The Holistic Health Warrior

Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, and/or get a restful night’s sleep more than 2-3 nights a week.

Most of us know what it feels like NOT to get a good night’s sleep. Hopefully, those nights are few and far between.  However,  for some insomnia rears its ugly head more often than what is healthy. 

Magnesium: The Indispensable Mineral

Minerals are necessary for a variety of functions within the body and having any mineral deficiency poses an imbalance and can jeopardize your health. While there are many important minerals, magnesium is more than just essential. Necessary for over 300 chemical reactions in the body, it plays an exceedingly important role in your health. However, an estimated 70-80% of the U.S. population does not consume enough of it in their diets.

Just recently, the results of a study from The Netherlands revealed that daily supplementation (350 mg of magnesium citrate) may reduce the stiffness of arteries in overweight and obese adults.¹ Read the rest of this entry »

Although we don’t know exactly how or why,  there is no question that sleep is crucial for our overall health. Most of us just don’t realize how crucial and healing sleep really is for the brain. Sleep is truly one of the best ways for the brain to detoxify.

In a recent study, the researchers looked at something called the glymphatic system of the brain. Injecting dye into the brains of mice, they watched the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and found that the CSF flowed rapidly when the mice were unconscious (whether asleep or sedated) and barely moved when the mice were awake. Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sleep is truly an anti-aging miracle, and yet so many of us treat it like a necessary evil.   Thankfully sleep is also inevitable, because without enough of it, you will age faster, and you can also develop a host of health problems.

Do you ever wonder what goes on “behind the scenes” in your body, after you drift off to sleep at night? 

First of all, the blood flow to your brain drops as it is redirected to other parts of your body like muscles and internal organs. Your central nervous system rests so that you (usually) do not hear sounds, smells or other distractions. Your body temperature drops and your breathing, blood pressure, metabolism and heart rate all slow down as well.

Eventually, your body will enter into a state of “deep” sleep. During this time, your pituitary gland will begin to release your human growth hormone or HGH in precisely the correct amount. HGH helps your body repair skins, organs, and bones. It replenishes white blood cells that are used to fight off sickness, disease or infection. And it builds and repair muscles. Muscle tissues can only repair themselves while you sleep.

There are two types of sleep – rapid eye movement or REM and non-REM. During times of no interrupted sleep, your body goes through four stages of non-REM sleep. When you first settle into sleep you enter into stage 1 where sleep is the lightest. Stage 2 is a little deeper and brain activity starts to slow down. Finally, you will enter stage 3 and stage 4. During these stages, the brain waves, known as delta waves are even slower. This is called the deep sleep pattern. These four stages of sleep total about 90 minutes. So what happens the rest of the time?

Soon, your brain waves will increase again and you will enter REM sleep. Like the name says, Rapid Eye Movement will occur beneath your closed eyelids. But your muscles will stay pretty relaxed and this is the time when you will dream. This stage lasts only about 30 minutes. After REM sleep your body will begin the cycle all over again 4 or 5 more times through the rest of the night. During each cycle, the non-REM, or deep sleep time will grow shorter and REM periods will lengthen. Without enough REM sleep, you may suffer from mental problems, like learning or remembering. But without deep non-REM sleep, your body begins to break down and become weak and even diseased.

Stress, physical pain, other medical conditions, medications, children, schedule differences from others in the home are just a few of the reasons why our sleep can be disrupted at night. Some people just wake up easier at night. Our sleep patterns even change as we grow older but the need for adequate sleep doesn’t change. Researchers have found that some older people do not produce enough melatonin that is needed for deep sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that the body naturally produces, but can diminish as we age. Melatonin can be found in supplement form is most, if not all health food stores.

5 Problems that proper sleep can help cure or avoid

1) Stroke – Sleep apnea is a problem that some people have. Sleep apnea is characterized by shallow or disrupted breathing patterns. In severe cases, some people stop breathing for a significant amount of time. This thief robs the brain of oxygen, upsetting heart rhythms and causing spikes in blood pressure. Ultimately, if left untreated this condition could cause a stroke.

2) Heart Attack – When breathing is disrupted, the blood does not get enough oxygen as well. This causes the heart muscle to work harder and in effect weaken. This can be really bad for people who already have heart disease.

3) Memory, Cognitive Function, and Coordination – Getting enough of the right kind of sleep will improve your ability to learn and remember things improves as well. Your brain, like every other organ in your body, needs rest to rejuvenate itself. Stage 2 sleep is needed to improve motor skills and coordination.

4) Immune Function – Sleep helps speed up the healing process. During sleep, your body replenishes its immune cells that are needed to fight infection and disease.

5) Accident Prevention – Sleep deprivation is thought to contribute to nearly half of all accident-related deaths in the U.S. Some signs of sleep deprivation can appear just like a drug or alcohol induced state. Your best accident prevention strategy could be a good night’s sleep.

Sleep rejuvenates and heals the body and HGH are produced only during the time of deep sleep. Unfortunately, many things can disrupt our sleep patterns. To slow the aging process it is vitally important to solving sleep problems before they cause serious health issues. Clearly, the secret to staying young and healthy can simply be found in sleeping well every night.

To Your Great Health!