INSULIN RESISTANCE CAN CAUSE SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Sleep is very important for our health. Unfortunately, many of us don’t get enough. Today’s busy lifestyles along with a variety of other reasons is making sleep deprivation a real issue. The are many misconceptions when it comes to sleep. One misconception is that sleep is more important for children than adults. Another one is that people believe that functioning on less hours of sleep makes them stronger. However, this is not the case. It is important that you are aware of just how important sleep is for your physical and mental wellbeing.

Why we need sleep

Do you remember when you were young and your parents used to tell you that you need to sleep if you want to grow up big and strong? Well, that wasn’t something that they just told you to make you go to bed, it’s true! However, what we don’t get told is that sleep is necessary if you want to stay big and strong. There have been studies that have had some interesting results when it comes to your quality of sleep and how sleep or lack of it can affect our health.

The studies found that your quality of sleep can improve a lot if your nearby electronic devices are turned off at least one hour before bed. Electronics can affect your quality of sleep by disrupting the melatonin surge needed to fall asleep.

Sleep can also help you to burn fat, it helps to regulate food intake, glucose use, energy supply and it also boosts memory, cognition, and immunity.

What does sleep deprivation do to you?

So, what does it do to your body when you aren’t getting enough sleep? Firstly, it can cause your body to become resistant to insulin, leptin and ghrelin. If this happens you can be sure that many health issues will follow, including diabetes. It also triggers the body to burn muscle, which is not good. Sleep deprivation can disrupt your thyroid and stress hormone production, compromise your brain health, heart health, and immune response and it can double or even triple tumour growth (this has been proven in laboratory animals) Every night that you are losing sleep you are increasing these negative effects to grow. These then start to raise your risk of harmful health problems including brain disease, heart disease, type II diabetes, obesity, cancer, and even premature death.

What to do about sleep deprivation

There are many things that can help you get a good night’s sleep including getting direct sunlight every day for about 30 minutes, avoiding devices at least 1 hour before bed and keeping your bedroom dark and cool.

So, if you are someone who doesn’t prioritise sleep, we strongly recommend that you rethink it. The first step is to identify the reason you are not getting a good night’s sleep and then work on improving your sleep little by little. We can help you with identifying the reasons and to improve your sleep quality. Give us a call today.

So, if you are someone who doesn’t prioritise sleep, we strongly recommend that you rethink it. The first step is to identify the reason you are not getting a good night’s sleep and then work on improving your sleep little by little. We can help you with identifying the reasons and to improve your sleep quality. Give us a call today.

How to keep your brain strong and healthy

We focus so much attention on keeping our body fit and healthy, that sometimes we forget that our brain needs attention also. There are many things you can do that will help your brain to adapt and change with the times. 

Be sure to enrich your environment by keeping your brain active. Be part of a learning environment that offers you plenty of opportunity for focus, novelty and is a good challenge. These types of environments can stimulate positive changes in your brain. It’s more important during childhood and adolescence but even adults get rewards from this type of stimulation.

Ways to keep your brain active

There are many things that you can do to challenge your brain and keep your mind sharp. Read, create art, travel to explore new places, learn a new language or learn how to play an instrument. Interrupt this with plenty of rest to let your brain recover.

Sleep

Sleep has a very important role in dendritic growth in your brain. Dendrites are the growths at the end of neurons that help transmit information from one neuron to the next. If you strengthen these connections, it will help encourage greater brain plasticity. Sleep also has important effects on your physical and mental health. Make sleep and rest just as important as anything else.

If you need help improving your sleep, try practicing good sleep hygiene. This means developing a consistent sleep schedule and creating an environment that contributes to good sleep. Our clinic can assist with these. Set up a session with one of our sleep specialists today.

Exercise

Regular exercise is also important for your brain’s health. Physical activity has many benefits such as preventing neuron loss in key areas of the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain involved in memory and other functions. Sleep also plays a role in new neuron formation in this same area. Exercise boosts brain plasticity, functional connectivity, and the basal ganglia, which is the part of your brain responsible for motor control and learning.

Playing games

Games aren't just for kids. By playing board, card, video, and other games it can help to improve your brain's neuroplasticity.  

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is when you completely immerse your mind in the present moment, without ruminating over the past or contemplating the future. The key is being aware of the sights, sounds, and sensations around you.  

There are some medical conditions that tend to limit or hinder your brains plasticity. Some of these are epilepsy, cerebral palsy, tuberous sclerosis, and Fragile X syndrome. However there are also natural ways and some medications that can assist you if you have any of these conditions.

The bottom line is that it is important to remember to not only look after your body, but to also look after your brain. This will help keep it sharp and healthy.

How to Detox from technology

These days we rely on our technology a lot. Everything from reading e-mails, to school homework, to scrolling through social media, to watching our favourite show on Netflix. Technology is used every day: at work, school, and in our homes. It has become such a big part of our lives that sometimes we don’t realise just how much we use it. Sometimes we can spend more time on our devices than with the people that are around us, which is why it is a good idea to give yourself a technological detox.  

A good way to get started is to take a break from it while you eat. While you sit down to eat your lunch or for dinner, put away all the devices and concentrate on spending the time with your family, colleagues or even to just sit quietly and relax and concentrate on what is happening around you and on your food. Chew your food slowly as that is the first stage of digestion. Once this has become a habit then you can try giving a whole day technology detox a try, or perhaps a whole weekend. It will bring a new restful dimension into your life.

It is also good to take precautions to make your home EMF-free. First be sure to take care that your bed is located as far away as possible from SMART meters and turn off your Wi-Fi routers before you go to bed so that EMFs don’t disturb the quality sleep you need to detox and heal.

