Are you getting enough sleep?
This is a question everyone needs to be asking themselves. Most people today are sleep deprived, have poor sleep hygiene and are just adding to their daily stress loads and turning to stimulants like sugar and coffee and energy stimulants.
The national sleep foundation did a 2 year study and found that we need an average 8 - 10 hours a night age depending. Where most people will get an average of 5-6 hours per night. Anything less than 7 can seriously damage you health. We are designed to naturally follow our built in body clock system that follows the circadian cycle of the sun and the moon. Our sleep and wake cycles are so important with how we function and heal. As we rise we see an increase in our stress and activity hormones and cortisol and when we sleep we see and need an increase in our growth and repair hormones and melatonin.
The above shows your bodies natural responses and cycle to the planetary sun and moon cycles one that we are ancestrally tuned in with - its called your circadian rhythm. The black lines are the stress activating hormones and the white lines are the sleep and recovery activating hormones. What is most important is looking at your recovery system, the physical and psychological repair systems are imperative to good health, and are set in your own body clock and circadian rhythm.
Now the big question i get asked? What am I doing wrong?
Most people have what we call poor sleep hygiene, the real sleep issues that are becoming more common occurrence are insomnia (inability to sleep) and sleep apnea (the body stops breathing in sleep causing you to jolt awake). Now the longer your cortisol response is triggered and asked to work, the harder it will be to recover and fall asleep. It basically blocks melatonin.
Nearly everything that we are doing is affecting our sleep, melatonin production is reduced from a number of ways especially from bright lights especially over head, BLUE light from TV, cellphones, computers, to the foods we eat especially from caffeine, sugar and alcohol, all of these affect and alter the bodies natural hormonal and sleep response.
And all of these factors cut into your bodies recovery time and your immune systems repair. The main stress response from say any of the above results in a greater amount of cortisol production, this triggers a response from the pineal gland (in the brain) and the adrenal glands located atop of the kidneys and produce glucocorticoids which make cortisol. This production then directly affects your melatonin production. Over time this stress adds up leading to adrenal fatigue, poor recovery, increase in sickness and health, poor physical performance, poor organ health and overall a drop in general health and well being.
As we stress the body to stay up late and watch late night tv, this leads to a craving for stimulants like caffeine and sugar type foods and or tobacco. All of these trigger your sympathetic nervous system response and guess what... this requires and needs more cortisol. And more cortisol stops the production of melatonin. And a vicious cycle that we put ourself in and one that can be helped and controlled with some values and self control.
Now here is the best thing the best way to heal and help the body is FREE, it cost you nothing, and everyone can do it. SLEEP.
But here are a few things to help you regain your health back and help you sleep and recover better.
1. Try to set a healthy sleep pattern and routine, in bed and awake at the same time 7 days a week.
2. Minimize your exposure to lights and blue light
3. Try and have a completely blacked out room.
4. Avoid stimulants after 3pm in the afternoon
5. Eat right for your type, metabolic typing or primal pattern diet.
6. Drink plenty of water
7. Exercise with a regular program.
8. Try unplugging all electrical appliance
9. Reach out to me and get more help or learn what supplements you can use to accelerate your health and wellness.
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