Two Essential Vitamins

The two essential vitamins that are crucial for bone health and help prevent osteoporosis: https://trib.al/Kod45i2

What is an Echocardiography Examination?

An echocardiography (echo) is the main test for diagnosing heart valve disease, but an EKG (electrocardiogram) is commonly used to reveal certain signs of the condition. If these signs are present, echo usually confirms the diagnosis http://bit.ly/2lMCzNP  #ValveDiseaseDay

Heart Valve Disease

Heart valve disease is when one or more of the heart's 4 valves don't work. http://bit.ly/2sGSMIP  #ValveDiseaseDay

Do You Need To Move More?

Choosing to move more is one of the best choices you can make for your health. As little as 30 minutes of physical activity every day to improve your heart health. #HeartMonth #MoveWithHeart

Part 6: 125-145 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

126. Sugar increases the chances of getting irritable bowl syndrome.

127. Sugar can affect central reward systems.

129. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum

130. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.

131. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell cancer.

132. Sugar can cause liver tumors.

133. Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the bloodstreams of overweight people.

134. Sugar plays a role in the cause and the continuation of acne.

135. Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones.

136. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression.

137. Sugar can make many essential nutrients less available to cells.

138. Sugar can increase uric acid in blood.

139. Sugar can lead to higher C-peptide concentrations.

140. Sugar causes inflammation.

141. Sugar can cause diverticulitis, a small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall that is inflamed.

142. Sugar can decrease testosterone production.

143. Sugar impairs spatial memory.

144. Sugar can cause cataracts.

145. Sugar is associated with higher rates of chronic bronchitis in adults.

Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills

Part 5: 101-125 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

101. Sugar can cut off oxygen to the brain when given to people intravenously.

102. Sugar is a risk factor for lung cancer.

103. Sugar increases the risk of polio.

104. Sugar can cause epileptic seizures.

105. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure (pressure when the heart is contracting).

106. Sugar can induce cell death.

107. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.

108. Sugar can cause antisocial behavior in juvenile delinquents.

109. Sugar increases the risk of breast cancer.

110. Sugar can lead to prostate cancer.

111. Sugar dehydrates newborns.

112. Sugar can cause women to give birth to babies with low birth weight.

113. Sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia.

114. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the bloodstream.

115. Sugar can cause asthma.

116. Sugar increases neural tube defects in embryos when it is consumed by pregnant women.

117. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.

118. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.

119. Sugar can cause brain decay in pre-diabetic and diabetic women.

120. Sugar causes constipation.

121. Sugar water, when given to children shortly after birth, results in those children preferring sugar water to regular water throughout childhood.

122. Sugar can contribute to mild memory loss.

123. Sugar induces salt and water retention.

124. Sugar can cause laryngeal cancer.

125. Sugar is a risk factor in small intestine cancer.

Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills!

Part 4: 76-100 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

76.  Sugar can cause dyspepsia (indigestion).

77.  Sugar can increase the risk of developing gout.

78.  Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in the blood much higher than complex carbohydrates in a glucose tolerance test can.

79.  Sugar reduces learning capacity.

80.  Sugar can cause two blood proteins – albumin and lipoproteins – to function less
effectively, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.

81.  Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

82.  Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness, which causes blood clots.

83.  Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance – some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

84.  Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

85.  Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

86.  Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer.

87.  Sugar increases the risk of pregnant adolescents delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

88.  Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease the in the length of pregnancy among adolescents.

89.  Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.

90.  Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.

91.  Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.

92.  Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, a digestive enzyme, which makes digestion more difficult.

93.  Sugar can be a risk factor for gallbladder cancer.

94.  Sugar is an addictive substance.

95.  Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

96.  Sugar can aggravate premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

97.  Sugar can decrease emotional stability.

98.  Sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese people.

99.  Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

100. Sugar can slow the ability of the adrenal glands to function

Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills!

Part 3: 51-75 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

51.  Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

52.  Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.

