Do you know how many things happen when you sleep?
We tend to think of sleep as a passive thing during which we rest and recuperate. Well, we do, but we are also really busy during the night!
Take a look at this list of things your body does whilst you are sleeping:
tissue rebuilds
toxins are eliminated
your brain consolidates the day’s events turning them into new knowledge
When we don’t sleep well or enough, it messes up our cortisol rhythm. Cortisol when it is out of whack impacts on how we feel, often creating the tired and wired state where we are ready to drop into a dead sleep in the middle of the day and wide awake when we need to be asleep. Altered cortisol rhythms affect all of these things:
weight – you can eat fewer calories and weigh more if you sleep less than 5 hours per night than if you sleep 7
food choices – appetite control and satiety hormones are suppressed when we haven’t slept leading to ‘fatigue eating’
personal choices
mood
hormones (sex hormones as well as all the others)
immunity
mental clarity
memory
cognitive function
sex drive
pain levels
If you have been awake for 17 hours continuously, you will have the same cognitive impairment as when drinking alcohol! WOW – just think of all those medical professionals on double shifts making decisions about our health…
So many good reasons to get more sleep.
If you are having trouble with sleeping, get in touch as I have a few super tricks, herbs and tapping routines up my sleeve to help you improve your sleep.
I love working with EFT. I see such rapid results and it turbo charges herbal medicine work too.
As a practitioner, one of the things I wonder about the most is whether I am truly connecting with someone when we work with EFT. The level of trust required to do effective work which shifts our emotional states is impressive. I am humbled by the trust people lay in my hands.
My job is to begin laying the foundations of the therapuetic relationship which enables you to feel safe and able to bring yourself fully to the appointments. It is often really important to tread gently with a new client but I still want to be effective. Getting the balance just right is where the magic can happen. Recently, I have done a number of one-off appointments for specific issues.
This was the feedback I got from a session with A:
I was surprised by how much information you took on from my ramblings! A, Watford
A had previously only tried broader EFT in the form of tap-along videos. This is great and can be really helpful but getting specific helps much, much more. A had a very clear aim for the session which was also very helpful.
We started with the top level words and feelings to do with ‘confidence in parenting’. Then as we tapped, we listened for the subtler rumblings underneath the surface. As we listen to our less conscious thoughts and feelings, and tap on them, we begin to release them. In that release, they lose their emotional power and the stranglehold they might have on our day-to-day choices and feelings.
For the final section of the session, I asked A how she would like to feel. Her desired feeling was ‘more trust’. We developed the word into an image with colour and texture until it was vibrant and alive. Then I brought that vibrant energy of trust right into all of A’s cells by visualisation.
At the end, I suggested finding an item, creating a picture or using something which would remind A of this energy and its positive force for her.
Working with a complete stranger especially online, brings its challenges. Every session takes us closer to being more whole, more in tune with our needs and being happier, contented and fully functional in society and in our lives.
Are you ready for change? Get in touch to work with me.
Are you new to EFT and would like to try it in a low-pressure group setting? Our fortnightly Zoom sessions may be the answer for you. Email me for details. YOUR FIRST SESSION IS FREE!
As the sun warms us up and the blossom cheers our spirits, we unfurl from our Winter hibernation ready to face the world again, much like the sticky buds of the Chestnut trees revealing their fresh, green new leaves.
The garden has leapt into life, the bulbs are gifting us their vibrant colours and Winter’s grey is finally starting to ebb away. What a relief. Spring has definitely started when Sunday’s dawn chorus is followed by the hum of lawnmowers!
Now is the time to think about those health changes which were too difficult as optimistic New Year’s resolutions in dark, dreary January. When better to ‘spring clean’ yourself than with the lightening of the days?
Tips for aiding your Spring clean: A cold infusion of fresh herbs
These wonderful can be gathered from your local park (watch out for dog toileting areas!), or if you’re really lucky, your garden!
