Category Archives: Sleep

Self-Care for Mild to Moderate PMS

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) or Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)

pms

A large number of women (30 to 70 per cent) experience premenstrual symptoms even though they do not have Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder or what most people refer to as PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome). Approximately four to nine per cent experience Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. Even though premenstrual women may be quite uncomfortable with headaches, cramps, tender breasts, or other symptoms, this is not PMDD. PMDD is only diagnosed when there are cyclical mood and behavioural changes which affect relationships and day-to-day functioning.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a hormonal brain-biochemistry problem that results in mood and behavioral distress. The symptoms originate from two areas in the brain: the limbic area and up to the cortex. Different chemicals connect the limbic and cortex area of the brain: these are serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine. Any changes in these chemicals affect a woman’s mood and daily functioning.

  • The limbic area is responsible for memory, appetite, sleep, and strong emotions such as rage, anger, and aggression.
  • The cortex area affects a person’s judgment, attention, concentration, moods, perceptions, views, and interpretations of what is happening to them and around them.

Reduce stress. Symptoms can worsen when you are under stress so use stress-reduction strategies, such as well-balanced diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep.

Eat a well-balanced diet. It is essential to have a balanced diet from all food groups (breads and cereals, dairy and dairy products, meats and alternatives, fruits and vegetables) to optimize your brain’s chemical levels. The best approach is frequent small feedings as opposed to three meals per day. Some additional suggestions are:

  1. Eliminate alcohol as it acts as a depressant in the brain.
  2. Reduce or eliminate caffeine and cigarette smoking that can increase anxiety.
  3. Moderate your intake of sugar and salt.
  4. Eat plenty of grains, vegetables, and fruit.
  5. Eat plenty of complex carbohydrates, such as potatoes, rice, pasta noodles, cereals, and breads.
  6. Limit the simple carbohydrates, such as white sugar, honey, sweet candies, ice cream, chocolate, regular pop, and juice.
  7. Cook without added fats such as butter and oil.
  8. Avoid diets by eating three smaller meals with some healthy snacks to stop the munchies and to help with premenstrual headaches.
  9. Pass on the salt. Foods high in salt include: cured meats, canned foods, packaged sauces, frozen dinners, cheese, mustard, soy sauce, pickled foods, potato chips and salted nuts. Try flavouring with herbs and spices.
  10. Drink plenty of water to reduce the symptoms.

Exercise regularly – regular exercise:

  1. Increases the level of endorphins – the body’s mood-enhancing substances
  2. Energizes you and reduces jitteriness
  3. Increases levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, therefore helping your brain to regulate itself
  4. Increases your ability to deal with daily stressors
  5. May diminish premenstrual symptoms and PMDD and depression in some women

Rest and relaxation
Sleep is a priority. The brain biochemistry resets itself during sleep. Two chemicals in particular are important in this process: melatonin and oxytocin. Melatonin is released by the pineal gland in the center of the brain. Melatonin helps you maintain your regular sleep cycle. Oxytocin is a hormone that triggers the let down of breast-milk, promotes the contraction of the uterus during menstruation and in labor, and resets the chemicals in the brain.

Four key steps to get a good night’s sleep:
(1) If you can see your hand after the lights are turned out, your bedroom is too light. Too much light in the evening disrupts the production of melatonin and interferes with sleep. Start by dimming lights in the rooms you occupy 2 hours before you go to bed and sleep in a dark bedroom.

(2) Sleep as far as possible from the street and noisy equipment or appliances. While some researchers suggest masking other sounds with a white noise generator or a fan, others do not.

(3) Maintain an air temperature of 68 degrees year-round in the bedroom. Turning the thermostat up too high in the winter not only wastes energy; it can also disturb your sleep.

(4) Your bed should be comfortable and good for your back, and it shouldn’t expose you to toxic fumes, dust mites, or mold.

More sleep facts and tips can be found in my blog post Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

This is the program that I followed and it was effective.
Photo credit

Secret Gardens: Dreamtime Bear Cave

Deep in the cave am I. Deep in the cave and fully conscious. Every cell of my body breathing in the earth energy and breathing it out again. I smell the rich earth. Before me on the wall I see a painting or perhaps the shadow of a big brown bear who is sleeping.

I stand and drop my furs and I walk from the cave into a dimly lit tunnel. I walk for a long time and then I see an opening and, I step from out of a cleft in the rocks into the light.

Now I am entering a garden surrounded by an evergreen forest. I am alone, yet, I sense that only here I am one with all that is and was and ever will be.

The garden is abundant with spring life. Flowers are peeking through the icy edges of almost fully melted snow. Where the grass shows it is a lush emerald green. Birds are singing, flying and hopping about and I hear bees buzzing.

