I have previously published Tips for Well-being on how you can improve your sleep and the importance of proper sleeping postures. This tip is different.
Over the counter sleep aids are highly advertised, as are prescription drugs. Both are well-known for side effects, including (but not limited to) daytime drowsiness, dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation and urinary retention.
Looking at the history of human sleep patterns, we can notice that sometimes what has been labeled as abnormal may actually be more normal than we might suspect. For example, segmented sleep (two chunks of sleep separated by a period of wakefulness) was historically considered normal.
[P]eople who suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia should understand, from an historical perspective, that their sleep may well be utterly normal. Their circadian rhythms may vibrate to an older, more natural tuning fork.
From roughly about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840, the industrial revolution changed how we live, where we work, what we have, when we save, and how we sleep. Thinking about needing to stoke the fire invites a great insight into just how much things have changed. Now we sleep in comfortable beds, in homes that are cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, and we expect to sleep all night without waking.
Historically, people welcomed this time between sleep as opportunity for visioning, praying, pondering their dreams, and intimacy. I would add meditating, contemplating, and feeling gratitude.
This week, if you find yourself awake in the night, rather than fret about what is not happening (sleep), think about your ancestors and enjoy the gifts that are available for you during this period of alertness.
Tips from 5 April 2010 to 6 August 2012 are here: Archived Tips
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Rev.Debra Basham
Voice or text: (269) 921-2217 Email: debra@scs-matters.com https://scs-matters.com http://ImagineHealing.info http://SurgicalSupport.info Small Changes … Infinite Results™
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ~ Mother Teresa |