Archive for the ‘Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid’ Category

NATURAL THERAPIES FOR INSOMNIA: REFLEXOLOGY AND REFLEX ZONE THERAPY

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
‘In the vast majority of the people I treat,’ says a former nurse turned reflexologist, ‘by the time I get to the second foot, their heads are nodding.’ Reflexology is yet another complementary
therapy that provides deep relaxation as well as therapeutic treatment for a number of ailments. Its origins are very old: an Ancient Egyptian wall painting shows two people having their feet treated. Reflexology was rediscovered in the 1920s by an American physician Dr William Fitzgerald, and is growing in popularity today.
Like acupuncture, it is based on the theory that there are channels of energy flowing through the body. These channels are not identical, yet both therapies are effective — which is one of those mysteries of alternative medicine. In the case of reflexology, there are ten channels, which can be tapped into through specific reflex zones in the feet and hands. The feet themselves represent a kind of map of the body, with the big toes relating to the head and neck, and the bony side of the foot to the spine; reflex points for the liver, kidneys and other organs are found in the soft part of the arch, and so on.
Reflexologists are trained to sense energy blockages in the feet, and massage techniques to unblock them, stimulating the energy flow, and encouraging the body to heal itself. Some patients can actually sense the energy in the part of the body relating to the point on the foot being treated; it can feel like a mild electric shock.
You may be treated sitting up or lying down. The practitioner will give a complete treatment to both feet, and then focus on any problem areas. For insomnia, particular attention is likely to be given to the head area, including the pituitary gland (the master gland of the hormonal system) and to the adrenals, which may be overworked by stress. The solar plexus (about a third of the way down the sole of the foot) is another point that is likely to receive extra attention, and you may be asked to breathe deeply while it is being treated; this is excellent for stress.
Reflexology is particularly good for conditions involving congestion — sinusitis, migraine, asthma, a sluggish liver, fluid retention and so on. Sometimes people treated for such conditions experience a reaction as their bodies throw out toxins, possibly in the form of vomiting or diarrhoea, after which they feel very much better and clearer.
Reflexology is also good for releasing emotional congestion, especially when the therapist is receptive and a good counsellor. The reflexologist quoted in the first paragraph treated a woman who had been sleeping badly and feeling generally stressed since the recent death of her mother. During her mother’s illness she had held back her emotions in order to be ‘strong for the family’. After two treatments she found herself in floods of tears; the reflexologist reassured her that this was absolutely right and healthy: there had been an emotional build-up which needed to be released. The client understood the sense of this; following this episode she slept much better.
On the whole, treatment is fairly painless; now and again pressure on a particular site of trouble can hurt, but this does not last. Reflexology is in fact very good for the relief of chronic pain, possibly more effective than drugs and without the side effects. It is also helpful for hormonal imbalances and a variety of problems that may be affecting your sleep; after a treatment most people sleep extra well. As with other natural therapies, a course of several treatments will be needed to bring about a lasting effect, and patients can help themselves by following their practitioner’s recommendations about diet and so on.
Reflex Zone Therapy, which works along very similar lines, is taught to and practised by qualified nurses and physiotherapists. Used in a maternity unit, it has been found particularly beneficial for post-birth problems, such as wind, and difficulty in passing urine. One new mother who was suffering from tension because of domestic problems asked for a sleeping tablet; since she needed to wake easily should her child need attention during the night, she was offered Reflex Zone Therapy instead. She was asleep before the treatment was complete, and woke six hours later to feed her baby
Self-help
While it’s not really feasible to treat one’s own feet, you can learn from books to treat your hands, which contain a similar map of the body. Look out, too, for weekend or evening courses.
You can buy knobbly sandals claiming to give your feet a treatment while you walk around, but beware of wearing them for too long, which can over-stimulate the reflex zones and deplete your energy.
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Anti-Depressants/Sleeping Aid

74 | posted at June 1st, 2010 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | Tags:

