Other Archívum - Touch till Dawn

Only dreaming of a good night’s sleep?

kovjud — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 15:46:50 +0000

Reading time: 5 minutes

1 in 5 people in the Netherlands suffer from regular sleep issues. Our sleep and circadian rhythm are the basis for physical and mental health, a balanced mood – and general functioning during the day!

While sleep is an often overlooked component of health and wellbeing, anyone who has experienced sleep deprivation knows exactly how vital it is! Sleep is the foundation for

Physical health (repair and regeneration, growth, hormone balance and immune system);
Mental health (moods, memory and problem solving skills);
Productivity & energy (concentration, reaction time, feeling fit and ready);
Weight management (hunger and metabolism);
Social life (patience, empathy, stress management).

Next to the quantity of sleep, quality and timing also matter!

Circadian rhythm

The circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and other physiological processes. This roughly 24-hour cycle responds primarily to light and darkness and plays a crucial role in determining sleep patterns, feeding behaviors, hormone release, and other bodily functions. Aligning sleep with the natural circadian rhythm generally leads to better sleep quality and restorative rest, while disruptions shake up when we feel sleepy, alert and hungry – think jetlag!

To use the circadian rhythm to your advantage

Maintain a regular sleep schedule! Going to bed and waking up approximately at the same time – ideally, aligned to natural light/darkness – will help falling asleep easier and waking up more energized. Prefer setting an “alarm” for when you should go to bed instead of when you should wake up, counting your ideal sleep time (around 8 hours)!
Note: “catching up” on sleep in the weekend or with naps doesn’t really work! Try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night!
Focus light exposure to daytime! Get plenty of natural light during the day and limit blue light in the evening! Stop using electronics at least an hour before your bedtime!
Eat/drink in line with the circadian rhythm! Next to meal times, limiting heavy meals and stimulants like coffee in the evening will aid better sleep.
Move your body! Regular exercise has many benefits, better sleep being one! Avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime though – a stroll after dinner can already do miracles!

Waking up at certain times: the Chinese body clock

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the “body clock” or “meridian clock”, divides the 24-hour day into 12 two-hour intervals, each corresponding to a specific organ system. According to TCM, during each interval, the Qi is at its peak in the associated organ, optimizing its function. Each meridian/organ influences various physiological and emotional functions – hence also sleep patterns.

Waking up around the same time regularly can correlate to specific health or emotional blockages – see some typical indications hereunder!

Time	Meridian	Health	Concept
11 p.m. - 1 a.m.	Gallbladder	Detoxification & digestion of fats	(In)decision, unresolved anger
1 a.m. - 3 a.m.	Liver	Blood detoxification & metabolism	Frustration, transformation
3 a.m. - 5 a.m.	Lung	Respiratory & skin issues	Grief, freedom of speech
5 a.m. - 7 a.m.	Large intestine	Elimination/absorption	Retention, guilt

The above are examples – let me know in the comments if you want to know more!

Tackling the underlying health issues – if any – is a priority! You might want to support with techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine, personalized to you. For an example:

CASE: a client living a healthy lifestyle and not experiencing specific stress could not sleep through the night for weeks before contacting me. In the session, we discovered she usually woke up at around the same time, 4 a.m., the peak time of Lung energy, and could not fall back asleep. From her anamnesis it appeared she had asthma, also an indication of disbalance in Lung energy. After an all-round kinesiology session, I showed her a technique of acupressure tailored to her situation that she could use herself at night. With these 2 interventions, she improved her sleep significantly in a matter of days!

To discover more about your specific situation, you can book a session for kinesiology in Breda or Rotterdam.

Falling asleep: Bedtime!

You might struggle falling asleep, even if the above lifestyle and meridian factors are well taken care of. If you don’t have a medical condition (insomnia, chronic pain…) causing difficulties falling asleep, you might suffer from worries/ rumination or a poor sleep environment.

You might be able to remedy these by

Creating a healthy sleep environment. Ideally, your bedroom should be dark, quiet and well ventilated. If needed, blackout curtains, earplugs, a white noise machine or new, breathable bedding can help.
Try theta or delta waves music like this deep sleep music!
Establishing a relaxing night time routine to wind down. This could include reading a book, taking a warm bath, sipping on chamomile tea or practicing relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation.
One breathing exercise to try is box breathing: inhale during 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds.

