Importance Of Sleep And Heal(y)ing

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Sleep.
Coveted sleep.
Most of us don’t get enough sleep, enough good sleep.

Who has the time?! For me being a mom, nighttime, after Atlas goes to bed, is when I’m able to get most of my personal stuff done, that is neither work or housework.
I will head to bed around 11 or midnight and get up around 3 or 4 AM to bring him from the crib to bed, and then we are usually up around 7:30AM.
While this may sound like a good 7 hours of sleep, it isn’t always. And of course, it varies day to day on the quality of that sleep.
At the end of this post, I will go over a few of the tips and tools I have been using to try to take back the night, in the way of balanced and replenishing sleep.

8 Reasons Why Our Body Needs Sleep

We ALL know that sleep is fundamental to our physical and mental health.
I will run through a quick list of 8 reasons our bodies need this time just to set the tone and to bring in awareness.

• Improves Immune Function– Your cells need rest too, and immune cells and proteins use this time to recharge and be ready to fight any invader when necessary.
• Weight Management– If you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces ghrelin, a hormone that boosts appetite. Your body also decreases the production of leptin, a hormone that tells you you’re full. 
• Memory Improvement– Yes, please. While your body is resting, your mind has the time to sort through the emotions and interactions from the day and store them where necessary. By not getting enough sleep, who knows where those memories go, or what partial, potentially false, memories are hurried together.
• Heart Function– Again, when the whole body is at rest, the major organs and systems get a rest too! When we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies can produce more cortisol, which then triggers the heart to work even harder.
  Show yourself some love and let your heart rest, it does so much.
• Mood Improvement-It’s that domino effect. When you sleep better, your mind process emotions, your brain gets a break, your heart is rejuvenated, your hormones regulate, and you wake up with real energy to be more productive and have a more joyous outlook on life.
• Pain Management– Over 100 million Americans deal with chronic pain, and it’s not a stretch to say that sleep is affected by this pain. In fact, there’s a back-and-forth relationship between the two: Poor sleep makes the perception of pain worse, and pain often interferes with sleep. Taking certain medications can also impact the cycles of sleep.
  This is why it is very important to try natural methods and create positive sleep habits, before just taking something.
• Gene Function– You know I’m all about cellular health! A 2013 study at the University of Surrey found that chronic sleep deprivation (defined as less than six hours of sleep every night for just one week) affects the functioning of about three percent of genes. “That may not sound like much, but it’s hundreds of genes, including some that influence inflammation, immunity, and how we responses to stress,” shares Nabhan.
• Athletic and Sexual Performance-These could be two categories, but I’m putting them together because I like the number 8. Sleep plays a huge part in muscle recovery, resulting in more strength, stamina, and general coordination. Lack of sleep is also linked to lower growth hormones and testosterone levels in men. Just saying.

Spiritual Sleep

We are only going to touch on this briefly, as diving into spiritual sleep and the practices around it are absolutely captivating, and I will do a future post on this topic after more research and experimentation.

Spiritual sleep is an ancient practice. The Greeks were known to sleep in specific locations, as to please the Greek demigod Asclepius, who was known for healing. These periods of sleep were not as much about the rest, as they were to be given access to a sacred dream state and dream message.

This is also known by the more familiar term lucid dreaming. A state that is both conscious and dreaming. I personally have not ever entered this state, that I can recall, and it is a skill that is on the list of things to incorporate into my spiritual practice.

Since the 1960s, sleep scientists have tried to induce lucid dreams in subjects as a means of stoking creativity or solving problems. People in these types of studies are often asked to use an incubation technique to encourage a specific dream that helps them work through their issues. Subjects that engaged in the incubation techniques found that they were better at solving their problems in a dream state and had decreased anxiety during waking hours.

Yoga nidra is another form of spiritual sleep practice. Yoga nidra is a form of guided meditation, a method of Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses) that allows you to scan the body and tap into a state of relaxed consciousness as the mind settles in a place between wakefulness and sleep.
“In yoga nidra, we restore our body, senses, and mind to their natural function and awaken a seventh sense that allows us to feel no separation, that only sees wholeness, tranquility, and well-being,” says Richard Miller, a San Francisco Bay Area yoga teacher, and clinical psychologist.

