In winter, nature sleeps. If you are having trouble sleeping, (in winter or anytime of the year) you aren't re-charging your batteries like you should, and you might be feeling tired, fuzzy-headed or even sick during the day. Studies have shown that you are more susceptible to chronic health problems (cardio-vascular illness, diabetes, immune problems, for example) if you are not getting your 8 hours of sleep. Here are 33 suggestions for you to consider as you plan how to remedy your re-charging problem.
Optimizing Your Sleep Sanctuary
1. Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as possible. Even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your body's production of hormones. Light signals your brain that it’s time to wake up and starts preparing your body for ACTION.
2. Keep the temperature in your bedroom cool. Studies show that the optimal room temperature is between 60 to 68 degrees. Keeping your room cooler or hotter can lead to restless sleep.
3. Move alarm clocks and other electrical devices away from your bed. If these devices must be used, keep them as far away from your bed as possible, preferably at least 3 feet, and especially away from your head. Electrical fields in the bedroom will keep you awake.
4. Remove your clock from view. It will only add to your worry when you stare at it all night.
5. Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on your body to be suddenly jolted awake. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, an alarm may even be unnecessary.
6. Reserve your bed for sleeping and sex. No watching TV or doing work in bed.
7. Consider separate bedrooms. Recent studies suggest, for many people, sharing a bed with a partner (or pets) can significantly impair sleep.
Preparing for Bed
8. Get to bed as early as possible. Your body (particularly your adrenal system) does a majority of its recharging between the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., and your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.
9. Don't change your bedtime. You should go to bed and wake up at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to establish a sleep rhythm.
10. Establish a bedtime routine. This could include meditation, deep breathing, or reading. The key is to find something that makes you feel relaxed, then repeat it each night.
11. Don't drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will reduce the likelihood of needing to get up and go to the bathroom.
12. Go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you'll wake up to go in the middle of the night.
13. Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan needed for your melatonin and serotonin production.
14. Also eat a small piece of fruit. This can help the tryptophan cross your blood-brain barrier.
15. Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. These will raise your blood sugar and delay sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you may wake up and be unable to fall back asleep.
16. Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. When your body temperature is raised in the late evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating slumber. The temperature drop from getting out of the bath signals your body it’s time for bed.
17. Wear socks to bed. Feet often feel cold before the rest of the body because they have the poorest circulation. A study has shown that wearing socks reduces night waking. As an alternative, you could place a hot water bottle near your feet at night.
18. Wear an eye mask to block out light. It is very important to sleep in complete darkness. But it's not always easy to block out every stream of light using curtains, blinds or drapes, particularly if you live in an urban area (or if your spouse has a different schedule than you do). Wearing an eye mask will help.
19. Put your work away at least one hour before bed (preferably two hours or more). This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm.
20. No TV right before bed. Even better, get the TV out of the bedroom. It’s too stimulating to the brain, preventing you from falling asleep quickly. TV disrupts your pineal gland function.
21. Listen to relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds to be soothing for sleep.
22. Read something spiritual or uplifting. This may help you relax. Don't read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, which has the opposite effect.
23. Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful to keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed.
Lifestyle Suggestions That Enhance Sleep
24. Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many drugs, either prescription or over the counter may adversely affect sleep. Look up the side effects of the drugs you are taking and see if your meds are the culprit.
25. Avoid caffeine. At least one study has shown that, in some people, caffeine is not metabolized efficiently, leaving you feeling its effects long after consumption. Be aware that some medications or supplements contain caffeine.
26. Avoid alcohol. Although alcohol will make you drowsy at first, the effect is short lived and you will often wake up several hours later, unable to fall back asleep. Alcohol will also keep you from entering the deeper stages of sleep, where your body does most of its healing.
27. Make certain you get regular exercise. Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can improve your sleep. However, don't exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake.
28. Lose excess weight. Being overweight can increase your risk of sleep apnea, which can seriously impair your sleep.
29. Avoid foods you may be sensitive to. This is particularly true for sugar, grains, and pasteurized dairy. Sensitivity reactions can cause excess congestion, gastrointestinal upset, bloating and gas, or other problems.
30. If you are menopausal or peri-menopausal, get checked out by a physician. The hormonal changes at this time may cause sleep problems if not properly addressed.
31. Tell your acupuncturist if you are having sleep problems. Regular treatment with acupuncture or herbs may help you establish the correct body rhythms.
If All Else Fails
32. Increase your melatonin. Ideally it is best to increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime (along with full spectrum fluorescent bulbs in the winter) and absolute complete darkness at night. If that isn’t possible, you may want to consider a melatonin supplement. In scientific studies, melatonin has been shown to increase sleepiness, help you fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep, decrease restlessness, and reverse daytime fatigue.