53.  Sugar can change the structure of protein.

54.  Sugar can make the skin wrinkle by changing the structure of collagen.

55.  Sugar can cause cataracts.

56.  Sugar can cause emphysema.

57.  Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.

58.  Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).

59.  Sugar can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.

60.  Sugar lowers enzymes ability to function.

61.  Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease.

62.  Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.

63.  Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.

64.  Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

65.  Sugar can damage the pancreas.

66.  Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.

67.  Sugar is the number one enemy of the bowel movement.

68.  Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

69.  Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

70.  Sugar can make tendons more brittle.

71.  Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

72.  Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.

73.  Sugar can adversely affect children’s grades in school.

74.  Sugar can cause depression.

75.  Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills!

Part 2: 25-50 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

25.  Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

26.  Sugar can cause tooth decay.

27.  Sugar can lead to obesity.

28.  Sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

29.  Sugar can cause gastric or duodenal ulcers.

30.  Sugar can cause arthritis.

31.  Sugar can cause learning disorders in school children.

32.  Sugar assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).

33.  Sugar can cause gallstones.

34.  Sugar can cause heart disease.

35.  Sugar can cause appendicitis.

36.  Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.

37.  Sugar can cause varicose veins.

38.  Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

39.  Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

40.  Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

41.  Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

42.  Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E in the blood.

43.  Sugar can decrease the amount of growth hormones in the body.

44.  Sugar can increase cholesterol.

45.  Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which form when sugar binds non-enzymatically to protein.

46.  Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

47.  Sugar causes food allergies.

48.  Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

49.  Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

50.  Sugar can lead to eczema in children.

Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills!

Part 1: 1-25 Reasons Why Sugar is Ruining Your Health by Nancy Appleton, PhD

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children.
4. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring, which can affect an individual’s ability to exercise.
5. Sugar in soda, when consumed by children, results in the children drinking less milk.
6. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses and return them to fasting levels slower in oral contraceptive users.
7. Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and tissues.
8. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children.
9. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
10. Sugar reduces the body’s ability to defend against bacterial infection.

11.  Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function – the more sugar you eat, the more elasticity and function you lose.

12.  Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

13.  Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.

14.  Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer.

15.  Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.

16.  Sugar causes copper deficiency.

17.  Sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium.

18.  Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.

19.  Sugar raises the level of neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

20.  Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

21.  Sugar can lead to an acidic digestive tract.

22.  Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.

23.  Sugar is frequently malabsorbed in patients with functional bowel disease.

24.  Sugar can cause premature aging.

25.  Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Sugar Kills!

Top Ten Tips to Improve Your Digestive Health

Dr. Liz Lipski’s Top Ten Tips 

to Improve your Digestive Health

1. Stay Hydrated. Our digestive system and body don’t work efficiently when they’re like a dry sponge. 

How can you expect to have easy bowel movements and remove waste from your body without fluids? Making sure that you get plenty of water every day is one of the most promising routes to digestive wellness. 

2. Exercise Regularly. A fitness routine is a good idea for everyone, but for those with digestive issues it’s especially helpful.  Exercise increases circulation while massaging and toning your entire digestive system. Aim for 20-60 minutes of activity at least 3 to 4 times a week.

3. Add Good Bacteria to Your Diet. It’s the life in food that gives us life. Add probiotic and prebiotic laden foods to your diet.  Probiotic rich foods include: Add some yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee, cultured vegetables, unpasteurized olives and pickles, amasake, black tea, raw milk cheeses, natto, raw vinegars, traditionally made sourdough breads and tempeh. Prebiotic rich foods include: asparagus, bananas, chickory, eggplant, fruit, garlic, green tea, honey, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, onions, peas, yogurt, cottage cheese, and kefir.  You may choose to add a probiotic supplement to your routine.

4. Get your fiber. The daily recommendation for dietary fiber is 25 grams per day.  If you are like most people, you get about half of that. Fiber helps regulate your digestive system. Try such fiber-rich foods as legumes (all beans except green beans), whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat, bulghur, millet, buckwheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats), vegetables and fruits.

