark is good. Dark is needed. Dark is just dark.  When the sun sets, the lights dim, and our eyes need rest from the light.  We need to sit in dim light, and dim our computer screens (or not have them on at all at night), and let dark be a thing for us and our bodies to embrace. Horizontal is balancing, unlike any other position.  If we are in harmony with nature more, we will be at the right place in the right place, at the right time.

Now, rest, sleep well my friends.

Jeana
For more information on how to change your sleep, and come to understand what you can do for your sleep, contact me and set up an appointment. Together we can make a plan for you. Together we can change our homes, our families, our communities, one sleep at at time 🙂 I can do consultations by phone or in person.