I had just learned about this style of yoga meditation recently, and have yet to try it.
Guess what I’ll be doing before bed tonight?! Hehe.

20 minute Yoga Nidra video

Healy Sleep Programs

The Healy device has four complete programs to harmonize one’s bioenergetic field and support all the body’s sleep processes.

SLEEP SYSTEM: Harmonization of the bioenergetic field for optimizing the sleep phase. Frequencies to assist the bioenergetic field to optimize energetic shifts into deep delta sleep states (deep sleep).

BED REST: Harmonization of the bioenergetic field to promote relaxation this also supports healthy heart rate variability and vagal tone, bringing deep relaxation to the nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is comprised of two parts. The sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. Bed rest frequencies promote bioenergetic support of parasympathetic functions (recovery and relaxation, rest and digest). The parasympathetic nervous system helps to slow the heart, conserve energy, and increase intestinal and gland activity which helps the body rest. It also helps the body digest foods. In contrast, the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for intense physical activities. It is involved in fight or flight. The Parasympathetic is basically the opposite the sympathetic. The bedrest frequency is involved in relaxing the body and slowing down higher activity functions supporting the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system to slow down and recover (rest and digest).

BALANCED SLEEP: Bioenergetic harmonization of the sleep phase. These frequencies help to better guide the system into more balanced states of sleep.

FINE FLOW: Bioenergetic activation through supporting ionic flow/movement in the body. Ions are charged particles that send electrical signals through the body. Ionic charges in the extracellular fluid are strong controllers of the body’s ability to move into sleep. The fine flow frequencies support the energetically support movements of charged particles through the body which in turn helps to regulate neuronal communication, neuro- transmitter, and hormone release that support healthy sleep states.

The specific frequencies and intentions of these programs are so powerful. These aren’t just “go-to-sleep” frequencies, and the differences between the programs are not so subtle once you become attuned to them.
I will run the Sleep System program most often using the coil accessory, which allows for it to be wireless, and the three-foot Taurus energy field can encompass both Atlas and I.

Atlas’s Sleep

This is my personal testimonial and I share it as often as possible for those who will listen because I am continually grateful for the impact it has made in our life.

My son Atlas is a little over 20 months old, and while he has always been a pretty good sleeper, there has been varying inconvenience in regard to the process of getting him to sleep.
I breastfeed, and for a while now it has just been twice a day-before naptime and bedtime. Unless of course, we are traveling which, let me tell you, breastfeeding is a lifesaver for plane rides whether it be a few hours to visit family or a spontaneous trip to Greece!

So we would sit in the rocking chair, with the curtains drawn and lights off, listening to our sleepytime playlist, and I would nurse until he fell asleep. This could be 15 minutes or most often half an hour for him to be fully out. I usually sat there an extra 5 or 10 minutes to make sure he was solid asleep.
Then I would ever so carefully stand up and take him to the crib.
Gently set him down, and hope to God he didn’t rouse.

If he did, I would have to start the whole process over again. No joke.
You may say let him cry it out or whatever, and there were some days I did that and it worked. Most days it wouldn’t. He would cry himself into a tizzy and it was just easier to take the extra 15 minutes to get him down calmly.
I literally spent on average 2 hours a day getting my son to go to sleep.
That’s 14 hours per week on just the process. Holy shit.

When we got back from Greece, I purchased my Healy, and it was in my hands within days! The first full day I had it, I used the Blue App to send frequencies through the quantum field for 1 minute and 20 seconds (twice) to Atlas while getting him down for his nap. He fell asleep pretty quickly, I got him laid down and continued about the day.

It wasn’t until the third day of sending these frequencies during our time in the rocking chair that I noticed what was going on. When I laid him down, half to mostly asleep, he didn’t cry, he just went to eff to sleep.
The next day I literally shorted our nap rocking chair time to two songs and laid him down in the crib, fairly awake.
I used the device to send the frequencies when I was outside of the room and heard him babble happily for a bit, and then guess what?
He went the eff to sleep.

