Click here to read our entire online February e-newsletter on Insomnia.
Dr. Sonya Nobbe, ND
Our ability to enjoy good quality sleep is one of the ultimate indicators of balance in our lives. Poor sleep is a risk factor for a multitude of health conditions, including obesity, breast cancer, depression, and heart disease. Severe sleep problems have many contributing factors and the underlying cause may take some time to resolve. However, these tips are an important first step and might be all that you need to achieve a good nights’ sleep.
Click here to read our entire online February e-newsletter on Insomnia.
by Carol Belanger, BA, RM, BHS
Our brain stem connects the spinal cord with the structures of the brain. The white matter of the brain stem relays sensations and information from the body to the brain. Scattered throughout the white matter are patches of gray that affect our physical functions. Part of the gray matter we are concerned with on the topic of sleep is called the reticular formation (rf). It governs both sleep and consciousness.
Consciousness normally depends on sensory information received from all over the body. This information is sorted, and sensed for essential, unusual and threatening information, and passed onto the brain. This information influences our levels of consciousness from attentiveness and alertness, to relaxation and inattentiveness. Signals from the rf to the brain stimulates our wakefulness. When the sensory stimulation of the rf is low, inhibited or slowed, sleep can occur.
There are many sensory stimulants: caffeine, exercise and activity, emotional stimulation from nervousness, anger, grief, worry or fear and even happiness, giddiness, etc., as well as computers, television, cell phones and more. They can significantly increase reticular formation activity, stimulate us and thereby impair sleep cycles or delay sleep, even if we are or should be tired.
Click here to read our entire online January e-newsletter on inflammation and pain.
Dr. Sonya Nobbe, ND
INFLAMMATION. We’re told that it causes anything from heart disease to arthritis to aging. Medical science has developed countless pharmaceutical and surgical interventions to suppress or circumvent its destructiveness, to alleviate pain and treat chronic disease. We even have drugs that affect how our DNA is involved in the generation of inflammation! But now science is starting to understand the long-term consequences of this approach, including the real possibility that our anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals are actually contributing to prolonged low-grade inflammation that makes us more ill. There are safer, more complete ways of addressing the inflammation that causes pain and disease.
Inflammation is a whole-body complex biochemical process initiated by the body’s immune system as a response to some form of “danger”, such as an injury or infection. It’s the red soreness of a scratch on our skin, the ache in our lower back, the stomach pain that follows a meal that didn’t agree with us. It’s the body’s warning that something isn’t right and so… we suppress it.
1. Eat a clean, whole foods diet that includes some raw veggies daily. Many of these foods have natural anti-inflammatory properties as well as nutrients that support optimal organ and tissue function. Processed foods of any kind are linked with inflammation, chronic disease, and premature death. Food intolerances such as gluten or dairy are also linked to chronic disease and pain. Please speak with a Naturopathic Doctor or Holistic Nutritionist to optimize your diet for reduced inflammation.
2. Relax. This branch of the nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, has some real healing potential. Meditation, Qigong, and time in the quiet outdoors are repeatedly associated with decreased pain and inflammation. Many older philosophies suggest that consciously working with the pain, rather than against it, provides significant relief.
As part of the team at KIHC, I volunteered to be one of the contributors for the December Newsletter on Insomnia. Little did I know that I would suffer from insomnia in the last two weeks. In my life I have had little difficulty in sleeping with the exception of emotional stress.
In my work as an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner I hear complaints from many patients about insomnia as well as from children. Most of us commonly experience sleep disturbance due to stress and environmental changes but when it becomes chronic this becomes a health burden. For some people, pharmaceutical intervention is sought and for others non-prescription supplements, mind-body relaxation techniques and sometimes alcohol.
One dictionary definition says insomnia is a chronic inability to fall asleep or to enjoy uninterrupted sleep. Our sleep/wake cycle is influenced by our biological clock called the circadian rhythm. This circadian rhythm affects our physiological process. Our circadian rhythm tends to be synchronized with cycles of light and dark as well as
Our ability to enjoy good quality sleep is one of the ultimate indicators of balance in our lives. Sleep is a reflection of our relationship with our external environment and it enables us to connect internally to our subconscious mind in the form of dreams. Many ancient medicines use dreams and a person’s sleep habits to help identify imbalances so that a prescription for whole mind-body wellness can be determined. Conventional medicine considers restorative sleep to play a critical role in the proper functioning of our mood, hormones, and immune system. Disordered sleep is a risk factor for a multitude of health conditions, including breast cancer and heart disease.
Sleep disturbances can be one of the more prevalent complaints in people with chronic pain. Of course it is hard to relax and get to sleep when you cannot get into a comfortable position. However, what if it was your lack of sleep that was making your pain worse? Or maybe it was the lack of sleep that caused your chronic pain in the first place?
Recent research has shown a reciprocal relationship between chronic pain and sleep. Some studies showed that sleep deprivation indeed caused an increase in pain perception in previously healthy adults. The participants felt overall muscle and joint pain, tenderness and fatigue. Therefore, the less sleep a person got, the more pain they felt.
It is easy to associate massage therapy with relaxation, stress reduction, and ‘working out the knots’. However, one of the most underappreciated aspects of receiving a good massage is the wonderful night of sleep that so often follows a massage therapy treatment. In a society that seems to be moving towards an epidemic of sleep debt, where an estimated 50% of adults in North America are chronically underslept, it is vital that we understand the importance of sleep in our lives and find ways to improve how we sleep.
Sleep was once thought to be a passive activity, but as the science of sleep develops, we now understand how important sleep is! Sleep is actually a highly regulated process, in which the body performs several vital activities, some of which simply don’t occur at any other time.
We respectfully acknowledge that Kingston Integrated Healthcare is situated on ancestral Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. Since time immemorial they have cared for these lands and waters, and we are grateful. We recognize that a healthy environment is essential to the wellbeing of all people and all life.
Click here to read our entire online February e-newsletter on Insomnia.