I walk towards a sparkling stream that frolics and bubbles over rocks into a shallow turquoise pond, where a doe is drinking. As I approach the doe lifts her head and our eyes meet. I am lost in their beauty. They speak of gentleness and kindness.

I recognize that I am thirsty too and that she has invited me to drink. So, I kneel next to her and scoop rainbow colored water with my hands into my mouth drinking deeply. As soon as I begin to drink I begin to feel lighter and happier. When I have almost had my fill, a dark shadow bear towers over me blocking the warmth of the sun but, this does not frighten me. I feel the warmth of protective love.

The shadow has shifted now. The sun has sunk down close to the horizon and, I am conscious of feeling cold. A shiver runs up through my spine and goose-bumps rise on my flesh. I think of covering up with my furs but, then I remember that I left them in the cave. I’m anxious now. I’m quickly walking away from the pond and hurrying back to the cave. But, I stop for a moment and I lift my eyes skyward.

There in the blue sky I see an old woman in the clouds beckoning me to join her at her campfire. I do not recognize the old woman but I and hasten to meet her and I feel a sense of rising, a sense of being lifted upward.

I find myself standing in the opening in the cleft of rock that is the entrance to my secret garden. I see a parting glimpse of the back of the old woman as she disappears into the rock cleft on her way down the tunnel into the cave. I also feel a cool breeze and see wisps of foggy mist studded with stars flow downward from the sky into the cleft of rock behind the old woman.

Now I stand naked and alone at that same entrance in the full glow of silver moonlight. I am looking over my shoulder. I am searching for someone. I look up and I see a star above me. Quiet joy fills my heart for, as I watch, the star turns into a pair of eyes — the eyes of the doe that I drank with at the pond.

I am sitting down now. I am in the cave by a campfire beneath the shadow of the bear on the cave wall. The old woman sitting beside me smiles and hands me more furs. I lay down and cover myself in them. I snuggle down feeling warm and safe. I am prepared now to drift into sleep and to dream. I know I’m about to take a journey and, I know that the old woman, the bear and the doe will be my guides during that journey.

Continue reading →

Fibromyalgia: The Pain-Sleep Connection

Barb Cacia, part of the new Arthritis and Fibromyalgia Care Center within Lattimore Physical Therapy says that if you have fibromyalgia, deep, restorative sleep can decrease pain.

Cacia, who counsels clients about sleep, as well as exercise, nutrition, stress management and relaxation says deep sleep makes neurotransmitters such as serotonin more efficient and regulates pain intensity.

Cacia suggests copying children’s sleep routine. Take a bath about one hour before bedtime. Have a light carbohydrate snack, read something boring, keep the lights low and limit use of telephone, computer and TV so your mind has a chance to wind down.

“Practice. Be patient and gentle with yourself,” says Cacia. “Sleep is a habit and learning a new habit will take time, but reducing your pain is a great benefit to all this hard work.” Also talk to your doctor. Medications that boost the level of serotonin help many people. Source

Catch Your Dreams

dreamcatcher.jpgWe dream every night and in fact we dream all day long too although we are rarely aware of it. Our dreams are not usually depicting real events, except in situations of remembrance or prophesy it’s true, but if we stop and consider then we will realize our dreams are real scenarios – manifestations of our unconscious thoughts and our emotions – manifestations built from the stuff of our lives and made alive through our imagination with the assistance of our intuition.

As children we are programmed by our parents label dreams as “not real” for self-protective reasons. Because our language and comprehension skills are limited we don’t get the fact that they may not be real events happening in the moment but they are real thoughts and real emotional responses to what is actually going on in our lives, what has happened in our lives, what we either want to happen or what we hope will not happen in our lives. Our mind is creating possibilities – projections and variations on themes for our lives and it’s up to us if we choose to grasp them and make them into realities or not.

Dream Catchers

Long ago in the ancient world of the Ojibwe Nation, the Clans were all located in one general area of that place known as Turtle Island. This is the way that the old Ojibwe storytellers say how Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) helped Wanabozhoo bring giizis (sun) back to the people. To this day, Asibikaashi will build her special lodge before dawn. If you are awake at dawn, as you should be, look for her lodge and you will see this miracle of how she captured the sunrise as the light sparkles on the dew which is gathered there.

Read the rest here  Source

Many people feel it’s important to remember their dreams but what good does retaining these memories do you if you do not seek the information for the purpose of interpretation? And what good is the interpretation if it doesn’t lead to action?

IMO the most important aspect about remembering our our dreams is understanding that they give us useful information, provided that we are prepared to truly “listen” and to “comprehend” what they mean, and then, act on that information.

Although I don’t have a dream catcher I do catch my dreams and record them too. Do you?

Reference: Build a Dream Catcher; Instructions for Making a Dream Catcher; Dream Catcher Tutorial