Sleep Influences Your Physical Health
Sleep is usually one of the first things people sacrifice when the going gets tough, and this could be a critical mistake. First of all, significant memory impairment can occur after a single night of poor sleep—meaning sleeping only 4 to 6 hours. It also has a detrimental impact on your ability to think clearly the next day, and decreases your problem solving ability.
Even the healing processes are disrupted by our lack of sleep. As for the sleeping pill angle, long have I known that sleeping pills are no more than yet another crutch, in a long line of crutches produced by BIG PHARMA.
Our violent world has simple remedies, as does our ill world, problem is no one is paying attention. Too, too much of our media is controlled by a small number of corporations that benefit from keeping us in the dark on a vast number of subjects. All on a kind of profit. This is the capitalist way? Understand all the fundamentals of being human, or alive. Food, good food, clean water, outdoor air, exercise, sun exposure, a restful sleep, and a good spiritual posture, all of which are under attack by our arch foe "greed."
Illness recovery, and prevention need sleep, as the article mentions sleep is a time of brain cleansing, and cell renewal, and science, without regard for the basics in the very beginning is folly. Think about it when we have had a good night's sleep, upon awakening we are at the top of our game. In short we must learn to listen to our body, which will not send us the correct signals if we do not do proper maintenance.
Below are simple and effective methods.
1. Make sure that you don't eat anything at least two hours before bed Because digestion increases the fire energies of the body and will keep you awake make sure your not eating anything at least two hours prior to retiring for the night. During the late evening hours enzymatic activity of the body is lower and food will not digest as completely as during the day. Noon time should be your largest meal with dinner being only a moderate sized meal, something that we in the west tend to reverse.
2. Try drinking some water 30 minutes before bed Since water cools the fire of the heart and strengthen the kidneys (The water organ) this will help to calm the conscious mind, slow down thinking and help you to fall asleep faster.
3. Greatly decrease and/or eliminate processed foods from your diet Processed foods containing ingredients like MSG are known excitotoxins. Excitotoxins are ingredients that actually accelerate the metabolism of the body, especially brains cells to the point where they die prematurely. So not only does this kill your brain faster, it will keep you awake in the process which further causes further cell degeneration due to lack of sleep.
4. Press on the Bubbling wells point in the middle of each foot In acupuncture there is a point on the bottom of the feet that can help you fall asleep faster. It is located on the bottom of each foot along the center-line, about an inch north of center there is a point which lies on the kidney meridians. Pressing on this point with moderate pressure for 30-60 seconds helps to strengthen the kidneys and thus the water chi of the body. As the water energy increases it will cool down the heart fire energy calming down the mind and helping you to fall asleep. This point is very effective and can sometimes result is sleep as little as 30 seconds later. You can also do a general foot massage while focusing on this point to achieve the same general effect.
5. Practice short breath holding exercises Another way to cool down the fires keeping you awake is to use the lungs to absorb the excess fire energy. In Chinese medicine the lungs are metal, so by practicing breath holding exercises we use the metal of the lungs to absorb the fire from the heart. Practice this by taking a moderately deep breath, then hold your breath for 3-5 seconds, then slowly exhale.
Take a deep breath again, hold it for 3-5 seconds, then exhale. Repeat this breathing exercise anywhere from 5-10 times or more and then try going back to sleep. You may find that your mind is now much more calm and your should be sleeping before you know it. Read the rest "8 simple methods to alleviate insomnia
You can use the knowledge of acupressure in many ways, such as what you just did. If you ever have a cold, another good one is to rub your hands together to generate heat, then place them on your ears. Since the ears are the opening to the kidneys and are related to your hearing, heating up the ears strengthens the kidneys which are Major organs for overall health, immunity and longevity.
There are over 100 acupuncture points on the ears alone, so placing something warm against them for 30-60 seconds greatly stimulates all of those points.
Rubbing the feet There are a number of Chinese sayings about the benefits of caring for the feet. “Washing your feet with hot water is much more effective than taking sleeping pills when you are ready for bed.”
“If you want to protect a tree, you should protect its roots; if you want to protect a person, you should protect his or her feet.”
Many Western medical scientists regard the feet as “the second heart of the human body” or “the pup of the heart”. They all praise the role of foot care. Chinese medical science believes there are more than 60 acupuncture points on the feet that have strong ties with the internal organs. If we use warm water 40-50 degree centigrade to wash our feet and rub the soles and toes of our feet, we can promote blood circulation, relax the muscles, and balance the yin and yang of the body. This can also help heal wounds and maintain fitness for older people.
It seems to me that you can optimize the restorative powers of sleep by performing pranayama and meditation prior to going to bed.
Certain pranayams such as anuloma viloma using a 1:4:2 ratio of inhalation:retention:exhalation help to balance the autonomic nervous system and facilitate integration of the nervous and endocrine systems.
Other pranayams such as agni prasana and bhastrika are very cleansing and invigorating and can be done upon arising from sleep.
As you gain experience with pranayama, you can add the three major bhandas (jala, moola, udiyanna) that will intensify the pranayams. Additionally, kriyas such as agni sara and nauli are critical for toning the internal organs.
These actions serve to stimulate blood flow in the vital organs facilitating healing and cleansing; it how we can do an internal self massage.
Just performing daily pranayama and kriya for a few week will change your life for the better. You will have more energy, better mental and emotional health, and you will sleep much better Also, if you are lucky enough to know a good chiropractor, then getting maintenance adjustments can really make a difference in your quality of life, and getting periodic deep tissue messages are great for promoting lymph circulation and healthy sleep. Finally, to feel really rested, it is best to allow the body to awaken naturally at the end of a sleep cycle rather than to a blaring alarm.
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The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice .All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensue discussion or debate.