The Importance of Sleep Sleep is intertwined with circadian rhythm—the natural cycle of sleep and wake that drives every single one of our biological processes on a cellular level. When inadequate sleep destabilizes your circadian cycle, it disrupts virtually every aspect of your health. Insufficient sleep increases your risk for heart disease and cancer. It adversely affects brain health by suppressing the production of new nerve cells and brain cells, and impedes the release of human growth hormone that is a vital part of the restorative process during sleep. Sleep is compromised by more than just a racing brain that can’t seem to disconnect. People tend to spend more and more time indoors and desk bound, rather than out in the sunlight. We then flood our evenings with artificial light and digital stimulation, rather than honoring our circadian rhythm and allowing our bodies to secrete the sleep-stimulating hormone melatonin as it gets dark. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, linked to obesity and potentially controlled by even moderate weight loss, make it that much more difficult to secure sufficient shut-eye. Catch Some Quality Zzzzs Many of the problems we having getting and staying asleep are caused by subtle lifestyle behaviors that unsync us from our circadian cycle, such as caffeine intake after noon and netflix streaming after dark. Sufficient sleep is well within your reach with the following sleep tips: Wake with the morning: Your body is naturally programmed to wake with the rising sun. Spending 10 minutes each morning outside, soaking up the sun’s rays, helps increase cortisol levels and regulate your circadian rhythm. Take a midday sun bath: Spend 30 minutes outside in the sun as part of your lunch break to make sure that you are exposed to enough natural light. Welcome the darkness: Rather than flooding your home in artificial light once the sun sets, why not let your space get darker? Use low-wattage yellow, orange, and red bulbs with bandwidths that don’t interfere with melatonin production…unlike white and blue bandwidths that activate the awake hormone seratonin. Disconnect with digital: Put down the smartphones, computers, and televisions, and disconnect with all things digital and electronic at least one hour before bedtime. undergroundhealthreporter/the-link-between-poor-sleep-and-widespread-pain/#ixzz37vhIuF5g
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 13:15:01 +0000
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