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) leaves in Spring are less bitter than later in the year. Add a few to your salads and dose yourself with natural nutrition. Dandelions are diuretic but also a rich source of potassium. So, where a pharmaceutical diuretic leaches potassium from your body, dandelion assists in the elimination of excess water but also replaces the potassium! Clever plant. I get goosebumps when I think about how complete that is. You’ll find dandelion in most places where there is grass. The yellow flowers are a giveaway but seek out the younger, smaller leaves.
Cleavers (Galium aparine) is a rampant, climbing weed which gest everywhere but it’s a herbalist’s dream! For your ‘spring clean’ it is a wonderful addition. It gives a light green flavour with a touch of the cucumber about it. One herbalist once said to me ‘imagine all those tiny hooks scrubbing and scouring through your lymph system’; a really great analogy and something for the post-Winter remnants. Readying you to spring into Spring.
Pick a large handful of each herb, place in a jug and cover with fresh cold water. Leave overnight and pour out a cup to drink the following morning. Feel the power of the green flowing through you. Drink in the fresh vitality of live plants from this simple and natural infusion! To make a more fragrant version, add a few leaves from a lavender plant.
Herbal ID
Dandelions and Cleavers are gentle herbs but be very sure that what you are picking is the correct thing – herbal mis-identification can be serious. It may be natural but so are plenty of deadly plants! To be sure, use a good ID guide or ask your local herbalist. I have written about mindful foraging
DISCLAIMER: Before dosing yourself up with wild crafted herbs, be aware that if you suffer from long-term health conditions or are pregnant, it may not be suitable for you to follow these ideas. Please check with a qualified medical herbalist first.
Sometimes, it just doesn’t. A bit like if you attempted to fix your car when it breaks down. If you aren’t a mechanic, you may or may not get it right.
Also, mechanics don’t always get it right first time as cars (and bodies) are complex.
However, if you tried an over-the-counter herbal preparation there may be many reasons why.
It wasn’t prescribed for you
When you visit a medical herbalist, you are being assessed using the same approach to understanding your body that nurses and GPs do.
A herbalist looks at everything about your health before prescribing for you.
In a shop, the staff may not have had a medical training.
You chose it from a list of herbal options in a book
Whilst there is nothing wrong with this, it is a symptomatic approach and which can be very helpful, it may also simply not work for you.
Herbs are complex and so are we. To get it right may require some understanding of the herb’s full action picture before being used.
You chose it for symptomatic relief
Again, there is nothing wrong with that but the cause of your symptoms is not addressed when you just treat the symptoms. Symptom relief is often very effective with herbal treatment but is not going to stop the illness. It also doesn’t take into account how a few apparently minor symptoms may all contribute to the same condition and the herb of choice wasn’t treating all of those things.
It wasn’t good quality
Some of the herbal supplements available in shops use different plant parts than those which are used by herbalists. For example, Echinacea is a brilliant herb. Herbalists use the root. Some capsules contain leaf and root. Now, the leaf also contains some of the good stuff but nothing like as much as the root.
Book in to see a medical herbalist for the choice of herbs which will best suit your body’s needs. 07492 511 366
You’re not sleeping well. You feel like you haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in a long time. I hear you. It’s an awful feeling. You know that everything in your body is not functioning optimally and you are putting yourself at higher risk of every ailment and serious disease going.
So, what do you do?
First things first, the research shows that the more we worry about not getting to sleep or having enough sleep, the less well we sleep! So, STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!
Problem solved.
What do you mean that didn’t work?
It’s so much easier said than done. I remember right in the midst of my new-baby no sleep phase that I felt like I was broken. That my ability to sleep had been broken. I thought I would never sleep again. And, I thought I would die through lack of sleep. I felt terrible. I spent so long teetering right on the edge of being asleep but as soon as I noticed, or my partner moved, or the radiator creaked, I would ping back into wakefulness. I lay awake in my bed for hours failing. It became a place I loathed.
