The pillars of health (1/3) : sleep

Here is a series of three articles on the pillars of health that are sleep, diet and physical activity.

This is the order I chose because it's probably the best angle of attack when it comes to balance and resistance to stress. To convince yourself of this, we can try to answer the following questions:

How long can your body last without...

• Being physically active? Long. For a very long time. It all depends on the quality of your sofa.
• Without eating? Hardly more than a month (except for specific practices).
• Without sleeping? Three days would be a great performance... The record would be 11 days and 25 min!? (The story doesn't say what happened at 11 days and 26 min).

Of course, whatever the situation, as soon as you need physical or mental energy (let's say all the time), these three pillars are essential and there are often at least one of the three that is not taken care of, or even two... or even three!

Let's start with what makes the loop complete: sleep.

What is 'sleep'?

Before we ask ourselves what "sleeping well" is, let's take a look at what it means to sleep:

According to the online dictionary cntrl.fr, it is "to be in a state of sleep." Ah! What about sleep then? It is "the state in which a living being is sleeping, but also the fact and need to sleep for a certain period of time".

Apart from the fact that the aspect of being alive is important, it is for a certain time that will be the basis of our reflection.

Why sleep?

Because it's good – and above all fundamental – for your health! If we spend an average of 1/3 of our lives in the arms of Morpheus, it's not for nothing. By the way, who knew that Morpheus isn't a pretty lady with hair falling over her Greek goddess body? The French spelling is misleading, it's a pretty gentleman with a beard drooping over his Greek god chest. The writers of The Matrix were not mistaken. Apart from that, between daddy god of sleep (Hypnos) and mom goddess of the night (Nyx), it's not surprising that we associate the son with the world of dreams.

All this to say that this process of being asleep is vital in many ways: growth, cognitive qualities, physical recovery, etc. And a whole range of physiological functions such as the replenishment of energy stores, the production of hormones, blood sugar, the management of toxins, the immune system, etc., etc.

It is therefore very clear that in an intense rhythm of life and with important deadlines to come, sleep is something that is fundamental, while it is very often disturbed, even neglected.

The quality of sleep is one of the first things to check in a search for healing, physical or psychological!

How many hours to sleep?

Sleep needs vary from person to person and will depend on physical or mental fitness, fatigue, illness, etc. and simply who you are.

Overall, an adult needs between 6 and 8 hours of sleep per night. I'm talking about the number of hours the body needs to recharge its batteries when it is put in ideal conditions (which we will see below). Because yes, sleeping less while staying in shape is possible but this is not the case if you sleep 4 hours a night from Monday to Friday and on weekends you sleep 10-12 hours because you "need to recover".

Exercise: You may not really know what your actual sleep needs are, so a period of time off/vacation is ideal for this. Two conditions:

• Don't be too tired.
• To be able to afford, for a minimum of 3 days and ideally 7 days, not to set an alarm clock.

All you have to do is put yourself in the best possible sleep conditions (even lower) and calculate the estimated number of hours from falling asleep to waking up.

Hours according to your profile:

According to the Vedic sciences, to which I refer as the basis of my work, each person has a physiological and psychological profile that allows us to adapt all the parameters of daily life to help the body machine function at its best.

To stay in the (very) broad lines and continue to talk about sleep, we will be able to identify 4 categories of sleepers, always according to needs:

The 8 hours of sleep

This is the group of those who are naturally "aerial" = who are scattered in their ideas and actions, who always do many things at once (often without finishing them). The kind of person who is very curious and connected to others. They will tend to stay up late or live at night, sleep is irregular, there are a lot of "crazy" dreams.

This is the profile that needs the most sleep to calm this tendency to be too much on the move and not be grounded.

The 7 hours of sleep

This is the group of those who are naturally ''on fire'' = very competitive, you always have to do something, it's always bubbling up with them. The kind of person who sets a lot of goals and doesn't stop until it's over. They won't like "wasting time" sleeping, it can often be a fight in their dreams.

This is the profile that needs the most regularity in the hours it sets for itself to avoid reducing its sleep too much "because there are things to do".

The 6 hours of sleep

This is the group of those who are naturally "settled" = very calm, not in a hurry, it takes time to do things but when it's gone, it's gone. The kind of person who doesn't get too worried (apparently) and tends to be lazy. They're going to love sleeping and sleeping in and yet...

It is the profile that can withstand the least amount of sleep and on the contrary move its buttocks to activate a profile that is too anchored (in the mattress)...

Exceptions

Several exceptions are possible to sleep more or less depending on your profile, including:

• You are sick, very tired, stressed, dépressif.ve... Rest is necessary! Anyone who is frail, hyperactive or emotionally exhausted should  increase  their basic sleep time by one hour.
• These needs are also adaptable according to the tendencies of the mind (theme to be developed later) and of course they evolve with the period of life in which we find ourselves. From infants to seniors, the needs are very different.
• People with regular energy practice can easily need much less sleep time, sometimes only 3-5 hours.

The main rules

Respecting these rules is by far the most complicated in our now ultra-connected lives, but doing so will be incredible in terms of benefits:

• Go to bed and get up at regular times (yes, even on weekends...)
• Avoid having dinner too late (ideal between 6-7pm) and have at least 2 hours between the end of the meal and going to bed.
• Disconnect screens, notifications, etc., at least 1 hour before going to bed.
• Ideally, go to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., or even earlier (the most restorative hours of sleep are roughly between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.).

We could include others, but these alone will already promote good sleep. And for falling asleep? If you're an insomniac, or don't sleep well, stimulants (tea, coffee, alcohol after 4 p.m. and screens after 9 p.m.) are the worst. On the other hand, you may prefer reading (not a thriller...), breathing exercises (see previous article) or even a head and foot massage with a lukewarm/hot oil.

The details of the rules and the ''remedies'' to be applied would be presented in workshops that I wish to set up, if you are interested in the subject do not hesitate to write to me.

What about the nap?

Again, it all depends on who, when, what, how. If it's 1 hour in the middle of the day, it's no. Sleeping during the day is not natural but of course it's different if you work at night or get up very early (like the baker). The same goes for if you've been partying all night, you've just returned from a trip, you're sick or feeling weak.

You can allow yourself to take a nosedive for 10-20 minutes but in the context I would rather do soothing exercises than lie down and go into a half-sleep, especially if it's after lunch.

So a meditation, a walk while being cut off from the phone, pranayama (breathing) are examples of practices that I encourage much more than napping.

If you want more advices through a workshop or an individual consultation, I invite you to contact me for more details (and this does not commit you to anything!)

Let's go to bed now!