Chapter 7 - Regeneration

at 7:00 or 8:00 PM, when the sun sets. We want to boogie till the wee hours of the morning or make extra money on the night shift!

We’ve lost our understanding of the importance of darkness, sacrificing it and its healing, sleep benefits for the feeling of security that light and seeing our surroundings can offer us. But in the process, we do pay the price.

So this is another, very important key to getting restful sleep. Make sure that your room is dark when you lie down for the night. It should be absolutely dark – pitch black. Even if you can’t get it that dark, make it as dark as you can. If it’s not dark where and when you’re trying to sleep, you’re sabotaging your efforts at slumber and your well being.

Stress is a major contributor to sleep loss too. Stress is medically defined as any stimulus that causes the secretion of cortico-steroids. Cortico-steroids are substances released by the adrenal cortex – substances like adrenaline and adrenaline-like steroids. Any pressure, fear, anger or anxiety we’re experiencing puts us into what’s known as a “ fight or flight” state. When the adrenal cortex secretes its cortico-steroids, the pupils dilate, the blood is re-routed away from the skin and internal organs and toward the muscles. All body functions that don’t contribute directly to either attacking an enemy or running away are shut down to their minimum activities. Muscle tension, hearing, vision and sensitivity to our surroundings heighten to prepare for lightning-quick actions and reactions in an instant – ready to either fight or flee. Just the opposite of what we want if sleep is our goal!

To reduce stress, there are some things to consider in your evening ritual activities before trying to go to sleep. As much as you can, avoid TV shows that get you really excited or disturbed just before bedtime. Things like watching the news, for instance, often work against our slumber attempts due to their affects on our adrenaline levels. Super-thriller action shows and scary horror shows that put us on the ends of our seats produce similar effects because they too put us into the fight or flight mode, even if passively. Give yourself

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