Blog 150 August Is/Was Immune Support Month
August was deemed immunization awareness month, to remind people to get vaccinations, shots, and gene therapy injections in hopes of protecting health. This blog will cover even more essential ways to protect health: consistent, everyday healthy lifestyle, positive attitude toward life experiences, and supportive social networks.
Sufficient, sound sleep is very important for maintaining health. Avoiding blue screens for several hours prior to bedtime, or using blue light blocking glasses, blue light blocking screens or other methods to greatly reduce your blue screen/ray exposure will make it likely that you will fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly. Your eyes will also be protected from blue ray damage, which can lead to cataracts or other reductions in visual acuity. However, sunlight exposure in the morning, including blue light rays helps you sleep more soundly at night.
Eating large, spicy, fatty or sugary meals soon before bedtime will also often disturb sleep. Watching, listening to and reading material that will stir up your mind, make you worry, anger you, or otherwise interfere with peace of mind can interfere with sleep, making it hard to fall asleep, or making nightmares more likely. Unresolved conflict can also be disturbing, so it is best to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings before bedtime with those to whom you are close.
Meditation, self-hypnosis, prayer, inspirational reading or listening to soothing music prior to bedtime tend to enhance sleep quality. Alcoholic beverages and some recreational drugs may also impair sleep quality. Eating to support nutritional needs and vitality, staying sufficiently hydrated, but not drinking too much fluids right before going to bed can all be helpful.
When needed, sleep aides, such as melatonin one to two hours before bedtime can help you fall asleep more easily. Another sleep aide, Calms Forte, is a homeopathic remedy that helps relax an overstimulated nervous system. It is not habit forming, and is safe to use. Certain high quality herbal teas, such as chamomile or peppermint leaf, skullcap, and lemongrass with ginger can help relax the body, nervous system and mind.
Varying types of exercise can either stimulate the body and mind and make sleeping difficult, or can relax and tire the body, making you ready to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly. Playing in competitive sports or running significant distances soon before bedtime, can stir up adrenaline and nervous energy, while 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, stretching or Yoga before bedtime or at any time during the day can help you fall asleep more quickly and easily.
Keeping the room totally dark and also quiet can help encourage sleep. Draw shades and curtains, cover the glowing faces of clocks, and arrange to have computers, television and radio quiet at bedtime and during sleep time. Some people use ear plugs or place sleep masks over their eyes. Do not expose yourself to the energies of cell phones, computers and other similar devices soon before bedtime. 5G communications as well as location of a home near railroad and subway tracks, commuter train stations, high power lines and other similar devices and places can be problematic for rest and calm. Living near factories that discharge toxic waste can result in inhalation of smoke and molecules that interfere with breathing and decrease oxygen and fresh air intake. In these locations, allergies, respiratory infections and other difficulties, such as sleep apnea, are more likely to occur than in areas with good air quality.
Temperatures that are either uncomfortably cold or hot can also cause sleep problems. Dressing warmly in winter, which may include wearing a sleeping cap or gloves and using air-conditioning or fans with open windows can both help mitigate health-threatening temperature extremes. Sometimes, sleeping in consistently cold temperatures without sufficient coverings can slow thyroid function, while consistent over-heating at night can interfere with deep sleep and lead to fatigue during the day.
So we have covered some factors that can affect sleep quality, which, in turn, can support or undermine immune function. In the next blog, we will cover some important nutritional factors that can influence the immune system and help you protect yourself from many health threats.
This blog’s offer: contact me with questions about sleep quality, as well as for Acupuncture, Chiropractic and other treatments that can help improve sleep.
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