Cranky? Give Your Body Some Love!

The next part of the NEW START acronym, that I want to talk about is “REST”. In our fast paced society, we are usually on the go, night and day! Many people work at nights and some large cities have activities 24 hours per day, 7 days per week!. Those who do not work at nights or live in big cities, get caught up with technology and social media to the point where rest during the night is minimal. Many of my students come to school, so tired they fall asleep in class. When asked why they are so tired, they will usually say that they went to bed late, usually after 12 midnight.

Rest is an extremely important part of maintaining health. National Sleep Foundation indicated that between 50 and 70 million Americans are affected by sleep disorders and hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year as direct cost to sleep disorders! Lack of sleep is linked to many diseases including, hypertension, heart disease, strokes, depression and diabetes. Apart from the health issues, hundreds of accidents happen each year and many lives lost due to sleep deprivation!

“Less than 7 hours of sleep affect the temporal lobes affecting learning and memory” Dr. Rudel Davis, N.D. Dr. Davis also indicated that each hour of sleep before midnight is equal to 2 hours of sleep!. During sleep, the brain cells are cleansed of toxins and other debris ( unwanted information), and important information is filed away (memory). The other organs of the body are cleansed and toxins are removed during the sleep cycles. If the body does not get enough sleep, toxins build up and the cells cannot function optimally. The result is,

• stress,
• brain fog,
• inflammation,
• lack of energy,
• irritability,
• increased and suppressed anger,
• weight gain,
• impotence and
• dementia! Caffeine will not help!

Getting enough sleep will improve your health significantly . It even helps in weight loss and it improves your mood and well- being. Serotonin, a hormone that transmits signals between nerve cells, is affected by sleep. Serotonin impacts psychiatric health and mood. Don’t want to be cranky around your colleagues, family and friends? Get enough sleep! The body is a marvelous creation that has a sleep/wake cycle. If this cycle is disrupted often for too long, we bear the consequences of disease. So turn off the television, computer, video games or other gadgets and give your body some love by getting enough sleep!