Sleep is probably the most important part of your day. But our society puts this stigma on sleep…
“you’re not hustling if your sleeping…”
“you’re not making money when you sleep”
“people who sleep are lazy…. “
We put a lot of stress on our bodies throughout the day, it used to be tending to the fields, but these days it is hustling between carpool, meetings, soccer practice, dinner, etc. In between all of that we try and eat something that is quick and (hopefully healthy). After long days of running, we have to clean, do laundry, spend time with our spouse…before you know it – it’s 11:30 and you have to start it all over again tomorrow at 5:30am. But what happens between those 6 hours of rest? We now have fancy gadgets that tell us how well we slept, how restless we were, or if your spouse is kind enough, they will tell you just how loud you snored last night!
While all this is happening, your brain starts the night shift. It has to take all that food you ate and figure out where to put it. Then it has to check with your thyroid and make sure it is pumping the perfect amount of hormones throughout your organs, then it runs down the whole body, checking in with the heart, figuring out what repairs need to be made, lungs, kidneys, liver, intestine, etc. Your body has around 100,000 miles of veins and arteries, all which need to be functioning on point. Hopefully you worked out that day, so the brain sends repair signals to your muscles. They grow bigger, the bone rebuilds slightly denser than before. The body has to do all this while you sleep, so imagine how much it can get done in 8 hours versus the average 5.
So I am sure you are all saying, I would love to get 8 hours of sleep. That would be a dream. But I just can’t! There is too much to be done. Well answer this, how much can you get done when you are sick or injured because your body didn’t have the proper time to heal? I encourage you to look at your day, your life and figure out how to build in the time for rest and recovery. It can absolutely be done, if it is a priority.
Many of most prevalent chronic conditions today can be reversed or reduced with sleep!
Ok, so what if I have Insomnia? I have never been able to sleep… That is when we start asking why? Is it stress or anxiety, is it a miscommunication within your brain or is something impeding your breathing? A sleep study is a great way to figure out what is happening while you sleep. Sometimes it is an easy fix, and sometimes it is a little more extensive. But for those that have had sleep issues for years, this is the first step.
The most important message is that sleep is critical to being healthy! So if you are struggling with sleep, please tell your medical provider and get some advice on what you can do to get better rest to rejuvenate your body and your life!