So, how do we stop thinking about not sleeping? How do we shift out of being ‘a bad sleeper’ into being someone who doesn’t have a label for their sleep, they just do it.
Warning: no quick solution!
We start with the daytime. We listen to our inner voice and hear how we are talking to ourselves. How are we mentioning our sleep? What do you hear?
What do you hear?
‘I’m such a bad sleeper’ ‘I’m an insomniac’ ‘I just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep’
I think our brains and our thoughts are very powerful. When we tell ourselves these things repeatedly even if it seems as though it is just the truth of the situation, how can our bodies do anything but continue to obey?
I think this is a very powerful concept and one I use a lot when I work with my herbal patients and EFT clients.
I needed a lot of extra help to get back the skill of sleep. I wish I had known of the tools I now have and use with my patients. I think I would have been in a very different situation from the one I actually found myself in. And, in spite of that wish, I know that I learned a huge amount from my experience as that drove me to look for more tools. I also firmly believe that the best we can do with our toughest paths is to find the silver lining and use it to our eventual advantage which is where I am now. I know that my skill set is so suited to that kind of situation that I can help more and more people who feel like they are beyond help.
Read Part 5 in my series on sleep to hear about how I help myself and others to get a good night’s sleep.
I have always slept really well. I was someone who could go to bed, drop off almost instantly and not wake for 14 hours. Not even for a pee! I slept through the gales of 1987 despite a tree falling on top of our car on the street right outside my bedroom. Truly deep sleep.
Then it changed.
I began sharing a bed. I had a baby. And, it seems sometimes, that it has changed irrevocably. And then, every now and then, I get glimpses of how it used to be.
It has been really alarming to find myself, with little to no resource to manage it, in a position where I just can’t get to sleep. Or, I was asleep and now, suddenly, I am not. Or, I have woken early, much earlier than I would have liked and am not falling back to sleep again and already dreading the grotty, dragging feeling of not enough sleep accompanying my day.
Does this sound familiar?
It can feel like absolute torture. Desparate to be asleep, knowing there’s a limit on how much sleeping time is left to me (mother to a small child as well as usual work-day deadlines) and being wide awake but soooo sleepy.
And, I have enough knowledge to know that the impact just one bad night can have on our cortisol rhythm is enough to disturb another night which disturbs another and another and so on.
I have had a fair few nights where I have dreaded going to bed in case I lie awake for hours on end not dropping off… again. So, I drag it out, staying up later and later in the hopes that I will just drop off to sleep because I am so tired.
I would like to share with you my sleep journey. The journey I am travelling still whilst I search for my deep sleep state to return. Much of the inspiration for logging this journey is in order to find the many variations on answers I need to help my patients. If I truly understand sleep and not sleeping, then I can tailor medicines in a meaningful way. A way which deeply understands the sleep needs of each person I work with. And, I get to understand more about myself in the process. Double win!
So, if you would like to travel this journey with me, email HertsHerbalist@hotmail.com to sign up to my mailing list and let’s start looking for your sleep solutions as well as mine.
Sometimes, the best things we can do to help ourselves sleep better are the things we do before we go to bed.
Have a bedtime and stick to it
Have a wake time and stick to it
We create a routine around sleep for our children and expect them to sleep well. I have seen with my daughter (yep, I know, that’s a really good quality study with a cohort of 1…), now aged 3, that since we got more rigid about asleep by 8pm, instead of going up to bed at 8pm and introduced a sleep aid she can use herself, that she is sleeping longer at night, looking less purple under her eyes (PHEW!) and is much better able to get herself back off to sleep even in the early morning. And, her behaviour after ‘school’ is much calmer.
But, what about us adults? Do you have a bedtime routine? What makes you go to bed later than you intended?
Have a think about the things which mean you put off going to bed at the time you know you need to in order to get enough sleep.
Some things can put us off going up to bed – eg the thought of removing make up/contact lenses, locking up, brushing teeth, even getting undressed – because it seems so much more effort late at night.