(These suggestions have been derived and edited from Mercola.com)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Abundance--Not Scarcity
There is Abundance, Not Scarcity
Paul (not his real name) arrived at my office the other day, while I was on the phone with a prospective patient. He overheard me telling the caller that the best plan might be to go to one of my colleagues closer to where she lived, making treatment more convenient.
After the call, Paul shook his head. “Do you know how unusual your brand of medicine is?” He continued: “Any medical doctor you call would try to convince you that theirs was the ONLY practice for you. They wouldn’t give you the telephone number of a competitor. That’s the LAST thing they would do.”
He also reminded me how he eventually came to me: he had called an acupuncturist about 15 miles away and that person in turn referred him to me because it would be a better fit (location, health issue, etc.).
Paul works for the medical insurance industry, and he has been around western medicine for a long time. This seems to be the first time he has run into what I’ll call the “abundance model.” The Abundance Model (my term) says that there’s no shortage of sick people. It also says that for every person I refer to a colleague, I will likely get two additional calls from new clients. (Honest, it’s true, not just a theory.)
In my teaching career at the acupuncture institute, I know many of my colleagues and have referred many clients to them. So if you encounter a practice (of any kind) where there seems to be an air of stiff competition, you might be dealing with someone who is more concerned about his/her profits than about your well-being.
Do you have a sense of suffering in your life around scarcity? Competition?
Did you compete for your grades in school? (Can’t everyone get an A?) Do you like to have the newest smart phone on the day it is issued? (So what happens if you have to wait another week or two?)
What if your orientation to life becomes “abundance?” What if you just knew in your bones that there is enough for everyone?
And if that becomes the way you think, then how much of your suffering would cease?
Paul (not his real name) arrived at my office the other day, while I was on the phone with a prospective patient. He overheard me telling the caller that the best plan might be to go to one of my colleagues closer to where she lived, making treatment more convenient.
After the call, Paul shook his head. “Do you know how unusual your brand of medicine is?” He continued: “Any medical doctor you call would try to convince you that theirs was the ONLY practice for you. They wouldn’t give you the telephone number of a competitor. That’s the LAST thing they would do.”
He also reminded me how he eventually came to me: he had called an acupuncturist about 15 miles away and that person in turn referred him to me because it would be a better fit (location, health issue, etc.).
Paul works for the medical insurance industry, and he has been around western medicine for a long time. This seems to be the first time he has run into what I’ll call the “abundance model.” The Abundance Model (my term) says that there’s no shortage of sick people. It also says that for every person I refer to a colleague, I will likely get two additional calls from new clients. (Honest, it’s true, not just a theory.)
In my teaching career at the acupuncture institute, I know many of my colleagues and have referred many clients to them. So if you encounter a practice (of any kind) where there seems to be an air of stiff competition, you might be dealing with someone who is more concerned about his/her profits than about your well-being.
Do you have a sense of suffering in your life around scarcity? Competition?
Did you compete for your grades in school? (Can’t everyone get an A?) Do you like to have the newest smart phone on the day it is issued? (So what happens if you have to wait another week or two?)
What if your orientation to life becomes “abundance?” What if you just knew in your bones that there is enough for everyone?
And if that becomes the way you think, then how much of your suffering would cease?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Tough Love
In the past several weeks I’ve found myself being a real hard-ass.
One of my clients has neck pain and headaches. I have advised her on several occasions to wear a scarf and hat in the cold wind of winter, because her head and neck pain were exacerbated by cold and wind. Last week she came in with a wet head (she got up late and washed her hair and didn’t dry it be fore leaving the house, and then didn’t cover it before heading out into 25 degree weather.) Her expectation was that I would “fix” her headache and neck pain.
Enter the hard-ass. I told her that if she refused to wear a hat and scarf, or went out with a wet head, I would refuse to treat her and that her pain was her own damned fault. Yesterday, she came in with a scarf and hat. I was relieved, and, it turned out, she was in less pain.
Sometimes getting tough is the only tool I have left. Acupuncture WON’T fix a problem that we are continually creating by our behaviors. Acupuncture won’t make you thin if you continue unhealthy eating habits. Acupuncture won’t help you sleep if you stay up all night on the computer and don’t help yourself with good nighttime sleep habits.
So look at what you are doing to sabotage your own health. We are all in the position to make changes that help us to achieve the results we are looking for.
