Sleepless in Seattle? Managing Insomnia, the Natural Way
10/17/2009 - By Kris Shaw LMP
Author, Kris Shaw LMP
Sleepless in Seattle? Managing Insomnia, the Natural Way
To not get a good night’s rest occasionally is one thing most of us are able to adjust to, but to be shortchanged a few hours every night sets up even the hardiest individual with a washed out sense of exhaustion and stretched thin nerves. We may take good restorative sleep for granted until we can’t seem to get it, often triggered during some stressful changes in our lives. Surprisingly, half of all adults now complain of trouble sleeping, up from one third just a few years ago. In our rapidly changing stess filled world, insomnia has become epidemic. At least 30 million adults endure the stress of severe chronic insomnia. With so much uncertainty with our economy, job security & stretching our earning power of the dollar, it is not wonder that irregular sleep patterns, generalized anxiety & worry are eroding upon American’s health & peace of mind.
Despite the pervasiveness of insomnia in today’s society, it has been largely ignored by the medical profession. The National Institute of Health have granted almost no funding for insomnia research, while medical schools teach virtually nothing about irregular sleeping habits. Insomnia or sleep apnea challenges are diagnosed through sleep clinics, but few practical solutions fill the gap, besides the C PAP mask, which many find difficult to be compliant with. The result unfortunately is that insomniacs have been left with two alternatives; take sleeping medications or to endure the problem.
The pharmaceutical industry have taken full advantage of these blind spots with bombarding nightly TV viewers with alluring promises of restful sleep. Many of the prescription sleeping medications have potentially serious side effects & ineffectiveness with habitual use. It has become increasingly clear that sleeping medications may provide the quick fix to numb out an over active mind but they are not the healthiest solution for most. And frankly speaking, who wants to be taking sleeping medications for the rest of his or her life? There are informative & empowering best selling books out there that successfully treat insomnia with a step by step drug free approach. As Americans, are we willing to make lifestyle changes to relax our brain & nervous system at the end of a busy day or do we allow ourselves to be easily seduced into quick fix sedatives??
A Critical Piece of the Insomnia Puzzle.
Where do we as bodyworkers see the effects of sleep deprivation ? Chiropractors, massage therapists & acupuncturists play major roles as stress reducing teams, but how can we tangibly make a difference with the load of stress that too many changes can catalyze on the nervous, glandular or muscular system? Supporting our clients in getting quality restorative sleep is a foundational cornerstone for getting regenerative repair & healing of a full spectrum of modern day myofascia challenges. To name a few, fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis & achillies tendinitis, myofascia pain, restless leg syndrome and menopause exacerbation provide only temporary relief with traditional bodywork, without getting the precious commodity of restorative, deep sleep.
Why is regenerative REM sleep so important to the brain, nerves, muscles & fascia?
Dr Daniel Amen, a Seattle psychiatrist specializing in a unique brain scan & thermography did several studies on patients receiving 6 hours or less sleep. Those with reduced sleep hours visually demonstrated less blood circulated to the brain, resulting in some challenges with short term memory. The mind, more than any other system in the body must have regenerative sleep to function well.
Other factors, such as a poor diet and unrelenting chronic stressors deplete the bank account of essential neurotransmitters, making the brain & body more vulnerable to mood shifts & restless sleep. When we are deprived of deeper sleep cycles, know as REM cycles, we lose out on the vital regenerative power of the body to repair muscle fibers, tendons & connective tissue. During the deepest levels of sleep, healing and repair , where ever it is needed through out the body takes place. Massage therapists can not make up for this repairing process with most styles of bodywork. We are addressing the symptoms of myofascial stresses with short term fixes and not addressing the root cause. This is especially so when working with some chronic pain or fibromyalgia populations. In these cases, I have found in my own clinical practice that longer & more frequent REM cycles along with absorbable magnesium does wonders to augment low grade inflamed myofascia tissues.
Many of the prescription sleeping sedatives suppress the needed REM sleep cycles (when much of our dreaming is done). They can often cause morning hangovers, interfere with memory, mental function & mood. The newer sleeping medications support insomniacs with turning off the mind & waking up at a designated time, but do little to cultivate the regenerative cycles of REM deep sleep. This is not to say, that all sleeping medications are alike & do the same functions. It is the job of a physician or naturopath to sort out the best use of sleeping medications or nutritional supplementation.
Who’s Most Effected by Insomnia ?
Populations that are most susceptible to sleep deprivation that we see in our massage practices are multi tasking burnt out parents, mothers with a newborn and women transitioning into menopause or younger women transitioning through PMS. It was my own repetitive bout with insomnia during the first phase of my menopause that led me to research healthy sleep aids. I was exhausted by sleep deprivation & knew I had to find some healthy sleep aids that could address my hormones & nervous system, so that I could function at work.
