Recently I came across a powerful saying, something like:
“Self-Care is not sweet baths and hot chocolate. It is about creating a life that you don’t need to escape from on a regular basis.”
That really hit the nail on the head for me, so in this series of blogs I am going to explore Self-Care a little.
It seems to me that our health is a bit like a table – we want the table to be big enough to support all our activities, and yet not collapse under the weight it is carrying, and most importantly we want the legs to be even so that it doesn’t wobble, and doesn’t need coasters under one or more legs to even it out . . . or for a leg to give way entirely so that whole pile of STUFF on the desk slides off onto the floor.
Nor do we want the seemingly level and solid table to be an illusion, like an Escher painting!
The first leg of this Table of Health is SLEEP.
Fortunately, there is much more conversation about sleep these days, partly thanks to some wonderful books which have become well known, in particular:
“Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker: a brilliant (and laugh out loud witty!) analysis of the benefits of sleep, and why we need it.
“The Power of When” by Michael Breuss: he discusses four different chrono-types, how to work out which one you are, and how best to structure your day for each type.
and
“Sleep Smarter” by Shawn Stevenson: some really useful practical tips on how to improve your sleep.
It seems that it is during sleep that our brain cleans itself – remember those cleaning cassettes we used to use the clean the heads in the cassette player? Or the CDs with little brushes on them to clean the CD reader? It seems to me that sleep is a little like these, or like hosing down a grubby patio, or dusting the mantelpiece, or tuning a guitar or a piano. They are all usable without this care, they simply don’t work so well, look as welcoming or sound so good.
Sleep debt is a useful way of looking at how much sleep you are getting.
Assuming that adults need 7-9 hours sleep a night, so take the average of 8, then deduct how many hours of actual sleep you get. For example:
8 hours ideal sleep – 5 hours actual sleep = Sleep Debt of 3 hours. Over a week this will mount up and up…
Lack of sleep has been shown to be implicated in weight gain. There is a direct correlation between lack of sleep and cravings for calming carbohydrates the following day. So if you want to lose weight, get more sleep!
Poor sleep has also been shown to be linked with
- high blood pressure
- diabetes
- dementia (on a personal note here, my mother had Alzheimer’s, and for years she complained of sleeping badly).
- increased risk of accidents, akin to driving with too much alcohol in your blood
- skin ageing prematurely
Not a pretty sight. Beauty sleep is what it says.
Is sleep something you struggle with, or does it come easily to you?
Cranial Osteopathy is wonderful for helping people to relax and to sleep better. If this would interest you, and you are in or near Baldock in Hertfordshire, or Bromley in SE London, send me a text and we can book you in for an appointment.