Sleepy Time

When I have a client in pain, either from emotional or physical issues, I ask a lot about the pain, but I also ask other questions such as "Are you sleeping?" Often the answer is "no" or "not well" or "sometimes." And since sleep time is the body's healing time, not sleeping or not sleeping well can be a big problem in getting rid of pain.

My nutritionist, Sam Zeiler, often gives free weekly seminars to clients on various topics, and last week we talked about sleep. According to Sam--and apparently a lot of studies as well--good sleep requires darkness. You're probably thinking, "Well, duh . . . "

Actually, I was thinking that myself, until it hit me: my room is not dark. My room is deeply dim. But with all that light seeping in through the shades from the streetlights and security lights, my room is not actually dark. Not BIG dark. Not dark like when you're driving across nowhere New Mexico at midnight, and there are about a trillion stars you never knew existed, and the edge of the road ends at pitch-freaking black. Now THAT is dark.

The second most important thing for good sleep is quiet. No TVS, no computers, no radio shows. Again, duh, right? I don't have any of those things. I do, on the other hand, have road noise, cars beeping, and the occasional person talking outside or dog whining in the living room. So if you can't get true quiet, there are some great machines for "white noise."

Now that I'm having this realization about true dark and true quiet, I'm looking forward to building my bedroom into a cave. And I'm hoping I sleep better so that I can recommend measures to my non-sleeping clients that might actually work.