5. Slow Down and CHEW! Your teeth are part of your digestive system, too. When you use them to thoroughly mush up your food—think mashed potatoes—the rest of your digestive system doesn’t have to work overtime. 

6. Cook at Home. When you prepare foods in your own kitchen, you have better control of the ingredients and cooking methods, so you can make foods that are healthy and easily digested. An added bonus: cooking is also nurturing and rejuvenating.

7. Try Fermented Foods. Fermenting or culturing makes foods more digestible by actually “pre-digesting” them for you. The most common fermented foods are cultured dairy products, like yogurt, sourdough bread, pickles and sauerkraut. 

8. Cook Foods Well. When you’re sick, you naturally turn to soups and stews and well-cooked foods—they’re so simple that your system can digest them easily. But don’t limit these foods to when you’re ill; include them as part of your regular diet. For sweet desserts, try poached pears or applesauce.

9. Eat Smaller Meals. Skipping meals or waiting to eat until you’re famished can lead to overeating. You’ll find that eating smaller meals with healthy snacks in between aids your digestive system. 

10. Know Your Food Sensitivities. It’s estimated that 10-20% of us have food sensitivities, which can cause far reaching symptoms including: bloating, cramping, heartburn, indigestion, gas, stomach pain, chronic headaches, depression, inability to concentrate, aching muscles and joints and low energy levels. The most common food sensitivities include:  wheat, uncultured dairy products (like milk), eggs, citrus, pork and beef. 

Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN, CHN, is the Director of Doctoral Studies, and Education Director at Hawthorn University. She’s the author of Digestive Wellness and offers professional mentoring groups. www.innovativehealing.com  www.digestivewellnessbook.com and  www.accesstohealthexperts.com 

What are Gallstones?

While there’s a ton of information on treatment and prevention of gallstones, today we’re going to focus on exactly what causes gallstones.

What’s the gallbladder?

To understand gallstones you first have to understand your gallbladder and the reason that you have one. Your gallbladder is an organ which plays an integral part in the digestive process, as it stores bile created by your liver. This is the remnant of the food that your liver can’t digest and absorb into your bloodstream, so your gallbladder is a pretty important organ when it comes to helping you stay healthy.

When a gallstone forms, it does so inside your gallbladder. They’re usually composed of cholesterol, salt, or discarded red blood cells. They also range wildly in size, from as small as a grain of sand to as large as an apricot. This means that many people can have gallstones and not know, because they’re not large enough to cause problems.

What causes gallstones?

Gallstones occur for a variety of reasons, usually based on the type of stone that you have. We’ll cover the three types of gallstones to show you what causes each.

Cholesterol stones are by far the most common, making up roughly 80 percent of all gallstones that occur, according to research from Harvard. Now, the bile in your gallbladder usually breaks down cholesterol, but a gallstone will occur when your liver is producing more cholesterol than the bile in your gallbladder can process.

Obviously, foods high in cholesterol aren’t good for your overall health, but they can create the potential of gallstones as well.

Bilirubin gallstones (the medical term for a gallstone made from discarded red blood cells) occur when you have other conditions that force your liver to produce more red blood cells than normal. Cirrhosis of the liver is a common cause of bilirubin gallstones, though other blood disorders cause these stones as well since all the materials in your body go through your liver at one point or another.

Just like with cholesterol stones, bilirubin stones form due to the inability of your gallbladder to process the excess red blood cells produced by your liver.

The last type of stone is formed entirely of concentrated bile. Your gallbladder can’t function as it should unless it’s constantly creating and discarding bile; essentially, getting rid of the old bile and creating new bile to break down more waste. If your gallbladder doesn’t destroy and create bile on a regular basis, the old bile will crystallize and form gallstones.

Gallstones aren’t a health problem you want to deal with, but knowing what causes them should help you avoid the situations in which they arise. Knowing how your gallbladder works, and what makes it cause stones, can and should influence your dietary and lifestyle choices

Click here to see more post from Nature's Sunshine products.

