Physical Health - SLEEP

When focusing on just physical health, (1 of 4 parts of health) the portion that equals only 25% of the way a person feels, but all to often is the culprit of what people assume make up almost 80% of their health.  Now, when someone ASS U ME s  something, just, well u get it right?  Basically, physical health dominates in our mind because exercise, diet/nutrition, reducing the risk of disease or absence of disease (not being sick), and sleep fall under, not to mention personal hygiene & getting check ups from Dr./wellness professionals all reside under the umbrella of physical health.  All those topics are only 25%!!!!! Well, only, lonely sleep is the topic here......

The idea is to make small adjustments to our daily & weekly habits and patterns to improve upon something we already do.  This post  is about how sleep directly applies to physical health, but more importantly how can you make this work for you by being in the know and applying this life saving information about sleep.

Our bodies only repair, grow, & truly heal when we are sleeping.  If your are not as tall as you would like, it could be directly related to not sleeping to your bodies TRUE demands during your teen years.......Both the quantity & quality of sleep is vital to our well being, how efficient our body systems function, and to our state of mind.  When the mind is at rest during certain patterns of sleep, specific chemicals are released in the brain that allow the body to get its daily R & R.  Over time if not an adequate amount of sleep is not incurred, then the body is out of balance and something is going to give.  If your physical health is out of sync, then one of the other 3 parts (mental, emotional, and/or social) will DIRECTLY be effected in a negative way.  So, that is why people get cranky!!!

What is an appropriate amount of sleep and how can this apply to your routine and life? 

Well, 7-10 hours of sleep is needed for the body to fall into a sleep cycle of R.E.M (rapid eye movement) or “deep sleep.”  Is this ideal in our busy lives, as we hustle and bustle from day to day tasks?   A person needs to make time for sleep just like they would going to work, the body demands it for our health to be optimal.  The consequence for lack of sleep  is the shutting down of several body systems that signficantly lowers the quality of life, basically how you feel.  Its hard to be happy and well when your body is shutting down from not appropriate levels of sleep.  Just like when a heart attack strikes the vascular/circulatory system, not feeling well year after year increases stress levels and is hard to recover from because it takes several years of bad daily habits before the signs and symptoms are to great.  The pattern that has developed and turned into a chronic condition will be hard to reverse or change.  So regardless of where you are with your sleep, not is the time to improve it!

Your environment (aka sleeping area) has a major factor into your sleep.  Do you live in a rural or urban setting, how many sleep in your room &/or house, what type of support to the body and neck/head is their during sleep?  These are all important factors into your bodies ability to achieve a desired amount of  rest.  Even more important are you woken up during your sleep time?  Broken sleep patterns are the largest culprit to affecting the body to heal and rest.  How do you correct any problems?  Well its up to you, and small changes always work best.  A person cannot make up for lost sleep because the bodies systems operate in a dynamic way, but from this day forward a person can improve variables that led to better quality of sleep.  You have to decide what is right for you in your situation, you have control and the power to help yourself have a better quality of life. 

Only you can change your life for the positive, its all about personal choices.  If you do not take time for your HEALTH (physical, mental, emotional, & social) it will be our of balance and your body will respond by shutting down and making you feel like crap by lowering your quality of life.  That doesn’t sound like fun for me, so sometimes I just go to bed early and continue my life experience with an appropriate amount of sleep for me, just over 7 hours :).