May is
Mental Health Awareness month. The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall-Smith is
an excellent resource to support your mental health and live up to the promise
of your highest potential.
During the mysterious process of sleep the
body rests, but the brain is active. Scientists, authors and musicians have
come up with relevant ideas while dreaming. For example, The Rolling Stones,
Billy Joel and Paul McCartney said that some of their created lyrics and
melodies appeared in their dreams. Similarly, Dimitri Mendeleev, the creator of
the periodic table of elements, saw the complete table in a dream.
Like regular exercise and healthy eating
habits, sleep is essential to your wellbeing. It is normal to have a bad night
every now and then, so there is no reason to be concerned about enduring one,
but actions can be taken to optimize your sleep.
The Science of Sleep is a comprehensive,
well-researched book to help you understand the process and to follow basic
sleep hygiene measures that support your wellbeing. It contains suggestions,
recent discoveries and ideas to empower you to slip into a pleasant slumber.
Why is sleep important?
Sleep helps to consolidate learning and memory;
it boosts the immune system, balances our emotional states, and plays a vital
role in repairing and restoring tissues in the body. People who don’t sleep
well regularly have trouble regulating their appetite; the reason for this is
well explained in her book, and it has to do with the release of chemicals in
the body in response to the lack of sufficient sleep.
Poor sleep may have a deleterious effect on
your judgement of situations and people, and it has the potential to impair
your performance skills.
A few basic behaviors should be considered
to improve the quality and quantity of sleep: avoid caffeine after 2:00 pm; stay
physically active regularly, but don’t be too active when the time of going to
bed is approaching; use stress management strategies daily; be consistent with
routines; lower the lights at night to support the synchronization of your
circadian rhythm and avoid watching TV at night.
Remember to create a “sanctuary” in your
bedroom, a safe haven where you feel at ease and ready to chill out and fall
asleep.
The Science of Sleep by Heather Darwall-Smith contains colorful diagrams and illustrations that make the presentation interesting and engrossing. I love that the illustrations show people of different races.
There is information on how to deal with specific situations, like traveling to a different time zone, changing work shifts and various other topics.
Another remarkable aspect to highlight is the
inclusion of medical and psychological disorders that affect sleep.
The only pages I did not like about the book
are the ones on sleep and babies. It comprises two pages with a very rigid
approach to the matter. If this is something you are interested in, I recommend
the book The Attachment Parenting Book: A
common sense guide to understanding and nurturing your baby by Martha Sears
and William Sears.
To sum it up, I highly recommend The Science of Sleep, and the section about dreams is gripping. Journaling one’s dreams is a fascinating adventure you may want to explore.
You can visit the author's site here.
Thank you
for reading this post.
Have a good
night and sweet dreams.
My heart is with the families of the people who died in Buffalo, New York, due to the horrifying shootings caused by a white supremacist.