How about doing all of that after you have finished dinner or once the kids are asleep? Then all you need to do is climb into bed, all weary and ready!
Get caught by the next episode of a fave telly programme? If you need a reminder, try setting an alarm on your phone for bedtime. Sounds strange but for some, it works really well.
You really relish that time to yourself once all the chores are done and the children are asleep. You like to protract the time, revelling in the peace and quiet, safe in the knowledge that no-one will be asking for a snack or to be read a story any minute now. And, you end up going to bed later than you need and feeling even more tired the next day.
Sound familiar? Try to turn it around. Think about sleeping as that me-time, that soul-nourishing time. Because, if you get the sleep you need, you will feel so much better the next day and you won’t be desparately hanging out for that single late hour of ‘me-time’. You might even enjoy your time with your kids more!
And, there are a dozen other reasons to sleep more and sleep better which I will be exploring in my sleep series. Join me to unravel your sleep mysteries.
I love helping people find that 1 answer which works for them. It’s part of what I do as a detective Herbalist! Actually, although I crossed that out, I often feel like I am a detective. A health, habits and how to inspire-you-to-change-what-you-want-changed detective. I use all the detail you give me about you to give me the clues which unravel your mystery. And often, like in the best whodunnit, the answer is right there, staring us in the face once we’re ready to see it.
There are lots of over-the-counter (OTC) sleep preparations. They can really help and some are excellent. There are two things about them which I don’t like:
They are often standardised extracts rather than full profile herbs
They usually contain valerian root
They may not actually have all that much herb in them.
Valeriana officinalis is a go-to sleep herb for many people and lots of herbalists. However, if you’ve ever taken it and found yourself MORE AWAKE after taking them than before, the chances are you’re like me (and roughly 5% of people), and you react in the opposite way to valerian!
Wow. Yes, it is possible to take a sleep herb and be more awake.
That kind of experience tends to give herbs a bad reputation. If you take something and it doesn’t work, you’re then likely to assume that all things like it also don’t work. After all, it’s been manufactured and then sold in a pharmacy, so it must be good.
Also, valerian root can leave people feeling a little muggy the day after, like they have a bit of a hangover. So, taking larger quantities may not be a great idea.
I prefer that the herbs I take are whole plant. If it is root, then I mean all of the root rather than pulling out the known constituent from the herb which is currently shown by research to be the active one. As a herbalist, I like the synergy which occurs between the constituents and how they inter-react. This is something which is hard to quantify and get scientifically accepted proof for. But, it has been shown that for example, the plants from which we can derive salicylic acid have constituents which protect stomachs unlike the synthetic derivative known as aspirin. There is an intelligence in the full spectrum of the plant and I prefer to have that in its entirety in my medicines.
I like collections of different herbs in a sleep mix. Then you get the benefits of a range of different ways in which your sleep is improved. It might be that you need to still your mind, relax your body or cool down from overheating.
I talk more about the different ways to improve your sleep in further posts on sleep. Look for Parts 5 and beyond.
Do you want to work on your sleep? Please get in touch as herbs are a gentle, non-addictive way to really improve the quality and length of your sleep.
This Valentine’s Day, don’t forget to include yourself when you’re giving out love.
If you take the time to give yourself love, not only will you feel better about yourself, but you will be better equipped to spread the love to others.
Most people think that self-care involves a glass of wine and putting your feet up in front of the telly. You’ll also be told you ‘deserve’ it. And, I’m not knocking either thing – each has its place. But, this concept is not something that is nourishing and restorative. And, it is not self-care.
We ALL deserve to take care of ourselves. We all deserve to feel good in and about ourselves for as much of the time as we can. Alcohol and zoning out don’t do that.
Self-care in my mind is something which helps to restore your core, your well of contentment, your get up and go, your resilience and your facility for dealing with the daily grind. And, life in Lockdown has had a LOT of grind (and some unexpected silver linings too).
