20

Sleep Well to Heal Well

Why Sleep is Important

Sleep is highly underrated.  We are a society that applauds overwork and overachievement and under-appreciates the benefits of rest and rejuvenation.  As an example of this attitude, the average American employee receives about two weeks paid vacation a year.  With seniority, that may increase to four weeks, but not often.  In Europe, workers typically receive six weeks paid vacation or more.  I’ve had patients exclaim that they can’t sleep more than six or seven hours a night, until they retire from their jobs, after which they begin sleeping at least eight hours.

Before the advent of the light bulb, people slept upwards of nine or ten hours a night.  In the winter, they slept more (due to shorter days) than during the summer.  Nowadays, most people are lucky to get seven hours of sleep.  Easy illumination, televisions and computers keep people awake and stimulated for a greater proportion of time, and that includes me.

So why is sleep so important?  It is important because sleep is rejuvenation time for the body.  In addition, important hormones and neurotransmitters are released during different stages of sleep.  If you do not get enough sleep, you may become deficient or unbalanced in some or all of these natural bio-chemicals. 

I have a patient that I’ll name Peter, who came to me complaining about problems sleeping.  He’d wake up groggy and tired and complained of brain fog.  He had suffered a head injury while skiing a few months prior, so I sent him to my massage colleague, Marie, to evaluate his cranial system.  During his initial treatment Marie discovered that when Peter fell asleep on the treatment table, he actually gasped for air and even stopped breathing several times.  When she alerted me to the problem, I urged Peter to undergo a sleep study.  In the meantime, I also suggested that he try wearing his LifeWave Y-Age Aeon anti-stress patches behind his right ear during sleep because this acupuncture point, Triple Burner 17, is located close to his brainstem, the part of the brain controlling breathing.  I wasn’t sure it was going to help, but given his head injury I thought it couldn’t hurt. 

To my surprise, Peter reported sleeping soundly the first night he wore the patch on this acupuncture point and hasn’t had any gasping or breathing problems since.  What was also interesting was that Peter lost approximately five pounds of excess body weight within the first few days of sleeping deeply.  He’d been trying to lose weight to no avail, but once he was able to sleep, he was able to take off the extra pounds.  I surmised after this incident that the reason Peter couldn’t lose the weight was because his poor sleep prevented him from making important hormones, like growth hormone.  Growth hormone promotes lean body mass, and when in low levels encourages unwanted fat storage. 

When you don’t get adequate deep sleep, your body can’t repair itself and is in a constant state of “breakdown” also called catabolism.  Even if all your other health habits are pristine, you can still have problems healing chronic pain if you don’t sleep well.  Patients with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia have a horrible time sleeping.  I should know since I used to be one of them.  During my sickest months with fibromyalgia, I remember sleeping upwards of 12 to 14 hours a day, but still woke up exhausted and groggy.  Every bone and muscle in my body ached.  I felt like someone ran over me over with a truck.  I couldn’t believe that after sleeping so much, I could still feel exhausted.  What I didn’t realize then was that I was not getting deep, rejuvenating sleep.

 

Stages of Sleep

There are several sleep stages you’re supposed to go through if you’re sleeping well.  Each stage of sleep has a different accompanying brainwave pattern.  Each of these patterns is vital to normal functioning of our adult brains and bodies.  During the lighter stages of sleep, your brainwave is in alpha, a relaxed state.  Many meditative practices can also put you into an alpha brainwave state.  When external, linear, beta brainwaves relax into slower, internal non-linear alpha brainwaves, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and the body's general metabolism also slows down. 

As you deepen your sleep, your brainwave switches to theta, a slower brainwave state.  This state is also known as the dream state or REM (rapid eye movement) state.  During this time a crucial part of the brainstem, called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) goes into a special state in which it literally closes off the muscular control signals from the brain to the body.  So, during the whole period of Theta brainwave state, dreaming sleep, the entire body is essentially paralyzed and makes no movement.  This is supposedly a safety mechanism that prevents us from hurting ourselves as we dream.  There are certain people who suffer sleep paralysis whereby their bodies are paralyzed but they are actually fully awake.  This is very frightening for someone to experience, especially the first time.  The opposite is true for sleepwalkers, people who enact their dreams while they are still fast asleep.