If you need a quick boost...

You are not alone, you can always invoke some support! Next to kinesiology for the structural issues, I can also boost your recovery with deeply relaxing techniques like Craniosacral reflexology and Access Bars.

Craniosacral reflexolgy

Craniosacral therapy works with the cerebrospinal fluid to stimulate the self healing capacity of the body. The gentle manipulation used is directly deeply relaxing – music can be added to enhance this effect. During a session, you can comfortably lie down and enjoy some quiet time – while afterwards, you will reap the restorative benefits!

In addition to reducing stress and anxiety, craniosacral reflexology also balances the nervous system and eases discomfort (even helps make chronic pain manageable).

Over an hour of relaxation & better sleep at night, thus double benefits!

Access Bars

Access Bars is an energetic technique conducive to more awareness and a peaceful mind. The 32 points and bars each touched for an extended time throughout a session correspond to different areas of life, at which it helps clear limiting beliefs.

You might fall asleep during the gentle, steady touches of an Access Bars session. It helps quieting the mind beyond a session, typically the mental clutter is reduced for a week after a single appointment! Thereby, you are likely to fall asleep easier.

Clients using sleep tracking report increased times in deep sleep state thus better physical restoration.

In summary, regular, adequate quality and quantity of sleep is essential for mental and physical health, disease prevention and general wellbeing. By addressing your lifestyle, your bedtime routine and potential underlying health and emotional concerns, you can significantly improve your sleep – and thus overall health & fitness!

If you are looking for more personalized support or a boost to your sleep & recovery, get in touch!

A Only dreaming of a good night’s sleep? bejegyzés először Touch till Dawn-én jelent meg.

Instant stress relief with kinesiology

kovjud — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:37:35 +0000

Reading time: 3 minutes

Are you having a stressful day or a moment of acute, overwhelming stress? Let’s get started with some quick ways to reduce your stress! Do you have a minute?

1 minute – you don't even have to leave your desk

Breathe! Yes, you are already breathing, but when stress hits hard, you can control the physical symptoms with just a few breaths. A few deep (abdominal) breaths lower your heart rate and give your brain more oxygen. Your muscles can relax and unwind.
Place your hand(palm) on your forehead! Strange but true: the warmth and contact stimulates blood flow to the frontal, conscious parts of the brain. The initial stress response is triggered by deep, instinctive parts of the brain and sets everything in motion to do what we have to – without having to consciously think. By reconnecting with conscious parts, we can dissipate a stress response that is not necessary for survival.
! Also a great way to help calm an overwhelmed child!

2 minutes

Focus on your 5 senses! An acute stress response tells our body that we are in danger and must be ready to fight or flight. Contemporary stress is usually not directly linked to (physical) danger, so becoming aware of the here and now (such as with mindfulness) can provide peace of mind. Pay attention to what you see (colors, shapes, movement…), hear, how your body feels in contact with the ground/chair/bed, with your clothes… Go through it, name it factually (within yourself) and feel calmer become!
Hug a loved one! According to research, 20 seconds is enough to feel relaxed, safe and connected. Touch is a basic need of life (see for example this article about why Touch is essential) and stimulates the production of oxytocin and endorphins: the happiness hormones!
As opposed to stress hormones, these lower your blood pressure, reduce pain and help the body function calmly in balance.

5 minutes

PACE yourself! This one sounds a little more cryptic, but it involves 4 very simple exercises from Brain Gym! Stress means losing balance, these exercises help restore balance. Within a few minutes you will not only be calmer, but also in a better mood and able to concentrate, learn, listen… Also recommended before starting a challenging assignment!