15 High-Fiber Foods

15 Healthy High-Fiber Foods That Make You Feel Full and Satisfied

---

Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which contributes to keeping cholesterol levels in check, and insoluble fiber, which helps you feel satisfied.

Just ¼ cup of almonds has 4.5 grams of fiber.

Store-bought hummus has about 2.7 grams of fiber in a three-tablespoon serving.

One cup of raspberries is great and has 8 grams of fiber.

About 7 large carrots have 3 grams of fiber.

Each medium-sized apple has 4.4 grams of fiber.

With 5.5 grams of fiber in just one medium-sized pear, this fruit is always a solid choice.

Barley has the highest fiber content of all whole grains.

One avocado has about 13.5 grams of fiber.

2 cups of raw kale contains 4.8 grams of fiber.

Brussels sprouts have about 4.1 grams of fiber in one cup (cooked).

One cup of boiled broccoli has 5.1 grams of fiber.

One medium-sized cooked artichoke has about 10.3 grams of fiber.

Reference: Reposted from Nature's Sunshine Products Blog. Go here to see more blog post.

7 Sources of Protein for Vegetarians

One of the biggest concerns many people have when going on a vegetarian diet is finding reliable, tasty, and affordable sources of protein. While those making the switch to vegetarianism, there’s no denying that beef and other red meat is a cheap, effective way to get the protein your body needs.

However, if you’re ready to make the switch and become a vegetarian, there are some legitimately viable options for protein for vegetarians. Let’s take a look at just a few of them, to give you an idea of the breadth of options available that can suit any dietary need and want.

Supplements
Using dietary supplements requires research on your part to ensure that you’re getting a supplement that actually delivers on its promises – and doesn’t contain any extra, unnecessary – and potentially unhealthy – ingredients. One of those great supplements is the Love and Peas protein powder we offer here at Nature’s Sunshine. It’s one of the most popular protein replacements for vegetarians, as it contains 20 grams of vegetable protein per serving, 75% of your required daily dose of vitamins and minerals, a powerful antioxidant blend, and is friendly to anyone who is lactose or gluten intolerant.

The wide range of applications for this product just underscore the fact that finding great, effective, and healthy ways to replace protein in a vegetarian diet isn’t as difficult as you might have originally thought.

                                                                     Quinoa

If you’re a fan of couscous, you’ll likely enjoy quinoa. It looks very similar to couscous, but it’s far more nutritious. It’s so packed full of important proteins, NASA hopes to grow it on space flights between planets, should we ever advance that far in our space travels.

It’s used in a ton of different foods, too. From muffins to cookies and even a hearty breakfast casserole, quinoa is yet another great source of protein.

Buckwheat
In 1 cup of cooked buckwheat, you’ll get 6 grams of protein – not a bad haul at all considering that this isn’t actually wheat, but a cousin to rhubarb. It’s most often used, though, as a gluten-free wheat substitute. The seeds of buckwheat are ground into a flour, which is great for pancakes, chili, and even making pasta noodles. Buckwheat’s even been proven to help balance out your blood sugar and improve circulation. Most importantly, it packs the protein punch you’ll miss out on if you cut meat entirely from your diet without any viable replacement options with which you can work.

Beans and rice
Eventually we had to arrive here, right? The best thing about beans and rice is the fact that they’re cheap, easy to make, and packed full of other nutrients in addition to the protein your body needs to properly function. In fact, beans and rice, when served and eaten together, contain a protein content just about equal to that of a similar serving of meat.

Sound impossible? While a healthy dose of skepticism is good to have, especially in matters where diet are concerned, this fact is true. In addition rice is full of carbs, so when you get finished with a big workout, or you need to carb-load for a big run in a week, you can pack it on with rice and beans and know you’re getting the right type of carbs, in addition to the protein that makes this a go-to meal for vegetarians.

