The Joy of Restful Sleep

It's hard to think of anything more important than getting a good night's sleep. Waking up feeling fully refreshed and ready to go is obviously a wonderful thing, but there are many other benefits too.

Cognitive Abilities

Restful sleep allows your mind to consolidate memories. In fact, "without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly."¹

A common fear in many who are approaching their senior years is declining cognitive abilities, so the more we take care of our brains, the better our chances become for avoiding this. And of course, being alert and sharp makes it easier for us to be more productive and to learn the new skills we may need for our jobs and our lives in general.

Health and Wellness

Experience shows me how helpful sleep can be for recovering from colds, flues, and other such illnesses. There have been so many days when I was grateful to go to sleep after a rough day, knowing the probability was high I would feel healthier in the morning. But sleeping well can also boost your immune system so reducing your chances of getting sick in the first place.²

Weight gain is another issue that can be influenced by sleep. It's not that sleeping well will cause you to lose weight, but it can prevent you from gaining those extra pounds in the first place. Even more significant is that chronic poor sleep can cause the release of the stress hormone, cortisol, which triggers your heart to work harder, so increasing your chances of cardiovascular disease. Other diseases that occur at an increased rate with sleep issues include high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and obesity.³

Tools and Tips

There are several foods that affect quality of sleep. Foods that promote restful sleep include almonds, turkey, chamomile tea, bananas, and milk.⁴ Foods that disrupt sleep and should therefore be avoided include alcohol, caffeine, fats, heavy spices.⁵ I generally make sure to avoid the foods that disrupt sleep in the last few hours before going to bed as the impact of those can be very direct.

However, the overactive mind was the more common issue I used to have. Sometimes this would kick in as soon as I got into bed, and other times it would occur when I would wake during the night. One thought would follow another, and another, and soon the minutes of wakefulness could turn into one or more hours. For this, I would turn to some of our InnerTalk programs. I can even remember one night when I woke during the night and after about an hour of tossing and turning, I decided to use the Power Imaging Relax Now program. It was quite an experience as I literally observed myself falling asleep.

Other times, when I was having issues just staying asleep or sleeping deeply or peacefully enough, the InnerTalk Sleep Soundly was the perfect solution. I would simply play this program very quietly in the background all night long and I would sleep like a baby.

Restful Sleep

There are of course several other issues that can influence the quality of your sleep, such as stress, anxiety, the inability to relax, and the fear of bad dreams. This is why we created our Restful Sleep album. This album will assist you to:

• Release stress.
• Find inner peace.
• Experience relaxation.
• Enter a place of serenity.
• Create feelings of being mellow and relaxed.
• Relieve anxiety.
• End your bad dreams.

For more information about our Restful Sleep album, please click here.

Wishing you love, light and laughter, always,

Ravinder Taylor

Sources

1. -- NIH. "Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep." National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
2. -- SCL Health. "The Benefits of Getting a Full Night's Sleep." Intermountain Health.
3. -- NIH. "Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep." National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
4. Elliott, B. 2023. "The 9 Best Foods and Drinks to Have Before Bed." Healthline. February 22, 2023.
5. Pathak, N. 2023. "Foods That Help or Harm Your Sleep." WebMD. February 9, 2023.