Anthroposophical Views

Lullabies

Dora Wagner

The God who made us in infinite pow'r, / To cheer the woes of life's uncertain hour, / Has placed amongst us two of such sweet birth / That never brighter dwellers were on Earth. / Solace in toils, in pain and care a prop, / One is sweet Slumber, and the other Hope. / One, when man, weaken'd, feels his frame at length / Shorn of its vigour and embracing strength, / Comes with calm pace, and pours his soothing ray, / And all his pains in slumber pass away.

Alexander Anderson, 1873

Sleep is miraculous. No other state fascinates us as much as this journey into other worlds. But sleep poses its own mysteries— we are not aware that we are sleeping, nor do we understand the secrets of transition between sleeping and waking. What takes place during sleep? What happens to the events of our days? Why are tiredness and wakefulness not merely matters of will? Why do we spend a third of our lives in such a vulnerable and unproductive state?

In Greek mythology, sleep was considered the brother of death. Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of the dead, were twins (Lochin, 1990). This kinship framed sleep in a gloomy light. "Sleep is the image of death," remarked Cicero in 45 BCE. His view was based on the ancient assumption that the human body remained as rigid during sleep as it does in death. Over later centuries, it was assumed that sleep was a recovery phase in which the brain was simply 'switched off'. Today, we know that humans go through various active phases during sleep. It is only since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) (Kleitman and Aserinsky, 1953) that sleep and sleep rhythm research have developed into a discrete discipline within medicine, investigating this vital function in ever greater detail.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the desire to improve performance dominated investigations into sleep. As industrialisation and urbanisation increasingly overrode the rhythms of nature, researchers sought to identify the mechanisms of sleep, in order to adapt human internal circadian clocks to changing living and working conditions. Innovations such as the cheap light bulb, the expansion of railway connections, and the invention of telegraphy significantly changed society's time patterns, blurring the boundary between day and night (Ahlheim, 2018). Such changes disrupted our biology— from the molecular clocks that regulate our cellular activities, to the synchronisation of behavioural cycles and the solar day that optimises our physiology. Our sleep-wake rhythms are interwoven with these circadian rhythms; light and darkness are the strongest synchronisers of our inner clocks.

In the morning, bright, energy-rich, blue light stimulates our brain to wake up, while the orange-red light of dusk and, later, darkness lead to the release of melatonin— a hormone produced from serotonin —to promote sleep. Melatonin is mainly synthesized in the pineal gland, but small amounts are also produced in the retina of our eyes, and in the intestines. If daylight falls on the retina, the production of melatonin is inhibited; in darkness, the release is stimulated. Melatonin can bind to certain sites, such as the blood vessels in the brain or certain cells of the immune system. It lowers the body temperature and blood pressure, boosts the immune system, influences the release of sex hormones, notifies the body that energy consumption must be reduced, and helps us with learning and memory (Walker, 2018).

Sleep is much more than physical and mental rest, however. It constitutes our most important regeneration, processing, and repair programme. We could not survive without it, just as we could not live without food or drink. During sleep, we digest what we have eaten, our hair grows, our wounds heal, the immune system recharges itself, the brain actively spits out cellular waste, the psyche unconsciously processes what it has experienced during daytime, we gain energy for the next day, and we sort our memory anew. This is why we learn better and make clearer decisions when we have slept. To achieve all this, we go through several sleep cycles every night, each one lasting about ninety minutes and including four phases (Walker, 2018).

The first phase, falling asleep, lasts for only a few minutes. Our body becomes increasingly relaxed, our heart rate, breathing, and eye movements slow, and we slide into sleep. We spend most of our total sleep time in the second phase— light sleep. Our muscles continue to relax, our pulse slows down, our breathing deepens, our body temperature drops, and our eye movements stop. Although the activity of our brain slows, it will experience 'sleep spindles'— short bursts of electrical activity lasting less than two seconds each —so called because, seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG), these bursts recall the shape of a yarn spindle. They are believed to play an important role in organising our memory.

Deep sleep, the third phase, is physically the most restful and, therefore, psychologically the most important. To feel well rested, we need high quality phase three sleep. Our heart rate and breath reach their lowest points during this stage. We breathe rhythmically, and our muscle and brain activity are kept to a minimum. This is when most tissue repair, growth hormone production, and immune system optimising occurs. It is when we are likely to be least responsive to an alarm clock or someone trying to wake us.

Dream sleep— the REM phase —occurs about ninety minutes after we fall asleep, and this is when our brain starts to become more active. Our heart rate increases, our breathing becomes faster, and we perform rapid eye movements under closed eyelids. Our muscles are perfectly relaxed and almost completely motionless as a natural protective mechanism, so that dreamed movements are not actually carried out. During this quite short phase— usually lasting around ten minutes — we dream particularly intensely, and are likely to remember dreams from this phase more vividly. REM-sleep is also important for memory and learning, but, in addition, appears to affect mood. The amount of REM sleep seems highest in infancy, declining in adulthood.