The ol’ PB&J
The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a staple at nearly every school in America, and many others across the world. It’s tasty, quick, and best of all? There’s 15

grams of protein per sandwich, when that sandwich is made with two slices of bread and at least two tablespoons of peanut butter.

If you want to make things a bit more interesting, you can toast some wheat bread and slather all-natural peanut butter on it for a higher-calorie meal. While high calories may or may not be your favorite thing, the combination of wheat bread and peanut butter deliver your essential amino acids – which are coincidentally building blocks to help your body process and digest proteins – and those healthy fats as well. Peanut butter isn’t quite in the “superfood” category like kale, but it’s pretty close, and for good reason.

Eggs
For the traditionalist who loves a hearty breakfast, eggs are another solid protein option. With roughly 6 grams of protein per egg, you know that combining them with a bit of soy milk to make scrambled eggs and wheat toast with peanut butter is one protein-packed meal. They’re also high in the right kinds of fats, keep your hunger urges under control so you can actually eat less and still feel full, and they contain a nutrient that plays a role in both the burning of fat and the health of your brain.

While going vegetarian may sound daunting at first, there are a lot of different ways to get the same nutrition you would if you continued to eat meat. No matter your reason for becoming a vegetarian, you can rest assured that with a bit of work and the desire to get creative, you’ll have tasty, healthy, sustainable options for protein on your dinner table each night.

Soy
This is another staple on the vegetarian food circuit. While some people have to use soy-based products due to a problem with lactose, its been a go-to for protein for a long time. You can make just about anything from soybeans, so the products are wide-ranging which is good if you like a really diverse diet or are a bit picky in what you eat.

From dry roasted soybeans, which pack a whopping 18 grams of protein, to soy milk or the traditional Indonesian dish consisting of fermented soy – called tempeh, which is a great substitute for lunch meat on sandwiches, surprisingly enough – the only limits to what you can do with soy are what you think you can do.

Reference: Reprinted from Nature's Sunshine Blog post.

Tips to Help Patients (You) Stop Smoking

• List reasons why you want to quit smoking; review it daily
• Set a specific day to quit; tell 10 friends; then do it
•     Discard all cigarettes, butts, matches, and ashtrays
•     Use substitutes: raw vegetables, fruits, gum, Play with pencil to occupy fingers
•     Take one day at a time
•     40 million Americans have quit; so CAN you
•     Visualize yourself as a nonsmoker with more money, pleasant breath, unstained teeth, and sense of self control
•     Join a support group; contact local American Cancer Society chapter, and go
•     Relax: use deep breathing exercises
•     Avoid situation you associate with smoking
•     Reward yourself daily in a positive way with money saved.

Congratulations - you are on your way. Keep up the fantastic work.

The Stomach

When digestion is weak, fewer nutrients will be absorbed. Enzyme production will suffer so digestion ability worsens in a vicious cycle. This applies particularly to the digestion of protein, which is the main raw material of all digestives enzymes and hormones.

The main role of gastric juices in the stomach:

• Destroy bacteria and other micro-organisms found in food
• Separate vitamin B12 from food and combine it with intrinsic factor
• Release minerals from food
• Prepare protein for digestion by pancreatic enzymes
• Stimulate the rest of the digestive process, especially bicarbonate and pancreatic enzyme production

Many of these process depend on the high acidity if gastric juice, in the form of hydrochloric acid (HCl). Acid is needed to stimulate the production of bicarbonate by the live and pancreas. In turn bicarbonate makes the gut contents more alkaline, and this act as a trigger for the release of digestive enzymes.

Reference: Lazarides, L. (2010). A textbook of modern naturopathy. London: Health-Diets.net.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

If the small intestine becomes more permeable than it is supposed to be (leaky), it allows abnormally large food molecules to enter the bloodstream. These incompletely digested molecules may stimulate allergic / immune responses both in the intestinal wall and elsewhere in the body.