In a manner of DAYS, I had gained back those 14 hours per week.

I’m sure you mothers can relate to the fact that children have ebbs and flows and changes in their sleep habits constantly.
This device helps to stabilize and harmonize them through those changes. To support them on an energetic level, delivering exactly what their bodies need to rejuvenate, grow, and thrive while sleeping.

8 Additional Ways I Support My Sleep

Yes, we are sticking with the number 8. Hah, it’s even the 28th today. Fun facts.

• Essential Oils– Essential Oils should be in every home, every car, every purse, and every backpack in my opinion. Lavender is one of the most diverse and approachable oils, and it works wonders for relaxation and promoting sleep.
  Chamomile, Cedarwood, Vetiver, and Sandlewood are more of my top favorites. You can use them in a diffuser, a drop on your pillow, or in carrier oils and give yourself a nice foot massage before bed.
• Herbal Teas– I was never much of a tea drinker until I was pregnant. Now I am slightly obsessed and have a cupboard full. My favorite and trusted brands are organic because that is important. If you love tea, check out my post Herbal Tea Benefits For Everyday Health. For my nighttime routine, I will choose one of these: Traditional Medicine Chamomile with Lavender, Pukka Herbs Night Time Tea, Yogi Bedtime, or Tazo Dream. Okay, the last one isn’t organic, but with the almond notes, it is SO good!
• Hot Baths or Showers– I understand not everyone enjoys baths, so a shower will work here. The hot water helps to soothe aching muscles, the water washes away stress and negative energy, and going to bed clean is sometimes just the right touch to a restful sleep. If you do enjoy a relaxing soak, add some Epsom salts for an added bonus! I go over the benefits in my post-Epsom Salt for Everything.
• Meditation– This tool can be used at any point throughout the day, as well as right before bed. Meditation helps us to calm the nervous system and release the bullshit of the day so that at night our mind is more clear to just drift off into dreamland. You can also find guided meditations that will carry you swiftly into a peaceful slumber.
• Restorative Yoga or Qi-gong– There are a plethora of videos on YouTube that will guide you through a relaxing routine to quiet the mind and slow down the body. These are beautiful ways to signal to your body you are ready to wind down, instead of binging two hours of Netflix. Ready my post on Qigong to learn about how this low-impact movement, has high-impact results.
• Turn off EMF devices– We should really limit our screen time for at least an hour before bed, however, I understand that the large majority of us don’t do that. Myself included. What I have found to be impactful is to turn off devices that emit Electromagnetic Frequencies before I hit the hay. This means unplugging my Wi-Fi router and putting my cell phone on airplane mode. T I’ve been doing this for months (most nights), and I can now feel the difference between it being on and off. If I forget- my sleep is lighter, and my mood is more agitated when I wake up in the morning. Granted you may not see immediate benefits, but not everything is instant gratification folks.
• Circadian Rhythms– This ties in with not using technology up until bedtime. Until the last hundred years, it was light during the daytime and dark at night. We didn’t have all this artificial light to confuse our natural cycles. Not saying I don’t appreciate the light bulb! However, our circadian rhythm is deeply ingrained in us. When there is too much screen time, artificial light, or working overnight shifts, it causes disorder and dysregulation of our body’s natural processes.
• Affirmations– On nights that I just can’t seem to calm my mind, if I’m not feeling at peace within myself, I turn to affirmations. You can find these on YouTube or even record them yourself! If you listen to a recording on the internet, try to download it so you can listen to it while your phone is in airplane mode. 🙂 These soothing words provide a double-whammy, helping to relax you into a sweet slumber, and also while you are in that in-between state is when your subconscious mind is most impressionable, so you will be creating new pathways and beliefs with these positive affirmations.

Well, folks, this has been my longest post yet, and I am beat!
This one really was so much fun to write and I hope you enjoy it and gain a few insights.
I’m sipping on my tea and heading to sleep!
Goodnight!

Love and vibes and sweet dreams,