Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

Sleep is the body’s time to rest, repair, and to rebuild. Improper sleep leads to imbalances that accelerate aging and disease and also to fat retention. The body's metabolic cycles follow light and dark patterns. For best healing, repair, and fat burning retire to bed early each evening and and arise early each morning.  Various hormones are released as we sleep, which lead to a greater sense of well being, youthfulness, and the absence of disease:

Erythropoietin is a hormone that is released from the kidneys only as you sleep soundly. It stimulates red-blood cell production in the bones, which carry oxygen to your cells and carry away carbon dioxide out of the body, a byproduct of cellular respiration. Red-blood cell production is so important that Erythropoitin is used as a doping agent by endurance athletes to enhance stamina. High red-blood cell production occurs only during sound sleep.

Growth Hormone released by the pituitary gland as you sleep helps to stimulate cellular growth and reproduction and also helps to maintain strong muscle and bones. Moreover, it helps to decrease the amount of body fat you carry. Sleep deprivation is a primary reason why those who struggle to lose excess body weight also suffer from weak muscles and bones.

Testosterone is secreted primarily by the testicles of males and the ovaries of females. Testosterone production that supports a strong immune system, a healthy sex drive, high energy, and helps prevent osteoporosis occurs as you sleep soundly between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am.

Serotonin is produced in the brain when tryptophan, an essential amino acid, crosses the blood-brain barrier. It promotes calm and relaxed sleepiness, which better enables the production of the preceding three hormones and their benefits. And, when natural tryptophan-rich food is combined with carbohydrate-rich food, the insulin released because of the presence of carbohydrates diverts competing amino acids away from your brain, leaving tryptophan with little competition to cross the blood-brain barrier and to gain access to the brain. Foods naturally rich in tryptophan include whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, miso, eggs, unsweetened soy milk, and dairy products. 

7:00 PM Quitting Time and Other - Avoid drinking fluids or eating high-water content foods within two hours of going to bed so that you do not have to interrupt deep sleep to go to the bathroom. Do something physical and relaxing before going to bed each night, such as going for a walk or doing acts of kindness. Enjoy thick blankets and cool temperature for even sounder sleep and before going to sleep.

Evening Prayer - Pray and revisit the day with the Lord, expressing gratitude to him for his tender mercies in your behalf. Commit yourself unto his care and ask that you may enjoy the sleep of the laborer. As you work hard each day to do God’s will, and as you go about doing good continually, you will enjoy the restful, healing, and rejuvinating sleep of the laborer and not the restless, aging, and destructive sleep of the indolent.

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