Let's face it, college is one of the busiest times of our lives. We try to balance school work with relationships, family, jobs, housework, pets and things that just make us decent human beings (like helping someone else study or rushing to help a friend in the middle of the night). The door to sleepless nights, exponential jumps in anxiety, exhausted minds and bodies is definitely flung wide open. We prioritize every aspect of our lives and tend to put off sleep for papers, parties and peers. Think you're surviving? Well, technically, you are. However, the more we put off sleep the more we are feeding into an unhealthy habit. Sleep deprivation can lead to depression, obesity, mood swings, weakened immune system, decreased ability to concentrate and remember, slowed comprehension rates, insulin sensitivity and a whole lot of other not-so-pleasant effects. Your body will tell you if it needs more sleep. If you've noticed an increase in appetite, weight gain or slowed metabolism, it may be a signal to revisit the idea of bedtime. If your brain is being deprived of the energy it usually gets from rest, it will look to food as another source. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, production will increase and cause all sorts of cravings. Leptin, the satiety hormone, is also affected, messing with your body's ability to recognize when it's actually full. Next time you think about binge eating cookies or your weights worth in fries, try taking a nap instead. Impulsive behavior and a slacking memory are also signs of sleep deprivation. Think about it, your energy levels are down so subconsciously, you're not paying much attention to what's going on in front of you. You are not actively participating, therefore no clear memory is attached to your experiences. This also leads to a veil over our judgment. We are more inclined to lash out or make regretful decision because we aren't thinking about possible consequences. Without enough sleep, cytokine production in within the body drops. These proteins help to fight off illnesses and inflammation, so frequent viral infections and cold after cold could definitely be a sign you need to make sleep a priority. Start tonight. Have a pillow party, snuggle up and get some rest. Put your phone in an entirely different room and don't even think about watching tv. Artificial lights can mess with your sleep patterns. This sounds strange, but rub some lavender essential oil on the bottoms of your feet. Whether it's placebo or not, the feet are great pathways for absorption and lavender has a calming effect. You can also rub the oil into your palms then cup your mouth and nose. Close your eyes and imagine you're drawing the scent directly into your brain. After about three minutes, you should feel a little more relaxed. Next, make your bed. Yes, actually unwrinkle the wad of sheets and blankets that probably haven't been organized in days, and make your bed look presentable. Fluff your pillows, light some candles, grab the lavender oil you used on your feet and dilute in water to spray on your pillows. On top of your freshly made bed, try these six yoga poses to lead you into a restful nights sleep. Begin in a seated, wide-legged forward fold. Don't worry about your flexibility--your pillows are your friends. Stack however many you need to let your cheat and forehead rest gently in the space in front of you. Take several deep breaths and focus on the space behind your eyelids. Transition into locust pose. Lie on your stomach, and keeping your legs straight with the big toes touching, aim to raise your upper and lower half as high as you can. Interlace your fingers behind you and open your chest. An open chest leads to deeper breaths. Hold this pose for as long as you'd like but remember, keep your eyes closed. We're getting the body ready to sleep. Lie with a pillow or two under your lower back with your head resting on the bed and both legs straight up a wall. Let's your arms rest on either side of you, palms facing up, and imagine you can feel the lactic acid draining out of your legs. Draw your knees to your chest, give yourself a little hug, and then guide your knees together to either side of you for a reclining spinal twist. Aim to keep both shoulder blades on the bed and turn your chin to face the opposite direction of your knees. Twists encourage cleansing and detoxification. Make sure you reach both sides. Move so that you are no longer near a wall and guide the body into reclining butterfly position. This time, place a pillow vertically under your head and upper back. Allow your lower half to make contact with the bed so your belly is lengthened. Place the souls of your feet together and allow your knees to fall apart. Again, let your arms rest on either side of your body with the palms facing up. Imagine the the corners of the eyes and your knees are being drawn down into the bed. Focus on your breath and remember, stay here as long as you like. If you didn't fall asleep in the last pose, it's now time to move into savasana. Your place of peace, your piece of home. Gently draw the knees back together and extend your legs long to find corpse pose. Keep the pillow where it was or move it until you're completely comfortable. Remember, arms long and palms up. Literally feel your body melt into your bed as your breath deepens. Feel the cheeks drawing away from the nose, the shoulders sinking away from the heart, the hips drowning into the bed. Goodnight.
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In the shallowest and simplest of scenarios, this can be seen as we call out one another’s indecisiveness. The everyday struggle can be seen when we allow a five-minute pause after the burrito master asks, “Guac’s extra. Is that okay?” Or when we are scratching our heads ferociously, blocking aisle traffic as we read and reread the labels differentiating organic honey roasted, non-GMO crunchy and natural no-stir peanut butter. Better yet, when we are playing Rummy around the coffee table with absolutely no play-worthy cards in hand, yet we feel an overpowering urge to stare blankly at our options until the infuriating impatience explodes from the person to our left and we close our eyes and discard. Take a minute and ask yourself, “What do I really want out of life?” It’s no secret that many people spend their entire lives trying to answer that question which can be a great thing. It breaks us out of going through the motions of life, drives us to new experiences—we make career changes, maybe seek new friend groups and establish varying daily habits all in an attempt to create meaning within our lives. This epic quest comes with its fair share of adversities. Side effects include but are not limited to extreme frustration, periods of confusion and the ever-destructive instance of settling. It’s so easy to say, “Man, I don’t know. You choose,” and place the burden on someone else. We become okay with following along—we prefer our friends to choose the restaurant or the movie or even our outfits so that we don’t have to face the consequences of the decision. We become puppets. We become sheep. Take a look at the two individuals who are running to lead our country. The political parties’ lines. The divide in our nation. We have difficult questions arising and no clear answers. We have people who are pro life and respect a woman’s right to choose. We have people who own guns and push for gun control. We have people who crave change and can’t explain what kind of change. The problem lies in the lack of dedication to self-inquiry. We don’t know ourselves. We haven’t searched the depths of our minds, our values or really tried to understand our actual thought processes. We are pushing away the difficult questions and settling with shallow, indirect answers across the board. We need to start grabbing the difficult questions by the roots and plant them within ourselves. Once we start searching inside, we can push ourselves further. We can advance our thought processes and challenge what we believe in either supporting or opening our eyes to something new. We can create clearer goals for ourselves—as individuals, communities, teams, nations…you name it. We can shape our own realities, but we first have to search inside and know what we want. These “wants” are by no means concrete. Our mindsets, moods and priorities change everyday but that’s why self-inquiry is so important. We have to listen to ourselves and stay in tune with the constantly evolving vibrations of consciousness. Want to avoid become a fluffy, sheep puppet? You can start while sipping your coffee tomorrow morning. Take five minutes and sit with yourself. Invite yourself to listen. Ignoring all outside distractions, literally keep your mind open. For two to five minutes, allow all thoughts to come to the surface but don’t focus on any one in particular. In other words, don’t try to think. Eventually, you will begin to recognize your unprompted thoughts—raw expressions from within. The answers to the difficult questions. For the next couple minutes, retrace your thoughts. Do any still stand out to you? Can you connect an emotion to those thoughts? Emotions? What thoughts are sparked by that thought? Again, sit with yourself. Sit with the idea. Explore your mind. Inquire within. |
AuthorNature-loving, adventure-seeking, holistic and wellness advocate: Yoginiliv. Archives
May 2017
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