The theta portion of sleep is where the Emotional Body recuperates, heals and "tunes" itself.  There are various levels of dream material which get processed during this state.  Some dreams are clearly re-experiencing the day's events to clear them out, while deeper theta dream states are associated with the clearing of deep emotional traumas - sometimes back to childhood.  It is the emotional state of theta sleep that is the most important, not the content apparently.    

Older children and adults with ADD (attention deficit disorder, also referred to as ADHD) tend to have predominantly theta brainwaves, even while awake.  Unable to get their brainwaves into the beta, the alert and focused state, people with ADD are literally dreaming while awake.  Creative as they are, without the ability to be stay in beta brainwaves, people with ADD have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time.  Their brains are too busy taking in the “big picture” with all of its distracting details.  My partner, James, is really good at noticing subtle mistakes the movie makers make.  I hardly ever catch these mistakes.  For example, he’ll notice that in one scene, the car window is smashed and then in the next scene it isn’t.  His theta-dominant ability is not that helpful, however, in a workshop situation if the instructor is at all boring.

In the deepest stages of sleep, your brainwave switches to delta wave.  This is where the body is in its most quiescent, stress-reduced, restful state.  There are several levels of delta waves, each one slower than both alpha and theta.  This is believed to be the state where the body does most of its self-healing and rejuvenating work.  As the brainwaves sink deeper into slower and slower Delta brainwave patterns, the body goes into the lowest blood pressure, heart rate, metabolism, respiration and body temperature it experiences.  This is the time at night in which the body regenerates, recuperates and heals, re-tuning itself for the next day.  There are no mental or emotional processes, and interestingly, no sense of time.  This is the most difficult time to try to awaken a sleeping person.

During normal sleep, your body cycles through the different stages of sleep which is why you’ll often have many different dreams.  If you’re not dreaming well, it is less likely that you’re going deeper into delta wave sleep.  If you’re not getting into deep delta wave sleep, then your body can’t rejuvenate.  That is why getting quality sleep is vitally important to heal your chronic pain.

Take the quick quiz below to assess whether you are getting adequate quality sleep.  If not, I have some suggestions on how you can.  Check off the statements that are true for you regarding your sleep patterns:

         I sleep eight or more hours most nights of the week
         I sleep through the night without waking up until it is time to get out of bed in the morning
         I usually wait no longer than 10 minutes to fall asleep
         I don’t have to go to the bathroom to urinate during sleeping hours
         I wake up refreshed and I don’t need coffee or other stimulants to wake me up
         I am aware that I dream every night
         My dreams are vivid, colorful, and I can recall the details when I first wake up
         I do not snore when I sleep
         I do not wake up due to pain
         I go to sleep before 10:30 PM every night consistently

 

If you didn’t check off all or most of the above statements, then you may have a real problem with quality sleep.  Lack of quality sleep not only perpetuates chronic pain, but also prevents important hormones from being released.  In addition to chronic pain, likewise, fatigue, foggy-thinking, irritability and memory problems can result from chronic sleep deprivation.

 

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene is a term that doctors use to describe a list of sleeping “do’s” and “don’ts” for their patients.  Having good sleep habits can really make a huge difference in relieving and preventing chronic pain.  Out of all my bad habits, I think sleeping is my worst.  I’m a night owl and I love to stay up late, usually working on the computer.  As you’ll see from the list below, that habit is really a no-no.  In addition, I’m often skating in the evenings when the ice time is available, so I end up wide awake before bedtime.  Even though I don’t get up early, it would serve me better to get to bed at a decent time and stop “activating” my brain and body so late at night.  Here’s the list you can refer to for proper sleep hygiene:

 

DO:

         Retire to bed at a regular time each night
         Go to sleep no later than 10:30 PM at night, preferably earlier
         Sleep in a completely dark room avoiding artificial light
         Associate your bedroom with sleep, not work
         Have a quiet relaxing bedtime routine
         Have a regular exercise routine; vigorous exercise earlier in the day and relaxing exercise (like yoga) later in the evening
         Make sure your bedroom and bed is comfortable, ideally having bed coverings made of natural materials like cotton or bamboo
         If you read before bedtime, read something light and pleasant
         Reduce or eliminate coffee if you have trouble sleeping at night

 

DON’T

         Do “work” in your bedroom.  Instead use an office or separate space to work
         Watch TV or use the computer within one hour of your bedtime
         Watch the news at all, but especially in the evenings: disturbing images will imprint into your subconscious as you sleep
         Eat large meals right before sleeping
         Take a hot bath right before bedtime.  Do it earlier in the evening as the body temperature needs to drop before sleep
         Use caffeine or stimulants, especially twelve hours prior to bedtime
         Drink alcohol on a regular basis if you have trouble sleeping and especially if you wake up between 1 – 3AM (Liver Meridian Energy dominant time)
         Have a television or a clock radio in your bedroom or a fluorescent light bulb by the bed.  The electromagnetic radiation can disturb your sleep
         Keep a cell phone on in your bedroom unless it is on airplane mode

You may wish to download a copy of the Sleep Hygiene document from the Center of Clinical Interventions.

 

Why Drugs Don’t Help

Millions of people worldwide are dependent on sleep medications.  Some are available only by prescription and others are over the counter.  The over the counter drugs are often older drugs that are antihistamines.  The side effect of these antihistamines is somnolence which is why they will have a warning on the box not to operate heavy machinery while using the drug.  These drugs make you feel groggy in the morning.  Furthermore, both prescription and over the counter sleep medications do not tend to encourage the brain to go into healthy deep sleep.  In other words, your brain doesn’t get into delta wave sleep.  In fact, if you ask most people hooked on these drugs, they will tell you that they rarely dream, revealing an inability to even attain theta wave sleep, a sleep stage lighter than delta.

Aside from the side effects, the problem with long term use of sleep medications is they only cover up the symptoms.  They do not get to the root of the problem.  Healthy sleep habits along with specific energy tools can help the brain and body relearn how to sleep deeply.

 

How to Get Quality Sleep

To get the most rejuvenating sleep possible, you need eight hours of solid sleep without interruption.  You should be dreaming every night and those dreams should be vivid, colorful and easy to remember when you first wake up.  Ideally when you wake up, you should feel well-rested and refreshed, not groggy and tired.  For people who haven’t slept this way in decades, it seems like a tall order.  Even small improvements in the quality of your sleep can have profoundly beneficial effects on your chronic pain.

Below is a list of strategies I recommend to improve quality sleep besides practicing proper sleep hygiene.  Try one or more of them and see what works best for you.  A combination approach often works well. 

 

Earthing

Sleeping on top of an Earthing bed sheet or mat helps to ground you and decrease the stress in your body.  I find sleeping earthed simply heavenly so I recommend it to everyone.  My mother calls it her “magic carpet”.  Why she calls it a carpet I’ll never know, but as long as she’s happy with how she feels sleeping on it, I’m happy.  I have discovered that investing in a fitted bed sheet works even better for whole body pain than just the half sheet, so if it is affordable for you, get one for yourself.

 

Magnesium

Magnesium helps with relaxation.  It is also required for energy production in addition to over 300 biochemical reactions in the body.  Magnesium taken orally or applied on the skin (transdermal magnesium) can help your body relax into a deep sleep with consistent use.  Depending on your bowel’s tolerance, you can take between 300mg to 500mg orally in the evening, or use magnesium oil of up to 48 sprays on your skin.  If you like baths, then take a warm magnesium salt bath an hour before bedtime.  Doing so can really help you sleep.  Please read the chapter on magnesium for more detailed dosing information.

