Got Sleep?

Attaining health is much more than maintaining a healthful diet. There are many elements that go into the mix, one of them being getting adequate sleep. It's mainly during sleep that our bodies repair and build, and put all those great nutrients we're eating to work. So, if we're eating this really great diet and exercising, etc., but we're not getting sufficient sleep, we're really short changing our body's potentiality.

 

Last summer, I read an article, entitled "The Importance of Rest in Disease," by Christopher Gian-Cursio, published in 1942. (You can read the full article at http:/naturalhygienesociety.org/articles/classics2.html). In it Gian-Cursio writes that one of the first things he recommends to his patients is to go home and get some sleep. He's found that when people sleep literally double the time that they normally sleep each night, they experience profound healing and physiological building and repair. That means, if you normally sleep, say, seven hours a night, Gian-Cursio recommends committing several days to staying in bed for a full seven hours longer, so your body can gain additional vital energy. You don't necessarily have to sleep this whole time, but you do have to turn off your senses as much as you can. That means, no noise, no light, no telephones or TVs, as well as no scented candles, etc.  

He writes, "During this kind of rest not only is the musculature rested, but also all of the vital organs. By slowing the expenditure of energy the recruiting of energy is accelerated...Not only does a particular organ recuperate, but because it does, it decreases its demand upon other organs...In complete physiological rest the whole body profits..."

Now, I'm a gggreat sleeper! My husband marvels at the way I can quickly fall off to sleep and stay asleep for a full ten hours night after night. But still, I was intrigued by Gian-Cursio's article. I wondered...if I could stay in bed even half the time Gian-Cursio recommended, would I gain even more vital energy? So, I decided to put it to the test. 

I cancelled my appointments for the rest of the week and determined to stay in bed for as long as I could. According to Gian-Cursio's recommendation, that meant, for me, 20 hours! To give myself the best possible advantage, I bought an eye mask to give my eyes a complete rest, and I got some of those foamy earplugs to block out noise. Then, off to bed I went!  

I won't tell you that this experiment was a synch. The first couple of hours really tried my patience. I just lay there listening to my brain run a hundred miles an hour, but I was determined. And sure enough, I eventually drifted off into blissful, profound sleep--deeper than I could ever recall--and I remained asleep until 4 PM. Then, after a short stroll to the mailbox, I returned to bed and immediately fell asleep again through the entire night. I repeated this process for three days and during that time I had really, really vivid, colorful dreams, I got a couple of headaches, and I was massively thirsty. But when I awoke after the third day, I felt amazingly well and energetic! I dropped seven pounds, healed a wound on my hand, as well as drained a swollen gland in my neck; and I swear the colors around me were more intense than I had ever remembered before my experiment.  Oh, and I felt so...happy, too! 

I'm hooked on sleeping!

Now I go around telling my friends to go home and go to sleep! I'm convinced that in this life that we're all living, sleep deprivation is a chronic and detrimental circumstance. Many of us even revel in our lack of sleep, as if that were some kind of badge to display to the world. No, we could all use much more sleep than we're allowing. Interestingly, several people have protested over my enthusiasm for sleeping. "All I need is six hours of sleep and I'm fine," one insisted. I just kept my mouth shut, all the while as I looked into her sunken eyes and noting her dry, sallow skin, not to mention the argument she had just had with her husband on the phone... 

Still, what would it hurt to get more sleep? It's physiologically impossible for your body to sleep beyond its need, so you have nothing to lose. But you DO have a lot to gain!  Don't wait until your body breaks down to try this out. Set aside time this weekend to get some sleep--do it as if your life depends on it!