Sleeping For Your Health By Kimberly Zurich, ND, LAc W
e live in a society where the one who does the most during the day wins and sleeping a full night is seen as a luxury. However, our health is paying the price for this!
Why is this so important? When we are sleeping, our brains
release growth hormones to regenerate our bodies. Sleeping eight hours a night will keep us healthy, reduce disease, fi ght off colds and infl ammation, and slow the aging process. Getting enough sleep balances the hormones that keep us from feeling overly hun- gry, helping maintain a healthy weight. This also has an effect on diabetes, because less sleep correlates with reduced insulin sensitiv- ity. We know how cranky a person can feel from lack of sleep and mood is much improved with adequate rest. In addition, there are plenty of studies to show that brain function and athletic perfor- mance are enhanced with regular and adequate sleep.
Ok, so now we know why we should sleep. What do we do if
we are having trouble sleeping? Here are some tricks to help you get some zzzzz’s:
• Create a Routine: Your body loves routine. Going to bed and waking at the same times each day will make it happy. When you change those times up during the weekend, it is like giving yourself jet lag. Unfortunately, sleep is not like money and you cannot just bank hours on the weekend.
• Limit Food & Alcohol: While you are sleeping, your body is busy doing all this healing and regenerating. Going to bed with a full stomach only gives it more work to do. Try to have your eating done three hours before bedtime. Alcohol can also affect your sleep for the same reasons. Detoxify- ing alcohol takes energy away from the normal processes of sleep. Limiting drinking to the earlier parts of the evening will improve the quality of your sleep.
• Turn Off Electronics: Watching TV late at night is not always relaxing; murder scenes, car chases, and tense action scenes tend to fi ll the screen. Not only does the content hype you up, but the blue light emitted from screens of all kinds stimulates your brain to be awake. If you have trouble sleeping, turn off the screens: phones, computers, TV's and Kindles a few hours before bed. Instead, opt for taking a warm bath, reading a book, or writing in a journal. Let your body unwind.
• Darken Your Bedroom: Ever notice how many lights are on things these days? Power cords, alarm clocks, computers, printers, etc. Even my coffee pot has so many lights on it, I can walk through the kitchen without having to turn any- thing else on! Just as I mentioned above, these lights stimu- late the brain. Unplug or remove as much as you can from the bedroom so that the darkness can remind your body it's time to sleep.
• Check Your Medications: Certain medications can affect your sleep, so having a doctor review your prescriptions may be helpful. Are you on medications for your thyroid, for example? If you have recently begun or changed a medication, you may want to be sure that this isn't what is keeping you up at night.
• Consider Alternative Treatments: Trouble winding down? Herbal remedies can help. Chamomile, lemon balm and passion fl ower can be found in common tea blends and relax the nervous system. Chatting with your Naturopathic doctor will provide insight into more ways to reduce evening cortisol so your body can relax. Acupuncture is also a very effective and proven tool to help insomnia, especially from stress or hormonal changes such as menopause.
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