The Importance of Sleep
Some people is a waste of time and to them I say, you need a more comfortable bed.
Sleep is when your body repairs itself. It's the only chance your body has to replenish, create new cells, restore energy, rest your tissues and regenerate itself. Not enough / too little / interrupted / or sleeping at the wrong times messes with every single mechanism in your body [ every single one ] and is the fastest way to tear down your immune system, throw off your digestion, increase stress, slow down your metabolism and make you age faster. A good nights sleep is one of two most important factors in your health, the other of course being your nutrition.
If a huge part of maintaining balance depends on your zzz's, it's worth a little more consideration no?
WHEN you sleep is more important than HOW MUCH you sleep. The simple reason is this: we live on this planet, and this planet has rhythms, cycles, seasons and a natural flow. When we sync with these rhythms and with the earth's energy, our internal system also syncs and flows.. and when our circadian / metabolic cycles / digestion / hormone rhythms match that of the earth's, our internal regeneration potential switches on, allowing us to heal.
Flow is everything.
The gentlest and simplest way to reset your system is to get to bed by 10pm. This is the optimal sleep time because of where the earth is in orbit and because of the elemental energy prevalent on the planet, but also because the sun has completely set and we are in full darkness. Rising just before the sun - 48min to be exact - is the optimal time to wake up because waking with the sun is respecting the laws of nature too. All animals and even plants rise with and follow the sun all day. Sunflowers follow the sun and are the most open mid day, and turn themselves down as the sun goes down; bears hibernate in the winter because the sunlight is scarce, and so forth. We as humans need to do this too, or at least get to as close to it as possible for optimal health.
Get to bed early and rise early. Traveling, varying work schedules, lifestyle and such can cause fluxuations in your sleep schedule but it's worth the conscious effort to call it a night as early as possible on most nights. It is the simplest way to preserve your health, balance your hormones, lose extra weight naturally and wake up refreshed and full of energy.
For more information on how to naturally regulate your sleep cycle, help prevent insomnia or limit the amount of times you wake up during the night, jot me a line here. I'd love to help.
To a good night's sleep!