Tag: sleep

Sleep – Are YOU getting enough

Sleep – Are YOU getting enough

Sleep – why it REALLY matters, and how much do you REALLY need.

 

We all feel bad when we haven’t had enough sleep, but did you know that sleep deprivation is strongly associated with serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Sleeping cat
It’s alright for some

Even just one night of poor sleep can make a difference to both your physical and mental performance the following day.

So how little is too little?  Well, most people need 7-8 hours sleep per night.  While missing one hour, in one night will probably have little effect, missing two or more hours sleep, even on only one night can already begin to impair both your physical and your mental performance.  For example, you are much more likely to have a car accident!

My patients quite often claim that they don’t need as much sleep as other people, that, say 5 hours per night is enough for them.  However, tests show time and again that this is just not true.  For example, if their blood sugar levels are tested first thing in the morning, the chances are, they would be raised to an unhealthy level.  The same goes for their reaction times.  Insomnia is also associated with poor mood control.  Sleep deprived people are far more likely to lose their tempers and be irritable.

So many of my patients suffer from insomnia, and it’s not a straight forward condition to work with, as there are so many potential underlying causes.

There are herbal and nutritional remedies which can help, for example, lavender can be extremely helpful, but until the underlying causes have been identified and systematically addressed, that good night can be elusive.

Watch out for my next post with some top tips for better sleep.

Can’t sleep? Insomnia – Worse than you think

Can’t sleep? Insomnia – Worse than you think

Is this you?

You’ve suffered insomnia for months or even years.  You wake up feeling exhausted, you have that hollow tired feeling at the back of your head which just won’t shift?  You’ll fall asleep at the drop of a hat during the day or evening, but you just can’t sleep at night, you can’t get to sleep or you keep waking.

Or maybe you sleep through the night, but feel you just haven’t fallen into a deep sleep, and you still feel tired all the time.

Whatever your sleep pattern, insomnia has a profound effect on all aspects of our health, and at least 40% of us suffer from it at any one time.
Did you know that, just one night of poor sleep can cause a hitherto healthy person to be diagnosed as diabetic.  This is because of the huge impact sleep deficiency has on our blood sugar regulation. This was demonstrated very clearly in the recent BBC series “Doctor in the House” which I watched with interest as I met the Doctor in question, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, whilst we were both studying Functional Medicine in London.

Not surprisingly, weight gain and craving for carbohydrates are also associated with poor sleep.

What’s more, your performance, in everything you do, will be affected by poor sleep too. Studies have found that intelligence, focus, memory and reaction times, are all reduced by insomnia. This is clearly going to impact on your performance at work and on the sports field.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, chronic insomnia has been found to affect your risk for getting many chronic diseases as you age including Alzheimer’s disease, Cardiovascular disease and Cancer.

“Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care . . . balm of hurt minds, . . . . chief nourisher in life’s feast.
William Shakespeare – Macbeth.

I love this speech by the troubled Macbeth. , I used to love it for it’s visual imagery, but now, it has an extra resonance because it’s SO apt. Shakespeare had an intuitive knowledge of the importance of sleep.

Sleep does, indeed nourish and restore us, particularly the essential 3-4 hours deep sleep we should (but so often don’t) all achieve.

Sleep is something I ask all my patients about in their first assessment. Whether they have trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep. Are they falling asleep during the day, or in the early evening, as soon as they sit in front of the TV, or do they wake too early. Are they restored by sleep or would love to just crawl back into bed.

If they have sleep problems, I always prioritise this in their health programs.

Sleep is an interesting and complex area of health, but, most people are able to transform their sleep patterns and their health. It’s just a question of knowing how.

To be continued . . . .

In the next post, I will look at some of the many reasons people don’t sleep. In the final post, I will be discussing some tried and tested solutions.

Check out my Insomnia Workshop:  Stop Insomnia from Stealing your Life

 

 

Conquer Insomnia and Get your Life Back

Conquer Insomnia and Get your Life Back

However healthy you try to be, if you’re suffering from insomnia, it will always have a negative impact on your health.

In fact, research has shown that insomnia is directly responsible for many health problems, it can:

  • Dramatically weaken your immune system.
  • Make you more vulnerable to cancer (research has shown tumors grow up to three times faster in laboratory conditions involving sleep deprivation).
  • Seriously disrupt your blood sugar regulation, making you much more vulnerable to diabetes and weight gain.
  • Cause embarrassing memory lapses
  • Effect your mental ability.  Even only one night of poor sleep, can challenge your ability to think clearly and problem solve the next day.
  • Have a negative impact on your physical performance.  You may notice that you have less energy and motivation following a poor night’s sleep.

This is worrying, because so many of us struggle to regularly get at least 7 hours sleep a night.

Sarah Firnberg combines her knowledge of the research into this fascinating area of health with her considerable experience gained while working with hundreds of people suffering from insomnia.

 “We know more and more about the underlying causes of insomnia, when we start to put them right, not only will you sleep better, but you will experience much better overall health”

BOOKING LINK

In this workshop, you’ll learn

  • What sleep is, and why it’s so important for our health.
  • Simple changes to your diet and lifestyle which can make a huge difference to the quality of your sleep.
  • Small tweaks to your environment which can really effect the length and quality of your sleep
  • Quick, easy bedtime routines for better sleep
  • Safe herbal and nutritional remedies which really work. And, what’s more, they improve your health too.
  • You will come away with a straight forward plan which you can start putting into action immediately

BOOKING LINK

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