NATURAL THERAPIES FOR INSOMNIA: OSTEOPATHY AND CHIROPRACTIC

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Manipulative techniques can often help insomniacs, and not only by relieving pain in the back or other joints; treatment can be an excellent stress reliever. Insomnia, headaches, migraines and general tension are, for example, often caused or exacerbated by problems in the vertebrae of the neck, which both the osteopath and the chiropractic can relieve or cure.
Both these methods of treating the musculo-skeletal system (the bones, muscles and joints) are becoming increasingly accepted by orthodox medicine. The two therapies were evolved independently in America towards the end of the nineteenth century, and there are variations between them, although some techniques are common to both. There are also variations between the techniques used by practitioners from different training schools.
This is particularly the case with chiropractic: members of the British Chiropractic Association have undergone a full-time four-year course which is medically and academically oriented and now has degree status; many take their own X-rays. Members of the Institute of Pure Chiropractic have trained at the part-time McTimoney School, whose teaching is based on a very gentle but effective technique developed by an Englishman, John McTimoney; as well as training in anatomy and physical techniques, the school encourages the development and use of the intuition.
Both osteopathy and chiropractic are based on the principle that the health of the spine has a profound effect on overall well-being. The spinal cord is an extension of the brain, and connects with all the organs of the body via the circulatory and nervous systems. So although people generally seek these therapies for back and joint pain, they can be beneficial for a wide range of problems as diverse as asthma, migraine, indigestion, hiatus hernia, pre-menstrual tension and so on. Some practitioners are good counsellors; some also take a particular interest in nutrition, and can advise you on diet and supplements, particularly those who have also trained in naturopathy.
Adjusting the vertebrae is not usually painful, and the effects can be extremely relaxing. One woman who had barely slept for four years after injuring her neck in a car accident eventually visited a chiropractor; after treatment she fell asleep for several hours, and subsequently returned to a normal sleep pattern.
Nowadays quite elderly people are turning to these therapies for help with arthritic and back pain with good results. Manipulation may not cure the arthritis, but it can relieve the pressure on arthritic joints and improve the circulation of blood around them, helping to remove toxic waste. Practitioners have a variety of techniques at their disposal, as well as, or instead of, actual manipulation which might be over-traumatic for the old or those in very severe pain. Soft tissue techniques (specific ways of massaging the muscles) also help to realign joints, relax over-tense bodies, and boost the circulation of blood and lymphatic drainage.
A woman in her forties went to an osteopath specifically for her insomnia; for about a year she had been waking at three in the morning, only falling asleep again when it was nearly time to get up. She was not under any special stress, but was overweight and suffered from indigestion. The osteopath first treated her for muscle tension and restriction in the shoulder girdle; in the next two months, as these tensions relaxed, she began to return to normal sleep. The osteopath then went on to treat her back, pelvis and abdomen, relieving her other problems of indigestion and painful periods.
Cranial osteopathy, or cranio-sacral therapy
This is an extremely gentle approach to manipulation practised by some osteopaths and chiropractors. It is based on the connection between the cranium (the skull) and the sacrum, the shield-shaped bone at the base of the spine.
Practitioners often work simply by placing a hand gently on the relevant parts of the spine, relieving tensions and encouraging the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid, which nourishes the spinal cord. This is extremely relaxing in itself, as well as curative. They may also treat the skull and jaw, often an area of much tension.
Cranial treatment can be very helpful for both babies and mothers after a difficult birth. A cranial check-up after birth might prevent a lot of ‘inexplicable’ problems in babies.
A number of cranial osteopaths are very intuitive, and can tune into the emotional origins of their patients’ pain, helping to heal mind and body simultaneously.
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Anti-Depressants/Sleeping Aid

72 | posted at June 1st, 2010 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | Tags:

ANXIETY DISORDERS/WORKING THROUGH THE RECOVERY: OUR THRESHOLD TO STRESS

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The working-through process may at first seem difficult and confusing, but it isn’t. Some people can feel daunted and overwhelmed by the amount of effort needed. It is worth it. Everything which is required from us during the working-through process will be given back to us in the sheer joy and total freedom of recovery.

The working-through process is the same for everyone. The only difference is our personal threshold to stress. Some people may have reached the point where they cannot tolerate even the smallest stress. Other people may have a higher threshold to stress, but it is still low enough to trigger fearful thoughts.

The time it takes people to recover will vary. The individual threshold to stress comes into account, but the amount of effort and discipline we put into our recovery is most important.

The first attack was the result of either a build-up of stress or a major life stress. In other words, the anxiety and/or attack happened when we reached the limit of our individual threshold to stress. This doesn’t mean we are weak. It simply means we have reached our limit to stress, just as most people will reach their limit to stress at one point or other in their life. Continual worry about the symptoms of anxiety and attacks only increases our stress and lowers our threshold to it.

As we begin the working-through process it is helpful if we have an understanding of how low our threshold to stress is and how high our anxiety is.