 

Silent Nights Patches

One of the most effective energy tools I’ve used to improve sleep in my patients is the LifeWave Silent Nights patches.  These patches are drug-free and use infra-red energy to communicate to the body’s energy field.  The Silent Nights patches help the brain get into deeper brainwave states, such as delta wave.  In the process of deepening sleep, these patches support the body’s healthy production of melatonin and serotonin, two important neuro-hormones. 

Melatonin is also an antioxidant that protects nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.  Many people use melatonin as a supplement to help them sleep.  Although this is often effective, I have a couple of concerns with regards to supplemental Melatonin.  Traditionally melatonin was made from cow pineal gland extractions.   In some countries, the sale of melatonin over the counter has been banned because of concerns of disease being transmitted from infected cows.  In the United States, melatonin is sold over the counter and most of it is synthetic, so there is little risk of disease.  What I have found, however, is that my patients who take melatonin as a supplement often complain of grogginess in the morning.  This side effect does not seem to happen when someone is using the Silent Nights patches.  I believe that being able to support your body’s own production of melatonin is a better option than taking a supplement.

Serotonin helps us feel relaxed and happy.  Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter and the one that is manipulated by anti-depressant medications.  Adequate serotonin levels are believed to improve sleep and mood.  The LifeWave Silent Nights patches can support healthy serotonin levels while improving quality sleep.  Please note that in Europe, these patches are called Silent Nights MD and they are designated as a Class I phototherapeutic medical device.  The ministries of health in Europe are much more open to alternative technologies compared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so it isn’t surprising that these patches are growing in popularity among European healthcare professionals.

The nice thing about these patches is that they work relatively quickly.  My favorite acupuncture point to use with these patches is Governing Vessel GV24.5, which is also known as the third eye.  This acupuncture point is found in the middle of your forehead just above the eyebrows.  If that point doesn’t work for you, there are several more you can try.  I have links to videos online where I show you exactly how to find these acupuncture points and how to use the Silent Nights patches.

 

Y-Age Aeon Patches

While I recommend Silent Nights patches for night time use to help you sleep, I also recommend the LifeWave Y-Age Aeon patches during the day to help you reduce stress.  By balancing your cortisol (stress hormone) levels during the day, you’ll have a better chance of sleeping well at night.  I have many patients just using the Brain Balance protocol I taught in Chapter 6 who tell me that their sleeping and dreaming has improved even without any other sleep remedy.  Read the chapter on Balancing the Brain to learn which acupuncture points I use most successfully with the Y-Age Aeon to support natural pain relief.  Sometimes I use the Y-Age Aeon patches at night at the same time I use the Silent Nights patches to get really deep sleep.  When I combine them, I’ll often use Silent Nights on the third eye acupuncture point GV 24.5 and then use the Aeon patch over an area of inflammation or on one of the acupuncture points listed in the Y-Age brochure. 

For very stubborn insomnia cases in my practice, I will recommend a combination of LifeWave Y-Age Aeon patches during the day, and Silent Nights and Y-Age Carnosine patches at night.  The Carnosine patches used in conjunction with the Silent Nights can be particularly powerful.  Having the Carnosine patches on board at night helps the body go into “repair” mode while you sleep and many people who have tried this combination rave at the depth of sleep they are able to achieve.

 

Delta Wave Sleep Music

I have a library of various delta wave sleep audio programs created by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson.  There are various types available: some have music and some incorporate nature sounds.  Dr. Thompson’s brainwave entrainment music works by training the brain how to produce synchronized brainwaves.  This process is called brain entrainment.  As you listen to this music repeatedly, your brain will begin to “entrain” to the slow delta wave brain pulses created by Dr. Thompson’s delta wave music.  Literally, over time, your brain will learn to “sleep well” on its own.  Dr. Thompson recommends listening to the entrainment music for at least twenty-one days in a row to get the greatest benefit.  Some of my patients keep the music playing softly while they sleep. 