Of course, everyone has their own sleep experience. Genes, age, and the internal clock all determine when, how long, and how deeply we sleep. Seven to eight hours of sleep a day is what experts advise (Walker, 2018). Yet, with its mania for constant accessibility, work intensification, increasing media consumption, artificial lighting, and a routine that often turns night into day, our modern society suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. In a life without steady rhythm, difficulty in falling asleep, or constant waking, will cause wider health problems. Behavioural and medical measures that can help rebalance our circadian system and improve sleep are, therefore, increasingly important. To remedy broken sleep, anthroposophical medicine looks to Passiflora incarnata or Passiflora caerulea, usually combined with other plants that have proven effective for sleep disorders and relaxation, such as Oats (Avena sativa), Hops (Humulus lupulus), St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)— particularly for elderly people with heart problems —and the root of Valerian (Valeriana officinalis).

In lush contrast to the bare, green-leaved stems, which can climb up to five metres, the striking blossoms of the Passionflower (Passiflora spp.) are aesthetic masterpieces. Reaching up to eight centimetres in diameter, they display shades of white, flesh red, and purple. In 1569, Nicolas Monardes, a physician from Seville, was the first to report on this remarkable plant, but it was the Jesuit José de Acosta, in his Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias of 1590, who attributed the symbols of the Passion of Christ to the plant. Admitting that it took a certain piety to recognise them, he nonetheless saw the ten petals of the flower as the ten disciples of Jesus (without Judas and Peter), the second blue corolla as the crown of thorns, the columnar ovary as the funeral pyre of the scourging, the three thickened pistils as the number of nails on the cross, and the five stamens as the five stigmata of Jesus. The symbolism became so popular that even Linnaeus incorporated it into his classification system of 1753, although the indigenous name 'maracuja', or the Spanish 'granadilla', could just as easily have been Latinised.

It is hard to believe that each of these magnificent flowers only blooms for one day. New blooms appear every day over a long flowering period. After fertilisation, edible fruits appear. These, botanically described as berries, are spherical to oval, have a firm skin, contain a sap that tastes bitter to sweet or even sour, and hold many seeds surrounded by a jelly-like tissue. Just as Hops serve as an ingredient of heady but sleep-inducing beers, Passionflowers are traditionally used in their native South America to make the famous 'pulque'. In his Materia Medica Misionera of 1710, Pedro Montenegro considered this 'Granadilla de la Passion' (small Pomegranate of the Passion) an equivalent substitute for Hops (Anagnostou, 2000). There are other similarities between these two herbs. Both climb up suitable objects; both have tripartite, dark green leaves; both deviate from a more usual flower shape.

Circles often represent unity, perfection, infinity, and the essential. In the Middle Ages, for example, a protective function was attributed to belts, rings, and bracelets. In Zen Buddhism, concentric circles represent the highest level of enlightenment, and the harmony of all spiritual forces. Circles symbolise the soul, and the self (Lurker, 1981). So, it is not surprising that a medicinal plant sporting such spectacular circular flowers supports transformation of confused, troubled, and blocked emotions towards a more centred inner stillness, harmony, and peace of heart. European phytotherapy has long since followed the indigenous American tradition of using Passionflowers as medicine for calming and relaxation. Many remedies to treat sleep disorders or to relieve anxiety and tension contain extracts of Passiflora incarnata. This specimen is used wherever nervous conditions lead to discomfort; in cases of nervous restlessness, slight difficulties in falling asleep, nervous complaints in the gastrointestinal tract.

In homeopathy, the herb is used almost equivalently, also as a mild antispasmodic, as a mother's tincture, or in low potency. As a home remedy, try a simple bedtime maracuja tea, or a bath infused with a few drops of five per cent oil extract of Passionflower.

Remember that sleep is not a luxury but a biological necessity. So, pimp your bedroom and create feel good bedtime rituals. Snuggle into a freshly laundered, fragrant, soft pillow, pull the duvet over your relaxed body, and fall into a sleep so deep, so sweet with dreams that you don't even hear your partner's creaky snoring. The next morning, wake revitalised, well rested, and cosily, gently ease into your fresh, new day.

Images

Dora Wagner from Creative Commons

Lovis Corinth, detail from Sleeping Young Woman, undated. Oil on canvas (public domain)

References

Ahlheim, H. (2018) Der Traum vom Schlaf.Wallstein Verlag: Göttingen

Anagnostou S. (2000) Jesuiten in Spanisch- Amerika als Übermittler von heilkundlichem Wissen. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Pharmazie Vol. 78. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft: Stuttgart

Anderson, A. (1873) A Song of Labour, and Other Poems. Dundee Advertiser: Dundee

Aserinsky, E. and Kleitman, N. R. (1953) 'Occurring Periods of Eye Motility, and Concomitant Phenomena, During Sleep', in Science (118, 3062)

Cicero (45 BCE/2008) Tusculanae disputationes/Gespräche in Tusculum. Trans. Ernst A. Kirfel. Reclam: Stuttgart

Lochin, C. (1990) 'Hypnos/Somnus', in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Vol. v. Zürich/München

Lurker, M. (1981) Der Kreis als Symbol im Denken, Glauben und künstlerischen Gestalten der Menschheit. Wunderlich: Stuttgart

Walker, M. (2018) Das große Buch vom Schlaf. Goldmann Verlag: München