Planning detox? Know how to get good sleep first

The neurosurgeons say, that getting a good night’s sleep is far more important than we may think. Their research reveals, that those precious hours spent sleeping, are not wasted, but play a key role in our lives. Our bodies are both incredibly strong and delicate, helping us to function in the most difficult circumstances (for example, lack of food) and weather conditions. But if a person does not know how to get good sleep at night, she or he will get into trouble. Sooner or later.

On February 19 2011, a 44 year old Swedish man was discovered in his snow-covered car, after spending two months in it without food or heating.

We will survive lack of food, cold and dehydration, but not lack of sleep. Why?

We can survive the cold, strong wind, heat and dehydration. But if we experience those conditions for too long, we perish. When the circumstances are life-threatening, we need to change them. The same happens inside our bodies. If we consume toxic, low quality food for too long, feel ongoing stress, take no exercise, and don’t get enough sleep, our immune system will slow down, then serious illness and possibly death at an early age will become our reality.

In contrast, taking care of our bodies and the environment that we live in, can lead to a long and happy life. If we want to avoid getting sick, we have to purify our bodies regularly by:

• changing our diet
• adding more physical exercise
• sleeping on hard surfaces (for example, on our buckwheat husk mattress)
• sleeping long enough to be well-rested
• reducing our emotional stresses

However, before you start cleansing your system, cater to your sleep first.

The strange fact about our brain

Our bodies have a very powerful detoxifying system: the lymphatic system. It looks and works much like the circulatory system that is full of blood vessels which deliver the nutrients and oxygen to the cells of the body to remove the waste products. But there is a problem with the lymphatic system: it exists nearly everywhere in our body … except for our brain. It is very different, and independent… however, it has a solution.

In the brain, you will not find a single lymphatic cell.

So how does it detoxify itself? We know that it is a powerful organ that uses up to 25% of our entire energy supply, even when it weighs only 2% of our body mass. Scientists recently discovered how that works. They say that the system our brain uses to cleanse after the days work is directly linked to how we spend the night!

What we are capable of: the truth about what happens when we sleep well

Many people know about the incredible power of the mind just after waking up. Some of us can solve serious life problems during those precious early minutes. I did that when I was a child! Did you? The scientists attribute clarity of thought in the morning to the special activity of the brain while we sleep. As mentioned in our previous article: “Make your bedroom a heaven for sleep”, Leonardo da Vinci, the great Italian painter, architect, engineer, slept for 2 hours a day, taking 20 minute naps every 4 hours. He was able to be more creative throughout the day thanks to his sleeping pattern.

There are multiple ways to get a good night’s sleep, the key is to feel well-rested after waking up.

How to get good sleep and problem solving

Maxwell Maltz  – an American cosmetic surgeon who studied, in depth, the development of the sense of self-worth in a person – in his influential book “The New Psycho Cybernetics” tells the story of Louis Agassiz, who:

“ had been striving to decipher the somewhat obscure impression of a fossil fish on the stone slab in which it was preserved. Weary and perplexed, he put his work aside at last and tried to dismiss it from his mind. Shortly after, he waked one night persuaded that while asleep he had seen his fish with all the missing features perfectly restored.

He went early to Jardin des Plantes, thinking that on looking anew at the impression he would see something to put him on the track of his vision. In vain- the blurred record was as blank as ever. The next night he saw the fish again, but when he waked it disappeared from his memory as before. Hoping the same experience might be repeated, on the third night he placed a pencil and paper beside his bed before going to sleep.

The fish reapears…

Towards morning the fish reappeared in his dream, confused lt at first, but at last with such distinctness that he no longer had any doubts as to its zoological characters. Still half dreaming, in perfect darkness, he traced these characteristics on the sheet of paper at the bedside.

In the morning he was surprised to see in his nocturnal sketch features which he thought it impossible the fossil itself would reveal. He hastened to the Jardin des Plantes and, with his drawing as a guide, succeeded in chiseling away the surface of the stone under which portions of the fish proved to be hidden. When wholly exposed, the fossil corresponded with his dream and his drawing, and he succeeded in classifying it with ease. “ (Maxwell Maltz “The New Psycho-cybernetics”).

This is what may happen to you, when you properly cleanse your brain.

How to properly cleanse your brain 

Our brain, due to it’s very energy consuming activity throughout the day, produces a lot of waste that it needs to clean if we want to carry on living. Because it doesn’t have lymphatic cells, it has a different way of dealing with the waste-clearance problem. It has its own clensing system! we call it: the glymphatic system.

Jeff Iliff, a famous neurosurgeon, explains that to detoxify our brain we need to sleep, because the glymphatic system works only when we sleep. (read more about in our thorough articles, that discusses many aspects of sleep:

How to sleep well and what to avoid to feel good in the morning

Our brain is surrounded by a fluid that extracts the waste from the brain and dumps it into the blood. It looks very similar to the lymphatic system, but there’s something very different and surprising about it. The waste clearing fluid is rushing through the brain only while we sleep. This is when our brain cells shrink, allowing the fluid to do it’s job.

How to naturally sleep better

In our previous article, we suggested that to feel good in the morning, we can start with easy changes like:

• Reduction of the air temperature in our bedroom
• Turing off mobile devices at least 30 minutes before going to bed
• Avoiding drinking caffeinated drinks, like coffee or strong teas, after 4 pm
• Sleeping on healthy and natural mattresses and pillows such as an organic buckwheat husk mattress, spelt pillows, and organic buckwheat husk pillows that are proven to bring relief to the body and mind while sleeping

Your brain will accumulate waste products without this one activity

Imagine, what would happen, if the waste was accumulating close to your home, and nobody came to take it away. Soon, the rats would show up, insects as well. The smell would definitely change. At some point, you would not have a chance to think about anything else, but to clean it. This is similar to what happens in our brains. Sleep, is the removal system. It is that profound.

The more we find out about the human brain and body, the more it becomes clear how important for health is getting a good night’s sleep. Contrary to the popular belief that night time hours are for nothing while we sleep (Margaret Thatcher: “Sleep is for whimps”). However, our brains continue to work at night in a way that is crucial if we want to have happy and healthy lives. We can wake up feeling good and creative, thanks to the waste-clearing activity that our beautiful brains do at night.

Have a good night’s sleep!

Yours,

EcoHealthLab team

Buckwheat husk flowers in closeup

reference list

Maxwell Maltz