A good night’s sleep can unleash a healthier life
A good night’s sleep can unleash a healthier life
In May 2019, the NHS issued 526,389 prescriptions to help with sleep problems at a cost of nearly £3 million!
Marian Timms, an ex-biomedical scientist discusses how, by going back to basics we can achieve a good night’s sleep and improve our health. In March 2020, she pivoted her therapy business into offering free sleep advice online and over the telephone. With common sense advice she changed people’s sleep patterns for the better.
There has to be a more cost effective, proactive, natural approach rather than medicating people and by addressing life style, it can quite often, be avoided.
Water intake, limiting screen time and getting outside can all help mood and sleep.
How many of us sleep with our mobile phones on next to us?
Why not try turning it to flight mode? If you use it for an alarm, the alarm will still work on flight mode as will meditation apps. By doing this, you won’t be bathing your own energy field in the electromagnetic fields emitted from the phone when it is on. You might actually sleep better too.
If you absolutely can’t turn it off through habit or happen to be on-call for work or family, then why not try placing it further away from the bedside because if it does alert you, you are going to have to get up anyway to answer so sleep better until that moment happens.
Lifestyle and its effect on sleep.
To understand better how our bodies work and how the need for medication is increasing, we have to look at lifestyle whether we like it or not. Additional stresses from current events, job security, rent/mortgage payments, home schooling, isolation and negativity all contribute to a bad night’s sleep.
There is help out there from myself and a whole host of choices.
Current living means we tend to be indoors most of the time in artificial light and both fluorescent and eco-friendly LED interfere with the production of melatonin the sleep hormone. It also means we don’t ground ourselves barefoot enough.
Sleep and Melatonin
Melatonin is a natural hormone produced in the pineal gland in the brain. Blue light from screens reduces its production so we can’t feel tired. Another mind-boggling fact is that the gut contains 400 times more melatonin that the pineal gland in the brain so enter front of stage, the gut.
Gut health is absolutely critical to getting a good night’s sleep with magnesium and vitamin deficiencies causing problems too so there is no one quick fix, magic bullet to solving sleep issues. I myself have had gut issues and refer my clients to an osteopath/ naturopath who works online.
Long hours in front of screens and leading up to bedtime will trick our brain into not feeling tired because melatonin levels start rising around 8pm.
Most people have had antibiotics which upset the gut and GM food, toxins in the water and air all impact the gut as do medications.
Add caffeine into the equation and we have a melting pot of trouble.
Caffeine and Sleep
Caffeine has been given bad press; consumed in moderation there is no problem. How we process it is in part down to our genes. Caffeine has a half-life of approximately 6 hours so the coffee we drink at 4pm is still being processed at 10pm. A quarter (25%) of it will still be there at 4am!
Caffeine binds to the same receptors as adenosine which builds up during the day. It reaches a peak about 16 -20 hours after waking to make us feel tired; so called ‘sleep pressure’.
When we push through the afternoon, fueled on caffeine it is counter-intuitive to what is trying to happen in the body.
Try:
A 20 minute walk outside
A 20 minute nap followed by a glass of water to hydrate
Go and stand on the grass if working from home or use a grounding mat.
There are always solutions if we look for them. No wonder some of us struggle.
Next steps
To book a consultation and see what needs adjusting, contact me today
If you would like my 5 Top Tips to help you sleep better, please download my e-book here.
