by: Mike Lovell
99……98……97……96….. Wait?!?…. What?!?…. What was that?…. Black?!?!?!…. I thought they were all supposed to be white?! Great, now I have to start over…..99….
I know. No one counts sheep to fall asleep, yet so many people struggle not only to fall asleep but also to stay asleep. The drug companies understand this and fight to get their prescription medications in front of people through commercials on television, the internet and radio so they can “ASK their doctors about the possible benefit of using this product,” at the same time promoting their over the counter medications, all with the promise of a full nights’ sleep. Of course, the warnings of possible side effects go unnoticed by most people simply because WE ARE TIRED!!! Effects like: falling asleep while driving, sleep walking, sleep eating, moodiness, depression and suicidal tendencies are all documented through a myriad of studies and yet who cares as long as I get to sleep. If a problem can be solved by taking a pill, our attitude is let’s get it and get on with our life, but for most the problem is our life or how we approach it.
“Sleep disorders are now epidemic and an important cause of accidents, health problems, loss of productivity, learning problems in some cases of children, and even some obesity. The importance of adequate rest is often underestimated. Fatigue and exhaustion set the stage for every imaginable illness, both physical and emotional.” (Dr. Lawrence Wilson, 2008)
Several accident studies have shown that people not getting the required 7-9 hours of sleep a night are prone to accidents on the highways and at work at a rate 21.8% higher than those getting adequate sleep (Sabine Horstmann, 2000). One study showed a 15 times higher rate of accidents for people suffering from sleep apnea as opposed to those getting adequate sleep (Garbarino S, 2001).
I can hear some of you thinking, “7-9 hours of sleep a night? I don’t have time for that, I have work to do.” You may want to give heed to what God says about this attitude. Psalm 127:2 says: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Depending on your health and how much healing needs to take place, you may need closer to 10 hours a night. It was found that Americans sleep less than every other country in the world due to our drive to accomplish goals and business. This extends to our independent churches as well. We seem to believe that less sleep and more doing is the sign of spirituality or a way to prove you are addicted to the ministry. The answer is not to spend more time, but to be more effective with the hours given to you. Less sleep may give you more time, but it affects you in ways that cut your productivity and make you unhealthy.
There are 5 stages of sleep and each one is important to the health, mental and spiritual development of all individuals. Without the proper time for sleep it has been shown that our life span is shortened, immune function is hindered, obesity becomes more prevalent and mental development and responsiveness is lowered (Office of Communications and Public Liaison, 2014). These stages must cycle through about 5 times in a night in order to get the most out of your sleep. This takes time.
So you want to sleep, but can’t? Why? There are several reasons that hinder or disrupt our sleep ranging from our work and travel schedules (shift work and time changes) to being overweight to toxicity issues. What most don’t understand is that it takes energy to sleep, and when our energy levels are depleted sleep becomes a challenge (this will be another topic for later).
To put it kindly, we as humans refuse to work on the schedule that God set up for us when it comes to working late or shift work. You see, we’re to sleep when it’s dark and work when its light (Job 4:13; Genesis 28:11). When the Lord made us, He set a clock that our body operates by called a circadian rhythm. This rhythm flows on a 24-hour cycle and is triggered by a decrease in light (sunset). As darkness sets and our eyes send less light to the brain, the hypothalamus begins to shut down certain functions in the body and turn on others. With the decrease of light, melatonin levels begin to rise and this hormone brings us into the deep sleep cycle. When we disrupt this cycle by keeping our lights on, sitting in front of the T.V. or computer, we push the ability to sleep further into the night shortening the work the body is scheduled to do and causing us to wake up during the wrong stages of sleep. If this continues, our rhythms are reset and our bodies have trouble sustaining a balance and sleep becomes a challenge.
To rest our internal clocks, we need to turn off the T.V. and computer one to two hours before sleep and dim the lights in the house. This will take about five to eight days to correct, and it is well worth the effort when sleep is no longer just out of reach. For those traveling across time lines or working shift schedules, you can try taking about 1 to 3 mg of melatonin 45 minutes to an hour before bed making sure that all light is gone from the room. Wearing a sleep mask may help with rooms that are impossible to darken in the day and make sure you give yourself enough time to complete your sleep cycle.
Mind racing and the inability to relax are signals that there may be some toxicity issues along with deficiencies in calcium and magnesium. I find that many of my clients are copper toxic. Copper in its unusable form, will deposit in the brain disrupting neurotransmitters creating brain fog, moodiness and mind racing. Calcium and Magnesium are required to relax the muscles and calm nerve impulses (Dr. Lawrence Wilson, REST AND SLEEP – ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTH, 2014). When these conditions are in play it is very hard to fall asleep and stay asleep. This can be corrected with a change in diet and a nutritional balancing program that allows the body to correct these imbalances and work at its best.
Sleep is not a necessary evil as many think, but a part of the reconstruction and building of the body and mind. Without it we are not at our best and we become mistake prone and set ourselves up for failure, accidents and even illness. There are enough challenges and battles in our lives without compounding them by refusing to follow God’s simple sleep schedule.
Mike Lovell
Hormone Age Management
225.928.1791 office
Bibliography
Dr. Lawrence Wilson, M. (2008, December). NARCOLEPSY, SLEEP APNEA AND OTHER CAUSES OF INSOMNIA. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from The Center For Developement: http://drlwilson.com/Articles/NARCOLEPSY,%20SLEEP%20APNEA.htm
Dr. Lawrence Wilson, M. (2014, September). REST AND SLEEP – ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTH. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from The Center For Developement: http://drlwilson.com/Articles/sleep.htm
Garbarino S, N. L. (2001). The contributing role of sleepiness in highway vehicle accidents. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from Erope Pubmed Central: http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/11247057
Melinda Smith, M., Robinson, L., & Segal, M.A., R. (2014, September). Sleep Disorders and Sleeping Problems. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from HelpGuide.org: http://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/sleep-disorders-and-sleeping-problems.htm
Office of Communications and Public Liaison. (2014, July 25). Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm
Robert L. Sack, M. R. (2000, October 12). Entrainment of Free-Running Circadian Rhythms by Melatonin in Blind People. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from The New England Journal Of Medicine: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200010123431503
Sabine Horstmann, C. W. (2000). Sleepiness-Related Accidents in Sleep Apnea Patients. Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland, * Division of Pneumology, Department of Internal.