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Mar 20, 2009 0

South Africa Wellness Tips: Sleep To Rhythms In the Key Of Life to Restore Your Wellness

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The French National Sleep Institute reports that the average person looses one and a half hours sleep daily and accumulates a sleep deficit of 5 years by the time they reach the age of 40 due to disruptions in our natural life rhythms which translates into sleep disorders like apnea, restles legs syndrome and restless sleep patterns.

Who is to blame for this change in our biological clock and what can we do to restore it?

Whether it is due to the somber economic outlook or not, the Blogosphere is abuzz about this topic, with stories ranging from universities seeking Military Veterans Who Have Problems Sleeping to study efficacy of remedies Mobiles Phone being Blamed for bedtime woes and Greek Insomniacs advised to wake up and seek medical help.

The British with their characteristic sense of humour simply Blame Electronics for the Insomnia pandemic and say that we can now happily diagnose a new disease for which some fine commercial entity might create a magical pill. Promoters of the Drive Alert, Arrive Safe campaign say that Insomnia, one of the most common sleep complaints has been linked to road accidents and that Better Sleep Could Cut Serious Road Accidents .

Live Well has commissioned a report which is alarmed by the fact that tiredness has become socially acceptable , which has spurned it to launch a new campaign aiming to raise awareness about the issue.

As if we need reminders, others state that Sleepless nights may be sign of serious problem, whether that is due to debt stress or weight gain . Others write about coffee’s well-documented side effects: anxiety, insomnia etc. This sleep blues has even prompted one iPhone geek to develop an application to address the woes of Sleepless Babies.

The bad news is that our modern self-indulgent lifestyles represent the biggest risk to our health and wellness. We have lost sight of the very reason why nature provided for cycles, seasons and rhythms as well as the fact that there is nothing accidental about the creation of seasons or the daylight and night time cycle in the 24 hour day.

The initiated tell us that our The Biological Clock responds to environmental cues which tend to be at times longer and at other times shorter than the 24 hour cycle, hence the name Circadian Rhythms.The recent UC Irvine Breakthrough Discovery Revealed how circadian rhythms regulate energy on cellular level.

These scientific reports illustrate the absolute importance of paying attention and aligning ourselves to biological cycles, natural seasons and life rhythms to enhance our holistic wellbeing. As Jack Dejohnette, Jazz legend explained at the Jazz Expo at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, “life is music and music is life - the two join together“. That’s may be also what musician Stevie Wonder had in mind with his experimental “Songs in the Key of Life” Album. The heart beats in the key of life, so is our rhythmic breathing and as the mentioned UC Irvine research shows, these rhythms are hardwired in our DNA on a cellular level and regulate our energy levels. We feel tired when they are out of sync and feel on fire when they are perfectly in tune.

The good news is that we are in control. Rather - we can be in control if we want to do. We can rekindle the circuitry by adopting resourceful lifestylestyle practices like yoga breathing meditations, which align and bring our breathing and sleeping patterns in tune with natural life cycles, seasons and biological rhythms. Seasons, cycles and rhythms are nature’s way of ensuring that every creative or expansive effort is interrupted and punctuated by a corresponding pause for recuperation, for rest and rejuvenation in order to guarantee the sustained dynanism of the biological system.

Our modern and often unhealthy lifestyle choices impact upon and disturb these natural cycles and biological rhythms primed to take ques from our environment. The ques from our artificial lifestyle environments are confusing and contradictory to the biological clock. We rationalize these erratic lifestyle practices in terms of economic necessity, peer pressure to do things like staying late and consume substances because they are hip and cool.

Companies no longer set-up jobs where people live thus subjecting workers to long commutes to and back from work and extending the hours devoted work. Over-saturated multi-channel entertainment options on new aggressive communications media encroach even further on our privacy and subject our biological systems to a non-stop barage of stimulation leaving no downtime for rest

Persistent productivity and performance (success) oriented pressures within families as well as work place breeds insecurity because of fears for not making the grade which is perceived like a death sentence in a culture which recognizes and idolizes only winners.