One of my clients has neck pain and headaches. I have advised her on several occasions to wear a scarf and hat in the cold wind of winter, because her head and neck pain were exacerbated by cold and wind. Last week she came in with a wet head (she got up late and washed her hair and didn’t dry it be fore leaving the house, and then didn’t cover it before heading out into 25 degree weather.) Her expectation was that I would “fix” her headache and neck pain.
Enter the hard-ass. I told her that if she refused to wear a hat and scarf, or went out with a wet head, I would refuse to treat her and that her pain was her own damned fault. Yesterday, she came in with a scarf and hat. I was relieved, and, it turned out, she was in less pain.
Sometimes getting tough is the only tool I have left. Acupuncture WON’T fix a problem that we are continually creating by our behaviors. Acupuncture won’t make you thin if you continue unhealthy eating habits. Acupuncture won’t help you sleep if you stay up all night on the computer and don’t help yourself with good nighttime sleep habits.
So look at what you are doing to sabotage your own health. We are all in the position to make changes that help us to achieve the results we are looking for.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Acupuncture and The Insurance Issue: An Inside Look
This post was from Dr. Lisa Nash, a chiropractor in Vermont. It was taken from PerennialMedicine, a listserve on Yahoo for acupuncturists and those who are in a larger conversation about healthcare, as opposed to "fix-it" medicine. Dr. Nash has graciously permitted a reprint of her words.
Dear friends,
I am a chiropractor and so a member of a profession which has gone from being excluded from the insurance game to being a player within the last thirty-some years. While chiropractic and Chinese medicine differ in many important regards, I think some aspects of my profession's experience are likely relevant to you as you--individually and collectively--consider how you want to engage with the insurance industry.
Industry--there's the key word. Insurance is an industry, born of an industrial paradigm and keyed to the sensibilities of an industrial society. While those sensibilities are changing a bit as we move from an industrial to an "information" age, the basic assumptions are not radically transforming. Insurance is wedded to, inextricable from, a view of the body as a thing (an old fashioned machine or a computer, take your pick), and to a view of illness and injury as technical problems to be "fixed" or "solved" in the most expedient way possible.
Everything about the process of dealing with insurance hammers this point home. One must reduce the living patient--a unique spark of Divine creativity manifest here on Earth--to a set of numbers otherwise known as diagnostic codes. One must likewise reduce one's experience of and work with this person to a set of procedure codes, and one must make sure that one's notes justify the numbers one has chosen in both cases. This is not optional. If one is going to play the insurance game, one must play by these rules. Sure, people bend them all the time, but to do so compromises one's integrity in ways that are subtle but pervasive and powerful, and also puts one's financial security--the very security most of us are seeking when we choose to bill insurance--at risk. Here in Vermont, insurance companies have taken to auditing chiropractors' notes and demanding that the chiropractors repay the insurance companies--to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars--if there is any sign of discrepancy between the diagnosis and procedure codes and the chiropractor's notes.
The real issue is not the hassle of dealing with insurance--this is truly a technical problem which is easily managed in a variety of ways. The deeper question is whether the insurance paradigm is commensurable with the paradigm of Chinese medicine, and if not, what engaging with the insurance industry will do to your soul, as individual practitioners and as a community of healers.
Americans are prone to believe that we as individuals or minorities can engage with these vast collective entities and transform them from within. We tend to consistently over-estimate the power of the individual and to underestimate the power of the collective. Looking at the history of chiropractic's enfoldment by insurance, I would say that the collective entity has had far more effect upon us than we have had upon it.
Before the 1970's, chiropractors served a small minority of their communities but were greatly trusted and often beloved within those communities. Most were low-tech, high-touch family doctors, similar in tone, although not in method, to the allopathic family doctors of earlier generations. The trust and love were, I believe, rooted in part in the fact that chiropractors lived close to the economic standards of the (often working class) communities they served.
Since the 1970's, many chiropractors have gotten quite wealthy, but because the insurance paradigm defines us as musculoskeletal specialists, we are increasingly working as--and rightly viewed by the public--as such. Here in Vermont and in some other, mostly rural or poor urban, communities some chiropractors still play a wider role, one more in keeping with our profession's historical roots and beliefs, but we are the exception, not the rule. Meanwhile, I do not see that the insurance industry has become significantly more receptive to the understanding of the soma, health, and healing that was traditionally embedded within chiropractic thought and practice.
While chiropractors have undoubtedly gained a certain measure of credibility among allopaths in the years since we gained insurance recognition, we still serve a tiny minority of the public (less than 10%), and I would say that we have sacrificed some of the love and trust we historically enjoyed within the communities we served. Engagement with insurance has also deepened existing divides within the profession. The schism between those who want to play the allopathic game, with its relentless and exclusive demand for "scientific validation" and "evidence-based medicine" and those who insist that illness, health and healing are fundamentally mysterious and cannot be wholly encompassed within a Western mechanistic, reductionist scientific paradigm is probably irreconcilable.
