MOST AMERICANS LIVE hectic, stressful lives. People who live under stressful conditions appear to be more susceptible to infections than people living under less stressful conditions. That is why getting proper rest is an important part of caring for your body. You cannot expect your body to work hard to defend you from colds, flu, and other infectious diseases if you do not take care of it. This means setting aside time to rest. The Word of God says people should not work continuously, but rather set aside specific time for this purpose. After all, a refreshed body is more equipped to work for you.
Chapter 2 mentioned that most colds and flu occur between October and March. It's interesting, then, that every winter many animals hibernate or rest for a season. Likewise, every night when you sleep, you rest your body and mind. Blessed rest is as much a law of the universe as gravity. It is also a powerful principle of healing. Think about it: When an animal is injured or sick, what does it do? It finds a resting place where it can lap up water and quit eating while it heals. This is a natural, instinctual wisdom that God placed within the animal kingdom.
But when many people come down with an illness, such as a bad cold or sinus infection, what do they do? Instead of resting and fasting by drinking only water or fresh-made juices, they consume ice cream, puddings, creamy soups, and other rich, high-caloric foods that do nothing to cleanse and detoxify the body. Many also prolong illnesses by taking Tylenol to suppress the fever so they can go back to work much sooner than their bodies are ready (often sickening coworkers in the process). They push themselves by taking antibiotics, decongestants, and antihistamines to dry up the mucus. This also impedes the natural process of detoxification. Instead of healing, the body may store even more toxic material.
TAPPING IN TO STRENGTH
Those who sleep better and know how to rest or meditate can tap in to creativity, new ideas, and a spiritual state much faster than those who try to get by with little rest. Basically a good night’s sleep is like pushing “reset” on your computer when it goes haywire. Rest is an integral element of good health, which includes being free of disease, injury, and stress. Your overall health depends greatly on the decisions you make. God grants each person the option to choose. You can choose to get adequate rest, as well as eating right, exercising, and decreasing the stress in your life.
Practicing healthy behaviors contributes to your well-being and can greatly reduce the risk of infections and illness. However, Americans’ record on the sleep meter isn’t too good. Over the past five decades people’s average nightly sleep declined from more than eight hours to less than seven. To show how this compounds health problems, during this same span of time the nation’s obesity rate climbed 30 percent. Less sleep means lower levels of leptin, the hormone that tells you that you have eaten enough.
Here is where lifestyle choices, including exercise, will help you get more rest. For example, in addition to stretching in the morning and starting a regular jogging or walking program, stretching before going to bed at night will help to relax you and promote more restful sleep. You will be surprised at how great it makes you feel. As you continue, you will see that you can walk faster and for longer periods of time with positive results. Limiting your intake of caffeine, whether that is through coffee, soft drinks, or energy drinks, and cutting your sugar intake will also help you get more rest.
Quick Tips: Good Sleep Habits
The following tips about sleeping to strengthen your immune system make sense for all ages:
• Go to bed and awake at the same time each day, even on weekends. There is no way to make up for “lost sleep.”
• Establish a daily “cool-down” time. One hour before bedtime dim the lights and eliminate noise. Use this time for low-level stimulation activities such as listening to quiet music or reading non-stimulating material.
• Associate beds with resting only. Talk on the phone or scan the Internet elsewhere.
• Don’t drink caffeinated drinks in the afternoon or evening. Caffeine’s stimulating effects will peak two to four hours after consumption, but they can linger in the body for several hours.
• Don’t eat dinner close to bedtime, and don’t overeat. Sleep can be disrupted by digestive systems working extra hard after a heavy meal. Make your last meal of the day a light one.
• Avoid exercise close to bedtime. Physical activity late in the day can affect your body’s ability to relax into a peaceful slumber.
BOOSTING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Getting enough sleep is absolutely critical for maintaining a strong immune system. Lack of sleep causes a decline of natural killer cells. Deep sleep helps to strengthen the immune system and repair any tissue damage. In fact, colds, flu, and sinus infections tend to make you feel sleepy for a good reason. When the immune system is battling these germs and viruses, it produces chemicals called cytokines, which cause the body to feel tired and sleepy. Your body works to conserve energy so that the immune system can mount up an attack against the infection.