Things to try while detoxing

Before starting your detox, you can write down how you are feeling - are your stressed? Are you sleeping properly? Are you spending all your time looking at a screen instead of interacting with those around you? Once you are finished your detox, whether it be the weekday or weekend, once again write down how you are feeling. You may notice that you spent more time doing things with loved ones, you may be feeling more relaxed, and you may have even slept better.

There are many things you can do while you are having your technology detox. You can read a book, go for a walk, or try some craft or artwork. You can even just sit in a coffee shop or a park and strike up a conversation.  Sometimes connecting with others is just what we need for our health. Another way to help detox and release stress is to try some deep breathing. Deep breathing can help cleanse the respiratory system and oxygenate the blood. You can also try meditation as this helps to calm your mind and release the stress. Too much stress creates inflammation and toxic build-up.

Exercise is also a good way to help detox the body because exercise gets your blood pumping and while you’re working out your muscles the liver produces an enzyme that clears out depression-causing chemicals. Stretching is also good, it not only keeps your muscles and joints flexible, and it can also help to lower inflammation.

Why not have a detox day at least once a month and let it open up new, healthier opportunities for you away from the Wi-Fi and screens? You may be surprised what unknown sides of your personality open up for you as you become healthier and more relaxed. 

How to have a healthier home

       

Every section of our daily life revolves on the topic of health. When we are faced with a health issue, big or small, it can be overwhelming to try and adopt healthier choices and actions. When you become overwhelmed you stop trying because the challenge seems impossible to overcome. A smart way to approach an overwhelming goal is to take little steps that can soon become a big step towards the goal. The food and drinks we have at home can help us achieve our goal of being healthy. You only need to change a few things in your daily routine to become healthier.

Ten ways to begin a healthier lifestyle

1. Place plants inside the house to freshen the air and form a relaxing setting for the kitchen.
2. Place a bowl of fresh, washed fruit on your kitchen table. You can place fruits like grapes, mangoes, bananas or nectarines into the bowl.
3. Sliced vegetables like; carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers must be kept in clear glass containers. After buying vegetables from the shops wash them so it removes any bacteria off them.
4. If there are any unhealthy foods contained in your fridge, place them all at the bottom of your fridge so they won’t be the first thing you see, so that it won’t make you tempted to eat them. Place all vegetables at the centre of the fridge.
5. The same tactic applies to the pantry, all unhealthy foods must but be at the top of the shelf at the back. Place healthier foods at the front and centre.
6. People put advertising and other things on their fridge. If you hang images of inspiring words, healthy recipes and people who are healthy, it will inspire you to keep healthy as well.
7. Put pots and pans in cabinets near the stove. Remove any cooking items that are chipped or broken. Arrange dry herbs and spices in an organised manner that are within reach near the stove. Clear out a shelf to place a cookbook and recipes in, if wanted.
8. Get an oil diffuser. Essential oils not only smell nice they also relax the body, boost your mood and improve your focus. There are many different blends you can search out from the variety of companies. Grab a small booklet off Google to learn which would help you best to get healthier. It’s a fun learning curve.
9. Create a safe and calming setting in your bedroom to encourage your brain to sleep. Use colours like blue, green or pink. These colours are known for peace and calm. Decorate your room with photos and arts to make it feel more peaceful. Keep electronics outside of your bedroom and turn them off an hour before you sleep. Listen to music on the radio or read a book to make the mind at ease.
10. If a goal of yours is to be active regularly, set down a set of workout clothes and leave your sneakers on a chair near your bed, so when you wake up, it will remind you and motivate you to get dressed and be active. If you go to a gym after work is over, pack a set of gym clothes and sneakers into a bag before heading off to bed, ready for the morning.

How much are you willing to improve your lifestyle and home to be healthy? It’s not that hard really. Give us a call if you need help with that. We also offer Feng Shui services for your home or office.

 

Why women need more sleep than men

Women need more sleep than men during the night due to the complexity of their brain. Studies have shown that women generally need an extra 20 minutes sleep every night so their brain can do all the extra processing that a women’s brain needs to do.

Although 20 minutes may not seem like a lot of extra sleep it impacts the brain in a very positive way. A women’s brain is structured in a way that they are able to juggle a few tasks at a time where as the male brain can struggle with this, however we are not saying that all men cannot multi task or that all women can, this is just the findings of a study on the average brain.

One of the most important reasons we all need sleep is to repair the brain and give it time to recover and sort through all the thoughts, memories and issues from the day just gone. This is why women tend to need more sleep because multi-tasking tends to use more of the brain, which in turn requires the brain longer time to repair. A man who does a lot of decision making and thinking at work through the day may also need to sleep longer than the average man.

If you happen to be a poor sleeper and a woman than you may find that you struggle with your emotions and experience greater psychological distress such as hostility, depression, and anger which can cause you restlessness but these same findings were not found in men who slept poorly.

Usually we need around 6 to 8 ours sleep a night for the brain to complete its restoration process however you, as an individual, may find you need a little more to keep you feeling fresh and relaxed. Regardless of whether you are male or female if you are having trouble sleeping you can try setting yourself a routine just as we would for a young child so that the body and mind know that it is sleep time now and start to help you wind down from the day. Also, meditation and yoga can be helpful for relaxation and helping give your body that nudge it needs to fall asleep quicker. Try some aromatherapy oils, some natural sleep supplements in the short term only or simply a cup of chamomile tea may do the trick.

So, if you are finding that you are not getting enough sleep it could be simply because your brain has not had enough time to restore itself. When you are having troubles getting to sleep try the above-mentioned relaxation strategies and see if they help or you could talk to your health care practitioner who could recommend a natural melatonin tablet to help get your sleep pattern back on track.