Blog
Little Things You Can Do to Unplug
Quality sleep, nourishing diet and movement or exercise are the usual top three on well-being to do lists. Whilst they are all powerful tools that you want to be using to your advantage, this year I’ve come up with an alternative list that are just as important but often overlooked.
Read More
As modern times would have it, we’re venturing further away from peace, serenity, tranquillity and a state of deep rest. As a consequence, many of us are living from our head space and disconnected from our body, gut instinct and full potential. There has been a surge in momentum toward meditation, relaxation, yoga and mindfulness as many seek a balance between action and rest, between thought and emotion, between work and life. The very word 'balance' has found its way into modern vocabulary representing the broader concept of mind, body and spirit. “I just feel out of balance”.
Common symptoms of this imbalance are sleep disorders. Yes, that old friend. With World Sleep Day on the 18th of March fast approaching, it's an opportunity to start talking about your sleep habits and what’s not working well for you. With ‘Good Sleep is a Reachable Dream’ as the slogan for the 2016 World Sleep Day, it’s time to talk about your dreams.
Dreams occur during your Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep time, which is only about two hours. Science is yet to really discover why we dream and some suggest that it’s the cortex within your brain trying to make sense of the messages it receives during REM sleep. Psychology and complementary medicine certainly have more to offer on dreams, be it processing the day, receiving messages about the past, present or future, astral travel or Freud’s "safety valve" for unconscious desires. And then there’s nightmares.
According to the Sleep Health Foundation, nightmares are most common in children and often stop by the age of 11. When nightmares continue past this age and into adulthood, it’s knownas ‘idiopathic nightmares’. While ten to fifty percent of children have nightmares, adults range more between 2.5 to ten percent. So, I guess here at Live Well, we see that small percent! The more obvious links to nightmares are: traumatic or stressful events and scary movies or books. The less obvious links are: continued lack of sleep, excess in diet such as sugar and alcohol, overstimulation before bed or patterns of fear, stress, anxiety or depression.
Here’s my hot tip for nightmares - if your dreams are so vivid that you’re waking tired, or if you or your child struggle with nightmares then head to a health food shop and buy a good quality essential oil of Frankincense. Place a drop on your pillow or mix one to two drops (one for a child) with a carrier oil such as coconut or almond oil and rub on your wrists. You can also put a few drops in a bath or oil burner. Frankincense is well known for soothing nightmares and bringing about a sense of protection.
But what about your OTHER dreams? The ones you have where you visualise the ultimate career, your purpose in life, your relationships, your lifestyle, your happiness? The dreams where you consciously create the look and feel of your deepest desires. Well, this next part is for you, dreamer!
As our contribution to World Sleep Day, I'm giving away my eBook ‘How I Found Success Through Rest’ for FREE! All you need to do is enter your details here and we’ll send you the eBook.
This is a call out to all insomniacs and to all who struggle to sleep deeply! I'm calling out to all who may sleep, but wake tired, and to all who are restless!
This is a call out to all who need to hear this message – in order to reach success, you must first find true rest. If your energy, drive, passion and focus are inhibited by lack of quality sleep or an imbalance in your life then this eBook is for you. I am so inspired by the technique that I teach in my book and the reasons behind why it is so powerful. I am driven by the countless people it has helped over the years.
And please, do your friends and family a favour and open the lines of communication - ask them how their sleep is, what their energy levels are like. Ask them about their balance in life. Share this blog with them. And finally, let’s start talking about YOUR dreams.
Try this one profound technique. It will change how you live.
Kate's passion is to educate and empower each client to understand their mind, body, and Spirit and how these aspects are all connected. Her integrative approach to health and healing is to explore and treat the whole person. Kate is the creator of Holistic by Nature and is also on the expert panel of I Quit Sugar.
To find out more about Kinesiology please click here.