Sleep Cycles

Last week we spoke about how getting checked out by a functional medical provider can give us the support and answers we need when our systems are feeling on overdrive or lacking energy.

In previous letters, we’ve also talked about sleep and its importance to overall well-being.

One cool thing that I’ve been watching and learning through this year is what is called “Masterclass”.

Which is a set of different videos on a variety of topics where you are learning from Masters in their respective fields.

The first one I watched was a class on sleep by Matthew Walker, who is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley.

There were so many interesting topics that he brought up in terms of sleep.

The ones that stood out to me the most were:

1. We each genetically are predisposed to our own unique circadian rhythm. That is to say, being a night owl or morning lark is not just a matter of preference. Genetically, it is engrained within our DNA to be predisposed to one or another, and if we fight against this natural predisposition we end up doing more harm than good to our overall well-being.

2. Our circadian rhythm shifts depending on our age. Younger teenagers will have a circadian rhythm where it may be more natural for them to wake up at 11:00 or 12:00 in the afternoon. A lot of times parents think, out of frustration, that it might be out of sheer laziness that they aren’t waking up earlier. Research is showing that this is not the case and that this is natural for their bodies.

3. The detrimental effects of alcohol and caffeine can be hurting us more than we may be even aware of. There is a lot of information when it comes to alcohol and caffeine's effect on our systems. In terms of caffeine, we want to make sure that we aren’t having anything past 2:00 pm in order for it not to impact our overall sleep cycle. Unfortunately, if we decide to drink alcohol there are not many ways around its effects right now. It is called a sedative but what a lot of people don't realize is that these sedative qualities don't equate to deeper sleep. You may be sedated on the surface but you are not getting those deeper states of the sleep cycle and you may notice that you are waking up more frequently in the night.

When we begin learning more about our sleep cycles we can become better informed about shifts that we may want to make to be able to optimize our overall well being.

I will continue to delve into sleep in future posts. Please comment and let me know if there is anything interesting that you know in regard to sleep or resources surrounding it. I love hearing from you!

Yours in wellness & healing,

Angela

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