Sleep is a restorative time and when we are sleeping well means we are healing well. Our brain flushes out bio-toxins that’s stored in your neural system, 10 times more efficiently when you have good sleep than when you are awake.
Based on our experience, the leading cause of sleep deprivation and sleep issues is chronic stress. A stressful incident can make the heart pound, breathing quicken and muscles tense. This combination of reactions to stress is also known as the "flight-or-fight" response. The flight-or-fight response can be triggered by stressful situations, overly stressful working lives, social situations, and randomly generated thoughts.
Our brains cannot always tell the difference between life-or-death threats and relatively minor threats like those to our emotional wellbeing. So a work deadline, public speaking event or a rude comment from another can elicit the flight-or-fight response.
With the fast-paced lifestyle we lead, many people are unable to find a way to put the brakes on stress. Chronic low-level stress keeps flight-or-fight response activated. After a while, this has an effect on the body that contributes to the health problems associated with chronic stress, such as sleep issues, anxiety, chronic fatigue, weakened immune system and much more.
Sleep deprivation could affect us
Physically, causing skin issues, hair loss, food cravings and obesity. “Beauty sleep” occurs mostly during deep sleep (stages 3 and 4 of our sleep cycle), releasing growth hormone that helps repair tissue from all the stress or injuries that might have occurred during the day.
Emotionally, causing grumpiness, anxiety and/or mood swings. When we do not get a good night’s rest, we tend to become more emotionally reactive in a negative way, such as in anger or with sadness. All these things exacerbate when we’re sleep deprived.
Cognitively, causing memory problems, brain fog and/or attention deficit hyperactive disorder. We tend to think more slowly, the more sleep deprived we are. During sleep, we go into a stage of sleep called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, whereby we organise your thoughts and we move information from our short term memory to our long term memory.
Without good sleep, our bodies aren't getting the valuable digest-repair-restore time that they need to heal. And without enough restful sleep, our mental health tanks — the important emotional reserves we need to deal with the stressors of life get depleted, and compliance with any healing protocol can feel overwhelming or even impossible.
While the world seems to shift on its axis, one thing is very clear: there is nothing more important to ensuring you have a strong immune system than getting your sleep. During sleep, our bodies make the important T-cells, the white blood cells that fight off infection and arrest viruses before they can proliferate.
Sleeping Positions To Optimise Recharge and Recovery
We strongly recommend sleeping on your side or back with a pillow that supports the natural curvature of your spine whether you are sleeping on your side or your back. Watch this Youtube 3-minute video on tips to support the natural curvature of your spine to promote spinal alignment and optimise recharge and recovery of your body.
The Gift of Sleep Toolkit
You can also find additional sleep specific guidance and discover how to get your beauty sleep, improve mental clarity and harmonise your mood with The Gift of Sleep Toolkit. In this toolkit, you will learn how to rebalance your circadian rhythm for better sleep, enable your sleep environment, as well as explore sleep supportive positions and practices.
How does Spinal Flow Technique help with health problems associated with chronic stress and sleep issues?
Your nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves) controls and coordinates everything in your body. When your nerve energy flows abundantly without obstruction, your body and mind are 100% self-communicating, self-healing and self regulating. When blockages impede nerve flow, you are no longer functioning at 100% and your health and vitality is compromised. Blockages are caused by our inability to process life’s 3 major stressors. Health problems associated with chronic stress, such as chronic headaches, anxiety, sleep issues, fertility issues, chronic depression, hyperactivity and more are caused by our inability to process any or a combination of the life’s 3 major stressors - physical stressors, emotional stressors and chemical stressors.
At RealEase, our approach is to find out what’s happening in your body and the root cause of your pain, illness or dis-ease by partnering with you as well as performing specific assessments on your body. As Spinal Flow Technique (Spinal Flow) practitioners, we help shift your body from a stressed zone (sympathetic state) to a healing zone (para-sympathetic state) by focusing on what works/area of ease or where there is flow. Spinal Flow involves light touches on specific points without manually manipulating the spine. It helps rebalance the nervous system to optimise recovery, regeneration and healing as well as facilitate release of physical, chemical and emotional stress from the body.
Looking to find the root cause of you pain, illness or dis-ease and shift your body to optimal health and wellness?
Book your initial consultation and Spinal Flow services appointment with RealEase here or express your interest via this link.
Credits -
Cover photo https://unsplash.com/@peter_oslanec
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