 

Breathing Exercises

Traditional yogic breathing has long been known to help with relaxation and sleep.  One of the easiest breathing exercises is breathing slowly in through the left nostril while obstructing the right with your right index finger and then exhaling through the right nostril while obstructing the left nostril with your left index finger.  Breathe in only through the left and out only through the right.  This helps to activate the right side of the breath, causing relaxation.

 

Exercise

Exercising regularly helps the body normalize many processes including sleep.  While you don’t want to be exercising vigorously near bedtime, any form of exercise you choose will be better than none.  Meditative exercises like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and yoga can all be helpful to improve your sleep and mood.  I’ve found that after doing Meridian Stretching, my body is so relaxed that sleep is inevitable.  Cellercising using the Baby Bounce technique before bed can also help relax your body before sleep.  Read the Chapter 19 Move the Body – Move the Qi for more information about these forms of exercise.

 

Journaling

If you’re someone who tends to worry a lot, it may be helpful to write your worries down in a journal in order to “let them go” to a Higher Power.  In a similar fashion, you can share your worries with Worry Dolls.  Worry Dolls are small dolls handmade in Guatemala.  The idea is that if you’re worried about things, instead of worrying all night, you tell your worries to these dolls and put them under your pillow before you fall asleep.  According to folklore, the dolls are supposed to do the worrying for you so you can release those tensions while you sleep.  Although many buy them for their children, I think they are great even for adults!

Sometimes I get inspired ideas as I lie down to go to bed, so it has been helpful to have a journal by my bed to jot these ideas down.  By doing so, I don’t get anxious about forgetting them.  Not all insomnia is a result of worry.  Sometimes I get too excited about an idea and can’t get grounded enough to fall asleep, so journaling is very helpful.  One night, I actually wrote a whole book before I could fall back asleep! 

A fantastic way to use your journal before bedtime is doing the Gratitude exercise.  The purpose of this exercise is to focus on what you are grateful for.  In this exercise, you list all the things that you’re grateful for that day.  It could be that you were grateful that it was sunny and warm and you got to “earth” barefoot outside.  Or maybe you were grateful that your husband made dinner and you didn’t have to.  By focusing on what you’re grateful for right before sleeping, you create happy, peaceful energies.  Your subconscious mind is then programmed for positivity as you drift asleep.  It is one of the reasons I ask my patients not to watch the television news before bedtime.  Our subconscious minds are highly programmable, which is why commercials are so effective in brainwashing us.  By intentionally programming the energy of gratitude right before you fall asleep, you’ll be programming your subconscious mind to create more positive experiences in your life.

Another great use for your bedside journal is to write down your dreams.  The more intent you are about capturing your dreams on paper, the more dreams you’ll tend to remember.  Dreaming is a way of processing subconscious emotions, so by journaling them, you may be able to interpret these messages for own personal growth and healing. 

You may also ask for guidance or healing while you sleep.  This can be very interesting.  One night I decided to ask for guidance around healing my body.  In my dream, I was in a large hotel with my family, ready to go to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the hotel restaurant.  I was first in line, so I couldn’t wait to get to the salad bar to see what was there.  To my dismay, every single food item had flies on it.  I was really disgusted and disappointed.  When I woke up, I interpreted the dream as a message that I really needed to take responsibility for how food is nurturing my body.  I began to pay more attention to where my food came from and how it was processed.  By having more control over what I was eating, I was able to appreciate how much healthier my body felt.

 

Progressive Relaxation

Progressive relaxation is a form of meditation whereby you alternate between contraction and relaxation of sequential parts of your body.  Most people start at their toes and work their way up to their heads.  My Kundalini yoga instructor likes to do this meditation at the end of our class to get us completely relaxed into the final yoga pose called Corpse pose (also known as relaxation pose).  The technique is easy so I’ll share with you how to do it. 

