No day is so bad it can’t be fixed with a nap.
~Carrie Snow
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. ~Irish Proverb
Dear Readers,
Please find below part 4 in healing series: ‘More Sleep = Greater Emotional Stability’ by our favorite Catherine Liberty. H how people sleep can seriously alter the balance of hormones in their bodies, which in turn may influence recovery progression. Cortisol is a hormone which normally reaches peak levels at dawn and then declines during the day. It is one of many hormones that help regulate the immune system, including the activity of cells that help the body in recovery.
Are you getting the right amount of sleep to keep you happy and healthy in recovery? Last year the National Sleep Foundation completed a rigorous study and updated the recommended sleep times for each stage of life and it is now suggested that adults under 65 sleep between 7-9 hours each night, while adults over 65 should aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. If you’re way under or way over these guidelines then this could be having a seriously negative impact on your recovery. More sleep = greater emotional stability.
More sleep = greater emotional stability. Happiness Strategy #3 – Prioritize sleep
Researchers from the University of Berkley found that when we get enough sleep the reactivity in the amygdala (the part of the brain that processes emotion) is reduced, resulting in an increase in our ability to deal with highly emotional situations in more rational ways the following day.
More sleep = less binge urges and cravings
Sleep helps regulate the hormones that affect and control appetite and studies have shown that when we don’t get enough sleep our appetite can increase substantially the next day due to hormone imbalances (which in turn means stronger binge urges). Where as when we’ve slept enough we are far less likely to experience intense binge urges and cravings to eat more food than usual making recovery overall less challenging.
I know sometimes it can be a struggle to prioritize sleep, whether that’s due to life commitments, child care and work responsibilities, or whether it’s simply down to the fact that bulimia and/or the recovery process has caused you to experience sleep disturbances or insomnia (this is unfortunately extremely common for people to experience in recovery) but I promise you that with the right approach you really can begin to make positive changes in your life that will enable you to get more sleep. This is another issue I tend to work on in-depth with the people who I coach here at Bulimia Help.
If you’re struggling to get enough sleep right now I would suggest that you get started by creating a brand new routine for the hour leading up to your bedtime
You can start to prepare your body for a restful night’s sleep by following a similar routine each night. This may include things like taking a hot bath, drinking a herbal tea, putting on your pajamas, reading a book and generally taking some “down time” with the TV and other electronic devices turned off. When we rush around right up until bedtime and continue to expose ourselves to the bright lights and information emitted from our electronic devices, our brains can take hours to wind down.
Making sleep a priority will allow you to excel in your life, rather than simply slumping along due to exhaustion and fatigue.
Also This Sleep Dua is Very Effective in Helping you to get much needed Zzzzzz
