HEALTHY AT HOME
BY DR. AMY PUNKÉ
A
s Naturopathic Doctors, we are taught how the natural cycles in and around us impact our health. This includes everything from the solar seasons and the lunar calendar, to our daily circadian rhythm (our sleepwake cycle), and the ebb and flow of our own hormones. It is the belief in many ancient cultures and traditional medicines that have honoured the Earth for millennia that disease can arise when we become disconnected and fall out of sync with these rhythms. Tonya Francis, from Pictou Landing First Nation, is constantly learning from her elders. With rituals like full moon water ceremonies and sweat lodge ceremonies, her elders teach the importance of honouring and learning from the natural world. “In indigenous cultures, there is a belief that everything has a spirit,” explains Tonya. “The trees, the grandfathers (rocks), plants, ocean or water, grandfather sun, grandmother moon, mother earth herself. Everything in nature that is natural and pre-existing has a spirit. We honour each by giving thanks each day we are blessed to wake up, for mother earth allowing us to live on her one more day. Walking in nature, at times you can feel the earth below your feet, the strength from the trees, the life that continues to grow around us.” It seems painfully ironic that, in a world where we are technologically connected more than ever, we
have never been so disconnected from our natural environment, and therefore, from ourselves. This sense of disconnect and being “out of rhythm” has become very apparent with the patients I see, especially when it comes to one of the most important aspects of our health: sleep. The World Health Organization has declared sleep loss an epidemic, with the numbers tripling since the start of the pandemic. One third of North Americans reported suffering from chronic insomnia, with 67% struggling, at least once a week, with chronic stress. This has now become the number-one cause of poor sleep. The research is unequivocal. The cyclical pattern of stress and sleep loss is making us sick. Chronic insomnia is associated with cognitive difficulties (memory loss, brain fog, and difficulty concentrating), anxiety and depression, poor work performance, decreased quality of life, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and obesity. Old idioms like, “Sleep on it – you’ll feel better in the morning,” suggest that sleep is not just for rest. Amongst other things, sleep plays an integral role in our immune systems, in our ability to heal from injury and reduce inflammation, energy, and moods and hormone regulation. With stress being multi-factorial in its origin, it would seem to make sense that treatment options consider the whole person and try to get to the root of the problem.
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ah! Spring 2021 - 48
