Sleeping in tune with the body

Some thoughts about the importance of sleep and encouraging restful sleep.

Sleep is the single most important factor in good health. We are not healthy unless our sleep is healthy. Yet compared with diet or exercise little is discussed about sleep.

Sleep allows the body to repair, over 70% of our daily dose of growth hormone is circulated whilst we sleep. This is also an important time for the re-generation of the immune system, missing sleep reduces the bodies ability to resist and fight infection. Sleep is also a vital factor in mental ability and concentration. Our ability to undertake useful mental work declines by 25% every 24 hours without sleep, in shift work this can lead to a much higher possibility of accidents.

Sleep and the Body

In order to gain the greatest benefits from sleep we need to sleep for the correct amount of time, regularly each day. Undisturbed sleep which is in tune with our bodies rhythms is ideal, and there are many steps that we can take to improve sleep

Arrange your sleeping environment, the ideal temperature for sleep is 16 degrees centigrade and the darker the room the less disturbed your sleep will be.

Reduce the noise, any disturbance can prevent you sleeping, or can drag you out of deeper sleep into light stages of sleep.

Avoid rich or heavy meals later in the evening. The process of digestion will raise the body temperature and increase energy levels. Foods which are low in fat and can aid the synthesis of Serotonin are good, Tryptophenes, the building blocks of Serotonin are contained in milky drinks (hot drinks are best) and bananas.

The milky fluid in the stem of lettuce contains a natural sedative hence the traditional recipe for lettuce tea. The recipe is available on our Diet and Nutrition pages.

Set the mood for sleep by establishing a regular routine, this allows your body to get used to winding down for sleep. Also avoid over stimulating mind or body prior to sleep. Vigorous exercise should be at least four hours before sleep to allow testosterone levels to return to normal.

Anxiety is probably the greatest cause of sleep problems. One way to deal with worries is to write them down and deal with them in the morning. Remember, you will be able to deal with things better after sleep.

During healthy sleep the body will go through several 'stages' of sleep. Stage one sleep is a transitory phase, this usually lasts about 20 minutes. If woken during this stage the chances are you will not realise you have been asleep. Stage two sleep makes up approximately 50% of sleep, the function of this stage is not thoroughly understood. After this the body moves into the third stage, characterised by slow brain wave activity. This stage of sleep makes up about 25% of sleep and is the stage where the body repairs and rejuvenates itself.
The fourth stage of sleep is REM sleep, the stage where the mind dreams. This stage usually lasts about 90 minutes with longer dreaming states towards the end of the night.

More and more research is being carried out into sleep disorders and there is an increasing realisation that this is a vital and little understood area of health. If you would like more information on this area we would recommend 'The Promise of Sleep' by American specialist William C. Demont.

Activities such as relaxation techniques or Yoga, practiced as part of a regular pre-sleep routine can lower stress levels and help prepare the body for sleep.

Learning more

The Kevala Centre offers a Distance Learning Diploma in Holistic Stress Management. This syllabus has been specially designed and is exclusive to the Kevala Centre. It’s purpose is to teach the student to become a confident practitioner who can help in cases of stress caused by today’s lifestyle without medical intervention. This guidance is supported by established techniques such as relaxation, meditation, Transactional Analysis (TA) and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Click here for full details.

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