When the small intestine suffers impaired permeably, it both absorbs what it should not and does not absorb what it should. A leaky gut allows not only oversize protein molecules to enter the bloodstream but also bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. When this happens the body reacts with alarm.

Symptoms of a leaky gut include:

• Constipation and/or diarrhea
• Abdominal pain or bloating
• Indigestion or flatulence
• Mucus of blood in stools
• Chronic joint or muscle pains
• Frequent fatigue, tiredness
• Fuzzy thinking
• Confusion, poor memory
• Mood swings
• Poor exercise tolerance
• Weak immunity
• Shortness of breath
• Skin rashes, hives, eczema
• Asthma, bronchitis, respiratory infections
• Food allergies / intolerances

A leaky gut may be caused by a gluten intolerance, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), alcohol, intestinal parasites, food sensitivities, or candidiasis.

Foods to Avoid
In order to heal the leaky gut it is necessary to eliminate ALL of the following:

• Milk products (butter, buttermilk, cheese, cottage cheese, ice cream, ice milk, milk, yogurt)
• Grains (barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, kamut, millet, oaks rice, rye, wheat, wild rice)
• Legumes (peas, bean, lentil,. chickpeas, soy/tofu)
• Starchy vegetable (beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin. squash, sweet potatoes. turnips)
• High glycemic fruits (banana, dried fruits, fruit juices)
• Sugars (brown sugar, can juice, corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, icing sugar, maltose, maple sugar, molasses, raw sugar
• Alcoholic beverages

5 Tips for a Better Night’s Sleep

Americans get 20% less sleep today than they did 100 years ago. More stress? Probably. Less physical activity? Perhaps. In any case, some type of insomnia will affect one in three of us. And women, you’re up to twice as likely to experience sleeplessness as men. But don’t take this news lying down (staring at the ceiling). Here are 5 tips to do your part to make every night a restful night.

Time

Allow yourself some time to wind down each evening. Bustling around, trying to get a few more things done before you retire is counter-productive to good sleep. Even social networking before bed can stimulate the brain, making it hard to truly relax when your head hits the pillow.

Environment

Some people can sleep anywhere. Most of us can’t. Creating a sleep-friendly environment might include controlling the amount of light in your bedroom, your room temperature and the amount of noise reaching your ears. Consider black-out curtains, earplugs, turning on a fan, listening to mellow music, a bark collar for the dog and other changes that might make your sleep room a better place for real rest.

Create a Routine

Doing the same thing every night can help train your body that it’s time for sleep. Drink a glass of warm milk, brush your teeth, read for 10 minutes, then listen to relaxing music. Whatever your routine should be, stick with it for at least two weeks and see if sleep is less elusive. Note: Exercising too close to bedtime can stimulate the mind, making sleep much more difficult for some people.

Get comfortable

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good mattress and/or pillow. Before you buy a new mattress, do some research. Talk to friends, check out blogs and ask about doing a 30-day test-run to see if you like it. Nowadays you can choose from air, gel, water, and good old springs and foam. People are quite different and so are mattresses!

Supplements for Sleep

Herbs and supplements for sleep can play an important role in getting proper rest.

• Valerian root has been used for over a thousand years to help people sleep. It helps relax the central nervous system, promotes feelings of calm and can help decrease anxiety or stress. And unlike some sleep aids, it does NOT leave you feeling groggy.
• Hops flowers have nervine properties and promote restful sleep.
• Passionflower can help relax tense muscles and soothe frayed nerves.
• Lavender is the most popular essential oil for relaxation and encouraging sleep. Diffuse lavender in your bedroom or spray a mist of it onto sheets and pillows before bed.
• Melatonin is a hormone naturally present in the brain. It can help restore the body’s natural sleep rhythm and may help you feel more alert and rested when you awake. Our bodies make less melatonin as we age. NOTE: don’t use melatonin during the day; not for pregnant women.

Reference: November Healthy Living Recap 2016 - Natures Sunshine Products