“….it wasn’t until I took some time off recently that I realised how to get things into perspective. I actually need eight hours sleep.” Jennifer Lopez. “To me the best facelift is a great smile and a good night’s sleep.” Diana Ross.
“….best budget buy? Plenty of good sleep and water….always pays off.” Donna Karan, fashion designer to the stars.
“Sleep is the new sex and bedrooms are the new design and lifestyle focal point. The emphasis is on the quality of sleep.” Global trend-spotter Marion Salzman.
Celebrities world-wide have long recognised the value of a good night’s sleep. Scientists can now confirm that our grandmothers knew what they were talking about when they coined the phrase “beauty sleep”. Back in 1999, the results of research carried out at the University of Chicago published in the Lancet showed that “We suspect that chronic sleep loss may not only hasten the onset but also increase the severity of age-related ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and memory loss; the metabolic changes resulting from sleep debt mimic many of the hallmarks of ageing.”
1 in 4 people in the UK now suffers from a sleep disorder. And the repercussions may be more serious than a few wrinkles. Research at the University of Wales revealed that long-term sleep deprivation in shift workers can contribute to heart problems due to higher levels of cortisol and adrenaline. And, as we know, adrenaline is a major cause of stress, the word on everyone’s lips. Dr Melissa Hack, consultant at the Royal Gwent Hospital and chairwoman of the British Sleep Society says “There’s now very robust evidence to show that if you deprive yourself of sleep, your performance at work gets worse, your personality deteriorates and your brain function diminishes.”
In fact, lack of sleep is actually more deadly than most people are aware. Every year, 300 people die on Britain’s roads through having fallen asleep while driving and 1 in 5 motor accidents are a result of sleepiness. Sleep consultant Amanda Kenton of Sleep for Life says: “Sleep is 3rd in our hierarchy of biological needs, after air and water.”
The good news is that simple changes can remedy the situation. Sleep for Life offers the first totally holistic programme which tackles all the potential contributory factors, ranging from what’s going on inside us to, surprisingly, the effect of our surroundings on our wellbeing.
Nowadays, most of us have heard of the phrase “work/life balance”, even if we are not actually able to achieve it as often as we’d like to. And anyone who has ever suffered from stress, whether induced by pressure of work or personal anxieties, will be all too aware of the need to find ways to let go of the thoughts that can all too easily prevent us from being able to nod off once our heads hit the pillow. Allowing ourselves time to unwind before bedtime and finding the right relaxation technique for you are an essential part of this process.
Similarly, most people are aware that drinking too much coffee is likely to interfere with their ability to sleep. What they may not realise is that a lack of certain nutrients, such as magnesium and calcium, can contribute to sleep disorders such as “restless leg syndrome”, from which 2.5 million people currently suffer. Or that certain foods contain chemicals such as tyromine, which causes the release of a brain stimulant into the bloodstream. Amanda Kenton advises “In the face of the plethora of supplements widely available, it is important to make sure that you are taking the ones which are, energetically, right for you; simple, non-invasive tests can measure the effects on each individual while traditional oriental healthcare, by assessing your inherent strengths and weaknesses, can be utilised to ascertain which dietary changes may be necessary.”
But Amanda believes that the ingredient most often overlooked is the impact which our environment has on us, particularly man-made electro-magnetism. We are subjected to 200 million times the amount of this than our ancestors were 100 years ago; this figure is increasing at a rapid rate and constitutes a more massive change to our environment than our species has ever been subjected to in such a short space of time. Even small changes in magnetic fields produce a stress reaction in the body, mainly the pineal gland, and affect the production of melatonin, the hormone which helps us to sleep.
During the process of curing her own insomnia of some 20 years’ standing, Amanda scoured the market for truly effective holistic methods and discovered that many of the best ones enabled her to combine her Interior Design skills with her fascination for the healing art of Feng Shui and the Oriental approach to health. During a chance meeting, she stumbled upon cutting edge, specialised equipment, originally invented by scientists working on Concorde, which measures variations in the magnetic fields of not only our surroundings but also the human body. Better yet, she also discovered that these can be restored to the level upon which we thrive by various products. These include a simple gadget, first used by NASA in spaceships to keep astronauts healthy when they leave the protection of the earth’s atmosphere, as well as state-of-the-art bedding that utilises a combination of natural materials and modern technology. Added bonuses of these materials include their ability to reflect back to us our own natural production of far-infrared, thereby balancing our body temperature as it fluctuates during the night and assisting the detoxifying process while we slumber.
Amanda says: “In this way, by the combining ancient wisdom of our ancestors with modern technology, we can create environments which are actively healing and transform the quality of people’s lives.”
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