Energetic

Clear

Active

Positief

Drink a glass of water! All our neuronal functions (including brain functions) need water. Water helps conduct electricity and relax dehydrated tissue layers.
Massage under the key bone, the so-called “brain buttons”! Place index and middle fingers on one side and thumb on the other in the small indentations under the collarbone next to the breastbone. Massage for half to 1 minute, with the fingers of the other hand resting around the navel. With this we massage the area of the carotid arteries that are responsible for the blood supply to the brain.
Do a couple of cross-crawls!
Imagine that there is a vertical line running through the middle of your body – you will cross over this line with your arm and leg. Standing or sitting, lift your left leg towards the right side of the body and touch it with the elbow (if not possible, hand) of the right arm, crossing it towards the left side of the body. Repeat on the other side, doing this about 15-20 times.
Do the hook-ups! The last but maybe most relaxing exercise consists of 3 steps.
For the first, cross the legs, extend the arms in front of you and cross them at the wrists, then with palms together, interlace the fingers. Turn your hands towards your body to get into a “knot”. Breathe calmly a few times!
As a second step, repeat the first – but with hands and legs reversed. Again, take a few deep breaths!
As a final step, stand (or sit) with your legs next to each other in a relaxed, wide, stable stand. Close your eyes and gently bring the fingers of your two hands together in front of your navel. You can rest the interlocked hands on the navel for a couple of breaths.

Save this – you might want it as a reminder in your phone for days you expect a lot of stress!

Want to know more about the biology and kinesiology of stress? More exercises from the Brain Gym?
Let me know!

If you are looking for a structural and personal approach to dealing with stress and being more balanced, feel free to get in touch!

A Instant stress relief with kinesiology bejegyzés először Touch till Dawn-én jelent meg.

The vicious circle of de-stressing

kovjud — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:47:14 +0000

Reading time: 7-8 minutes

“Are you under a lot of stress?”

As a kinesiologist, I can answer this well-meant question for all of us: YES! It is virtually impossible in the modern world, typically far from nature, to not be under a lot of stress. Whereas it is often implied about our work or a very explicit and visible (even traumatic) situation, that’s not all stress is… Stress is everywhere, has many faces and has become so “normal” in our everyday lives that we tend to underestimate – until it is not manageable. Then, when already overwhelmed, trying to de-stress sometimes seems impossible… Like preparing for a much needed holiday making the need worse!

But what is stress?

Before Hans Selye’s groundbreaking work on stress, the concept of stress had a different meaning and was primarily associated with physics and engineering where it referred to the force or pressure exerted on an object. The concept of stress was not widely applied to human psychology and physiology as it is today.

It wasn’t until Hans Selye’s research from the 1930’s that stress became a widely recognized and studied concept in the field of psychology and medicine. As doctor of his time, also referred to as the “father of stress research”, he started from observation – and as specifically an endocrinologist, from the hormones now well known to be clearly related to stress: cortisol and adrenalin. His Stress theory is mainly focused on negative response to stressors – distress more than eustress. This is similar to how we use the word today.

Hans Selye’s work on stress is closely related to the concept of homeostasis. Homeostasis refers to the body’s ability to maintain a stable and balanced internal environment, despite external changes and stressors. It involves a dynamic process of regulating various physiological parameters within a narrow range to ensure our optimal functioning. Hence, stress is being pushed out of the sensitive balance of homeostasis.

Following Selye’s work, kinesiology also considers stress is too much or too little of something. Viewed that way, it is not specific to work or trauma – it is everywhere! See the sensory and information overload we face every day, the long stretches of concentration and work from childhood… It is a sustained “too much” for our nervous system. On the other hand, the number of one-person households is higher than ever. Working from home is booming. Humans designed as social beings, there is a “too little” of connection and belonging in our lives. (Expats, raise your hand!) As we are resistant and adaptable, we can cope and disregard many such factors – our body, however remembers. The one too many trigger or missed good word has weight and trace, even more so in high sensitive people and children, and can be the last straw.

So we de-stress…

To maintain (or regain) our mental and physical wellbeing in a fast-paced world, we try to destress. All of the efforts recommended – sports, meditation, creative outlets – even though effective, require… effort. And we tend to reach for such effort when we are already exhausted! When do we fit in the regular exercise in our already packed agenda? How do we prepare to leave everything in order before that holiday when we are already running on empty? How do we integrate a mindfulness course when we are already overstimulated?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for exercise, meditation, regular rhythm and the like! As an alternative care professional I will be the first to advocate for lifestyle adjustment! I’m not for fighting fire with fire, too much with even more, though. I am a believer of perfection not being attainable or helpful for that matter.

