Restful Sleep
Every mother of a newborn can attest to the absolute insanity that sleep deprivation can birth. Long, sleepless nights can certainly play tricks on your mind . . . and emotional well being . . .and spiritual fortitude . . . and productivity.
It’s no wonder that sleep deprivation is one of the longest standing torture tactics. Without sleep – we become vulnerable to a domino effect of debilitating symptoms.
It is for this reason, one of the first questions I ask of our health clients is “how well are you sleeping?”. Notice I do not ask, “how many hours of sleep are you getting”? Why? Because most people don’t know unless they are tracking their sleep cycle on a device. Eight hours in bed does not always equate to eight hours of sleep. And, eight hours of sleep does always equate to the recommended two hours of REM cycle sleep (where true, regenerative recovery takes place).
What a gracious God we serve to have created day and night – rhythms of work and rest. In our glorified bodies with the Creator in heaven – we won’t need sleep! But in THIS lifetime, He knew we would. Our fragile bodies need time to recover. In His incarnate state, even Jesus needed it (remember his sleeping episode on the boat amidst the storm in Mark 4:38?).
Along with sleep we also need rest; and this can only be found in the peace and love of the Savior Himself. Sleep and rest are not synonymous but are an equal necessity: sleep for the body and rest for the soul.
If we are habitually not sleeping well, realigning our biological sleep cycles will take some intentional and practical work. One of the first steps toward healing we recommend our clients take is with our Detox Box. Toxicity in the body will wreak havoc in the liver, kidneys and colon, which can lead to a lack of healthful sleep (along with a myriad of other negative symptoms). I have completed three detoxes in the past year and have personally experienced improvements in my sleep/wake cycles. This became increasingly important during a year that has thrown much hardship our way, including my husband’s stroke, our daughter’s feeding hospitalization and my father’s aggressive heart disease. We cannot control the circumstances that surround us, but we can choose to implement scientifically proven programs that can help us physically endure in the face of trials.
Another phenomenal “roadside assistance” product that we recommend are Sleep Strips. These have helped me to settle my mind, sleep more soundly and increase my REM cycle time. They are an essential item for me to pack when I travel. In fact, if you do any travel that takes you across time zones . . . these are a MUST HAVE. I have lost count of the number of clients we who have experienced remarkable physical improvements since adding this product into their evening regimen.
One friend in particular had suffered from insomnia due to trauma for over thirty years. When she took her first Sleep Strip she awakened to an alarm for the first time since she was a teenager – she had slept through the night! A teacher friend of mine was battling large dips of energy in the day and turning to sugar as a quick pick-me-up. She began to take Sleep Strips at night and found that her energy significantly improved during the day, which led to less sugar intake. My husband post-stroke was getting adequate hours of sleep but was experiencing extremely short REM cycles. He began to add in the Sleep Strips and, using his Garmen watch, tracked the dramatic increase in his REM cycle sleep time (he went from 30 minutes a night to 2 hours). As he began to sleep better, he also began to put healthy weight back on.
In conjunction with adding intentional habits to improve physical sleep, we as Christians must seek the Lord daily to obtain the spiritual rest that comes from abiding in Him. The physical and spiritual are so interwoven that if one is “off” the other is often affected. One of the most important sacred rhythms that I have implemented is bookending my day with time in God’s Word and in prayer. The Scriptures tell us that faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). This truth has relieved me from feeling ashamed if I cannot physically read the Bible as deeply as I desire in this season of motherhood. I can listen to the Bible and still be encouraged and discipled through God’s Word. At times, I have picked one chapter of the Bible and opened and closed my days listening to it via a Bible app. Currently, I am loving the free Lectio 365 app that provides guided devotions and prayer time. There’s a visual and audio option. In this season, I have gravitated toward the audio. My husband and I listen to the evening devotion together right before we go to sleep.
Rhythms of work and rest are an essential for the life of a Christian. How can we experience God’s “peace that surpasses understanding” (Philippians 4:7a) if we fail to spend time with Him? The promise from that same verse is that when we are in the presence of Lord’s divine peace, He “guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7b). We live in a noisy world. There are e-mails, TV shows, social media scrolls, videos, google searches, news blasts, etc. that are all vying for our time. If we want to find true rest, we will prioritize rhythms of silence with our Savior. If we are to run our race with perseverance, we must fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). And His invitation has remained the same for over 2,000 years . . . “follow me”.
Sleep for the body. Rest for the soul. Are you ready to prioritize both? If so, let’s chat. We want to help you.