Wednesday, May 29, 2013 by: PF Louis
(NaturalNews) First, let's discuss what good sleep is and its effect on the immune system. In 2005, the National Sleep Foundation conducted a nationwide poll and determined that the amount of nocturnal bed time average in America was just under what's considered normal, eight hours.But 75 percent of those polled complained of sleep interruptions, difficulty getting back to sleep, or delayed sleep. In other words, poor quality sleep or insomnia. Scientists have determined that there are five cycles of sleep with cycles three and four as the deep sleep cycles.
It's those cycles that offer the most healing while slowing down physiological and mental functions. A Miami Beach Mt. Sinai Hospital study charted the sleep cycles of men diagnosed as HIV but symptom free and compared them to men who were manifesting AIDS.
They discovered that the men who were symptom free spent 50 percent more time in the deep sleep cycles of three and four than the men experiencing AIDS symptoms. Cycles three and four enhance the immune system.
Avoid these to get good quality sleep
Avoid sleeping pills. A two and a half-year study conducted by Kripkel, Langer, and Kline called "Hypnotics' (sleeping pills) association with mortality or cancer: a matched cohort study" was published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in February 2012.
Here's an excerpt from the study's conclusion: Rough order-of-magnitude estimates at the end of the supplemental files suggest that in 2010, hypnotics may have been associated with 320,000 to 507,000 excess sudden deaths in the USA alone.
The study showed that there is a 530 percent risk of earlier death by using sleeping pills along with a 35 percent increased risk of cancer. You can view the study here: http://bmjopen.bmj.com
You should also avoid late night caffeine beverages, alcohol, and late night meals. You may sleep, but the quality suffers. Avoid sleeping with your head near electronic devices, especially wireless devices. Unplug them or move away.
Also, make sure there is absolutely no light pollution in your bedroom that could impair your pineal glands ability to begin producing melatonin, which promotes your deep sleep cycles.
Use these measures to overcome insomnia
(1) Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) use acupuncture needles on the outer ear meridians and herbs to curb insomnia. TCM is highly effective and produces long-term relief from insomnia, delayed sleep syndrome, and other sleep disorders.
(2) Melatonin supplements are very helpful for getting and staying asleep. Sub-lingual tablets of three mg more or fewer works quickly and well. Too much may leave you a little foggy in the morning. Simply cut back the dosage.
Some people don't handle melatonin well. But if you can, know that melatonin also helps detox fluoride and has antioxidant properties.
(3) Valerian is similar to melatonin because it's a sleep inducer, not merely a relaxant or tension reliever. It can be purchased as a tincture, and it's safe. Valerian is usually effective for most, but not all.
(4) Relaxing herbs such as chamomile can make it easier to glide into sleep, but they are not sleep inducers. Chamomile is often used as a tea. There are magnesium or magnesium/calcium powders with catalysts to make them fizz when adding hot water, which you drink after cooling and settling the fizz.
These magnesium powders offer rapidly assimilable magnesium for immense muscular relaxation in addition to providing a normally deficient and vital mineral magnesium.
(5) Yoga, tai chi, chi gong, and meditation practiced consistently goes a long way to eventually eliminating sleep problems. Pay close attention to doing yoga's final pose in any given series of postures, the corpse pose.
It's a meditative process that if done properly, totally relaxes all your muscles and puts you into a blissful state.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.jcm.co.uk
http://www.naturalnews.com/026637_sleep_health_immune_system.html
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
http://healthland.time.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/040534_insomnia_sleep_remedies_healthy.html