Self care comes in many guises. Maybe it’s about putting a well-balanced meal on the table at most mealtimes. Maybe it’s about ensuring your sleep is the best it can be. Maybe it’s about drinking herbal teas to keep calm. Maybe, it’s meditation, yoga and other forms of exercise.
What do I do?
I found the idea of self-care so very hard to contemplate. Something essentially completely alien and whilst the notion was OK, it just slipped down the ‘To Do’ list every day, never happening until it never appeared on the list because it became something else to berate myself for not doing. I just couldn’t summon up the feeling that I could do it. Like so many, I just didn’t know how to prioritise it, how to feel that it was OK to do it. It felt really hard to fit in with so many other pressures demanding my time. I wanted the re-create the pure escapist uplift of that first glass of fizz but found the repercussions for my mood the following day too hard to handle – not to mention it has the potential to create a vicious cycle. I sought out junk foods but the highs and lows of that did nothing for my overall sense of wellbeing either.
In fact, it has only recently become something which feels as though it has any priority in my life. As I got more in tune with my body and how it actually felt each day, I found I needed to choose something healthful. Something restorative in a true sense. I still want to zone out in front of the telly, and have the odd glass of wine now and then but mostly, I am now seeking ways to truly nourish myself.
So, how did I change my perspective? Many, many things helped
Working with others
Seeking help can be a really important first step. Being guided by someone with skills and knowledge has profound benefits.
The first step along my road was getting help from my beautiful Italian friend, Laura Cattaneo. Her deeply restorative Shiatsu energy work massages combined with her words of wisdom enabled me to shift a lot of blocks and obstacles to living a fuller, more contented life. Laura brings a deep wisdom to her work as shiatsu practitioner and spiritual counsellor.
I had been intereted in EFT/Tapping for a while and I began working with an EFT/Tapping practitioner, Tamara Donn. Her sessions have helped me to clear other obstacles in my emotional life which were getting in the way. I am still on this journey and find that regular sessions enable me to manage lockdown and its challenges as well as working on my wider issues.
Calm Club and Sleep-Well Sessions: Fancy giving tapping a try? You’re welcome to join one of my weekly sessions. We alternate between Calm Club and Sleep-Well sessions on Thursdays at 8.30-9.30pm using Zoom. First session is free! Email me at Lucy.Blunden.Botanicals@gmail.com for more details.
Working on myself
So, it’s all very well spending time and money consulting other people but what about what you can do for youself?
I have a few routines:
Daily reiki/healing energy on myself
Regular tapping
Herbal tea blend
Herbal Footbaths
Bach Flower Remedies
Donna Eden’s Daily Energy Routine
In this list, there are a few which require very little training to master and the benefits can be felt immediately.
Tapping:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wG2FA4vfLQ this is the founder Gary Craig demonstrating the simplicity of the routine and how you can use it. It’s a ‘no frills’ video which is only 8 mins long.
Herbal tea: As a herbalist, I have a heap of herbs at my beck and call. The primary herb for anyone wishing to begin a journey of herbal exploration is Chamomile. Its readily available and inexpensive.
Let’s get medicinal: To get truly medicinal results from any herbal tea, I suggest trying 2 bags per cup, brewing it with a lid on for at least 20 minutes and drinking three times per day! (This is for a generally healthy adult). I recommend this with chamomile and although it is a bit bitter (that’s good medicine) and may take a little getting used to (I describe its taste as being yellow) it’s worth it. It’s calming to the digestion and nervous system, aiding sleep and reducing anxiety amongst many other benefits.
Loving Calm tea If you want to dig a little deeper, I make a beautiful tea blend which combines herbs which deeply nourish the nervous system with herbs to warm the cockles of your heart. I call it my LOVING CALM TEA and you can have it delivered to your door by getting in touch: Lucy.Blunden.Botanicals@gmail.com
Let me know how you get on – I’d love to hear your experiences of trying out these things.