Chinese medicine is rooted in a much more powerfully articulated tradition than modern chiropractic, a tradition that insists on mystery, even poetry, as necessary aspects of the dance of healing. This tradition is a powerful ally, but I question if even it is strong enough to withstand the daily assaults offered by engagement with the dominant mechanistic/reductionist paradigm so fully embodied in insurance. You, your traditions, your practices, will be changed by such engagement, and you will not have as much choice about the form such changes take as you might like to think.
I do not say there is a right or wrong answer here. I do think full consciousness of the risks as well as benefits of dealing with insurance is necessary. The allure of greater accessibility and income is great, but so are the potential losses. Caveat emptor.
love,
Lisa
Dear friends,
I am a chiropractor and so a member of a profession which has gone from being excluded from the insurance game to being a player within the last thirty-some years. While chiropractic and Chinese medicine differ in many important regards, I think some aspects of my profession's experience are likely relevant to you as you--individually and collectively--consider how you want to engage with the insurance industry.
Industry--there's the key word. Insurance is an industry, born of an industrial paradigm and keyed to the sensibilities of an industrial society. While those sensibilities are changing a bit as we move from an industrial to an "information" age, the basic assumptions are not radically transforming. Insurance is wedded to, inextricable from, a view of the body as a thing (an old fashioned machine or a computer, take your pick), and to a view of illness and injury as technical problems to be "fixed" or "solved" in the most expedient way possible.
Everything about the process of dealing with insurance hammers this point home. One must reduce the living patient--a unique spark of Divine creativity manifest here on Earth--to a set of numbers otherwise known as diagnostic codes. One must likewise reduce one's experience of and work with this person to a set of procedure codes, and one must make sure that one's notes justify the numbers one has chosen in both cases. This is not optional. If one is going to play the insurance game, one must play by these rules. Sure, people bend them all the time, but to do so compromises one's integrity in ways that are subtle but pervasive and powerful, and also puts one's financial security--the very security most of us are seeking when we choose to bill insurance--at risk. Here in Vermont, insurance companies have taken to auditing chiropractors' notes and demanding that the chiropractors repay the insurance companies--to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars--if there is any sign of discrepancy between the diagnosis and procedure codes and the chiropractor's notes.
The real issue is not the hassle of dealing with insurance--this is truly a technical problem which is easily managed in a variety of ways. The deeper question is whether the insurance paradigm is commensurable with the paradigm of Chinese medicine, and if not, what engaging with the insurance industry will do to your soul, as individual practitioners and as a community of healers.
Americans are prone to believe that we as individuals or minorities can engage with these vast collective entities and transform them from within. We tend to consistently over-estimate the power of the individual and to underestimate the power of the collective. Looking at the history of chiropractic's enfoldment by insurance, I would say that the collective entity has had far more effect upon us than we have had upon it.
Before the 1970's, chiropractors served a small minority of their communities but were greatly trusted and often beloved within those communities. Most were low-tech, high-touch family doctors, similar in tone, although not in method, to the allopathic family doctors of earlier generations. The trust and love were, I believe, rooted in part in the fact that chiropractors lived close to the economic standards of the (often working class) communities they served.
Since the 1970's, many chiropractors have gotten quite wealthy, but because the insurance paradigm defines us as musculoskeletal specialists, we are increasingly working as--and rightly viewed by the public--as such. Here in Vermont and in some other, mostly rural or poor urban, communities some chiropractors still play a wider role, one more in keeping with our profession's historical roots and beliefs, but we are the exception, not the rule. Meanwhile, I do not see that the insurance industry has become significantly more receptive to the understanding of the soma, health, and healing that was traditionally embedded within chiropractic thought and practice.
While chiropractors have undoubtedly gained a certain measure of credibility among allopaths in the years since we gained insurance recognition, we still serve a tiny minority of the public (less than 10%), and I would say that we have sacrificed some of the love and trust we historically enjoyed within the communities we served. Engagement with insurance has also deepened existing divides within the profession. The schism between those who want to play the allopathic game, with its relentless and exclusive demand for "scientific validation" and "evidence-based medicine" and those who insist that illness, health and healing are fundamentally mysterious and cannot be wholly encompassed within a Western mechanistic, reductionist scientific paradigm is probably irreconcilable.
