Sleep Part 3
In this we will be trying to tie up some loose ends and end up with the bottom line.
I hope that all of you can see that based on some of the information already presented is that the 2 nervous systems play a huge role in sleep. In the discussion I hinted at the many roles that sleep has on the brain and how the brain has to have the sleep as part of its ability to function. I say hint at because if one were to go into detail and lecture on the topics that we have skimmed over we could easily find ourselves into 30 to 40 hours of lecturing to properly cover the subject.
We have looked at the role of essential oils in helping with sleep. But to review here, we use the oils to help with the sleep cycles. We have learned that Lavender works great on the parasympathetic system function yet only works moderately well on the sympathetic system. Another oil that works better on the sympathetic system is the aroma of Rose., Actual Rose oil is at times a little harsh, so it has to be diluted down with a carrier to a level that is more of a subdued for better effects. Then we discussed how Marjoram works really good on a physical level when working with the parasympathetic system. This is expressed with the effect on the M3 nerve receptors found through out the body, but when expressed in the one blend, Organ Master, to target the smooth muscle activity in digestion, the parasympathetic system is blocked, allowing digestion to take place. Now some other oils will help as well. They usually almost always come from plants that we normally ingest anyway. The problem there is that in order to get enough of what is needed, at times one must eat large amounts and in the end it is more efficient to use some oils to do the job. We also learned that many times an oil when used in a small amount can work wonders while the same oil used in a large amount will have the opposite effect. Lavender is famous for that very thing. When Lavender is used for sleep, a little bit helps people to drift off. While a lot of Lavender will tend to wake a person up, making them more alert. We have only touched on a few oils to use as examples of what comes down in various aromatherapy applications of the essential oils.
The whole topic of this series of discussions is suppose to be sleep. Now lets look at some of the documented effects of sleep deprivation has shown us.
Wait, just about every illness that we have can have some major, direct connection to a lack of sleep. Everyone is different and have a varying set of complexities that they are working with at any given time, so to say some super declarative declaration, is not rational. But what is rational is to say is that you have have to have enough sleep to be able to have your brain cycle through the slow wave and rapid eye movement cycles to properly allow your specific brain to be recharged, reformatted and reset to take on a new set of stimulus activity and to defend its self against the on slot of assaults that come our way daily. If that doesn't happen, you will run the gauntlet of potential health problems coming to the surface that you are likely pre disposed to based on your DNA make up and the RNA reactions. Even weight loss cannot happen unless you have enough sleep. Of course this is not to diminish the role of proper nutrition for example. Other activities also include activities to bring about a positive emotional experience as part of this whole process. However, the one overall issue that seems to work against a person in dealing with sleep is stress. Which will lead us into the next paragraph.
Stress interferes with sleep when it causes you to not to be able to relax to make thee transition from awake to sleep mode. It is hard to relax when you are worried/stressed over some even that is active in your life that is throwing you off balance. But when you do something to finally fall asleep, usually because you just collapsed. Then you have a short nap, then you have some energy restored to your brain, remember that the brain really has no energy storage, only what is in the circuits at any given time. A slight nap, some energy restored, a brief flirt with the slow wave deal. Then you are up and going again, with the same old stress and worries. You haven't cycled through the stages to properly reset your brain. The challenge is to move you from the slow wave to the rapid eye movement stage and not have you shoot up the curve to full consciousnesses. Then the next step is to get you to drop back into slow wave once the activities are done for that stage of rapid eye movement.
In attempting to deal with this by using essential oils we have gotten a little bit better handle on it. With this new blend, I think we will have a major step in reaching these objectives. However, overall we have been focusing more on the emotional aspect of the use of essential oils and you will find that many of the new blends have a focus on the emotional side of things, ie; the focus is more or less directed toward the sympathetic nervous system with activities with the parasympathetic system coming along for the ride. I was going to discuss some of the finer points of several of these blends but I think that would be better served in a different set of discussions as it deviates from the core of this discussion, sleep. So in these discussions one must keep in mind that we are discussing only one little part of the whole, the spot light on one section of the spokes of the wheel. Other spokes have equally essential important roles and does deserve attention. But we can only focus on one at a time and the core here in this group is essential oils.
So with that lets close out this discussion on sleep. I would like to discuss a lot more on sleep but this format has its limitations and we have reached our limit here. If you want more clarification or more discussion or questions, feel free to bring it up.
Until next time, thank you for your time and you interest.
Written by Kent King.