If our threshold to stress is now extremely low we may not be able to tolerate even the smallest daily stress. Our threshold to stress would be zero, while our anxiety level would be ten. At level five we would be able to tolerate the daily stress/es, but would find our anxiety level rising if there is a break in our normal daily routine. At level ten we would be able to deal with almost any stress without becoming anxious.

The working-through process means working to increase our threshold to stress back to normal levels, while decreasing our anxiety level.

It’s no use just hearing or reading about panic anxiety management skills. We have to practise them. There have been occasions when we say we’re not getting any better, and nothing has changed. If we are not getting results it usually means we are not practising enough, or even not practising at all!

*85\94\8*

70 | posted at May 18th, 2009 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | Tags:

ÑHILDREN’S SLEEP PROBLEMS/BUILDING THE BASICS: BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS

Monday, May 18th, 2009

All people have biological cycles that govern their days and nights. Called “Circadian Rhythms,” these rhythms include sleeping, waking, hunger and changes in body temperature and hormones throughout the 24 hour day. The timing of these cycles is linked to the ability to fall and stay asleep instance, as we fall asleep there is a drop in our body temperature. We wake up as it starts to rise again.

Research shows that there is a natural tendency to stretch tow twenty-five hour cycle. Events in our daytime schedules—mealtime, bedtime and time of rising—serve the purpose of re-setting the cycle to fit the 24-hour day. You can probably see this happening, to a small degree, on M morning after you allowed yourself to go off your usual schedule during the weekend. This is also the experience of “jet lag”—when the event experience don’t fit with your biological clock.

Most people don’t have trouble maintaining a twenty-four hour cycle. But for children whose sleep cycles have strayed, this is asking

Sometimes we ask children to go to sleep when their bodies are not ready the sleep cycle. A child would understandably be grumpy and hard to live if his rhythms were not in sync with the clock of his world.

John just can’t seem to get to bed at a decent hour—we always battle bedtime. When he was eleven months old he wasn’t ready to go to bet 11:00 pm. We gradually got it down to 9:00 pm. Then at a year and ñ we noticed it had crept back up to 10:00 pm.

Biological rhythms influence sleep in several ways.

It may be necessary to purposefully take control of your child’s sleep if they have gotten off kilter.

Daytime routines are important to maintain biological rhythms an resulting sense of well-being.

If you implicate biological rhythms as a part of your child’s sleep pro changes need to be made in gradual increments so that a shift of cycles can occur smoothly.

When your child is sleeping better and more regularly, you can expect a happier child.

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69 | posted at May 18th, 2009 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | Tags:

ANXIETY IN THE BODY: NERVOUS HEADACHES AND MIGRAINE AND PAINFUL MONTHLY PERIODS

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

These two different conditions are both associated with anxiety—nervous headache directly so, and migraine less directly.

The pain of nervous headache is felt on both sides of the head, and mainly in the front part of the head and behind the eyes or at the back of the head. There is often an accompanying feeling of something pressing on top of the head or of a tight band around the head. Nervous headache is the direct result of nervous tension, and if the tension is relieved by appropriate measures the tendency to headache soon vanishes.

Migraine is a different kind of headache. It is usually preceded by some strange feeling which acts as a warning that an attack of migraine is about to develop. There are often disturbances of vision, so that sight is impaired and further disturbed by flashes of light or bright wavy lines. Then the headache itself comes on. Unlike nervous headache, migraine is usually felt only on one side of the head, quite often behind the eye. As the headache develops there is a feeling of nausea and frequently actual vomiting. The attack may last for some hours or even days before passing off.

The migraine attack is due to a temporary constriction of some of the arteries of the brain which is soon followed by a dilatation of the same vessels. It seems that a number of factors combine to produce this effect, and that emotional stress is one of the most important of these factors. Of the patients with migraine treated by myself with relaxing methods to relieve tension approximately one third have practically ceased to have any attacks at all, one third have been markedly helped but still have some attacks, and one third were not helped at all. So it would seem well worthwhile for anyone who suffers with migraine to give the relaxing mental exercises a fair trial in order to reduce nervous tension as a means of relieving the attacks.

Painful Monthly Periods-A great number of women and girls suffer from this distressing condition, which is technically known as dysmenorrhoea. There are different physical conditions which predispose toward this complaint, but in almost all cases there is an important emotional factor. If this can be remedied by reducing the patient’s general level of anxiety so that she ceases to overreact to stress, the condition is usually cured or at least greatly relieved.

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59 | posted at April 29th, 2009 in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid | Tags: