Increasing Your Energy Step 4: Proper Sleep

     How many of you enjoy sleeping? I mean REALLY enjoy sleeping! I mean you live to sleep! Well I can't see all of your hands raised through my computer, but I believe that if I could, 99.99% of us just raised both hands straight up in the air.  Sleeping is one of life's great pleasures that we all get to experience everyday of our lives.  There are so many benefits to sleeping that we would probably fall asleep listening to the amount of information on this subject :-).  I have listed and discussed 3 highlights of sleeping that I think will be beneficial to you to understand.

     Let's start with the basics:  Sleep is our recharging and healing time.
I'm sure a great majority of us use our cell phones like they were another appendage, so naturally the battery wears down throughout the day.  So what do we do at night? We charge it, and the next day it is ready for another day's use.  Sometimes we use our phones so much that we need to recharge it during the day, and give it a nap, so to speak, so it can get through the rest of the day before having its long charge that night.  My analogy may seem simple but it is a fairly accurate representation of how our body works.  We have more functions going on in our bodies than we can count, and each one of those processes cause wear-and-tear.  When you study for a long time, your eyes start to hurt; when you walk for long periods of time, your body tires;  when you eat processed foods and drink alcohol, your liver goes into overdrive.  Each of these processes need time to slow down, repair, and recuperate so that they can do their jobs efficiently the next time they are called upon.  Sleep gives our body time to not focus on the other processes so it can focus its energy on repair.  When you go to Walt Disney World, thousands of people dirty up the parks with trash, fingerprints, gums, etc. and the next day it is sparkling clean again.  That's because at night, the cleaning and repair crew come in and fix anything broken and clean the streets so the next day the park is back to full functioning capacity.  I think you get my point that sleep is our repair time, so keep that in mind the next time you hit the sack!

     Sleep is our time for inspiration:
Thomas Edison figured out that the time just before reaching deep sleep was when he was the most creative, so he came up with a device where when he started to fall asleep he would drop metal objects on a metal pan to wake himself up so to not forget the ideas he got while sleeping.  There is actually a science to this which I will not go into at the moment, but just know that there are 4 types of brain waves, beta, theta, delta, and alpha.  These brain waves coincide with different modes of thought and he knew that getting to a certain brainwave made him more creative.  So the next time you dream, remember that you could be seeing your next big inspiration!

     Sleep is a stress reducer.:
When you sleep, your body shuts down every nonessential body process to allow for optimum repair.  This includes muscles, in which we carry most of our stress.  Allowing these muscles to relax releases a great deal of stress, which is harmful to our bodies.

     So how do we maximize our sleep?

1. Make sleep a priority.  I know that we all, at least I do, like to watch CONAN every night, but that is what the DVR is for.  Too much TV can actually put a stress on the brain, and Lord knows that most Americans are glued to their TV's, so make sleep just as important as you do your favorite show.

2.  Allow at least 7.5 hours for sleep:  There is an expression "You can't rush art", well you can't rush sleep.  Not allowing for proper sleep doesn't give your body the time to repair itself, thus further wearing down your body, and eventually causing damage!

3.  Don't watch intense TV or other means of increasing your adrenaline, because it takes time for adrenaline to leave your system, and it keeps you from achieving a good deep sleep.

4.  Have a proper bed and pillow for rest:  This is definitely another topic altogether that I will touch on at a later date, but for now, just know that the position you sleep in can have lasting effects on your body.  For example, not having a proper pillow support can put a strain on your neck.

5.  DO NOT SLEEP WITH THE TV ON!!  Sleeping with the TV does not allow for deep sleep.  Your body needs quiet and dark spaces to achieve maximum sleep stages.  The darkness lets your body secrete a hormone called melatonin which aids in sleep, and the TV hinders that function.

    Well I think I've exhausted, no pun intended, the topic on sleep.  I know it is a lot to grasp but try to take away the main points and you will be achieve better sleep and, ultimately, better health and wellness.  As always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!

In Good Health,

Dr. Ara