Unfortunately too many people work forty-plus hours a week; when they catch a cold, come down with the flu, or develop a sinus infection, they keep pushing themselves. Does that sound like you? When you keep pushing yourself at the very time your body is signaling you to sleep, you are undermining your immune system and sabotaging your health. God created principles of health within your body that you need to obey. Cheating your body again and again ultimately can cause disastrous consequences. Good sleep habits can help prevent you from coming down with colds or flu. However, if you contract a virus, make sure that you take time to rest so that your body can heal. Make it a priority to get seven to eight hours of rest each night.
Quick Tips: Natural Sleep Protocol
• Before bed take a warm Epsom salts bath with lavender oil added. This will relax your muscles and mind, promoting restful sleep.
• Try some Sleepy Time or chamomile tea sweetened with stevia extract before you go to bed.
• CalMax Powder, which is a highly absorbable calcium-magnesium supplement, will help you sleep through the night. Kava and passionflower are natural relaxers, along with valerian root; they help ease tension and cause you to feel sleepy.
• Carbohydrates can also help to induce sleep. Pasta for dinner with vegetables (no meat) is the way to go.
• You may snack on brown rice, banana, or warm milk with honey.
• Try 3 mg of melatonin on a temporary basis to help reset your biological clock.
• Consider exercise. It is a wonderful stress reliever, which will in turn lighten your mental load.
Rest is vital when you have a cold or the flu. And don’t assume a bad case of the sniffles or frequent sneezing is necessarily a cold. It could be chronic sinusitis, the most common chronic disease in the United States and a condition that affects about forty million people. Studies reveal that the vast majority of individuals with chronic colds lasting longer than two weeks actually have a sinus infection.1
If you have suffered from a sinus infection, it was one of two types: acute or chronic sinusitis.
Acute sinusitis is usually triggered by a cold. Symptoms of acute sinusitis include a cold that lasts longer than two weeks, yellow or green nasal drainage, a fever, cough, postnasal drip, facial pressure—especially around the cheeks, eyes, or forehead—pain in the upper molars and swelling of the face. Some people experience loss of the sense of smell. There is a good possibility that your sinuses are infected if pain occurs after tapping your cheekbones, the area around the bridge of your nose, or your forehead just over the eyebrows.
Chronic sinusitis usually produces fewer symptoms than acute sinusitis. Symptoms include nasal congestion, postnasal drainage, sore throat, cough, low-grade fever, decreased sense of taste and smell, and cold symptoms such as a constant runny nose. These symptoms usually will interfere with your sleep. In 1999 a Mayo Clinic study found that an immune system response to fungus, rather than bacterial infection, is the cause of most cases of chronic sinusitis. These researchers studied two hundred ten patients with chronic sinusitis and found forty different kinds of fungus, including candida, in the mucus of 96 percent of the patients. However, in a control group of healthy volunteers, similar organisms were found as well. Therefore, researchers concluded the immune systems of those with chronic sinusitis reacted dramatically differently than those of healthy individuals.
The unusual immune reaction was determined to be responsible for the chronic pain, inflammation, and swelling of the mucous membranes associated with sinusitis. This is now actually termed “allergic fungal sinusitis.” And again, it’s an immune system response and not an allergy to the fungus that is the cause of chronic sinus infection.2
Quick Tips: For Sleep Disorders
If a lack of sleep is weakening you in the battle against colds and flu, testing neurotransmitters is the best way to determine if you have depletion in brain chemicals that could be causing the problem. Testing can be completed whether you are taking medications or not. You can determine if your neurotransmitters are out of balance by taking the Brain Wellness Programs Self Test. Just go to www.neurogistics.com and click “Get Started.” Use the practitioner code SLEEP (all caps). You can order the program, which includes a urine in-home test that will yield a report on your neurotransmitter levels. You’ll be given a customized protocol with guidelines for the right amino acids for you to take to help correct your imbalances. Or call 866-843-8935 for more information.