Due to the economic recession we are transitioning through, we have many more depressed, worried or anxious individuals who are underemployed & slipping into debt or just out of luck and unemployed with business cut backs. Financial stressors are opportunistic eroders on primary relationships and work efficiency, adding more conflict & frustrations which can stimulate more restless nights. Seniors in their 70’s and 80’s are doubly susceptible to a variety of disruptive sleeping habits, triggered by irregular sleeping routines, sleep apnea and from sedative drugs that their nervous systems are vulnerable to. Studies have shown in the last year that untreated sleep apnea has been shown to accelerate dementia, diabetes and cardiac stress.
How can we play our part as conscientious health practitioners?
Most physicians don’t have the time to educate their patients about sleep hygiene and health but we do. Bodyworkers have both time and trust with our regular massage clients in which we can address lifestyle factors that contribute to poor sleeping habits. If our sleep deprived clients are receptive to lifestyle awarenesses, I coach and encourage my clients to make small changes towards improved health. Providing homework with handouts on what cultivates good restorative sleep grounds the coaching offered while my clients are on the table.
What Practical Tips can you Offer your Clients?
What Does the Bodywork for Insomnia & Anxiety Weekend Workshop Provide?
• Why do some clients with insomnia have a regular set time that they wake up at 1 or 3 pm? How to calm the monkey mind, to unwind enough to slip back into deep slumber? The insomnia & bodywork workshop teaches you & your clients a 20-30 minute a gentle bodywork routine to relax the mind & nervous system when experiencing occasional or moderate type insomnia.
• How can short term insomnia patterns evolve into more deep seated patterns of chronic insomnia, accompanied at times with exhaustion, anxiety and depression?
• Adaptive strategies that insomniacs develop: Using alcohol, taking long naps, TV overstimulation.
• In the insomnia 2 day workshop, four bodywork practice sessions are taught for insomnia & deep relaxation. Craniosacral bodywork, Acupressure, & more subtle, energetic forms of Oriental bodywork are taught for you to teach your clients to replenish & tonify their nervous & glandular systems.
• Insomnia home remedies promoted with handouts for you to use with clients: Aromatherapies, nighttime stretches to unwind the nervous system, evening herbal toddies, nurturing visualizations, dietary support & nutritional aids, the latest technology gadgets for going to sleep & staying asleep.
• What are the worst triggers that aggravate insomnia? The insomnia workshop discusses late night eating, afternoon napping, alcohol, caffeine, excess sugar and nicotine consumption. These can flare up restless & irregular sleeping patterns. So too can one’s mind be overstimulated with late night TV or Internet activities.
• Encouraging clients & massage therapists alike to integrate some form of daily exercise.
• What regulates our slee ? Some insights into the nervous & glandular system & the brain.
• Health awareness on the client’s sleep environment may shed some consciousness on the discomforts of relaxing into sleep. One example: Most mattresses wear out over 5 to 10 years. Asking your clients if they feel supported with quality spine or pelvis support can often be overlooked. This is especially so with pregnant women in their last trimester.
• Why do we sleep? What does it do for our brain &memory? Why do teenagers & young infants need far more REM deep sleep for growing than we do at 40 years and older.
The purpose of this article has been to shed some light as to how much our American lifestyles & economic disparity is erroding at the foundations of sound body and mind, through restless sleeping habits & sleep deprivation. It is the writer’s intention & passion to encourage massage therapist, as earnest, hard working stress busters to play a more active role in health education with clients. Not all bodyworkers have a calling to be health educators, while working with their clients on the table. Having practical solutions to one of man or woman’s essential needs, restorative sleep is rewarding work to support our clients with, who can feel misaligned from their body & mind. Reclaiming solace through nourishing , regenerative sleep provides each of us a foundation in which to face the demands of our day with resilience and balance.
Kris Shaw offers her Bodywork for Insomnia & Anxiety workshop once a season. Her next set of classes is scheduled for the fall October 24 & 25, 2009, the spring on April 18 & 19, 2010 and the summer on July 10 &11, 2010 Please refer to her teaching web site at www.Healing WisdomCenter.com for more content info on curriculum. You may also contact Kris at her Seattle clinic at 206-370-2600.
Kris has been teaching bodyworkers in schools & continuing education for 25 years. She is both a respected acupuncturist & master bodyworker of 35 years with a clinical practice specializing in injury care & women’s health issues. For more details on her teaching or clinical background, you will find that on the web site www.HealingWisdomCenter.com.