What is wrong with that?

The catch is: destressing is like dieting. When the need hits us, it is usually already a sign we have ignored our needs for too long, when we “just can’t anymore“, exhausted, if not burnt out. But on both, we can’t just hit some “undo” button!
In other cases, the perfectionists, who just have to fit it all: the meditation, the exercise, the digital detox… It is similar to orthorexia: chasing health can become an obsession, even a pathology – thus less healthy.

So what CAN we do?

Just like instead of diets, sustainable lifestyle change is advisable, it is similar in case of stress. Where do we start?

1. If planning those much needed holidays, a couple of things to consider:

Plan holidays of 3 consecutive weeks! Not to be able to travel further though – feel free to get bored first! Various studies have shown that most of us need 4 days to actually unwind first. Have you had holidays where you get sick right on holiday after a long period without illness? Or having unbearable headaches the first couple of days? Then you know what I’m talking about.
After the unwind, consider carefully what you need: travel and discovery can be great and bringing happiness – it is not a deload for your system though. If you need a deload (being overstimulated for example), staying in your known environment, i.e. not giving more to your nervous system to process might be useful.
Whether at home or away, increase light activity and decrease sedentary time. Walking (in nature), hiking, gardening or yoga are good recharging activities.
If travelling, give yourself at least 8 days – more if you’re travelling through time zones – at destination! Remember to take days of processing in between discoveries. Also, upon return, count on 3 days for getting back to your home rhythm – again, more if travelled across time zones!

2. Is there a “too much” for your nervous system? Are you risking a burn-out? Look at what you can abandon instead of what you can add!

Is your home full? Can you declutter?
Do you spend a lot of time behind screens? Can you limit it?
Do you have a full agenda every weekend? Can you take one weekend “off”?
Do you work out 7 days a week? Where can you insert recovery days?
Are you using your brain non-stop at work? Can you add anything physical in your free time?
Are you cooking everyday? Can you do take-out once a week?

In general: anything that doesn’t bring you in a state of flow can likely be cut to make you feel better, more at ease.

3. Is there a “too little” of connection, belonging, purpose? Are you risking a bore-out or depression?

Consider touch as one of your primary needs, just like water! Take opportunities to hug for at least 20 seconds with people you trust! If you don’t have (enough) opportunities for that, consider a professional: massage, Access Bars, tactile stimulation… Skin contact releases oxytocin (the “happiness hormone”), reduces cortisol (a stress hormone) and helps communication. It has also been shown to be beneficial for development, a strong immune system and even for pain reduction! Regular intentional, safe touch is essential to short- and long-term wellbeing!
Do you share your needs? Be it at work or home, we all get caught up in the whirlwind of events sometimes and it gets hard to pay attention to signs of our own bodies as well as others. If you can pinpoint a need, don’t assume that people “know”, neither that your need won’t be accepted! Share – people might be more receptive than you expect!
Show and ask for acts of kindness! Kindness – even just a smile – feels good on both ends! On the one hand, we can feel useful and connected – on the other, considered, seen, heard, even uplifted. It allows for openness, vulnerability, trust. Have you heard about the Benjamin Franklin effect? It comes down to people liking you more after having asked for a small favor!
Seeking out shared goals creates connection. A group of colleagues on a project or volunteering if you have the time are enriching for both the social circle and feeling of purpose. As long as you can be authentic while you participate, always a good bet!

And whatever you do: be present in the moment! Be it with family over dinner, taking in a sunset directly instead of through a lens or walking: just having your attention directed at what is happening now and not what you need to do next. Just giving the space to your senses is a good start:
Listen to music, the rain, the conversation, the feelings behind the words!
Watch the colors of the trees, the rainbow, the people passing by!
Smell the food, the flowers, the freshly mowed grass!
Taste even water or a sandwich!
Feel the sun or breeze on your skin, enjoy the touch of your favorite sweater!
A moment that you manage to be consumed by what is a moment you don’t have the time to stress about what is not!

What is your way to break through the stress-destress cycle?

A The vicious circle of de-stressing bejegyzés először Touch till Dawn-én jelent meg.