As you lie face up in bed, you start with your toes.  Curl your toes up vigorously for about five seconds, and then relax them.  Do this several times.  Remember to keep breathing.  Then move up to your calves and alternate contracting and relaxing them for a few rounds.  With each progressive cycle, you move up the body alternating contraction and relaxation until you get all the way up to your face.  When you get to your face, you tightly squeeze your eyes, nose and mouth shut for five seconds before you fully relax.  Sometimes in a big class, I don’t know how my teacher keeps a straight face watching us all contort our faces for the last part of this exercise!  At the end, you just relax and breathe, allowing the energy to flow throughout your muscles.  This simple exercise has helped countless people to relax before falling asleep.  Try it and see if it works for you.

 

Reduce Negative Qi

Negative Qi (Chi) is a term used to describe energy that is detrimental to your body, mind or spirit.  Although we can’t control all the negative energies around us, we can minimize them, especially in the place where we sleep.  Negative Qi can take the form of electromagnetic smog, chemicals or even negative emotions. 

Electromagnetic smog can stress the body when it is most vulnerable, which is during sleep.  If your sleeping isn’t ideal, you may wish to remove all electrical equipment from your bedroom with the exception of a battery operated clock.  Sometimes the glow from digital clocks can interrupt the pineal gland’s function to help you sleep.  So a dark bedroom is better.  Furthermore, investing in a Gauss meter that checks the dirty electricity emanating from your electrical outlets may be prudent.  They aren’t very expensive and you can lend them out to friends and family so that they can check their homes as well. 

Ideally the EMF coming out from your outlets should register less than 60 G.  If they register more, you may wish to purchase some filters.  These filters are called Graham-Stetzer filters.  The old filters I used to have were very noisy because they would click and pop as they filtered the “dirty” electricity.  Recently I purchased a set from Greenwave Filters which I love because they are very quiet.  I addition, I don’t lose an electrical outlet because you can plug in any two or three-prong device into the bottom of it.  In my office I have two filters for each of my treatment rooms, where the dirty electricity registered over 1700 G.  I find that I am both calmer and more relaxed in my office and so are my patients. 

Another way to clear negative energy from your sleeping space and home is using a product called Clean Sweep by Energy Tools International.  This water-based energized spray is odorless and is sprayed in any space where you want to clear negative Qi, including negative emotions.  If your bedroom has been a place where arguments or illness have taken place, it would be a good idea to clear these negative energies so you can heal.  Spraying your bedroom nightly is a great way to improve quality sleep.  You can even spray yourself before bed, from your head down to your toes to clear your own energy field.  Clean Sweep is a great energy tool for super-sensitive types, who tend to be a sponge for outside energies. 

 

Essential Oils

If you like pleasant scents, then you may like using essential oils.  They can be applied to various places on the body, even acupuncture points, to help you sleep.  Lavender essential oil is the most widely known for improving sleep.  Other essential oils used for this purpose include Valerian, Velviter, Roman Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Sweet Marjoram, Jasmine, and Sandalwood.  Many companies make essential oil blends that are specifically designed to help you to sleep more deeply.  Ideally you’ll want to purchase oils from a company that makes therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Acupuncture points that you can use with essential oils include temples (Triple Burner 23), inside wrists (Heart 7 or Pericardium 6), inside ankles (Kidney 3 or Spleen 6) or third eye (GV24.5).

 

Subtle Energy Supplements

In an earlier chapter, I mentioned the company Nutrilink.  They make supplements that are subtle-energy enhanced.  My patients with extremely stubborn sleep problems often get relief with a combination of taking the Nutrilink Mag Force (take at night), ANS Support, Brain Support and Sleep Aid, the descriptions of which can all be found on their website www.NutrlinkEnergy.com.

 

Chapter Summary

         Quality sleep is essential in order for the body to self-heal.
         Many people do not realize that they are not getting adequate sleep
         Practicing proper sleep hygiene helps you set the stage for quality sleep
         Sleep drugs do not help you get into the proper stages of rejuvenating sleep and thus are a poor long term solution
         Energy medicine tools are available to support the body’s getting into natural sleep rhythms without having to resort to drugs
         Exercise, journaling and progressive relaxation are inexpensive ways to enhance your sleep experience