The best healing and wellness support system we have is Nature. Yes, Mother Nature!
Each week I share the latest in 1 thing I’m doing, 2 things I’ve learnt and 3 things to explore.
Here’s this week’s edition incorporating ancestral wisdom, quantum health and biophysics as we tackle sleep regularity, toxins, no regrets and magic.
Happy Reading!
1 THING I’M DOING
Sleep Regularity
Having a set bedtime and regular wake up time isn’t just for the kiddies! A consistent bedtime routine and regular wake up time is super healthy for us too.
I’ve been hopping into bed and getting up at a similar time for a couple of years now, and feeling supercharged by it. In fact, I’m starting to wake up on my own at a similar time each morning, and even better, I’m waking up feeling rested, refreshed and ready to jump out of bed and take on the day. This is a welcomed change from the dragging my feet out of bed, trying to peel my eyes open and searching for that caffeine hit feeling.
It seems that having a regular bed time and wake up time works wonders for us and in fact, a recent study found that having regular sleep patterns can reduce our chances of dying from all cause mortality by 20 – 48%. Imagine that!
The study published in Sleep Journal found that the consistency of our sleep patterns may be more crucial for our longevity than the duration and how long we sleep itself. Here’s the lowdown…
📜 Study: Conducted by a team of experts, the study analysed over 10 million hours of sleep data from nearly 61,000 UK Biobank participants. By calculating Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) scores and observing mortality over an average follow-up of 6.3 years, researchers uncovered that individuals with higher sleep regularity had a substantially lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those with less consistent sleep patterns.
✔️ Key Findings:
- Higher sleep regularity was linked with a 20-48% reduction in all-cause mortality risk.
- Cancer and Cardiometabolic Deaths: A consistent sleep schedule was associated with a 16-39% lower risk of dying from cancer and a 22-57% reduced risk of cardiometabolic-related deaths.
- Sleep Duration’s Role: Although still super important, sleep duration was a less powerful predictor of mortality risk than sleep regularity.
- Circadian Rhythm Considerations: The study emphasised that irregular sleep patterns disrupt our circadian rhythms, potentially leading to those adverse health outcomes we’re all trying and hoping to avoid.
💎 The Takeaway: It may be time for us to focus less on the actual number of hours we sleep each night and more on the regularity of our sleep-wake cycles.
In a recent podcast with Andrew Huberman, sleep expert Dr Matt Walker talked about the importance of four macro sleep factors he referred to as QQRT – Quantity, Quality, Regularity, and Timing.
If we embark on a regular sleep pattern, and if this pattern factors in 7 – 9 hours of sleep, and if we wake up feeling refreshed and well rested, then we’ve pretty much nailed three of the four factors Matt Walker talks about. So, perhaps it’s the regular sleep cycle that helps us get some of the other important sleep factors bedded down! Boom! 💣
The last factor timing, comes down to things like whether you’re an early bird or night owl and this has a little more complexity to it so for now, if you can shoosie your tooshie into bed, in the same way we hear ourselves telling our kids a million times to get into bed, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favour and snoozing your way into a healthy regular sleep routine.
✔️ Action Item – Try to get into bed and wake up the same time each day for the next week. And yes, this also means weekends and holiday!
2 THINGS I’VE LEARNT
Cut The Toxins
We all know our bodies and lives are pretty bombarded with toxins these days. They are in our food, our water, our beauty products and cleaning products. Heck, it’s even in our unsuspecting fry pans, carpet and outdoor weather gear. 😱
Well, it’s not all doom and gloom my friends. There are ways we can cut some of the toxins that we’re exposed to and I’m here to share these with you now.
A recent report from the American Academy of Paediatrics found that consuming an organic diet reduces dietary exposure to pesticides by 90%. That’s massive, right?
The report, which was largely focused on the adverse health affects of GMO foods, highlighted that all GMO foods contain glyphosate, a proven carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research. It suggested that eating an organic diet had multiple benefits. Firstly, it was the best option for avoiding GMO foods, secondly, it helped you avoid the glyphosate GMO foods come unfortunately packed with and thirdly, it gave you the added bonus of smashing your dietary pesticide and toxin load.
I’m not sure if you choose to eat a mostly organic diet or not. For me, organic food is a non-negotiable. It has been ever since I healed myself of endometriosis over 25 years ago. I know some people feel that organic food is too expensive, that it can’t fit into the budget so here are some tips to make organic food more available:
5 Ways To Make Organic Food More Affordable
🍎 1. Try and grow whatever you can at home. Whether it be on your windowsill, balcony, front yard, courtyard, backyard, pots, veggie boxes or straight into the ground or ALL OF THEM. If you can grow something, do so. Don’t use any chemicals or pesticides and that is what I call #winning
🍎 2. Shop at your local farmers markets. These markets bring wonderful producers together which means you can chat to them, get to know them and find out how they grow their produce. Generally, they should also be a little bit cheaper as you’re buying direct from the source or in bulk.