Disclaimer: If you are planning to self-medicate with herbs, it is always wise to check this out with a professional. Herbalists can tell you whether the herbs you wish to work with are contraindicated with your prescribed medications or heath conditions.
Anything for which we need medicinal help requires caution. So, whilst chamomile is gentle and suitable from birth to death for most people, some people will not find it helpful. In cases of reflux, it can be irritating and a few people find it more stimulating than relaxing! The golden rule: if it feels bad, don’t do it – even if it ought to feel good.
Saving for your retirement is now an absolute necessity if you wish to have any chance of autonomy over your living care arrangements. Perhaps you have a private and state pension and feel well covered for eventualities.
Eating for your retirement may sound like a strange concept. For me, it’s like an additional pension.
Dr Lisa Mosconi is a brain specialist who began in the field of genetics. Tough science. As her career progressed and her knowledge increased she started to find questions from her patients were unanswerable. “My parents both have Alzheimer’s, so my genetic predisposition is higher than average, what do I eat to change that?”
So, first of all, we have to get our head around the idea that genes are NOT SET IN STONE! We don’t have to live out our parents’ diseases. We can influence the expression of our genes with our environmental choices and that means lifestyle and food choices.
Dr Mosconi sees brain scans a lot. On those scans, she finds the somewhat shocking information that our brains can show signs of the deterioration of dementia in our 40s and 50s. Long before the cognitive symptoms that become visible usually in our 70s.
What if we could do something about that?
Well, actually, we can. Dr Mosconi studied nutrition to start looking for answers for her patients. And suggests these are 5 of the top things we can do for our brain health:
Drink more water
Eat caviar (!!) or any fish roe, or oily fish
Eat dark leafy greens
Eat berries (including the ones which don’t have vast carbon footprints!)
Use lots of extra virgin olive oil
I don’t know about you, but I can hear a dozen recommendations but unless I know the whys and wherefores, they don’t have as much impact on me.
So, number 1 – every function of the brain requires water for the chemical reactions taking place. When we don’t have enough, we impair those functions and dehydration causes our brains to shrink! Our brains are 80% water. 2l per day is enough.
Set an alarm, reminder or put notes about the house. Drink more water!
Number 2 – Eat caviar. Fish eggs are like a microcosm of the macrocosm of our brains! They contain a very similar balance of brain chemicals and so eating it is direct brain food. All fish eggs are beneficial. Oily fish (including wild tinned salmon or anchovies) is also useful and, they all contain the DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) part of Omega 3 fatty acids which the brain needs.
Number 3 – Berries! Everyone tells us to eat berries. Blackberries (are free!) have the most comprehensive antioxidant properties. Gooseberries are also marvellous. Grow a few bushes in the garden and allow some blackberry plants to remain! Blasted weeds… they always win out in the end. 🙂
Number 4 – dark leafy greens. We’re all talking about them but the phytonutrients contained in leafy greens are protective of the plant and also of us. They have disease fighting capabilities! Wild greens are even better (a-ha, the herbalist awakes once more…)
Number 5 – Extra virgin olive oil. Full of goodness in the form of Omega 3s and vitamin E – which is renowned for its anti-ageing properties. It is also protective of the heart so it’s like a 360 degree goodness.
Get used to having these things on the menu. Get creative. So far, I can only think of fish eggs as a topping for eg blinis but there must be more ways than that!
Nigel Slater says that tinned salmon is only useful for fish cakes. Now, that sounds like a great way to get that oily fish in and use up left over spuds.
Stick a big handful of organic spinach leaves on your plate under your meal. It will wilt if it’s hot and contribute to the salad if it’s cold. YUM!
Water – tap is fine. Spring is ideal. Plastic free is best. 🙂
And berries, well, let’s get picking this Autumn…..
If you are concerned about your brain health, call me to chat about herbs which can support your brain and cognitive health alongside these wonderful foods.
Contact me
Make an appointment to see Lucy Blunden, Medical Herbalist by visiting the contact page
