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Three fun science facts about sleep

Why Magnesium, Earthing & Meditation Can Improve Your Sleep？

Shawn Stevenson, Sleep smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way To a Better Body, Better Health and Bigger Success, Model House Publishing

Like many people, I have sleep issue. I have been struggling with sleeping for many years. There is why I tend to read about sleep. When I learned about this book, Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way To a Better Body, Better Health and Bigger Success, I got hold a copy of it in no time. I am not looking for a quick fix. Experiences teach me there is no such thing as an easy and once-and-for-all solution to insomnia. Swallowing pills is easy but it is not a real solution. Besides, pills can create extra problems like chemical dependence.

This book is organized around the 21 tips to improve your sleep. I find some of them are redundant and can be combined together. Some of the tips might be familiar to you, such as to turn off all electronic devices and avoid screens and blue lights before going to bed. It is easier said than done. It really requires great efforts and actions to apply some of the tips into your life. What interest me most is not how to get a good sleep (although it is important), but why we do what we should do to get a good sleep. I learn some fun facts about the science of sleep.

Reading is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get. So when it comes to reading and learning, do not just follow your passion. Broaden your passion.

Magnesium and sleep

Magnesium is a bonafide anti-stress mineral. It helps optimize circulation and blood pressure, balance blood sugar, relax tense muscles, reduce pain, and calm the nervous system. This critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues—but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. You must have it for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax.

Yet, because it has so many functions, it tends to get depleted from our bodies rather fast. Magnesium deficiency is likely the #1 mineral deficiency in our world today. And getting your magnesium levels up can almost instantly reduce your body’s stress load and improve the quality of your sleep.

Supplementation may not be the best method to get your magnesium levels up. The problems is that taking too much of a low-budget internal magnesium supplement lead to diarrhea.

How about diet? A diet high in magnesium and low in aluminum was associated with deeper, uninterrupted sleep. Green leafy veggies, seeds like pumpkin and sesame, and superfoods like spirulina and Brazil nuts can provide very concentrated sources of magnesium for you.

High quality supplementation can be helpful in small amounts, as well as a diet high in magnesium-rich foods. Because a large percentage of magnesium is lost in the digestive process, the ideal form of magnesium is transdermal from supercritical extracts. The most effective method of safely and effectively boosting your magnesium levels is through topical application onto your skin.

Earthing and sleep

Since the beginning of time, humans have had a constant interaction with the earth. Our ancestors would come in contact with the earth’s surface on a daily basis: walking, hunting, gathering food and water, communing, playing, relaxing and more. Nearly everything they did required a connection with the earth. Today, in our industrialized world, many people go days, weeks, or even longer without coming in contact with the surface of the earth itself, which prevent us from getting  the impressive benefits the earth’s electromagnetic surface has on the human body.

Everyday you have cellular damage, simply by the nature of being alive. Damaged heart cells, liver cells, muscle cells, etc. all set off an oxidative burst of free radicals to address them. This is basic chemistry, featuring a positive charged event that needs to be neutralized.

All the rage in health and nutrition today has been centered around antioxidants. Antioxidants carry free electrons that neutralize free radicals and stop overly-aggressive oxidation right in it’s tracks. Inflammation is reduced, and health is improved. Another important and easy source of free electrons is ignored, the earth’s surface.

The earth’s surface is brimming with free electrons that are readily absorbed by the human body when they come in contact with each other. This is known as an electron transfer.

The human body is highly conductive. We, like the earth, are running on electromagnetic energy. Our nervous system is like internal wiring that’s transmitting information throughout our entire body. We’re also made of minerals, and our tissues hold water, so we are very much like a walking, talking, conductive battery. You give off and receive energy every second of every day touching the earth may be the biggest key to eliminating our issues with chronic inflammation.

It’s absolutely critical to get your body in contact with the earth on a regular basis to displace the positive charge you’re carrying, absorb free electrons to improve your recovery, hormones, and heart health, and most importantly to get a great night’s sleep.

Meditation, brain waves and sleep

You may know that meditation can help to get a better sleep. Meditation is an effective treatment for insomnia. But why?

The ability to change your brain waves is why meditation works.

We all have four different brain wave frequencies that are most often expressed, measured in cycles per second (Hz). Each of these brain wave frequencies have their own set of characteristics that demonstrate specific brain activity and a unique state of consciousness. Here is a brief description of the four:

Beta waves (15-40 Hz): This is the brain rhythm in the normal state of wakefulness, associated with thinking, conscious problems solving, and attention towards the outer world. You are most likely in a “beta state” while reading this right now.

Alpha waves (9-14 Hz): When you are truly relaxed, your brain waves slow from the hyper-alertness of beta waves to the gentle waves of alpha. The “alpha state” is where meditation begins and it’s a brain wave frequency that heightens your imagination, visualization, memory, learning, and concentration. This is the gateway to the subconscious mind and reprogramming your thinking.

Theta waves (4-8 Hz): Theta brain waves are present during deep meditation and light sleep, including the important REM dream state. This is the domain of your subconscious and only experienced momentarily as you drift off to sleep from alpha or wake from deep sleep (delta waves). We are more receptive to insights and information beyond our normal conscious awareness in this state. Some experts state that theta meditation amplifies intuition and other extrasensory perception skills.

Delta waves (1-3 Hz): The delta frequency is the slowest of the frequencies and is experienced in deep, dreamless sleep. It is also seen occasionally in very experienced meditators. The delta state is critical to the body’s healing processes. Most regeneration and healing happen in this brain-wave state, making getting enough deep sleep critical to our survival.

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