Paula Youmell, RN Functional Medicine - Natural Health Educator - Herbalist (315) 212-3066
www.PaulaYoumellRN.com
Sleep Better Naturally
Sleep and rest are areas of self-care we often push aside. “If I stay up just one more hour I can get this accomplished or that finished.” Doing so may just get these things accomplished; however, your body pays in the subsequent decline in health and wellness. Chronic sleep deprivation ages us faster and sets us up for weight gain, anxiety, depression, adrenal gland and other hormonal issues, inflammatory diseases including cancer, and a whole host of other ill-health problems. Yikes! Sleep is imperative for energetic days, efficient body cell function & replication, detoxing, healing, vibrant longevity, and just good all-around health. Creating a personal atmosphere that encourages good sleep is simple and easy. When we get plenty of sleep we wake up energized and ready to meet the day’s challenges. Not enough sleep? We then stagger out of bed feeling foggy in the head; looking for that pot of coffee, cup of tea, chunk of dark chocolate, or sugary breakfast foods. Using these food items to rev ourselves up does seem to work in the short term but actually exacerbates the lack of sleep health issues over the long haul. Sleep enhances body cell function. Your cells internal organelles, the tiny machinery inside each cell, work more efficiently when you are well rested. Your body metabolism functions at a normal level because of adequate sleep. Good metabolism also means you digest and process food and calories efficiently. This means less fat is deposited into fat cells because your body is instead using the calories for on the spot energy. Add an hour of sleep per night, and you could drop 10 to 20 pounds this year. Adding extra seep time can assist appetite control among many other things. Getting to sleep before 10 PM and getting a solid 8 hours of good sleep stabilizes endocrine function (stress response), glucose control, insulin levels, and glucose tolerance and reduces your risk for digestive tract distress & disease, obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancer..... Our body cells function best when we care for them with the flow of nature, not against it. The rhythm of the Earth slows down at night and so should we. Evaluate what in your life is interfering with sleep and heal, repair, those areas.