Chinese medicine is rooted in a much more powerfully articulated tradition than modern chiropractic, a tradition that insists on mystery, even poetry, as necessary aspects of the dance of healing. This tradition is a powerful ally, but I question if even it is strong enough to withstand the daily assaults offered by engagement with the dominant mechanistic/reductionist paradigm so fully embodied in insurance. You, your traditions, your practices, will be changed by such engagement, and you will not have as much choice about the form such changes take as you might like to think.
I do not say there is a right or wrong answer here. I do think full consciousness of the risks as well as benefits of dealing with insurance is necessary. The allure of greater accessibility and income is great, but so are the potential losses. Caveat emptor.
love,
Lisa
Monday, February 1, 2010
Chinese New Year: The Year of the Tiger
Tigers of Chinese Astrology are truly a force of nature. They are dependable, unpredictable, fearless, stout-hearted, tender and loving. Tigers have the ability to think on their feet and have a primal desire for adventure and first hand experience of life.
The well-known striped coat of the Tiger reflects yin and yang: the theory/practice of opposites: yes/no; go/stop; high/low; fast/slow; now/later. For those of us who believe animals can think, we can see—even in our housecats (a smaller version of the Tiger)-- that they are constantly making decisions. When the cat has identified her prey, as she gets a lock on the goal, her tendons and ligaments tighten as she gets ready to run or pounce, she mentally calculates how fast to run, how high to jump, when to attack. It’s decision-making at the highest order. The wild cat that is slow---or wrong---goes hungry.
The springtime (Wood Element) embodies all these decisions too: nature is “deciding” when to emerge; how fast to grow; when to blossom; how much to show itself. Groundhog Day, which is always in the same week as Chinese New Year, is the American equivalent of this decision-making. The groundhog, hearing and feeling the expansion of tree roots, decides when to emerge, and whether to stay out or go back in. With the cues of longer days and the occasional warmth that sporadically appear in late January, the groundhog emerges (at least Phil in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania) to engage in his ritual decision-making.
As we emerge from Winter, we need to use our cleverness. Is this the right time to take off your coat? Is it right to go from being a couch potato to running the marathon? Is it time to leap into action in the garden? We are beginning to get restless as the winter seems to drag on; cabin fever starts to set in. It is so tempting to burst forth too early. Those who do will get sick: taking off the coat too early will leave you vulnerable to colds and flu. Planting the garden too early will yield dead plants as frost can continue well into late March, not to mention sore muscles and tendons from working your body after a long, lazy winter. Telling others your plans too early will leave you bored with them before you actually begin. The spring is a time of tender beginnings. Doing things too soon will yield “a hungry cat.”
Watch how nature slowly emerges in the Spring. There is order, timing, and vulnerability. Emerge slowly and wisely. Make good decisions about when and how to emerge. And when you do, be assertive and embody the power of the Tiger.
The well-known striped coat of the Tiger reflects yin and yang: the theory/practice of opposites: yes/no; go/stop; high/low; fast/slow; now/later. For those of us who believe animals can think, we can see—even in our housecats (a smaller version of the Tiger)-- that they are constantly making decisions. When the cat has identified her prey, as she gets a lock on the goal, her tendons and ligaments tighten as she gets ready to run or pounce, she mentally calculates how fast to run, how high to jump, when to attack. It’s decision-making at the highest order. The wild cat that is slow---or wrong---goes hungry.
The springtime (Wood Element) embodies all these decisions too: nature is “deciding” when to emerge; how fast to grow; when to blossom; how much to show itself. Groundhog Day, which is always in the same week as Chinese New Year, is the American equivalent of this decision-making. The groundhog, hearing and feeling the expansion of tree roots, decides when to emerge, and whether to stay out or go back in. With the cues of longer days and the occasional warmth that sporadically appear in late January, the groundhog emerges (at least Phil in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania) to engage in his ritual decision-making.
As we emerge from Winter, we need to use our cleverness. Is this the right time to take off your coat? Is it right to go from being a couch potato to running the marathon? Is it time to leap into action in the garden? We are beginning to get restless as the winter seems to drag on; cabin fever starts to set in. It is so tempting to burst forth too early. Those who do will get sick: taking off the coat too early will leave you vulnerable to colds and flu. Planting the garden too early will yield dead plants as frost can continue well into late March, not to mention sore muscles and tendons from working your body after a long, lazy winter. Telling others your plans too early will leave you bored with them before you actually begin. The spring is a time of tender beginnings. Doing things too soon will yield “a hungry cat.”
Watch how nature slowly emerges in the Spring. There is order, timing, and vulnerability. Emerge slowly and wisely. Make good decisions about when and how to emerge. And when you do, be assertive and embody the power of the Tiger.
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