🍎 3. Speaking of bulk, buying organic food such as grains, flours, nuts or pastas in bulk is a great way to save some bikkies. There are plenty of bulk stores around or shop online.
🍎 4. Avoid the Dirty Dozen. If you can only buy a limited amount of organic produce, try and make it these ones. The Dirty Dozen are the fruits and veggies that have been found to have the highest levels of chemical residue on them so these are the ones you really want to avoid.
🍎 5. Join or create an organic food co-op. If you have family, friends, school groups and neighbours who might like to buy more organic food, why not find strength and savings in numbers. If there isn’t a co-op in your area, you could create one. The rewards will pay you back a hundred-fold!
At the end of the day, it makes sense. The more toxins we expose ourselves to, the more chances that these toxins will catch up with us and rear their ugly head. Eating healthy and well is essential to giving our body the building blocks it needs to create a happy, healthy, strong us and kids of course.
✔️ Action Item – Consider adding some / more organic foods to your shopping basket this week
Not All Vitamin C’s Are Created Equal
If someone asked you what Vitamin C was made of, would you take a guess and say it is made from delicious, bright, juicy oranges. All picked freshly from a sprawling green orchard on a beautiful blue sky and sunny day? Me too! Or at least, I did until a little while ago.
Crazy as it seems, that’s not true. As much as the beautiful images in our head would like it to be, today almost all commercial Vitamin C supplements are made from synthetic Vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid. This Ascorbic Acid is largely derived from GMO corn and processed with other chemicals. 😱 What the? Vitamin C made from corn? Yup, that’s right and sorry to break the news to you.
As humans, we aren’t able to make Vitamin C in our body so we need to get it from our diet. If we feel that we’re getting run down, need a boost, combatting a cold or flu or not getting enough from our food, then Vitamin C supplements could be a solution. In this case you can click on the image below to see my tips on how to make sure the Vitamin C supplements you’re buying are safe.
✔️ Action Item – If you use or buy Vitamin C supplements, read the fine print, do some research and opt for an organic, non-GMO brand.
📧 And if you’d like to know what brand I choose, just email me and I’d be happy to share
3 THINGS TO EXPLORE
Bedroom Bubble
📱🚫 Imagine creating a 2.5 metre bubble around your bed. Within this bubble there are no devices, no technology, not even a lamp or charger plugged in. This is what a building biologist “to the stars” recommends we do as a way of creating a holistic sleep environment which is free from any high EMF (electromagnetic field) emitting devices.
Our sleep is a sacred time of rest – or at least it should be. A time our bodies repair, recharge and revitalise and memories get sorted and processed into short term, long term amongst a myriad of other amazing things going on.
Having EMF emitting devices, such as phones, tablets and clock radios near us during this time can interfere with the complex brain and cellular processes going on. Biological processes which are all incredibly vital for our optimal health and wellbeing. Think of this as a way of enhancing your sleep, by reshaping your sleep environment to one that is friendly to your biology. It’s not as if you’re using these devices for the 7 – 9 hours whilst you’re sleeping anyway.
✔️ Action Item: Do a quick survey of where you sleep. Do you have a 2.5 metre tech free bubble? If not, try and create one. What do you have to lose?
Modern Illnesses
As most modern illnesses today are a result of our Western lifestyle, it is going to take going back to our old-fashioned methods and truths to heal them.
The four biggest killers we see today are cardiovascular disease (stroke, ischemic heart disease), diabetes, cancer and dementia including Alzheimer’s disease.
These are all largely preventable and based on our western lifestyle of poor food quality and poor food choices, not enough exercise, lack of sleep, not enough sunlight and due to an exposure and accumulation of a soup of toxins.
We need to look back at our ancestors and how they lived as nature had all the answers for them, so it should do for us too. It’s just up to us and what we do today.
✔️ Action Item – is there something that you or someone you know is experiencing that nature or ancestral wisdom could help with? Maybe migraines, lack of energy, poor sleep, stress?
Magic
“The magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding”
A little reminder that the outcome that you’re seeking could just be on the other side of that challenge, discomfort or fear you’re avoiding.
I so wish life were easier but it isn’t. We need to take action, put our big girl and boy pants on and put the effort in, if we are to find the “magic” we seek in life.
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