The net effect of the disruption of our natural sleeping rhythms is that we accumulate not only a sleep deficit but also a health deficit as the quality of our health is preconditioned on the quality of our sleep. Statistics of the French National Sleep Institute show that Fourty percent of adults surveyed in France (predominantly women and those in the 45-55 age range) complain about an inability to fall asleep or sleep through at night. Take This Quiz to know how well you are doing on the sleep barometer. The charts can tell whether you suffer from sleep apnea, insomnia or any of the multiple sleep disorders.

Why should we be concerned about sleep deficiency?

We should be concerned because volumes of scientific evidence establish a direct causal relationship between poor sleeping patterns and poor health especially with regard to pathologies like obesity, diabetes, cardio vascular risks, allergies, stress, ADHD, depression, aging, longevity etc

There are many exhaustive Blogposts and articles offering Tips for Better Sleep to rejuvenate and restore a normal rejuvenating sleep rhythm – the following are therefore just a summary of lifestyle adjustments you could do to serve your own enlightened health and wellness cause:

Schedule and maintain regular sleeping hours to get a minimum of 8 hours un-interrupted sleep – This advice holds true for kids as well as adults.
Eat well for breakfast and lunch but enjoy light dinners at least 2 hours before bedtime to allow the digestive system to rest and consume less energy during sleep,
Generally avoid any type of stimulant food or beverages after 3PM – These include your favourite Seattle company Café Latté, Alcohol, Vitamins or exotic beverages containing herbal stimulants;
Avoid practicing any type of sporting activity after 8PM,
If you have a life partner – go to bed at the same time or join your partner at the least before they fall asleep – research shows that a resisted or disturbed sleep cycle takes at least 90 minutes before it sets in or is restored,
Obey your body and go immediately to bed when you feel tired - As said before research shows that resisting will delay falling asleep by another 90 minutes. You don’t want to fall asleep on the job during a Press Conference in front of the world’s press like the now famous ex Finance Minister.
Maintain an optimized sleeping environment – A bed, mattress, pillows neutralizing magnetic radiation - confortable linnen - No TV in the bedroom – Temperature of approximately 18°C – Ensure sufficient obscurity in the bedroom. The biological system does many important life sustaining functions whilst we sleep like the production of melatonin the feel good hormone. If your home was not designed by a Lifestyle Wellness Architect consult a Feng shui wellness professional regarding the flow of chi energy in your bedroom.You will be surprised by the difference a few re-arrangements could make to your sleep and life fortunes.
Make up for lost sleep and restore vitality and peak performance by taking a daily power nap or siesta in the best Mediterranean tradition. Attention it ain’t no siesta if it exceeds 20minutes. The good and welcome trend is that companies in some countries now provide for a comfortable “lifestyle chill-out corner” with plants, hammock, chill-out music etc to replace the traditional “smoking corner” or reimburse staff for lunchtime “power nap” expenses at new lifestyle wellness businesses like Nick Ronco, the sleep revolutionary’s New York Yelo Power Nap Boutique, an idea which will certainly be copied at airports and cities across the world to sooth the sleeping woes of millions of global sleep deficient business and leisure travellers.
Check out homeopathic solutions provided by your local Life Wellness Coach , mentor or practioner like Lavender for Mood Control and Insomnia , herb teas which invoke sensually entrained relaxation indicated for the various type of sleep disorders like snoring, apnea, nightmares, anxiety, restless sleep, restless leg syndome etc.
Try out as well the numerous sleep and relaxation therapies offered by local natural remedies providers and practitioners such as Chiropractors or acupuncturist nearest to your place of residence or work, like lumino (light) therapy administered with the help of Luminettes [Lumi(er) + (lu)nette] or light colour spectra reflected off the walls of your room, office or treatment cubicle to create a luminous ambiance. There also other natural solutions like phytotherapy, aromatherapy, physiotherapy etc.