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I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just live a long life. I want to live a long, happy, healthy and present life where I enjoy every minute! I think most people understand that there is no magical fountain of youth and there is no perfect recipe to avoid all illness and disease. What we do know through research is that sleeping, or rather lack of sleep, is strongly associated with many chronic diseases. Sleep dysfunction affects over half of our population with conditions such as: sleep deprivation, obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia.
So think about this…humans are the ONLY species that voluntarily deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason! According to Dr. Matthew Walker, PhD, and author of Why We Sleep - Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubles your risk of cancer, and profoundly disrupts your blood sugar levels. This contributes to our current epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Sleep deprivation is THE key lifestyle factor to the development of memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. It also contributes to many major psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety. If we were to just think about how much money it takes our health care systems to treat the above conditions and epidemics, I think it is fair to say that billions are being spent.
What if you could change that? What if you changed your habits of sleeping and took control of your health rather than rolling the dice and hoping for the best when you have the “golden ticket” in your body…the ability to sleep well! And it’s free…no deductible, co-insurance or paying for a prescription!
So, that’s the big deal with sleep. Now, here is one of the challenges we face: No one ever taught us HOW to sleep. The only “how” about sleep that most of us know is that we need it to survive. If we’re lucky, maybe someone told you not to sleep on your stomach, but that’s it! If you think of the many things that we do every day like brushing our teeth, typing on a keyboard, or driving a car, my guess is someone taught you something about HOW to do these things. With sleep, you “just do it” like the Nike slogan says. Well, not so quick! If you want to unlock the power of sleep as an agent of healing your body, you need to know how to sleep. HEAL Wellness and Therapy is here to help! Check out our YouTube video on 10 Tips for Sleep to begin working on your habits of sleep and improve your sleep hygiene.
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